- Alfred H. Rzeppa
Alfred Hans Rzeppa (
January 23 ,1885 – January 1965) was anengineer working atFord Motor Company who invented a version ofconstant-velocity joint in 1926. He proposed an improved design in 1936.It uses six balls, and an inner and outer race to provide almost constant velocity torque transfer regardless of the joint angle. The joint works something like a bevel gear with the balls bisecting the joint angle and functioning as the "teeth" to transmit torque. The description of the two versions of the Rzeppa joint can be found in the US patents 2,010,899 and 2,046,584.
External links
* [http://www.google.com/patents?id=8dtBAAAAEBAJ&dq=2,010,899 US Patent 2,010,899]
* [http://www.google.com/patents?id=x_1IAAAAEBAJ&dq=2,046,584 US Patent 2,046,584]
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