Power driven flexible shaft clutch assembly

Claim 1

In a system for coupling power from a rotating output shaft of a high speed power source to a driven member to be driven thereby through rotatable flexible shaft means having a plurality of layers of closely coiled wire wound over a mandrel, each of said layers of wire being wound in alternately opposing directions, the improvement therewith of a 3-component clutch assembly for controllably coupling said power from said rotating output shaft; said 3-component clutch assembly providing positive control of directional rotation of said flexible shaft means, said 3-component clutch assembly comprising an input bearing member operably connected to one end of said flexible shaft means, other end of said flexible shaft means being connected to said rotating output shaft, an output bearing member operably connected to said driven member, said input and output bearing members having detent areas thereon, a split spring clip operably interconnecting said bearing members, said split spring clip having a lip disposed across a longitudinal edge thereof, said detent areas of said bearing members being engaged by said lip when said input bearing member is rotated in one direction to cause said split spring clip and output bearing member to rotate therewith, and another detent area of said input bearing member is engaged by said lip when said input bearing member is rotated in the other direction to cause said split spring clip to rotate therewith whereby a flat surface adjacent said detent area of said output member permits said split spring clip to slip about said output member while said split spring clip rotates with said input bearing member in said other direction, each of said input and output bearing members comprising an inner hub concentrically disposed to an outer hub of larger diameter, each of said outer hubs having a transverse slot provided thereacross, each of said inner hubs of said input bearing member and said output bearing member being provided with said detent areas, said detent area of said inner hub of said input bearing member comprising a pair of opposed substantially identical downwardly sloping faces, said downwardly sloping faces providing a flat surface therebetween, and said detent area of said output bearing member comprising a single downwardly sloping face terminating in a flat surface merging with outer surface of said inner hub.