ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,247,635, issued on March 11, was assigned to LORD Corp. (Cary, N.C.).
"Dual rate torsional coupling" was invented by Timothy Kubat (Fairview, Pa.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Torque is applied to an inner member of a torsional coupling. The first stage (low torque) has a bonded part in series with a set of compression style coil springs. The torsional stiffness of the bonded part is approximately 25% of the resulting torsional stiffness provided by the coil springs. In the second stage (high torque), tangs on the inner member engage with a sprocket plate, transferring torque to the coil springs. The coil springs are held in place by a...