JPS6376992A - Grease applicator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To effect application of grease in uniform thickness by forming a grease application head with a plurality of grease discharging openings in a dispersed manner. CONSTITUTION:A grease application head 11 is formed with a plurality of grease discharging openings 16 in a dispersed manner. This permits a predetermined amount of grease intermittently discharged through the discharge openings 16 by a grease supply mechanism to spread over the area other than the grease discharging openings 16. Therefore, grease can be applied in uniform thickness to a surface of a work 2 to be coated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Object of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a grease applicator for applying grease to a surface of a workpiece.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, slip rings attached to steering wheels of automobiles, etc. as relays for horns, etc.
Grease is applied to the sliding surface of the contact pin provided on the column side to prevent wear of the slip ring itself due to sliding contact and to reduce sliding contact noise.

Conventionally, this grease application work has been done by manually applying grease to each slip ring, by moving a grease-applied brush, or by fixing the brush and applying grease to the workpiece (slip ring). ) side was mechanically moved to apply grease.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, when applying grease using these methods, there are the following problems.

That is, when an operator manually applies grease, the thickness of the grease film differs depending on the individual, so the amount of grease applied varies from product to product.

Further, the work is complicated and troublesome, and the work cannot be automated. Furthermore, when applying grease mechanically using a greased brush, although it can be automated, it is not possible to continuously supply grease to the brush, so it is necessary to supply grease to the brush every few times. Must be. Even in this case, the amount of grease applied gradually decreases immediately after the grease is supplied and after several times, and the thickness of the grease film varies.

Furthermore, since the brush and workpiece (slip ring) must be moved, the entire device needs to be large-scale, resulting in high equipment costs.

Structure of the Invention (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the present invention includes a grease application head that comes into contact with the surface to be coated of a workpiece, and a grease application head that supplies grease to the grease application head. The grease application device includes a grease supply mechanism, and the grease application head is provided with a plurality of distributed discharge holes for discharging the grease.

(Function) Since the grease application head is provided with a plurality of distributed discharge holes, a certain amount of grease intermittently discharged from the discharge holes by the grease supply mechanism spreads to areas other than the grease discharge holes. .

When a workpiece is brought into contact with the grease application head covered with this grease, the grease is applied to a uniform thickness on the surface of the workpiece.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example in which the present invention is embodied in a grease applicator for applying grease to a slip ring attached to a steering wheel of an automobile will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 9.

First, the steering wheel to which grease is applied by this grease application device will be explained.

As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, this steering wheel includes a lower cover 1 that covers a boss (not shown) and a boss plate, and spoke parts 4 extending in a V-shape from the boss part.
and an annular ring portion 3 fixed to the tips of the spoke portions 4. A slip ring 2 having a ring shape as a whole is fixed to the back surface of the lower cover 1 (the front side is shown in FIG. 8) with screws 2a, and grease G is applied to substantially the entire surface with a uniform thickness. There is.

Next, a grease application device for applying grease G to this slip ring 2 will be explained.

As shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, a standing wall member 6 is erected on the right end of the upper surface of the frame 5, and the standing wall member 6 has a sliding member 7 that can slide horizontally on the upper surface of the frame 5. , and a hydraulic cylinder 8 fixed below. A movable member 9 formed in a plate shape is provided on the side of the vertical wall member 6 (the left side is shown in FIG. 4) so as to be movable along dovetail-shaped guide members 10 provided on both sides thereof. A plate-shaped protruding member 9a is erected at the end of the moving member 9 on the sliding member 7 side. A rod 8a extending from the hydraulic cylinder 8 and one end of the sliding member 7 are fixed to the protruding member 9a, and the vertical wall member 6 of the sliding member 7
Nands 7a are fixed on both sides of the slide member 7 to restrict the movement distance of the sliding member 7. Therefore, as the rod 8a moves back and forth, the movable member 9 and the sliding member 7 move, and the rod 8a moves back and forth. The moving distance of the moving member 9 is regulated by a.

