Rotary motor with inflatable expansion member

Claim 1

A motor actuated by a fluid pressure medium comprising a housing; a rotatable output drive shaft; a first support plate rotatably mounted in said housing having a supporting surface and a first axis of rotation; a second support plate having a substantially conical supporting surface and being rotatably mounted in said housing about a second axis of rotation, said first and second support plate axes being inclined at an intersecting angle and not mechanically connected to each other, said second support plate being connected to the output shaft to cause rotation thereof upon movement of said second support plate; a plurality of multi-lobed rosette shaped structures arranged between the first and second support plates, each rosette structure being divided into a plurality of independent freely distortable expansion chambers, said rosette structures being connected together and only to said first support plate in superimposed relationship between the plates; the rosette structure adjacent to the first plate being connected thereto over a relatively small area compared to the total surface area of the support plate; means providing fluid communication between adjacent chambers of the superimposed rosette structures; and pressure control means for admitting said fuid pressure medium into each expansion chamber of the rosette adjacent the first plate and the adjacent chambers of the superimposed rosettes in fluid communciation therewith sequentially to cause movement of the second support plate and rotation of the output shaft, said pressure control means permitting said fluid pressure medium to be expelled from all communicating expansion chambers simultaneously after the maximum volume of the chambers has been attained.