West Coast Drive: Output "shifting" shaft

[Adam.garcia]

I am currently in the midst of designing a 2 Speed Dog Shifting Gearbox. My question is regarding the elipse cutout for the dog gear to slide. As seen here, 254 uses a center distance of .49", which makes sense. It seems to me because they are using a 1/2" Stroke Piston. One question that arises is, "Why do they make it .49" instead of .5"?

But my real question is with regards to 973's output shaft. Instead of using a center distance of somewhere around .5", they have a center distance of .39. Why would they use that center distance, if the stroke is 1/2 an inch?

Wouldn't that cause some sort of jamming?

Thanks,

Adam

DISCLAIMER: I do not have much experience with Pneumatics, so I'll leave it up to the CD community for answers.