JP2002061690A - Rubber bush and method of assembling it - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a rubber bush to be easily recycled. SOLUTION: This rubber bush 1 is constituted of a rubber elastic unit 6 having a through hole 7 of axial line direction in the center part and a pair of inner cylinders 8, 9 fitted from both sides into this through hole 7. The rubber elastic unit 6 and the inner cylinders 8, 9 are not bonded and made respectively separately independent. Each inner cylinder 8, 9 is provided with a flange 10, 11 respectively in the outer end part, when a shaft member 5 is inserted to an inner side of the inner cylinder 8, 9 to tighten a nut 12 to this shaft member 5 for assembly of the rubber bush 1, it compresses the rubber elastic unit 6 in the axial line direction.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rubber bush used for automobile suspensions and the like, and a method for assembling the rubber bush.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a suspension of an automobile, a link or an arm disposed between a wheel and a vehicle body is provided so that relative rotation is allowed and vibration transmitted from the wheel to the vehicle body is absorbed. A rubber bush is often used for the connecting portion. The rubber bush is mounted, for example, between an annular member provided at an end of the suspension arm and a shaft member inserted through a bracket provided on the vehicle body. The shaft member is provided with a screw portion, and the nut is fastened to the screw portion so that the shaft member can be attached to the bracket.

[0003] Conventional rubber bushes are generally formed by vulcanizing and bonding a cylindrical rubber elastic body to the outer periphery of a metal inner cylinder. Further, there is a type in which a metal outer cylinder is provided on the outer periphery of the rubber elastic body. In this case, however, the outer cylinder and the rubber elastic body are vulcanized and bonded. The shaft member is inserted inside the inner cylinder. Then, the rubber elastic body (and the outer cylinder) is fitted inside the annular member.

[0004]

By the way, in recent years, from the viewpoint of environmental protection, it has been required to recycle each part of an automobile. For this purpose, it is necessary that each component can be easily separated for each material. However, in the rubber bush in which the rubber elastic body and the metal inner and outer cylinders are vulcanized and bonded as described above, the metal part and the rubber part cannot be easily separated.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a rubber bush which can be easily separated for each material and can be easily recycled. Another object of the present invention is to provide an assembling method in which such a rubber bush is securely fixed.

[0006]

In order to achieve this object, in the present invention, the rubber elastic body and the inner cylinder are separated, and they are fixed to each other by assembling. That is, the rubber bush according to the present invention includes a cylindrical rubber elastic body having an axial through hole at a central portion, and a pair of inner cylinders fitted into the through holes of the rubber elastic body from both sides. Each of the inner cylinders has a flange at the outer end, and the sum of the lengths from the inner surface of the flange to the inner end of each inner cylinder is smaller than the axial length of the through hole in the natural state of the rubber elastic body. It is characterized by being. The rubber elastic body is fitted inside the annular member, and the shaft member is inserted inside the pair of inner cylinders.

[0007] The rubber bush having such a structure is firstly provided.
The rubber elastic body is fitted inside the annular member, and then
After inserting a pair of inner cylinders into the through holes of the rubber elastic body from both sides of the through holes such that the flanges thereof are located outside, the shaft member is inserted through the inner cylinders. Then, it is assembled by tightening a nut to the threaded portion of the shaft member.

When the rubber bush is assembled in this manner, when the nut is tightened to the shaft member, the rubber elastic body is compressed in the axial direction by the fastening force of the nut. Then, the inner surface of the rubber elastic body is pressed against the outer surface of the inner cylinder by the compression, and the rubber elastic body and the inner cylinder are fixed to each other so that their relative rotation is prevented. Therefore,
The same operation as the conventional rubber bush in which the rubber elastic body and the inner cylinder are vulcanized and bonded can be obtained. Moreover, the durability of the rubber elastic body is increased by being compressed in the axial direction.

When replacing the rubber bush, the nut may be removed from the shaft member, the shaft member may be removed, and a pair of inner cylinders may be further removed from the rubber elastic body. Since the inner cylinder and the rubber elastic body are not bonded,
Its removal is easy. Then, the rubber elastic body and the inner cylinder made of another material are separated from each other, so that the recycling is facilitated.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an example of a rubber bush according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a state in which the rubber bush is assembled, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a state before the rubber bush is assembled. As is clear from FIG. 1, the rubber bush 1 includes an annular member 3 integrally provided at an end of a suspension arm 2 connected to a wheel side,
It is mounted between a pair of brackets 4 and 4 provided on the vehicle body and a shaft member 5 attached to the bracket. The rubber bush 1 has a cylindrical rubber elastic body 6 fitted inside the annular member 3 and an axial through hole 7 formed at the center of the rubber elastic body 6 from both sides of the rubber elastic body 6. And a pair of metal inner cylinders 8 and 9 to be fitted. A flange 1 is provided at the outer end of each of the inner cylinders 8 and 9.
0 and 11 are provided.

As shown in FIG. 2, the shaft member 5 is a bolt having a long shaft portion 5a, and a screw portion 5b is provided at one end thereof, and a nut 1 is attached to the screw portion 5b.
2 is screwed. In addition, a concave portion 6 a is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical rubber elastic body 6, and the concave portion 6 a is fitted inside the annular member 3.

