Differential gear mechanism

Claim 1

A differential gear mechanism comprising a gear carrier (1A, 1B) mounted for rotation about an output axis of the differential, a pair of spaced coaxial helical output gears (4A, 4B) mounted for rotation in the carrier about the axis thereof, and gear trains mounted in said gear carrier and interconnecting the two output gears, each gear train comprising two helically toothed members (5A-D) coupled by a worm wheel (7A, C; 7B, D), the teeth of said output gears being formed as a continuous helix and having a uniform involute profile in a radial direction, forming a helicoidal worm mesh with said worm wheel and a conventional helical pinion at an output gear mesh, the mechanism being characterized by the parameters in the following equations: ##EQU4## where R W is the ratio of the number of teeth of each worm to the number of teeth of the worm wheel, R G is the ratio of the number of teeth of each output gear to the number of teeth of the worm wheel, ψ is the helix angle of the worms and output gears, b WH and b OG are respectively the lengths of the teeth of each worm wheel and each output gear measured axially of the worm wheel and output gear respectively, K1 is the coefficient, selected from the range 0.5-0.8 for a differential mechanism having two gear trains and from the range 0.35-0.65 for a differential having three gear trains, α is the angle formed by the axis of the worm wheels and a straight line going through the center of a worm and the center of symmetry of the mechanism (when viewed along the axis of the output gears), and selected for two gear trains (when K1 is 0.5-0.8) from a range of 56°-68°, and for three gear trains (when K1 is 0.35-0.65) from a range of 35°-41°.