Pump

March 9, 1965 _P. barotz 3,172,364

PUMP Filed Oct. 1, 1962

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INVENTOR.

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Arroen/s

United States Patent Office

3,172,364

Patented Mar. 9, 1965

3,172,364 PUMP

Peter Barotz, Bronx, N.Y., assignor to P.G. Products Mfg. Co., Inc., a corporation of New York

Filed Oct. 1,1962, Ser. No. 227,411

Claim. (Cl. 103—87)

The present invention relates generally to pumps and in particular to centrifugal pumps.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a highly novel pump which is especially adapted for use in pumping liquids and which can be manufactured and sold at a relatively low cost.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a pump of the described type which is relatively simple in construction, containing a minimum number of parts, but which nevertheless is highly efficient in operation.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a pump of the described type which dispenses with the necessity for waterproof rotatable seals or washers and which nevertheless is not subject to leakage.

It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a pump of the described type having impeller vanes and having provision to prevent injury to the impeller vanes if they should strike a foreign object.

Other and further objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art from a consideration of the following specification taken in connection with the appended drawing.

In the drawing which illustrates the best mode presently contemplated for carrying out the invention:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation view of a pump pursuant to the present invention with portions broken away for purposes of illustration;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation view of the pump;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale taken on the line 3—3 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of one of the mangetic coupling disks or rings utilized in the present invention, the magnetic, poles thereof being indicated pictorially.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, there is shown a centrifugal pump 10 pursuant to the present invention. The pump 10 is provided with a housing 12 which is constituted by a cup-shaped casing 14 and a cover or closure member 16. The cover is secured to the casing by means of bolts 18 and nuts 20. The casing and cover are provided with the flanges 22 and 24 and with a gasket 25 interposed therebetween when the cover is secured to the casing to provide hermetic seal between the casing and the cover. The casing and the cover define an enclosed chamber 26 and the casing is provided with an inlet 28. and an outlet 30 which are in fluid flow communication with the chamber.

Pursuant to a highly novel feature of the present invention, the cover 16 is provided with a wall 32 having a centrally disposed bushing portion 34. A fixed shaft 36 is mounted by the bushing 34. It will be understood that the shaft 36 may be integral with the bushing 34 or the shaft 36 may be force fit into the bushing 34. In either case, the junction of the shaft 36 to the bushing 34 constitutes a hermetic seal so as to prevent fluid leakage through the bushing 34 whereby to obviate the necessity for fluid seal means between the fixed shaft and the bushing. It will be noted that the fixed shaft 36 extend through the wall 32 thereof so that one end 38 of the shaft is disposed within the chamber 26 and the other end 40 thereof is disposed outwardly of the cover 16.

At the inner end 38 thereof within the chamber 26, the stationary shaft 36 mounts a hollow driven shaft 42 which is seated between a retainer 44 secured to the adjacent free end surface of end 38 by means of a bolt 46 and the inner surface of the bushing 34. It will be under10 stood that the driven shaft 42 is mounted for rotary movement on the stationary shaft 36. The driven shaft mounts for movement therewith an impeller 48. The impeller 48 is formed of suitable elastomeric or resilient material, preferably a suitable type of rubber, and is provided with integral pump vanes 50. In additon to the impeller 48, the driven shaft 42 also mounts for movement therewith an armature or mounting member 52 formed of suitable magnetically permeable material, preferably steel. The retainer place 52 mounts a permanent ceramic ring or disk magnet 54. Said plate serves to strengthen the magnetic flux.

At the end 40 thereof the fixed shaft 36 months a sleeve bearing 56 which is rotatable relative to said shaft. It will be understood that the sleeve bearing 56 constitutes a drive shaft which is free to rotate on or about the fixed shaft 36. A connecting sleeve 58 is mounted on and secured to the drive shaft 56. The connecting sleeve 58 interconnects a drive member or pulley 60 and a mounting or retainer plate 62 which is similar to the retainer plate 52. The retainer plate 62 also mounts a disk or permanent ring magnet 64 which is similar to the ring magnet 54. A securing element 66 interconnects the pulley 60 and the connecting sleeve 58 and secures the latter to the drive shaft 56. Consequently, it will be apparent that the pulley and the retainer plate 62 provided with the ring magnet 64 rotate as a unit on the drive shaft and with the drive shaft 56 on the stationary shaft 36.

