US PATENT SUBCLASS 192 / 3.21
VORTEX-FLOW DRIVE AND CLUTCH

Current as of: June, 1999
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192 /   HD   CLUTCHES AND POWER-STOP CONTROL

3.21VORTEX-FLOW DRIVE AND CLUTCH {6}
3.22  DF  .~> With means to effect torque reversal
3.23  DF  .~> With brake {1}
3.25  DF  .~> With additional drive or clutch {2}
3.28  DF  .~> Including drive-lockup clutch {2}
3.32  DF  .~> Alternatively operative drive and clutch
3.33  DF  .~> Fluid-pressure operator for engaging clutch

DEFINITION

Classification: 192/3.21

(under the class definition) Apparatus comprising the combination of a clutch under the ... and a device described in (1) Note below as a "Vortex-Flow Drive".

(1) Note. For the purposes of this subclass (3.21) and subclass 3.34 below, a "Vortex-Flow Drive" is defined as a device for transmitting torque from a first, rotating shaft to a second, coaxial rotatable shaft, to which shafts are secured shroud elements, each of which is generally concave (e.g., hemispherical or hemitoroidal) and provided with generally radial vanes secured within the concavity, the elements being capable of rotation relative to one another, but together forming a spheroidal or toroidal enclosure for a mass of liquid material, in which device rotation of the first shaft (and of the vanes carried thereby) causes particles of the liquid mass to circulate in a small circle that lies in a plane coincident with (or parallel to) the axis of rotation of the shafts and simultaneously circulate in a larger circle that lies in a plane at right angles to said axis, which circulation of the mass causes rotation of the second shaft as the vanes carried thereby are moved by the fluid.

(2) Note. The device termed herein "Vortex-Flow Drive", is

known in the art by such names as "fluid drive", "fluid coupling", "fluid flywheel", "torque converter", and "hydrokinetic torque transformer", among others. Such devices generally fall into one of two categories. In one of these (e.g, "fluid coupling") the angular velocity of the driven shroud element referred to in (1) Note cannot be greater than that of the driving element (and is usually less due to slippage); thus the torque is not increased. In the other category (e.g., "torque converter") an additional, radially-vaned element is interposed in the flow of fluid to modify direction of movement and velocity in the fluid and thereby change the torque transmitted from the first shaft to the second shaft.

(3) Note. A combination of vortex-flow drive and clutch which, per se, is classified in this subclasses (3.21+) is properly classified in Class 74 or Class 475 if gearing is also recited in the claims.

SEE OR SEARCH THIS CLASS, SUBCLASS:

57, for an assemblage of mechanical and fluent material clutches. SEE OR SEARCH CLASS

60, Power Plants,

330+, for a "vortex-flow drive" device, per se.

74, Machine Element or Mechanism,

730, for the combination of vortex-flow drive and gearing; and see (3) Note above.

475, Planetary Gear Transmission Systems or Components,

31+, for fluid drive and control in planetary gear transmission; and see (3) Note above.