US 5,628,704 AGranted

Drive system having multi-drive plate

OwnerRichard Fischler, James D. McCuskerinventors

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Abstract

A drive system for driving at least one and preferably, a plurality of driven components. The drive system includes a multi-drive plate for securedly mounting and accurately positioning a plurality of drive system components on a single support structure. The drive system also has a single drive belt for being driven by at least one driving member. The multi-drive plate supports and aligns pulleys connected to the driving member and the driven component so that the single drive belt drives at least one driven component. The driving device may include a clutch for allowing the drive system to be driven by a main driving device or by an auxiliary drive device. The driving device and the at least one driven component are mounted on the same side of the multi-drive plate. The pulleys attached to the driving device and the at least one driven component and the serpentine belt are mounted on another side of the multi-drive plate so that the serpentine belt is easily accessible. The single serpentine belt is provided with a spring-mounted tension pulley for maintaining a desired tension in the belt.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A drive system comprising:

at least one driving device including a first drive shaft and a first drive pulley mounted on the first drive shaft;
at least one driven component driven by the least one driving device, the at least one driven component including a second drive shaft and a second drive pulley mounted on the second drive shaft;
a single belt operatively connected to the at least one driving device and the at least one driven member via the first and second drive pulley so that the belt is driven by the at least one driving device to drive the at least one driven component;
and
a single support member supporting the at least one driving device and the at least one driven component, the single support member being arranged such that single belt, the first drive pulley and the second drive pulley are located on a first side of the single support member;
and the at least one driving device and the at least one driven component are located on a second side of the single support member and the first and second drive shafts extend through the single support member from the first side to the second side of the single support member, wherein the at least one driving device and the at least one driven component are supported only at said single support member.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.