US 9,377,097 B2Granted

Cartridge drive

AssigneeKuhn North America, Inc.

InventorsThomas Hoffman, Todd Gibson, Casey Fennell, Patrick Henry

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A drive system includes a drive housing and one or more drivetrain cartridges. The one or more drivetrain cartridges enables better manufacturability by allowing drivetrain components to be installed together outside the housing and then installed as a unit together into the housing. Serviceability is improved by allowing one or more of the drivetrain cartridges to be removed individually from the housing for maintenance or repair. The housing may include mounting surfaces to securely engage the one or more drivetrain cartridges to the housing to prevent play. The housing may include a bottom or side panel with installation mounts to fasten the drivetrain cartridge or cartridges securely to the bottom or side panel of the housing.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A drive system comprising:

a drive housing including a mounting bottom panel, a front panel, a rear panel, and side panels;
and
a cartridge drivetrain including at least a first drivetrain cartridge, the first drivetrain cartridge having a first front support plate, a first rear support plate, and a first bottom support plate connecting the first front support plate and the first rear support plate,
wherein the drive housing surrounds the cartridge drivetrain,
wherein the first bottom support plate of the first drivetrain cartridge is mounted on and abuts a top surface of the bottom panel of the drive housing,
wherein a bearing is mounted to at least one of the first front support plate or the first rear support plate,
wherein the front support plate and the rear support plate supports at least one sprocket or at least one sprocket shaft via the bearing, and
wherein the drive housing does not support any bearing or any sprocket shaft included in the cartridge drivetrain.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 14/186,610Filed 21 Feb 2014
Published: US 2015/0240934 A127 Aug 2015
Granted: 28 Jun 2016
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification12 codes

F16H 57/021
Gearboxes; Mounting gearing therein: shaft support structures, e.g. partition walls, bearing eyes, casing walls or covers with bearings
A01C 3/063
Manure distributors, e.g. dung distributors: side-spreaders
F16H 57/023
Gearboxes; Mounting gearing therein: mounting or installation of gears or shafts in the gearboxes, e.g. methods or means for assembly
F16H 2057/005
General details of gearing: mounting preassembled units, i.e. using pre-mounted structures to speed up final mounting process