An anti-backlash two-part shaft coupling with interlocking elastically averaged teeth

A new family of compliant and self-locking tapered torsional couplings have been developed as an alternate to spline-type couplings. The couplings use designed compliance to ensure constant contact between mating beam-like teeth. The tip of one tooth is larger, but tapered, so that when it mates at the base of the opposed tooth, it deflects radially. The taper is self-locking to prevent radial deflection under torsional load. This eliminates backlash between parts while maintaining a relatively high torsional stiffness. The large number of mating teeth elastically average errors in the teeth.