The movable member 9 includes two shower heads 11 as grease application heads having two different diameters configured as follows.
is installed.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, this shower head 11 includes a substantially cylindrical head portion 12 having an upper surface 12a, and a substantially cylindrical head support fitted to the lower end of the head portion 12. It consists of 13. A grease reservoir S filled with grease G is formed inside these, and the moving member 9 is connected to the head support 13.
is fixed.

A locking protrusion 1 is provided at the center of the upper surface 12a of the head portion 12.
2b stands upright and is inserted into and locked into a steering shaft hole of a boss (not shown) of the steering wheel.

An annular protrusion 14 having a width such that the slip ring 2 contacts is formed protruding from the outer periphery of the upper surface 12a of the head portion 12, and the inner and outer circumferential edges of the protrusion 14 have a height of 0.5 mm.
Second protrusions 15 each having a length of mm are formed to protrude. Grease discharge holes 16 having a diameter of 0681 mm are provided in two rows at equal intervals on the entire circumference between the projections 15 of the two cylinders of the projection 14, and these two rows are arranged in a staggered manner. Therefore, when a predetermined amount of grease G is discharged from this grease discharge hole 16 by a metering valve 18, which will be described later, the grease G is always uniform on any part of the upper surface of the protrusion 14 between the protrusion 15 of the two cylinders. , and the film thickness of the grease G is spread out to be slightly higher than the second protrusion 15.

A communication hole 17 communicating with the storage chamber S is formed at the lower end of the head support 13, and a conduit 19 of a grease supply mechanism described below is connected to the communication hole 17.

That is, as shown in FIG. 7, a metering valve 18 that always sends out a predetermined amount of grease G regardless of the supply amount is connected to the base end of the conduit 190 whose tip is connected to the communication hole 17.

A plunger pump 22 that pumps out a predetermined amount of grease G from a grease tank 20 is connected to the metering valve 18 via a conduit 19 . Therefore, when a certain amount of grease G is delivered from the grease tank 20 by the plunger pump 22, it is adjusted to a predetermined amount by the metering valve 18, and only this predetermined amount is delivered to the storage chamber S of the shower head 11. ing.

A positioning member 24 is provided on the upper surface of both guide members 10 to abut against the outer circumferential end 1a of the bottom surface of the lower cover 1 of the steering wheel to regulate the positions of the slip ring 2 and the shower head 11.

On one side of the frame 5, a portion between the ring portion 3 and the spoke portions 4 when the steering wheel is placed is provided with a telescopic member 25 which is movable up and down by an air cylinder (not shown) or the like. A clamp member 26 having an inverted shape is attached to the extensible member 2 at its tip.
It is rotatably mounted around 5 as a rotation axis.

On both sides of the frame 5, plate-shaped support members 27 (only one of which is shown in FIG. 4) that supports a part of the ring portion 3 of the steering wheel are vertically supported by rods 28a of a cylinder 28 attached to the lower part of the plate-shaped support members 27 (only one of which is shown in FIG. 4). movably mounted.

Although not shown, a sensor member is attached to the support member 27 to identify the diameter of the slip ring using the steering wheel, and inside the frame 5 there are sensors that control the operation of the shower head 11 and various cylinders. A control unit that does not operate is provided.

Next, the functions and effects when a steering wheel is placed on the grease applicator configured as described above will be explained.

First, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the support member 27
Place the steering wheel on top.

Then, since this support member 27 is provided with a sensor member that identifies the diameter of the slip ring 2 of the steering wheel, this sensor member can be used to adjust the diameter of the slip ring 2 to the two showers by changing the forward/backward length of the cylinder 80 rod 8a. 11 to a shower head corresponding to the diameter of the slip ring 2 to a position opposite to the steering wheel. When this movement stops, the telescopic member 25 extends upward, rotates the clamp member 26 at its tip by 90 degrees, and stops at a position opposing the center part of the steering wheel (boss plate part not shown). , the telescopic member 25 is contracted downward to immovably press the boss plate portion of the steering wheel.

