A tensioning rail for an endless drive means, in particular for a chain drive of an internal combustion engine, comprises a support body and a sliding body arranged on the support body and having a sliding surface for contacting the endless drive means as well as at least one lubricant opening for wetting the sliding surface with lubricant. A press-on area provided on the support body and used for contacting a tensioning device has an inflow opening for the lubricant. A feed passage extending from the inflow opening through the support body and a lubricant passage extending in the longitudinal direction of the support body allow the supply of lubricant to the at least one lubricant opening.

Methods and systems are provided for a tensioning arm. In one example, the tensioning arm comprises a plurality of carbon fibers with electrically conductive fibers arranged therein configured to supply current to a pair of bushings arranged distally to one another to heat lubricant arranged proximally thereto in response to a temperature of the tensioning arm being less than or equal to a threshold temperature.

An endless band drive system having a variable center distance between the drive pulley and the driven pulley also has a rotatable control shaft and an endless band guide, where the guide is positioned by the rotatable control shaft for maintaining a slackless endless band with change of pulley center distance. Rotation of the control shaft pivots the endless band guide thereby maintaining a slackless endless band with change of the pulley center distance. Preferably, the rotatable control shaft also provides means for adjusting the center distance between the drive pulley and the driven pulley. The present invention provides a slackless endless band system for a variable compression ratio engine having a variable center distance between the drive pulley mounted on the crankshaft and the driven pulley mounted on the camshaft. The system provides slackless operation of the endless band at two or more compression ratio values.

A product for applying tension is disclosed. The product may include a block with a first bore opening into to the block. A body may be provided having a second bore substantially larger in diameter than the first bore. The body may be positioned against the block so that the first bore is open to the second bore. The body may have a passage for providing fluid to a pressure chamber from the second bore. The passage may be arranged to open to the second bore and form a tangent to the second bore. Fluid may flow from the first bore to the pressure chamber through the second bore and the passage substantially unimpeded. Fluid flow is impeded from the passage to the first bore as a result of the configuration of the first bore, second bore and passage.

A contact guard for a belt drive, in which a filling space formed between two pulleys and the belt is filled by a filling body, which includes two sub-bodies that can be moved relative to one another.

A slide rail for a belt-drive transmission includes a slide channel and a pivoting receptacle. The slide channel includes a first slide surface for damping contact on a strand of a belt of the belt-drive transmission, a second slide surface for damping contact on the strand, antagonistic to the first slide surface, and a channel height formed by the first slide surface and the second slide surface. The pivoting receptacle is arranged for pivoting support of the slide rail on a pivoting means of the belt-drive transmission. A one of the first slide surface or the second slide surface includes an elevation extending toward the belt such that the one of the first slide surface or the second slide surface is displaced over a profile along a longitudinal direction in a transversal direction.

An object is to provide a guide shoe having a simple structure and suppressing a significant shift in pitch line while reducing friction losses and preventing possible noise. In a guide shoe having a shoe surface on which a traveling chain is guided, the shoe surface includes a plate guide surface which is formed on an upstream side of the shoe surface in a shoe longitudinal direction and on which only chain plates are slidably guided, a guiding protruding portion which is formed on a downstream side of the plate guide surface and on which only a chain roller or a chain bush is guided, and a continuously transitioning protruding portion that smoothly connects the plate guide surface and the guiding protruding surface together. Plate escaping portions are formed on opposite sides across the guiding protruding portion in a shoe width direction to avoid contact with the chain plates.

An object of the present invention is to provide a tensioner lever that allows for reduction of the number of components and the weight, while being able to prevent vibration and noise during the running of the chain. The tensioner lever according to the present invention is configured such that a lever body rotatably supported on an attachment surface is urged to rotate toward the chain by the resilient force of a coil spring. The coil spring includes a pressing arm extending from one end of a helical part and contacting the lever body, and a support arm extending from another end of the helical part and supported by the attachment surface. The lever body includes an engagement portion configured to allow the support arm of the coil spring to be hooked thereon by resilient deformation, and to removably engage therewith by rebound resilience of the coil spring.

A chain drive for an internal combustion engine comprises a driving sprocket and at least one driven sprocket, a drive chain coupling the sprockets to each other, and at least one guide rail and/or one tensioning rail for guiding and/or tensioning the drive chain. At least the guide rail and/or the tensioning rail comprises at least two slide elements, arranged at a non-guided distance from one another for contacting the drive chain, such that at least two slide elements are arranged in at least one span of the chain drive. In at least one span, the ratio of guided chain length to non-guided chain length is smaller than 1. Such a chain drive is to be improved with respect to its vibration characteristics. To this end, the sum of the two non-guided lengths of the drive chain between a slide element and the respective nearest sprocket is, in at least one span, which is in contact with a guide rail and/or a tensioning rail with at least two slide elements arranged at a non-guided distance from one another, smaller than 0.5 times the total length of the respective span.

A chain guide and tensioning apparatus (10) for reducing friction and heat generated by said chain guide and tensioning apparatus (10) engaging a driven chain (16). A guide body (12) has an engagement surface (26) and a first aperture (54) extending through the guide body (12) and opening into the engagement surface (26). A guide face (14) at least partially overlays the engagement surface (26) and has a contact surface (44) configured to guide and tension the driven chain (16). A first recessed groove (46) is formed on the contact surface (44) and is in communication with at least one second aperture (48) extending through the guide face (14). The first aperture (54) is adaptable to receive and communicate oil from an oil source to the second aperture (48) and the first recessed groove (46) for reducing friction and heat from guiding and tensioning the driven chain (16).