- Oldham coupler
An Oldham coupler is a method to transfer
torque between two parallel but not collinear shafts. It has three discs, one coupled to the input, one coupled to the output, and a middle disc that is joined to the first two bytongue and groove . The tongue and groove on one side is perpendicular to the tongue and groove on the other. Often springs are used to reduce backlash of the mechanism. The coupler is much more compact than, for example, twouniversal joint s.The coupler is named for John Oldham who invented it in
Ireland , in1820 , to solve a paddle placement problem in asteamship design.The middle disc rotates around its center at the same speed as the input and output shafts. Its center traces a circular orbit, twice per rotation, around the midpoint between input and output shafts.
External links
* [http://www.mekanizmalar.com/oldham.html Flash Animation of Oldham coupler]
* [http://kmoddl.library.cornell.edu/biographies/Oldham/index.php Biography of Oldham at Cornell University]
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