Clutch with structural plates, especially of carbon-carbon

In a clutch with structural plates of carbon-carbon, comprising:

• a drive flywheel,
• a first driving plate forming with the flywheel a first non-clutching interface,
• at least one pair of driven plates connected to an output shaft, a driving plate being interposed between each pair of driven plates, and forming respective active clutching interfaces therebetween,
• a second driving plate,
• a thrust plate forming with the second driving plate a second non-clutching interface,
• a casing with a mechanism operable to apply pressure to the thrust plate and being provided with a plurality of bars fitted into radial recesses of the driving plates and being fixed to the flywheel,
• the improvement wherein the clutch further includes a progressive device interposed in at least one of the non-clutching interfaces and urging a respective driving plate of said one non-clutching interface towards a respective adjacent driven plate, and against abutment means, and wherein the progressive device is formed by at least one resilient, metal, radial tongue disposed against an end face of each of said bars and having a curved operative end applied to a respective one of the driving plates and being fitted in a respective radial groove recessed into said port constituted by one of said flywheel and said thrust plate and forming the non-clutching interface with said one driving plate.

In a clutch with structural plates of carbon-carbon, comprising:

• a drive flywheel,
• a first driving plate forming with the flywheel a first non-clutching interface,
• at least one pair of driven plates connected to an output shaft, a driving plate being interposed between each pair of driven plates, and forming respective active clutching interfaces therebetween,
• a second driving plate,
• a thrust plate forming with the second driving plate a second non-clutching interface,
• a casing with a mechanism operable to apply pressure to the thrust plate and being provided with a plurality of bars fitted into radial recesses of the driving plates and being fixed to the flywheel,
• the improvement wherein the clutch further includes a progressive device interposed in at least one of the non-clutching interfaces and urging a respective driving plate of said one non-clutching interface towards a respective adjacent driven plate, and against abutment means, further comprising a packing-up device operatively associated with the progressive device, said packing-up device comprising means for pressing a driving plate of the other of said first and second non-clutching interfaces against the adjacent part constituted by one of the flywheel and the thrust plate.