When the steering wheel is fixed to the support member 27 in this way, the support member 27 is moved downward as the telescopic member 25 is lowered by contracting the rod 28a, and furthermore, the outer peripheral end 1a of the lower cover 1 is fixed to the position. The slip ring 2 is fixed to the member 24, and both edges of the surface of the slip ring 2 are brought into contact with the second protrusion 15 of the protrusion 14.

At this time, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the protrusion 14
A predetermined amount of grease G measured by the metering valve 18 is discharged from the plurality of grease discharge holes 16 provided in the ridges 16, and the grease G is uniformly thick and distributed on any part of the upper surface of the ridge 14 between the second ridges 15. , since the thickness of the grease G is slightly higher than that of the second protrusion 15, the slip ring 2 comes into contact with the grease G covering between the second protrusions 15, and this grease G is applied to the slip ring. It is applied to substantially the entire surface of 2 with a uniform thickness.

Thereafter, when the support member 27 is raised, a steering wheel in which grease G is applied to substantially the entire surface of the slip ring 2 is formed.

By repeating the above steps, a plurality of steering wheels are sequentially greased.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the grease G can be applied to substantially the entire surface of the slip ring 2 with a uniform thickness, and the metering valve 18 can control the discharge amount of the grease G used for one application operation. Therefore, the amount of grease G used in one grease application operation can be reduced.

Since the grease discharge holes 16 are arranged in two rows in a staggered manner, it is possible to uniformly apply grease to the entire surface of the slip ring 2.

Further, since the two second protrusions 15 are provided at both ends of the protrusion 14, the grease G can be prevented from protruding outside from the protrusion 14.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments,
For example, it is also possible to make changes as shown below.

(1) In the above embodiment, the grease discharge holes 16 are arranged in two rows in a staggered pattern, but they may be arranged in just one row.

(2) Although the above-mentioned grease application device is used as a general-purpose device using two shower heads 1 with different diameters, it may be used as a dedicated device with one shower head 11.

(3) In this embodiment, the shower head 11 is fixed and the slip ring 2 is moved, but the slip ring 2 may be fixed and the shower head 11 is moved.

(4) In the embodiment described above, the second protrusion 15 was provided on the inner and outer peripheral edges of the protrusion 14 so that the grease G would not protrude beyond the protrusion 14, but it is not necessary to provide it.

Effects of the Invention As detailed above, the apparatus of the present invention has an excellent effect in that it can be constructed compactly and can always automatically apply grease to the surface of the work to be coated to a uniform thickness.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 9 show an embodiment embodying the present invention,
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the shower head, Fig. 2 is a plan view of the shower head, Fig. 3 is a partial sectional view showing a state in which the slip ring is brought into contact with the shower head, and Fig. 4 is a partial sectional view showing the state in which the slip ring is brought into contact with the shower head. FIG. 5 is a plan view of FIG. 4, FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view of FIG. 5, FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the grease supply mechanism, and FIG. 8 is a rear view of the steering wheel. 9 are longitudinal sectional views showing the slip ring portion of FIG. 8. 2... Workpiece 11... Grease application head 16.
... Grease discharge hole 18 ... Metering valve 20 ... Grease tank 22 ...
Plunger pump G...Grease patent applicant
Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney On 1) Hironobu Figure 2, 11 Figure 7 Figure 8

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A grease application head (11) that comes into contact with the surface to be coated of the workpiece (2), and a grease supply mechanism that supplies grease (G) to the grease application head (11). 18, 20
, 22), wherein the grease application head (11) is provided with a plurality of distributed discharge holes (16) for discharging the grease (G). Characteristic grease applicator. 2. The grease application device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of discharge holes (16) are provided in two rows at equal intervals, and the two rows are arranged in a staggered manner. .