Gallery, Projects and General > Neat Stuff

One-way shaft torque spanners?

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Tinkering_Guy:
In rummaging through my bins looking for bearings, I found some peculiar items as shown below in the first photo.

Each hole is lined with what look like rollers, which is why I originally thought they were bearings.  However, insert a piece of 1/4" round stock in them, and their true magic shines forth: they only allow the stock to turn in one direction!

That's not strictly true; the inserts can be pressed out, and as the second photo shows, they're grooved with detents for the spring-fed steel ball shown.  It's not clear in the photo, but on the little shoulder under the word 'INITIAL' there's a wax-sealed threaded hole.  Clearly there's a grub screw in there that puts a set tension on the ball, so at some point the torque overcomes the spring and the handle turns around the insert rather than with it.

So, adjust the spring as desired, and you can tighten something to a particular point -- but no farther -- when the force of turning the stock becomes greater than the force holding the insert's detent against the spring's resistance.

They came from a defunct computer company's labs, so I suspect they're for tightening drive shafts or something.  The ones marked 'FINAL' are tougher to overcome than the ones labeled 'INITIAL.'  Some of the units are hand-labeled "6 in.-lbs. / 2½ in.-lbs." and the like, which is nice to know.

Odd beasties, but now that I've looked at 'em in detail, I can see potential uses for them..

cidrontmg:
Funny things. Might they have been used to adjust tape drive reel spindles? One side for an empty reel, the other side for a full one.

Bernd:
Great. Now you can torque all the bolts an a model steam engine's piston cover.  :D

Bernd

WSnyder:
Also known as a "sprag clutch". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprag_clutch

John Stevenson:
One way roller clutch. used to make a ratchet drive on equipment.

John S.

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