Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

A clutch cover assembly comprising, in addition to a clutch cover containing a pressure plate and a diaphragm spring, a spring washer in location and retainment such that it provides cushioning against clutch engagement shock. In a recess in the pressure plate adjacent the diaphragm spring, the spring washer is supported on opposite corresponding sides on annular fulcra, which in clutch disengagement are staggered laterally of the spring washer and remote from each other. During clutch engagement, the spring washer deforms elastically as it transmits the impelling force of the diaphragm spring in tandem therewith, flexing on the fulcra and therein cushioning the clutch-engaging force of the diaphragm spring. One of the annular fulcra is along a curved bottom surface of the clutch pressure plate recess, and as the load from the diaphragm spring on the spring washer increases, the fulcrum locus of contact thus shifts along the washer, approaching the other annular fulcrum. The distance separating the fulcra thus decreases such that the cushioning rigidity of the spring washer Increases gradually with the increasing load as the clutch is engaged. Cushioning characteristics reflecting a parabolic response comparable to that of clutch cover assemblies employing conventional cushioning plates on the clutch disc are realized.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim