JP2007192286A - Spring guide - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a spring guide that is disposed on the inner peripheral side of a suspension spring so as to prevent a collision between windings of the suspension spring while preventing the buckling of the suspension spring during compression. <P>SOLUTION: A shock absorber body 1 constituting a hydraulic shock absorber is urged by a spring force of the suspension spring S in the direction of extension. The suspension spring S is composed of a coil spring arranged outside the shock absorber body 1. The spring guide 2 is arranged outside the shock absorber body 1 and inside the suspension spring S so as to prevent the buckling of the suspension spring S. The spring guide 2 includes a cylindrical body 21 formed of synthetic resin or a rubber material and elastic rib-like parts 22 extending on the outer periphery of the body 21 along the direction of the extension/contraction of the suspension spring S and projecting in the radial direction. Tips of the rib-like parts 22 are elastically brought into contact with the inner periphery of the suspension spring S. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a spring guide, and more particularly to an improvement of a spring guide that prevents buckling that may occur when a suspension spring including a coil spring interposed in an outer periphery of a shock absorber main body is contracted.

  In general, in a hydraulic shock absorber, it is normal that the shock absorber body is urged in the extension direction by the spring force of a suspension spring comprising a coil spring interposed on the outer periphery. Is known to buckle when contracted, depending on its overall length.

  Therefore, various proposals have conventionally been proposed as spring guides for preventing buckling during contraction of the suspension spring. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses the following proposal.

  That is, the spring guide disclosed in Patent Document 1 is formed, for example, in a cylindrical shape with a synthetic resin material, and is interposed on the outer periphery of a rod body that forms a shock absorber body in a hydraulic shock absorber. The circumferences are adjacent to each other, that is, they are opposed to each other with a slight gap that is not brought into contact with each other.

Therefore, according to the spring guide, when the suspension spring contracts, even if a so-called upper end portion positioned on the outer periphery of the spring guide is buckled, the buckling is prevented by the spring guide. Therefore, buckling is less likely to occur when viewing the entire suspension spring.
JP 2003-322191 A (paragraphs 0008, 0012, 0013, 0028, FIGS. 1 and 2 in the specification)

  However, in the proposal disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above, noise is not generated when the suspension spring vibrates in the expansion and contraction direction, although there is no particular problem in preventing buckling in the contracting suspension spring. It may be pointed out that it cannot be prevented.

  That is, for example, in the case shown in FIG. 1 which is a plan view of the present invention, the coil spring as the suspension spring is not formed at the same winding pitch over the entire length, and the winding pitch on one end side which is the upper end side is not formed. It may be set smaller than the winding pitch on the other end side which is the lower end side.

  And, in the coil spring that makes the winding pitch so-called large and small between the one end side and the other end side, that is, the suspension spring, a hydraulic shock absorber that interposes the suspension spring in the shock absorber body is, for example, a motorcycle. In the 1G state in which the rider rides on this motorcycle, the side portion (indicated by reference numeral S1 in FIG. 1) that has a fine winding pitch is contracted. Thus, the appearance of a finer winding pitch is exhibited.

  Further, in this suspension spring, when the vertical vibration is input in a state where the side portion S1 having a fine winding pitch is in a state of becoming a finer winding pitch, the side portion in which the winding pitch is further fined is input. The windings may collide and generate noise.

  At this time, the above-mentioned spring guide arranged inside the suspension spring is a slight gap whose outer periphery does not contact the inner periphery of the suspension spring for the purpose of preventing buckling of the contracting suspension spring. Therefore, the collision between the windings cannot be prevented.

  The present invention was devised in view of such a current situation, and the object of the present invention is not to cause buckling in the suspension spring that is disposed on the inner peripheral side of the suspension spring and contracts. To provide a spring guide that is optimal for expecting an improvement in versatility of a hydraulic shock absorber that interposes the suspension spring in the shock absorber main body so as not to cause a collision between windings in the suspension spring. It is.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, the structure of the spring guide according to the present invention is basically set in the direction of extension by the spring force of the suspension spring comprising a coil spring in which the shock absorber body constituting the hydraulic shock absorber is disposed outside. On the other hand, a spring guide disposed on the outside of the shock absorber body which is inside the suspension spring and prevents buckling in the suspension spring is formed in a cylindrical shape with a synthetic resin material or rubber material. An elastic rib-shaped portion that extends in the direction along the direction of expansion and contraction of the suspension spring and protrudes in the radial direction is provided on the outer periphery, and the tip of the rib-shaped portion is brought into contact with the inner periphery of the suspension spring under the presence of elasticity. Suppose that

  Therefore, in the present invention, the inner periphery of the suspension spring is formed to protrude from the outer periphery of the spring guide disposed inside the suspension spring and is brought into contact with the tip of the elastic rib-shaped portion. It is possible to prevent the vertical movement, which is a fine vibration, in the inner peripheral portion of the suspension spring that comes into contact with the tip of the rib-shaped portion, and it is possible to prevent the windings from colliding with each other.

  At this time, the tip portion forming the tip of the rib-shaped portion of the spring guide may tend to be pinched by the wire portion forming the contracting suspension spring, and conversely, may not tend to be pinched. .

  In the following, the present invention will be described based on the illustrated embodiment. In the illustrated embodiment, the spring guide is embodied in, for example, a hydraulic shock absorber used as a rear wheel side cushion unit in a motorcycle. It is supposed to be done.

  At this time, as shown in FIG. 1, the hydraulic shock absorber has a suspension spring S composed of a coil spring disposed on the outside of the shock absorber body 1, and the shock absorber body is caused by the spring force of the suspension spring S. 1 is energized in the extending direction.

  Incidentally, the shock absorber body 1 is connected to the cylinder body 11 so that the rod body 12 can be projected and retracted, and the rod body 12 is projected and retracted with respect to the cylinder body 11 during the expansion and contraction operation. It is assumed that the set damping force is generated at the damping force generation part of the containment.

  In the shock absorber main body 1, the protruding end of the rod body 12 is connected to the top cap 13, and a cover body 14 made of a cylindrical body is indicated by a symbol M in the drawing. It is said to be suspended by welding.

  A bump cushion 12a that restricts the most contracted position of the shock absorber main body 1 and relaxes the impact is interposed at the protruding end portion of the rod body 12, and the top cap 13 is provided with the automatic shock absorber main body 1. A bracket 13a that enables connection to the vehicle body side in a motorcycle is provided continuously.

  On the other hand, the suspension spring S is supported on the outer periphery of the cylinder body 11 with a lower end, which is not shown, being engaged with a spring holder held in a fixed state by welding, for example, and an upper end, which is the other end, shown in the figure, is covered with the cover body 14. It is supposed that it is latched by the spring receiver 15 hold | maintained by the welding shown with the code | symbol M in the figure to the outer periphery of.

  Incidentally, the spring receiver 15 is integrally held on the outer periphery of the cover body 14 in the drawing, but instead of this, for example, it is screwed on the outer periphery of the cover body 14 although not shown. It may be.

  When the spring receiver 15 is screwed to the outer periphery of the cover body 14, the spring receiver 15 is rotated to move the spring receiver 15 in the extending / contracting direction of the suspension spring S on the outer periphery of the cover body 14. That is, it is possible to move up and down, and as a result, by moving the upper end position of the suspension spring S up and down, it is possible to adjust the vehicle body position, that is, the height of the vehicle in a motorcycle equipped with this hydraulic shock absorber. It may be configured to be possible.

  As for the suspension spring S, in the embodiment of the present invention, of course, it is made of a coil spring, but the winding pitch on one end side which is the upper end side in FIG. The winding pitch on the other end side, which is the lower end side, is set to be increased.

  As a result, when the suspension spring is expanded and contracted in the suspension spring S, the side portion S1 for decreasing the winding pitch is more easily bent than the side portion S2 for increasing the winding pitch. Therefore, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. The inner periphery of the side portion S1 for reducing the winding pitch is brought into contact with the tip of the rib-like portion 22 in the spring guide 2 described later.

  By the way, about the spring guide 2, in this invention, it is distribute | arranged to the outer side of the buffer body 1, ie, it is distribute | arranged to the inner side of the suspension spring S, and it is expressed at the time of the contraction action in the suspension spring S. It is supposed to prevent some buckling.

  Therefore, the spring guide 2 will be described briefly. First, the spring guide 2 has a main body portion 21 made of a synthetic resin material or a rubber material and formed into a suitably thick cylindrical shape. As shown in FIG. 2, the outer periphery of the suspension spring S extends in a direction along the expansion / contraction direction of the suspension spring S and protrudes in the radial direction of the suspension spring S. In the present invention, the tip of the rib-like portion 22 is brought into contact with the inner periphery of the suspension spring S in an elastic manner.

  Therefore, in the present invention, since the shock absorber main body 1 has the spring guide 2, first, when the suspension spring S disposed outside the shock absorber main body 1 contracts, this suspension spring is used. In S, at least the so-called upper end portion positioned on the outer periphery of the spring guide 2 can be prevented from buckling, and accordingly, when the entire suspension spring S is viewed, buckling is less likely to occur. Become.

  Next, the inner circumference of the suspension spring S protrudes from the outer circumference of the spring guide 2 disposed inside the suspension spring S, and is elastic at the tip of the rib-like portion 22 rich in elasticity, that is, at the tip of the tip 22a. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the vertical movement, which is a fine vibration, in the portion of the suspension spring S that contacts the rib-shaped portion 22 and to prevent the windings from colliding with each other. become.

  The above is the basic feature of the spring guide 2 according to the present invention. More specifically, the following consideration is given to the main body 21 and the rib-shaped portion 22.

  That is, first, regarding the main body portion 21, in the illustrated embodiment, it is assumed that the core portion 23 has the appropriate rigidity, and thus the main body portion 21 is deformed by mischief due to its elasticity. We are careful not to have any.

  Then, since the main body 21 has the metal core 23, the main body 21 can be fixed at a predetermined position on the outer periphery of the cover body 14 so that the spring guide 2 is fitted to the outer periphery of the cover body 14. It becomes possible.

  Further, when the spring guide 2 is fixed to the outer periphery of the cover body 14, the sheet portion 24 formed at the end portion of the core metal 23 is sandwiched between the spring receiver 15 and the end portion of the suspension spring S. The stable use state of the spring guide 2 can be realized, and when necessary, the exchange of the spring guide 2 can be practiced by releasing the sandwiched state.

  Incidentally, instead of the connection structure of the replaceable spring guide 2 to the cover body 14 described above, the spring guide 2 may be integrally connected by baking on the outer periphery of the cover body 14 or the like.

  Next, the rib-like portion 22 may be formed in an arbitrary shape as long as it has a tip portion 22a that forms a tip that is brought into contact with the inner periphery of the suspension spring S under the presence of elasticity. Is configured such that the radial cross-sectional shape of the rib-like portion 22 is formed in a pointed shape on the outer diameter side.

  Then, the tip 22a of the rib-like portion 22, that is, the tip of the portion indicated by hatching in the diagrammatic FIG. 3 is brought into contact with the inner periphery of the suspension spring S, whereby the tip 22a is elastically deformed. At this time, the movement of the suspension spring S, that is, the vertical movement of the fine amplitude is prevented.

  In view of the above, the shape of the rib-like portion 22 in the spring guide 2 may be any shape as long as the distal end portion 22a is rich in elasticity. However, FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the portion shown in FIG. As shown, when the so-called chevron is formed, the reaction force increases as the deformation at the tip 22a extends in the inner diameter direction. Therefore, the suspension spring S moves unnecessarily when the tip 22a is deformed. There is also a fear that it will be easily disturbed.

  Therefore, in the present invention, for example, the shape shown in FIG. 4 is proposed as a shape that does not have a risk of obstructing the movement of the suspension spring S when the distal end portion 22a is deformed.

  That is, this FIG. 4 also shows the spring guide 2 partially in a diagram as in FIG. 3 described above, but the hatched portion in FIG. It is assumed that the end portion 22a is rich.

  At this time, in the rib-like portion 22 according to this embodiment, if the place shown in FIG. 3 is referred to as a mountain shape, it exhibits a cross-sectional shape that is also referred to as a waveform or a wavefront shape, that is, a tip. The portion 22a is inclined in the circumferential direction of the spring guide 2.

  As described above, when the tip 22a of the rib-like portion 22 is inclined in the circumferential direction of the spring guide 2, when the inner circumference of the suspension spring S contacts the tip of the tip 22a, a broken line in FIG. As shown in the drawing, since the tip 22a is rich in elasticity, the tip 22a is further deformed so that it does not obstruct the movement of the suspension spring S.

  FIG. 5 shows a state in which the spring guide 2 according to still another embodiment is mounted on the shock absorber main body 1, which will be described below a little. In addition, in the place shown in this FIG. 5, about the place where the structure is the same as that of the case of above-described embodiment, the detailed description is abbreviate | omitted only by attaching | subjecting the same code | symbol in a figure except where it requires. .

  That is, first, the spring guide 2 has a main body portion 21 formed in a cylindrical shape with a synthetic resin material or a rubber material, and a rib-like portion 22 along the expansion / contraction direction of the suspension spring S is provided on the outer periphery of the main body portion 21. Of course, in this embodiment, the main body portion 21 does not have the above-described cored bar 23 (see FIG. 1). Therefore, in this embodiment, the spring guide 2 is Rather than being fitted and connected to the outer periphery of the cover body 14, it can be said that it is preferable that the cover body 14 is molded integrally with the outer periphery of the cover body 14 in advance.

  Next, regarding the length of the spring guide 2, the point is to prevent mischievous vibration of the suspension spring S. Therefore, if the spring guide 2 is adjacent to a part of the inner periphery of the suspension spring S, Well, in that sense, it doesn't have to be unnecessarily long.

  However, since this spring guide 2 prevents buckling of the suspension spring S, considering its function, it may be formed as long as possible, as shown by a virtual diagram in the figure. The length of the suspension spring S may be set to be substantially the same as that of the side portion S1 that reduces the winding pitch.

