| 摘要 |
An automatically adjusting clutch in which a pressure plate (13) is biased axially towards a flywheel (11) by a clutch engaging spring means (12) to clamp a driven plate (15) between the pressure plate and flywheel to engage the clutch. The pressure plate has a first part (30) and a second part (40) which is moveable by adjuster means (50) relative to the first part to increase the effective axial thickness (T) of the pressure plate to compensate for wear of the driven plate. The adjuster means has a circumferentially extending array of adjuster teeth (72) arranged on a component (40) which is rotatable about an axis parallel to the axis of rotation of the clutch and a pawl means (60) which moves relative to and in contact with the array as the pressure plate (13) moves relative to the flywheel. The teeth of the array (72) project in an axial direction of the clutch. The pawl means (60) and array of teeth (72) are arranged so that if the movement of the pressure plate towards the flywheel during clutch engagement exceeds a predetermined distance, indicating a predetermined amount of wear of the driven plate, the pawl means (60) moves sufficiently over the array of teeth (72) to engage behind a new tooth of the array so that, when the clutch is released during a subsequent clutch disengagement, the pawl means (60) moves the second part (40) of the pressure plate relative to the first part (30) to make the wear adjustment. |
