Curved Tooth Gear Coupling

The present invention relates to gear couplings. It is an object of the present invention to provide a gear coupling capable of transmitting high torques.

It is a further object to provide a gear coupling which, by virtue of the gear tooth configuration, is self-centering.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a gear coupling which will tolerate a certain amount of axial misalignment between the two coupling halves without substantially impairing drive capability.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a gear coupling which can be utilized as a clutch which will separate under a predetermined load.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a gear coupling which can be used as a precision indexing drive.

It is still a further object to provide a curved tooth form which can be machined on a hubbed gear blank.

These and other objects of the invention are achieved by a gear coupling having a right and a left-hand gear member, each coupling half having curved teeth and the left hand gear being a mirror image of the right hand gear. This means for any point along both tooth faces, the pitch angle and spiral angle is equal to that of the corresponding engaging point on the mating gear tooth face.

The curvature of the teeth make the coupling self-centering. Further, the increased surface area of the curved teeth, better distributes the load and enables a higher degree of torque loading. The teeth may vary in thickness between their innermost and outermost points on the gear. These features can be applied equally well to face gears and mating conical gears. The mating conical gears will even tolerate non-alignment of the input and output shalfts. By proper selection of a biasing spring, the coupling can be utilized as a clutch which will automatically disengage upon reaching a predetermined torque load.

The coupling halves are generated by a pair of cutting tools such as hobs, for example, each having a constant lead and equal pressure angles on both sides of the cutting teeth. Because of this manner of formation, the tooth forms can be generated on gear blanks which have hubs.

These and other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will be better understood after a review of the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1A is a plan view of the left-hand gear of the coupling;

FIG. 1B is a plan view of the right-hand gear of the coupling;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the coupling showing the two halves disengaged;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a single pair of teeth, taken perpendicular to their center lines with the members of the pair being shown slightly spaced from one another for clarity;

FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional view of the left-hand gear of an alternate form of the invention;

FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view of the right-hand gear corresponding to the embodiment shown in FIG. 4A;

FIG. 5A is an isometric schematic of the tooth configuration of the left-hand gear shown in FIG. 4A; and

FIG. 5B is an isometric schematic of the tooth configuration of the right-hand gear shown in FIG. 4B.

The gear coupling halves are depicted generally in FIGS. 1A and 1B as 10 and 20 respectively. A similar curved tooth face gear which is used with a tapered pinion is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,696,125 which disclosure is hereby incorporated by reference. The left-hand gear 10 has curved teeth 12 extending from the outer periphery inwardly. The curved teeth have two lateral faces, a concave (or inward) face 14 and a convex (or outward) face 15. As best seen in FIG. 2, gear 10 has a longitudinally-extending, shaft-receiving aperture 16 and an enlarged recess 17. A second small aperture 18 serves as a means to positively index the gear 10 during machining. For any contact point `p.sub.1 ` on either of the faces 14 and 15, there is an associated spiral angle A.sub.1 and an associated pressure angle B.sub.1 (FIG. 3).

Gear 20 shown in FIG. 1B has a generated tooth pattern which is a mirror image of that of gear 10. That is to say, for any contact point `p.sub.2 ` along the concave faces 24 of the teeth 22 (or convex faces 25), the spiral angle A.sub.2 and pressure angle B.sub.2 are equal to the angles A.sub.1 and B.sub.1 for the associated contact point `p.sub.1 ` on gear 10.

Gear 20 is depicted as having a central hub 27. While this is not an essential feature of the present invention, one of the advantages of the method of making the gears of this coupling is that a hub can be added. The left and right-hand gears are manufactured by left and right-hand hobs (not shown) which have equal lead and pressure angles. Since no portion of the cutting hob sweeps the center region of the gear, as in some gear cutting methods, this area need not be left open. As can be seen in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the teeth 12 and 22 generally increase in width from the inside to the outside of the gear. This is also a result of the above-noted gear cutting method. It is preferred, though not essential, that the pressure angles and spiral angles be substantially the same for the concave and convex sides of each tooth.

In use, the two halves of the coupling are mounted on separate shafts (not shown). The curved teeth 12 and 22 make the two coupling halves self-aligning, or self-centering. In addition, the increased surface area due to the curvature results in a better load distribution and, accordingly a higher torque-load capacity. The coupling may be used as a precision indexing device by providing a high number of teeth per gear (e.g., 360) and rotating the coupling one tooth, disengaging, returning, and reengaging the input gear, and so forth. Or alternatively, the gear coupling can be used as a self clutching coupling by utilizing a spring having a predetermined biasing force so that the coupling halves will disengage under a predetermined torque loading.

A second embodiment is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. In this embodiment, rather than having the teeth lying generally in a common plane which is perpendicular to the axis of the gear, as was the case with the first embodiment, the teeth generally define the surface of a cone. As shown in FIGS. 4A, 4B, 5A and 5B, the teeth 32 of left-hand gear 30 form internal teeth lying on the cone's surface while teeth 42 of right-hand gear 40 lie on the external surface of a cone. The teeth are curved as in the previous embodiment and the apex angle of the two cones are generally equal. It will be appreciated that the apex angles have been grossly exaggerated in FIGS. 5A and 5B for simplicity of illustration. This embodiment will tolerate a greater degree of shaft misalignment due to the conical configuration of the tooth pattern. It may be desirable to relieve the teeth in the end regions to accommodate greater shaft misalignment if the particular application warrants it.

It will be appreciated by the artisan that various changes, modifications and alterations to the above disclosed embodiments would be possible. For example, the tooth cross-section shown in FIG. 3 might be varied, as for example, by rounding the corners to facilitate engagement and disengagement of the coupling halves. Accordingly, it is intended that all such changes, modifications and alterations as come within the scope of the appended claims be included in the present invention.