Stand mixer with shaft coupling

A stand mixer comprising:

• a lower housing;
• an upper housing pivotably mounted to the lower housing so that the upper housing may be pivoted between a lowered position and a raised position, the upper housing having a drive shaft therein to drive a transmission shaft in the lower housing;
• and
• an on-the-fly alignment coupling connecting the drive shaft to the transmission shaft when the upper housing is in a lowered position, the coupling comprising a keyed member movably mounted to the drive shaft, a keyway member fixedly mounted to the transmission shaft and having a keyway adapted to receive the keyed member therein, and a spring biasing the keyed member towards the keyway member;
• wherein, when the upper housing is pivoted to the lowered position, the keyway member compresses the spring so that the spring forces the keyed member down and inserts the keyed member into the keyway member on-the-fly.

A stand mixer comprising:

• a drive shaft mounted in an upper housing;
• a transmission shaft driven by the drive shaft, the transmission shaft being held in a lower housing, the upper housing being pivotably mounted to the lower housing to be pivoted between a lowered position and a raised position;
• a first coupling mounted on the drive shaft to couple an upper drive shaft portion to a lower drive shaft portion;
• and
• a second coupling drivingly connecting the drive shaft to the transmission shaft, the second coupling comprising a first coupler, a second coupler and a spring, the first coupler being mounted to the drive shaft, the second coupler being mounted to the transmission shaft and being intermeshed with the first coupler to transfer power from the drive shaft to the transmission shaft, wherein the spring is adapted to be deflected when pivoting the upper housing to the lowered position and wherein the deflected spring biases the first coupler against the second coupler to mesh the first coupler with the second coupler.