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Cone friction clutch on a feathered shaft

How does a cone clutch connect two shafts? · Hardware · basis: Xem Studio design following Brown No. 47 (1868)

Also called: cone clutch, friction clutch, conical clutch, embrague cónico de fricción, Kegelreibungskupplung

Exact dimensions. True size, with no printing tolerance added.

sizes
4 in table

Notes

  • A cone sliding on a feather key on one shaft is pushed by a lever-worked fork into a matching cup on the other: the wedge multiplies the pressing force by 1/sin α at the cone, so a modest push gives a strong friction drive, and it can be engaged while running with some slip.
  • Here a 12.5° cone (Ø40 → Ø32.91 over 16 mm) and cup (Ø50); Ø8 shafts end to end, the driven one keyed (2 × 2 feather key). Drawn engaged: the cones touch over their whole length.
  • Brown's No. 47 (friction clutch box engaged by a lever, on a feathered shaft).
  • Parts (each has its own page): cone-clutch-cup-d50-12-5deg-bore8, cone-clutch-cone-d40-12-5deg-keyed8, keyed-shaft-8x100-key2, feather-key-2x2x30, linear-shafts-h6.
  • Brown's movement No. 47 (1868) shows it; this model is a Xem Studio design following his figure, every part at true size.

Cone friction clutch on a feathered shaft size chart

parametervalue
cone half-angle12.5°
coneØ40 → Ø32.91 × 16
wedge gain1/sin 12.5° = 4.6
shaftsØ8, key 2 × 2

Where the files are

Other publishers' files are linked, not hosted. "verify" = check the license at the link before commercial use.

Henry T. Brown (1868, public domain)Five Hundred and Seven Mechanical Movements — scan on archive.orgwebPublisher's page; dimensions are facts
507movements.comBrown's movement No. 47: figure, his text and an animationwebPublisher's page; dimensions are facts

Free files

★ Free files 1 parts. Xem Studio design: free to use, print and sell things from; not to be republished as files. Xem Studio Design License. index.json

cone-friction-clutch-mechanism-assemblyAssembled mechanism, all parts placed at one pose (STEP keeps each part separate)STEP · STL
Let your AI pull this. Add https://xemstudio.com/mcp to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP client (free, no account, one minute) and it can look up exact sizes, mating fits and free STEP/STL from every chat.
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Plain text: sheet.txt · JSON: /api/geometry?object=cone-friction-clutch-mechanism

Cone friction clutch on a feathered shaft, isometric render of a generated part
Render of cone-friction-clutch-mechanism-assembly from the free STEP; not to scale.

Fits with

Cone-clutch cup Ø50, 12.5° internal cone (Ø40 → Ø32.9 over 16 mm), Ø8 bore, isometric render of a generated part
Cone-clutch cup Ø50, 12.5° internal cone (Ø40 → Ø32.9 over 16 mm), Ø8 bore50.0×50.0×22.0 mm★ 1 file
Cone-clutch sliding cone Ø40, 12.5°, with Ø32 × 4 fork groove, keyed Ø8 bore, isometric render of a generated part
Cone-clutch sliding cone Ø40, 12.5°, with Ø32 × 4 fork groove, keyed Ø8 bore40.0×40.0×30.0 mm★ 1 file
Shaft Ø8 × 100 with a 2 × 1 keyway (60 mm), isometric render of a generated part
Shaft Ø8 × 100 with a 2 × 1 keyway (60 mm)8.0×8.0×100.0 mm★ 1 file
Feather key 2 × 2 × 30, isometric render of a generated part
Feather key 2 × 2 × 302.0×2.0×30.0 mm★ 1 file
Linear shafts Ø3 to Ø25 mm (h6), 100 to 1000 mm long, isometric render of a generated part
Linear shafts Ø3 to Ø25 mm (h6), 100 to 1000 mm long10 sizes★ 70 files

Questions

How does a cone clutch connect two shafts?

A cone sliding on a feather key on one shaft is pushed by a lever-worked fork into a matching cup on the other: the wedge multiplies the pressing force by 1/sin α at the cone, so a modest push gives a strong friction drive, and it can be engaged while running with some slip.