Drive mechanism of engine ignition system

Abstract

A drive mechanism of an engine ignition system has a housing fixed to an engine and a driven shaft of the engine ignition system rotatably supported by the housing. An engine provides a driving force for rotating a drive shaft, the rotation of which is transmitted to the driven shaft through screw gears having axes crossing each other. A screw gear provided on the driven shaft includes a main gear fixed to the driven shaft and an auxiliary gear opposed to an end face of the housing and rotatably and axially movably mounted on the driven shaft. The respective teeth of the main gear and auxiliary gear is staggered from each other when the main gear and auxiliary gear come in contact with each other. A resilient member is provided between the end face of the housing and the auxiliary gear. The screw gear on the drive shaft is adapted to push the auxiliary gear against the resilient force of the resilient member toward the end face of the housing so that the screw gears on the drive and driven shafts are engaged with each other. A sliding member may be provided between the end face of the housing and the auxiliary gear to be biased by the resilient member to come in direct or indirect contact with the end face of the housing, thereby causing sliding resistance of rotation.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.