Swashplate actuating device for axial piston pumps and motors
AssigneeCaterpillar Inc.
InventorsPhillip L. Freeman, James C. Goade, Claude H. Werner
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Transmitting actuating forces from an actuator to a swashplate of an axial piston unit through a pin extending from a lever of the swashplate induces torsional stresses in the lever. The present invention overcomes this problem by securing a lever to a swashplate so that a distal end portion thereof extends into a slot of an actuator. The distal end portion has a cylindrical shaped surface pivotally seated in a mating socket formed in a slide block positioned within the actuator slot. The actuating forces transmitted from the actuator to the lever are thus transmitted in a straight line motion with minimal torsional stresses introduced into the lever.
Claims4
A swashplate actuating device for an axial piston unit having a housing, a barrel rotatably mounted within the housing about a longitudinal axis and having a plurality of equally spaced circumferentially arranged piston bores, a plurality of pistons individually reciprocatably positioned within the piston bores, and a swashplate tiltably mounted within the housing and having a planer surface engaged by one end of each piston to control the displacement of the pistons within the piston bores;
- comprising
- a pair of axially aligned actuating chambers defined in the housing;
- an elongate actuator having opposite end portions slidably positioned within the actuating chambers for rectilinear movement therein, the actuator having a transverse slot therein facing the barrel;
- a slide block slidably disposed within the slot in the actuator and having a cylindrical shaped socket therein;
- and
- an actuating lever secured to the swashplate and extending therefrom generally toward the actuator and having a cylindrical shaped surface formed on a distal end portion of the lever and being pivotally seated within the socket of the slide block.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.