The magnetic disks 54 and 64 constitute magnetic means for coupling the drive shaft 56 to the driven shaft 42. Said magnets are preferably formed of a material having very high permanent coercive force and are maintained in closely spaced relation to the wall portion 32 of the cover 16 and to each other by means of the bushing portion 34 of the wall 32. The ring magnets 54 and 64 are of conventional construction and each has a series of alternating magnetic poles formed on its surface as best illustrated in FIGURE 4. In this connection, it will be understood that the steel retaining plates or armatures 52 and 62 serve to complete and strengthen the magnetic flux paths between the spaced magnetic disks so as to increase the magnetic coupling action therebetween.

It will be understood that the drive member or pully 60 is operated by a suitable drive motor which is not illustrated. The rotation of the pulley 60 by the drive motor results in the rotation of the drive shaft 56 on the fixed shaft 40. Said rotation of the drive shaft 56 causes the rotation of the retaining plate 62 which is secured thereto, as previously described so as to effect the rotation of the ring magnet 64. Since the ring magnet 64 is magnetically coupled to the ring magnet 54, rotation of the former results in rotation of the latter. The rotation of the ring magnet 54 causes the rotation of the retaining plate 52 on which it is mounted and results in the rotation of the driven shaft 42, to which the retaining plate 52 is secured, about the fixed shaft 36. This causes rotation of the impeller member 48 within the chamber 26 as indicated by the arrow 68 in FIGURE 1. Water or other fluid enters inlet 28, as indicated by arrowhead 70, either by gravity or suction, depending upon the pump type. Rotation of the impeller 48 causes the water or other fluid to flow through the chamber 26 and to be impelled out through the outlet 30, as indicated by the arrowhead 72, it being apparent that the rotation of the impeller member within the chamber is effective to produce a pumping action to draw liquid out of the housing 12.

As previously indicated, the impeller member 48 and its vanes 50 are formed of a suitable material such as rubber so that the vanes will not be damaged in the event that they should strike any foreign substance which is

3,172,364 drawn into the chamber 26. Moreover, the magnetic coupling between the magnetic disks 54 and 64 provides a clutch like action in the event that the impeller should strike a foreign object with the highly desirable result that if this event should occur there will be no damage either to the impeller or to either of the shafts 42 and 56 in view of the fact that these shafts are not physically coupled together but they are magnetically coupled together as previously described. In addition, due to the fact that both of the rotary shafts are magnetically coupled together, the shaft 36 is a stationary shaft so that when either force fit into the bearing 34 or when formed integrally therewith, there can be no leakage or seepage of fluid between the shaft 36 and the bearing 34 and as a result the need for waterproof washers or seals about the shaft 36 is eliminated.

It will be noted that ring magnet 54 is provided with a central opening 74 which exposes central portion 76 of mounting plate 52. Similarly, ring magnet 64 is provided with a central opening 78 which exposes a central portion 80 of mounting plate 62. Consequently, the end 82 of bushing 34 extends through opening 74 in ring magnet 54 and is in contact with the exposed surface 76 of mounting plate 52. Similarly, the end 84 of bushing 34 extends through opening 78 in ring magnet 64 and is in contact with the exposed surface 80 of mounting plate 62. As a result, the ring magnets are retained in closely spaced relation with reference to wall 32 and to each other. Furthermore,· bushing face 82 provides a bearing means for hollow shaft 42 which bears against it, and bushing face 84 provides a bearing means for hollow shaft 56 which bears against it.

Although a single embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated and described in detail, it will be understood that various changes and modifications may be made therein without, however, departing from the scope thereof as set forth in the appended claim.