Drive system

Claim 2

A drive system comprising a shaft which is journalled to be rotatable in a frame and on which a plate is provided which cooperates with at least one sliding body, one flat side of which cooperates with a running surface on the side of the plate which faces said body, the said running surface being formed by a face which encloses an angle with the center line of the rotatable shaft, the sliding body being provided with a spherical face which cooperates with a corresponding face in a head of a drive rod, the arrangement being such that when the shaft rotates, the sliding body and the drive rod cooperating therewith perform a reciprocating movement, characterized in that the running surface is formed by a face which is constructed to be convex at least in the relative movement direction of sliding body and running surface.

Claim 3

A drive system as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the running surface is composed of straight lines, each of which extends in a radial plane through the central line of the rotatable shaft.

Claim 4

A drive system as claimed in claim 1, in which each of the sliding bodies is a half sphere accommodated in a bowl-like recess in the head of the associated drive rod, characterized in that the relevant straight lines which together constitute the running surface all pass through the ellipse obtained by intersection of a cylinder which passes through the centers of the said bowl-like recesses, the center line of the rotatable shaft being the axis of the cylinder, by a plane which extends through the centers of the bowl-like recesses and which encloses an angle with the center line of the rotatable shaft.

Claim 5

A drive system as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that the relevant straight lines which constitute the running surface all enclose the same angle with the said plane through the centers of the bowl-like recesses.

Claim 6

A drive system as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that at least the running surface is formed by a part of a conical surface with straight describing lines, the cone axis thereof enclosing an angle with the center line of the rotatable shaft.

Claim 7

A drive system as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that the straight lines which together constitute the running surface are each tangent to a torus of constant diameter about the ellipse, which is obtained by intersection of a cylinder whose axis is the center line of the rotatable shaft and which passes through the centers of the relevant bowl-like recesses, by a plane extending through the centers of the bowl-like recesses and enclosing an angle with the center line of the rotatable shaft, the radius of the torus being equal to the difference between the radius of the bowl-like recesses and the height of camber of the sphere segments forming the sliding bodies.

Claim 8

A drive system as claimed in claim 1, in which each of the drive rods is provided with a drive rod head comprising two spherical faces which face each other or which are remote from each other, each face cooperating with a sliding body, the flat side of which cooperates with a running surface on the plate which is connected to the rotatable shaft, characterized in that each of the two running surfaces is formed by a set of straight lines, each of these straight lines of each running surface being at least substantially tangent to a torus of constant diameter about the ellipse obtained by intersection of a cylinder whose axis is the center of the rotatable shaft and which extends through the center of the relevant spherical face, by a flat plane extending through the center of the relevant spherical face, these two faces being parallel to each other, the radius of the torus associated with each of the running surfaces being equal to the length of the sector from the center of curvature of the spherical face on the flat side of the sliding body.

Claim 9

A drive system as claimed in claim 7, in which each of the sliding bodies is formed by a sphere segment, characterized in that for each of the running surfaces the radius of the associated torus is equal to the difference between the radius of the associated bowl-like recess and the height of camber of the sphere segment.

Claim 10

A drive system as claimed in claim 7, characterized in that the straight lines of each running surface which are tangent to the associated torus enclose the same angle with the plane through the central line of the torus.

Claim 11

A drive system as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that for each running surface the straight lines which are tangent to the associated torus form part of a conical surface, the symmetry axis of which intersects the center line of the rotatable shaft at an angle at the point at which the plane through the central line of the torus intersects the central line.

Claim 12

In a transmission drive system including a frame, a shaft mounted in said frame for rotation about its axis, at least one drive rod reciprocally movable along an axis generally parallel to said shaft axis and including a drive end with a spherical surface, a swash plate secured to and rotatable with said shaft and having a running surface which extends transversely of the shaft axis and defines therewith an angle, a sliding body operable with each of said drive rods, said body having opposite first and second sides, said first side defining a flat surface in sliding engagement with said running surface of the plate, and said second side defining a spherical surface in sliding engagement with the spherical surface of said drive end of the drive rod, the improvement in combination therewith wherein said running surface of the plate is convex at least in the direction of movement of said sliding body relative to said running surface.

Claim 13

In a transmission drive system including a frame, a shaft mounted in said frame for rotation about its axis, at least one drive rod reciprocally movable along an axis generally parallel to said shaft axis and including a drive end with a spherical surface, a swash plate secured to and rotatable with said shaft and having a running surface which extends transversely of the shaft axis and defines therewith an angle, a sliding body operable with each of said drive rods, said body having opposite first and second sides, said first side defining a flat surface in sliding engagement with said running surface of the plate, and said second side defining a spherical surface in sliding engagement with the spherical surface of said drive end of the drive rod, the improvement in combination therewith wherein said running surface of the plate is convex at least in the direction of movement of said sliding body relative to said running surface.

Claim 14

Apparatus according to claim 11 wherein said running surface is conical.

Claim 15

Apparatus according to claim 11 wherein each of said sliding bodies is generally hemispherical, and the drive end of each drive rod comprises a spherically curved recess in which is engaged the spherical surface of one of said sliding bodies.

Claim 16

Apparatus according to claim 13 wherein said plate has axially spaced opposite running surfaces, and wherein said drive end of each drive rod comprises a pair of axially spaced facing spherical surfaces, the apparatus further comprising a pair of said hemispherical sliding bodies engaging said pair of facing surfaces, with the flat sides of said pair of bodies engaging said opposite running surfaces of said plate.