JPH0534335Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to a cage for rolling elements that is continuously housed in a guide body, and is used in linear guide devices that slide on a track. be.

[Problems to be solved by conventional techniques and ideas]

Conventionally, the present applicant has proposed the one shown in FIG. 9 as this type of linear guide device. This device includes a retainer 18 that rotatably holds the rolling elements 15.
and a circulation path 1 that continuously accommodates this retainer 18.
4, and a guide rail 17 that moves the guide body 11 through the rotation of the rolling elements 15. This retainer 1
As shown in FIG. 10, reference numeral 8 includes a holding part 181 that exposes and holds the upper and lower surfaces of the rolling element 15, an accommodation hole 181' that rotatably accommodates the rolling element 15, and a guide formed on both left and right sides. It has a fitting part 182 that is gripped by the main body 11 and a pushing part 183 that is formed on both the front and back sides and pushes the adjacent retainer 18, and the rolling elements 15 circulate according to the movement of the guide main body 11. It is configured as follows.

By the way, the cage 18 has a structure that is optimal for so-called insert molding, in which the rolling elements 15 are set in advance in a mold and injection molded, and is not suitable for mass production due to the setting of the rolling elements 15, etc. It was becoming a problem. Moreover, when this cage 18 is formed independently, the rolling elements 15 to be accommodated are placed in the accommodation hole 18.
Since it has a larger diameter than the opening 1', it is extremely difficult to fit it into the receiving hole 181'. Furthermore,
When a rolling element having a smaller diameter than the predetermined rolling element 15 is accommodated, there is also the problem that the rolling element 15 tends to fall off from the cage.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a cage for rolling elements in which the rolling elements can be easily fitted into the cage, but in which the rolling elements do not fall off after fitting.

[Means and actions for solving problems]

In the rolling element retainer according to the present invention, a plurality of slits are formed from the peripheral edge of the opening of the holding portion. Therefore, the holding part can be deformed to enlarge the opening of the accommodation hole due to the elasticity of the synthetic resin, so the rolling element can be easily incorporated, and the elasticity allows the holding part to be securely held in the accommodation hole, so that the rolling element can be reliably held in the accommodation hole after being wrapped. The rolling elements will not fall off.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the cage for rolling elements of the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 1 to 4. 1st
The figure shows a linear guide device to which a cage is applied. In the figure, 1 is a guide body formed by stacking plates 1a and 1b joined by bolts 2 and nuts 3 via positioning protrusions 1c, and 4 is a rolling element 5.
It has a cross-sectional shape that loosely fits the retainer 8 that encloses the
a circulation path formed in an annular shape within the guide body 1;
Reference numeral 6 has a recess formed along both sides of the circulation path 4 to be fitted with the retainer 8, and 7 has a guide surface 7a that contacts the lower contact surface 5a' of the rolling element 5. The retainer 8, which is a guide rail that reciprocates linearly, rotatably accommodates and holds the rolling element 5 made of metal balls, etc., and is injection molded from synthetic resin.

This retainer 8, as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4,
A wrapping part 81 that has a housing hole 81a that matches the outer diameter of the rolling element 5 and surrounds the rolling element 5; 5 in the circulation path 4
and a slit 83 formed by cutting out, for example, the four corners of the holding part 81 along an arc connecting the top and bottom points of the rolling element 5. Furthermore, chamfered portions 81c and 81c' are formed in the openings 81b and 81b' of the holding portion 81 along the vertical direction, and the outer surface of the fitting portion 82 is formed into a spherical shape. The dimensions, number, etc. of the slits 83 can be selected as appropriate, but are set so that the holding part 81 can reliably hold the rolling element 5 in the accommodation hole 81a and allow the holding part 81 to be deformed and restored. It is necessary to

Since the rolling element retainer according to the present invention is constructed as described above, the elasticity of the synthetic resin allows the holding part 81 and the fitting part 82 to form the opening 8 of the receiving hole 81a.
1b and 81b' can be elastically deformed in the directions of arrows A and A' in FIG. 2 to enlarge or reduce them. As a result, when the retainer 8 is first injection molded, there is no effect of forced punching when taking it out from the mold, so the taking out operation is extremely easy. In other words, even if the holding part 81 is deformed due to such forceful extraction, the holding part 81 may be deformed after being removed from the mold.
can be reliably and completely restored to its original shape. Furthermore, when the rolling element 5 is inserted into the accommodation hole 81a, the openings 81b and 81 are deformed as described above.
By enlarging b', the rolling element 5 can be moved into the accommodation hole 8.
It can be easily pushed into 1a. In this case, the presence of the chamfered portions 81c, 81c' further facilitates the work of housing the rolling elements 5. In this way, the rolling elements 5 accommodated and enclosed in the housing hole 81a of the cage 8 are reliably held by the elasticity of the holding portion 81, and the cage 8 is held securely during handling during assembly work.
This prevents the retainer 8 from falling off, and thereby the work of arranging the retainer 8 into the circulation path 4 of the guide body 1 can be performed quickly and accurately. With the retainer 8 of the present invention, the rolling elements 5 are reliably held in the circulation path 4 even when the retainer 8 operates as a linear guide, so that there is no problem in operation. Note that various synthetic resin materials with high wear resistance, such as nylon and polyacetal, are used as the material for the cage 8 in the above embodiments.

FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment, in which the slit 83 is formed only on either the upper or lower side of the holding part 81, and the other configurations are the same as in the first embodiment. Similar effects can be obtained. Furthermore,
As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 as a third embodiment,
The outer shape of the retainer 8 may be circular, and in any of these embodiments, the slit 83 may have various shapes such as tapered or the same width. However, the slit 83 may be formed vertically symmetrically or vertically asymmetrically with respect to the entire cage 8. Further, the cage 8 of the present invention can also be applied to a linear bush B as shown in FIG. 8, and the same effects as those of the above embodiments can be obtained.

[Effect of idea]

As mentioned above, the rolling element cage according to the present invention has the following features:
It has the advantage of being easy to manufacture, facilitating assembly work, and improving production efficiency.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 4 relate to a first embodiment of a cage for rolling elements according to the present invention, FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing the overall structure of a linear guide to which the cage of the present invention is applied, and FIG. The figure is a perspective view of a cage that accommodates rolling elements, FIG. 3 is a plan view of the cage, FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the - line in FIG. 6 is a plan view of the cage according to the third embodiment, FIGS. 7a and 7b are sectional views and bottom views taken along the line - in FIG. 6, respectively, and FIG. A partially cutaway perspective view showing an applied example, and FIGS. 9 and 10 are a sectional view and a perspective view of essential parts of a conventional linear guide and a cage for rolling elements. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Guide body, 4... Circulation path, 5... Rolling element, 7... Guide rail, 8... Cage, 81...
...Holding part, 82... Fitting part, 83... Slit,
B...Linear bushing.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] (1) A holding part that rotatably holds the rolling element by exposing a part of the upper and lower surfaces of the rolling element, and a fitting part formed on the outside of the holding part. In the synthetic resin rolling element cage that arranges and holds the rolling elements along the circulation path of the guide body, the holding part has an opening from the center of the holding part. A holder for a rolling element, characterized in that a plurality of slits formed along the vertical direction through which the rolling element is exposed up to the peripheral edge are provided at least on either the upper side or the lower side of the holding part. vessel. (2) The cage according to claim (1) for utility model registration, in which the outer part of the holding part is formed into a spherical shape.