Fastener tool for fastening a transmission shaft, and a balancing bench including such a tool

1. A fastener tool for fastening a transmission shaft, the fastener tool being arranged at a free end of said transmission shaft, and said fastener tool being provided with centering means for centering the transmission shaft and with drive means for driving said transmission shaft in rotation, said centering means being deformable by centrifugal forces so as to come into contact with said transmission shaft as from a determined speed of rotation of said fastener tool about its axis of rotation.

2. A fastener tool according to claim 1 , wherein said determined speed of rotation lies in the range from 2500 rpm to 6000 rpm.

3. A fastener tool according to claim 1 , wherein said fastener tool is a rim.

4. A fastener tool according to claim 1 , wherein said drive means are provided with at least one finger that co-operates with a bore formed in said transmission shaft in order to drive said transmission shaft in rotation about said axis of rotation.

5. A fastener tool according to claim 4 , wherein said bore presents a dimension that is greater than the corresponding dimension of the finger so that said transmission shaft is capable of moving radially relative to a radius of said finger.

6. A fastener tool according to claim 4 , wherein said drive means has two fingers arranged symmetrically about said axis of rotation.

7. A fastener tool according to claim 4 , wherein said drive means comprises a cylindrical end plate secured to said centering means, said at least one finger being fastened to said end plate.

8. A fastener tool according to claim 1 , wherein said centering means are arranged inside the transmission shaft.

9. A fastener tool according to claim 8 , wherein said centering means comprise at least two partially-through slots each opening out into an outer peripheral face of said centering means.

10. A fastener tool according to claim 9 , wherein said centering means are circular in profile and each slot is disposed along a chord of said profile, and wherein said slots are symmetrical in pairs about the center of said profile.

11. A fastener tool according to claim 9 , wherein said slots are uniformly distributed around said outer peripheral face of said centering means.

12. A fastener tool according to claim 8 , wherein said centering means comprise a hollow cylinder partially cut through radially so as to present a plurality of flyweights.

13. A fastener tool according to claim 12 , wherein said cylinder has radial grooves that open out in a single outer face of said centering means.

14. A fastener tool according to claim 12 , wherein said centering means are provided with an inner zone having a first inside diameter and secured to drive means, said centering means being provided with an outer zone having a second inside diameter and secured to said inner zone, said second diameter being smaller than said first diameter.

15. A fastener tool according to claim 1 , wherein said centering means are arranged outside said transmission shaft.

16. A balancing bench for balancing a transmission shaft having first and second free ends, said balancing bench including balancing means for informing an operator whether said transmission shaft is well balanced, wherein the balancing bench includes two fastener tools according to claim 1 that are driven by a motion generator to set said transmission shaft into rotation, each fastener tool being arranged at a free end of said transmission shaft.

17. A fastener tool for fastening a transmission shaft, the fastener tool being arranged at a free end of said transmission shaft, and said fastener tool being provided with centering means for centering the transmission shaft and with drive means for driving said transmission shaft in rotation, said centering means being deformable by centrifugal forces so as to come into contact with said transmission shaft as from a determined speed of rotation of said fastener tool about its axis of rotation, wherein said centering means are arranged outside said transmission shaft, wherein said centering means comprise a ring of constant thickness including at least two flexible blades that are uniformly distributed relative to each other in the outer periphery of the ring.

18. A fastener tool according to claim 17 , wherein said centering means include first and second U-shaped openings for defining each flexible blade, the concave sides of the first and second U-shaped openings facing each other.

19. A fastener tool according to claim 18 , wherein the first opening is longer than said second opening.

20. A fastener tool for fastening a transmission shaft, the fastener tool being arranged at a free end of the transmission shaft, the fastener tool comprising:

a ring of constant thickness for centering the transmission shaft; and

a driver cooperating with the ring for driving the transmission shaft in rotation;

the ring being deformable by centrifugal forces so as to come into contact with the transmission shaft as from a determined speed of rotation of the fastener tool about its axis of rotation, wherein the ring is arranged outside the transmission shaft and includes at least two flexible blades that are uniformly distributed relative to each other in the outer periphery of the ring.

21. A fastener tool for fastening a transmission shaft, the fastener tool being arranged at a free end of the transmission shaft, the fastener tool comprising:

centering means for centering the transmission shaft; and

drive means for driving the transmission shaft in rotation, the centering means deformable by centrifugal forces so as to come into contact with the transmission shaft as from a determined speed of rotation of the fastener tool about its axis of rotation, wherein the drive means are provided with at least one finger that co-operates with a bore in the transmission shaft to enable the transmission shaft to be driven in rotation about the axis of rotation.