Abstract: A rotary actuator for opening and closing a valve, damper or linkage for industrial application, the actuator including a housing having a motor mounted thereon for driving a speed reduction gear train to reduce the speed of the motor, the rotary motion of the output shaft of the speed reduction gearing to linear motion against the force of a biasing spring to convert the linear motion of the converting motion to rotary motion of the output shaft.

Abstract: A cable reel apparatus includes a rotatably mounted cable spool in a fixed support. A locking pin is provided on the support and is engageable with the spool to hold the spool and cable hook-up in a fixed position. A gear unit connected to the support includes a spool gear rotatably mounted on a spool shaft and a spring gear coupled to a spring motor. Friction drive discs are located to the opposite sides of the spol gear and coupling discs abut the drive discs. The coupling discs are connected to the spool shaft. "Belleville" disc springs are mounted in abutting engagement with the outer coupling discs and the nut is threaded on the shaft to collapse the springs onto the coupling discs to increase the spring force and lock the gear to the shaft. The nut may be released to reduce the spring force and effectively decouple the shaft and gear, thereby permitting controlled release of the tension in the spring drive means.