Kinematics and jockeying of an eccentric chainwheel drive

A chain drive incorporating an eccentric driving sprocket and a concentric driven sprocket is analysed with regard to the output-to-input kinematical relationships and the feasibility of the satisfactory jockeying of the chain on the return span. The output motion is found to have only a low level of harmonic impurity when the input is of constant velocity.

Three methods of jockeying are considered and all are shown to be feasible. Mathematical expressions are derived for the optimum values of the jockey parameters and the relative characteristics are summarised in a table.