The sum L1 + L2 of the length L1 from the inner surface of the flange 10 of one inner cylinder 8 to its inner end and the length L2 from the inner surface of the flange 11 of the other inner cylinder 9 to its inner end is in a natural state. At this time, that is, it is smaller than the axial length L of the through hole 7 of the rubber elastic body 6 in a state before the assembly.

When assembling the rubber bush 1, first, the rubber elastic body 6 is fitted inside the annular member 3 so that the annular member 3 is located in the concave portion 6a on the outer peripheral surface thereof. Then, a pair of inner cylinders 8 and 9 are inserted into the through hole 7 of the rubber elastic body 6 from both sides of the through hole 7 such that the respective flanges 10 and 11 are located outside the rubber elastic body 6. Fit it. As described above, the sum L1 + of the length from the inner surface to the inner end of the flanges 10, 11 of the inner cylinders 8, 9 is described.
Since L2 is smaller than the length L of the through hole 7 of the rubber elastic body 6, a gap is formed between the inner ends of the inner cylinders 8 and 9 in that state.

Next, the rubber bush 1 in that state
Is positioned between the pair of brackets 4, 4, and the shaft member 5 is inserted into the bolt insertion holes provided in the brackets 4, 4 and inside the pair of inner cylinders 8, 9. Then, the nut 12 is screwed into the screw portion 5b of the shaft member 5 and tightened. Then, the brackets 4, 4 are brought closer to each other, whereby the respective inner cylinders 8, 9 are pressed from both sides. Thus, the rubber elastic body 6 is compressed in the axial direction until the inner ends of the inner cylinders 8 and 9 come into contact with each other.

When the rubber elastic body 6 is compressed in the axial direction in this way, the outer peripheral surface of the concave portion 6a of the rubber elastic body 6 comes into close contact with the inner peripheral surface of the annular member 3, and the inner peripheral surface of the through hole 7 becomes It comes into close contact with the outer peripheral surfaces of the inner cylinders 8 and 9. Therefore, even when the suspension arm 2 rotates with respect to the vehicle body, relative rotation between the annular member 3 and the inner cylinders 8 and 9 and the rubber elastic body 6 does not occur. Wear is prevented. Further, the durability of the rubber elastic body 6 is increased by being compressed. In order to more reliably prevent the relative rotation between the inner cylinders 8, 9 and the rubber elastic body 6, the outer peripheral surfaces of the inner cylinders 8, 9 have a high surface roughness, It is desirable to prevent slippage by forming a large number of narrow grooves in the axial direction.

When the rubber elastic body 6 is aged,
The nut 12 is loosened, the shaft member 5 is pulled out, and the rubber bush 1 is moved to a position away from between the brackets 4 and 4. Then, after extracting the inner cylinders 8 and 9 from the rubber elastic body 6, the rubber elastic body 6 is removed from the annular member 3. At this time, since the rubber elastic body 6 and the inner cylinders 8 and 9 are not bonded to each other, the rubber elastic body 6 can be easily removed.
Since the rubber elastic body 6 and the metal inner cylinders 8 and 9 are completely separated by the removal, it is easy to separately recycle them.

In the above description, each of the inner cylinders 8 and 9 is made of metal. However, when the inner cylinders 8 and 9 are made of another material such as hard resin. The present invention can also be applied to It is desirable that the outer diameter of the concave portion 6a of the rubber elastic body 6 be larger than the inner diameter of the annular member 3 so that the rubber elastic body 6 is compressed in the radial direction at the time of mounting. Furthermore, the present invention can be applied not only to rubber bushes for automobile suspensions but also to other rubber bushes.

[0018]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, since the rubber bush is formed without the vulcanization bonding between the rubber elastic body and the inner cylinder, the separation is extremely easy. And can be easily recycled. Also, since the rubber elastic body is compressed using the fastening force at the time of assembly, despite the fact that the rubber elastic body and the inner cylinder are separate and independent parts from each other,
They can be fixed together. Moreover, the durability of the rubber elastic body can be improved by compression.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an example of a rubber bush according to the present invention in an assembled state.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the rubber bush before being assembled.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Rubber bush 3 Annular member 5 Shaft member 5b Screw part 6 Rubber elastic body 7 Through hole 8,9 Inner cylinder 10,11 Flange 12 Nut

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A rubber bush mounted between a shaft member having a screw portion and fastened by a nut and an annular member disposed on the outer peripheral side of the shaft member; And a cylindrical rubber elastic body fitted into the annular member, and fitted into the through hole of the rubber elastic body from both sides of the through hole, and the shaft member is inserted through the inside thereof. A pair of inner cylinders, wherein each of the pair of inner cylinders has a flange at an outer end, and the sum of the lengths from the inner surface to the inner end of the flange of each inner cylinder is the rubber elastic body. The rubber bush is characterized in that the through hole is smaller than the axial length of the through hole in a natural state of the rubber bush. 2. The method of assembling a rubber bush according to claim 1, wherein after the rubber elastic body is fitted inside the annular member, the rubber elastic body is inserted into the through hole on both sides of the through hole. From above, the pair of inner cylinders are fitted respectively so that their flanges are located on the outside, and then the shaft member is inserted into the inner cylinders,
A method of assembling a rubber bush, wherein the rubber elastic body is compressed in an axial direction by tightening the nut to a screw portion of the shaft member.