Back to results
US 5,558,174 AGranted
Drive train assembly
AssigneeSchaeff, Incorporated
InventorsIsaac Avitan, Robert C. Weihe
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
AssigneeSchaeff, Incorporated
InventorsIsaac Avitan, Robert C. Weihe
Estimating the term…
A drive train assembly for motorized vehicles, for example lift trucks. The rotational movement of the output shaft of a motor, for example an electrical motor, is transmitted to a drive wheel by a single drive shaft having at one end a gear interface assembly consisting of a gear on the end of the output shaft and a gear on an end of the drive shaft, and at the other end of the drive shaft by a second gear interface assembly consisting of a gear on the drive shaft and a gear fixedly mounted on the inside of the rim of the drive wheel. The drive train assembly allows for strong, reliable transfer of rotational torque to the drive wheel in a compact, non-complex arrangement with a minimum number of drive parts, bearings and gears. The drive wheel is independently rotatably supported on a spindle mounted to the chassis of the vehicle and bears a majority of the external load and stresses, relieving the drive train assembly of a substantial amount of such load and stresses. The assembly contributes to other important lift truck design considerations, such as mast placement, counterbalance requirements, and right angle stack.
A lift truck including a chassis and a pair of masts at a forward end of the chassis, the chassis including a pair of substantially parallel spaced frame members, a pair of drive wheels, a pair of drive wheel spindles, each drive wheel being mounted for rotation about a spindle, each drive wheel including a gear, a motor associated with each drive wheel and drive means interconnecting each motor to the gear of an associated wheel, means rigidly securing each spindle to a frame member adjacent a forward end of the lift truck along an axis perpendicular to the frame members, the drive means including a drive train assembly, the drive train assembly comprising a drive train housing, each motor including an output shaft and a drive train interconnecting the output shaft of each motor with the gear of each drive wheel, the drive train being carried in the housing, means rigidly securing each drive train housing to one of the frame members, the housing extending laterally from the frame member in a direction parallel to the spindle axis, means for mounting the motor to the housing at a location laterally spaced from the frame member, each motor being rigidly cantilever supported from a respective frame member through a respective drive train housing, each motor having an axis tilted from vertical inwardly relative to the forward end of the lift truck, the drive train comprising a first gear rotating unitarily with the motor output shaft, a second gear drivingly engaging the first gear, a third gear drivingly engaging the drive wheel gear and means drivingly interconnecting the second gear and the third gear.
A lift truck, the lift truck including a chassis, the lift truck having a forward end, a pair of masts, the masts being positioned adjacent the forward end, a drive wheel, the drive wheel being mounted for rotation about a wheel spindle, the drive wheel including a gear, a motor, the motor having an output shaft, means rigidly fixing the motor relative to the wheel spindle, and a drive train operatively connecting the motor output shaft with the drive wheel gear, the drive train being carried in a housing, the means fixing the motor relative to the spindle comprising the drive train housing, the drive train housing constituting a cantilever support for the motor, the motor having an axis coincident with the axis of the motor output shaft, the drive train housing fixing the motor such that the motor axis is tilted from a vertical position, the motor axis being tilted inwardly from the forward end of the lift truck, the drive train comprising a first gear rotating unitarily with the motor output shaft, a second gear drivingly engaging the first gear, the second gear being fixed to a drive shaft, a third gear fixed to the drive shaft, the drive shaft having an axis parallel to the axis of the spindle, the third gear drivingly engaging the drive wheel gear.
In a lift truck having a chassis, a forward end, a pair of masts mounted to the chassis adjacent the forward end of the lift truck, the chassis including a pair of spaced parallel members, a drive wheel, a drive wheel spindle being fixed to one of the chassis members adjacent the forward end of the lift truck, a motor, a drive train interconnecting the motor with the drive wheel, the improvement comprising a cantilever support rigidly fixing the motor relative to the spindle, the cantilever support comprising a drive train housing, the drive train housing carrying the drive train, means rigidly mounting the housing to the one chassis member and means rigidly mounting the motor to the housing at a point spaced laterally from the one chassis member, the motor including a motor axis, an output shaft coaxial with the motor axis, the output shaft being positioned at one end of the motor, the means mounting the motor to the housing engaging the output shaft end of the motor with the motor axis inclined from the housing inwardly, away from the forward end of the lift truck and upwardly away from the wheel, whereby clearance is provided for rearward tilting of a mast adjacent the motor and the motor is readily accessible for disassembly and/or servicing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.