  By the way, even in the spring guide 2 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the cross-sectional shape of the rib-like portion 22 is formed in a mountain shape shown in FIG. 3, and is called a waveform or a wave front shape shown in FIG. 4. Of course, the tip 22a may be formed to have a collapsed shape.

  In particular, in the rib-shaped portion 22, as shown in FIG. 4, when the tip portion 22 a is formed in a collapsed shape, the tip portion 22 a is more tilted when the suspension spring S is contracted. Therefore, it is considered that the tip of the tip 22a is not sandwiched between the windings forming the suspension spring S.

  That is, in the place shown in FIG. 3, when the suspension spring S contracts, the tip of the tip 22 a of the rib-like portion 22 is sandwiched between the windings forming the suspension spring S in the spring guide 2. It is thought that it may become.

  When the suspension spring S contracts, if the tip of the tip 22a of the rib-like portion 22 tends to be sandwiched between the windings forming the suspension spring S when the suspension spring S contracts, In the spring S, there is an advantage that it is possible to reliably prevent the generation of noise due to collision of the windings. However, for example, when the spring guide 2 is made of a rubber material, the rib-like portion 22 is the so-called thinning purpose. There is a risk that the generation of noise from the suspension spring S due to slight vibrations cannot be effectively prevented.

  If this is the case, it can be said that the spring guide 2 having the rib-like portion 22 in which the tip portion 22a having the waveform or wave-front shape shown in FIG. 4 is tilted is preferable. In the case of being made of a synthetic resin material such as (registered trademark), the contact resistance becomes so small that it becomes so-called slippery, and when the suspension spring S contracts, the tip of the tip 22a of the rib-like portion 22 becomes the suspension spring S. It will be difficult to become pinched, and it will not be necessary to worry about the spring guide 2 becoming thin.

  In the above description, the spring guide 2 according to the present invention is embodied in a hydraulic shock absorber that is used as a cushion unit on the rear wheel side of a motorcycle. However, according to the intention of the present invention, the spring guide 2 is It may be embodied in a front fork that is a hydraulic shock absorber mounted on the front wheel side of the motorcycle, and in that case, the action and effect are not different.

1 is a partial front view showing a hydraulic shock absorber equipped with a spring guide according to an embodiment of the present invention, partially broken away. It is a cross-sectional view of the spring guide shown by the position of line XX in FIG. It is a principle diagram which expands and shows a part of spring guide of FIG. It is a figure which shows a part of spring guide by other Embodiment of this invention similarly to FIG. It is a fragmentary longitudinal cross-sectional view which expands and shows a part of hydraulic shock absorber equipped with the spring guide by other embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Shock absorber main body 2 Spring guide 11 Cylinder body 12 Rod body 13 Top cap 14 Cover body 15 Spring support 21 Main body part 22 Rib-like part 22a Tip part 23 Core metal 24 Spring sheet member S Suspension spring S1 Side part which makes winding pitch small S2 Winding Side to increase pitch

Claims (7)

While the shock absorber body constituting the hydraulic shock absorber is urged in the extension direction by the spring force of the suspension spring composed of the coil spring disposed on the outside, it is disposed on the outside of the shock absorber body on the inside of the suspension spring. In the spring guide that is present and prevents buckling of the suspension spring, it is elastically projected in the radial direction while extending in the direction along the extension / contraction direction of the suspension spring on the outer periphery of the main body formed in a cylindrical shape with a synthetic resin material or rubber material A spring guide comprising: a rib-like portion rich in the surface, and the tip of the rib-like portion being brought into contact with the inner periphery of the suspension spring in an elastic manner. The suspension spring is configured such that the winding pitch on the other end side is set smaller than the winding pitch on the one end side, while the inner periphery of the side portion for reducing the winding pitch in the suspension spring is brought into contact with the tip of the rib-shaped portion. The spring guide according to claim 1. One end of the suspension spring is locked to the outer periphery of the cylinder body forming the shock absorber body, and the other end of the suspension spring is connected to the top cap that connects the protruding end of the rod body forming the shock absorber body. The spring guide according to claim 1, wherein the spring guide is locked to a spring receiver held on the outer periphery. The radial cross-sectional shape of the rib-shaped part formed on the outer periphery of the main body part is formed to have a pointed shape on the outer diameter side, and the tip part of the rib-shaped part that has a pointed shape on the outer diameter side has elasticity. The spring guide according to claim 1, wherein the spring guide is tilted in the circumferential direction. The spring guide according to claim 1, wherein the main body has a metal core. The spring guide according to claim 1, wherein the main body has a metal core, and the metal core is connected to a spring sheet member adjacent to the other end of the suspension spring. The spring guide according to claim 1, wherein the main body portion is connected to the outer periphery of a cover body connected to a top cap that connects the protruding end of the rod body forming the shock absorber main body.

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