Claims
- 1. A cam system, said cam system comprising:a cam member having an axis and an inner diameter, said inner diameter having a plurality of leaf springs; and a shaft member having an outer diameter and an axis; said cam member having its inner diameter secured to the outer diameter of said shaft member so that the axis of the cam member coincides on the axis of the shaft member; each said leaf spring of said cam member having at least two adjacent teeth, wherein all said teeth are substantially parallel to the axis of said cam member; said leaf springs and teeth being located circumferentially along said inner diameter of said cam member; and said shaft member having a plurality of splines on the outer diameter of said shaft member, said splines being substantially parallel to the axis of said shaft member and of the same pitch spacing as the pitch spacing of two adjacent teeth of one leaf spring, wherein one spline is aligned between and fully engaged with two adjacent teeth of one said leaf spring and no additional cam teeth are fully engaged with a spline.
- 2. The cam system according to claim 1, wherein the number of possible discrete cam member positions relative to said shaft member when said cam member is slidably fitted to said shaft member equals the number of possible cam teeth pitch locations multiplied by the number of leaf springs.
CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/424,507 filed on Nov. 7, 2002.
US Referenced Citations (3)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
3878822 |
Beal |
Apr 1975 |
A |
4504838 |
Tamai et al. |
Mar 1985 |
A |
5704257 |
Kottke et al. |
Jan 1998 |
A |
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60/424507 |
Nov 2002 |
US |