JPH06281095A - Lubricant feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a lubricant feeder which can conduct manual feed as well as automatic feed of lubricant for one lubricating point in machinery. CONSTITUTION:A lubricating point A in machinery, an automatic lubricant feeder 9, and a manual lubricant feeder 10 are connected to each other by one pipe 5 at a lubricating point. The automatic lubricant feeder 9 and the manual lubricant feeder 10 may be disposed at an exterior surface such as a cover 6 of machinery, and the automatic lubricant feeder 9 may be equipped with a remaining amount scale 11 which can see through from the outside. As the manual lubricant feeder 10, a nipple for grease gun fixed onto the cover 6 may be used. As the pipe, a flexible tube may be used.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for supplying a lubricant such as grease to a lubrication point of a mechanical device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a mechanical device, a portion where friction occurs due to sliding, swinging, rotating, rolling, etc. between members is a lubrication point that requires lubrication. Conventionally, the lubrication required for such a relative motion part has conventionally been to provide a hole that communicates with the outside at the lubrication point, attach a nipple to the outlet of the hole, and manually supply the lubricant one by one (a grease gun, etc.). there were. Further, an automatic lubricant feeder is attached to a lubrication point where it is difficult to frequently supply the lubricant from the outside because the grease gun or the like does not reach it.

However, the method of manually supplying the lubricant one by one is not only troublesome as a work, but also takes a lot of time when the number of lubrication points is large, and there is a possibility that some lubricant points may be left out of supply. Further, the manual supply of lubricant is, so to speak, a one-shot supply of a large amount of lubricant at a time, as shown in FIG. As described above, there is a possibility that lubrication may be cut off when a supply leak occurs or when lubricant consumption is heavy.

On the other hand, the manual supply of the lubricant has the advantage that by supplying a large amount of the lubricant at a time, the old lubricant at the lubrication point is forcibly discharged and replaced with a new lubricant all at once. There is.

On the other hand, the automatic lubricant feeder may not have a space for mounting the feeder at a lubrication point at a mechanically complicated place. In addition, since the automatic lubricant feeder is generally structured to supply a small amount of lubricant for a long time (Fig. 2B), the amount of lubricant required at the beginning of relubrication supply work after maintenance and inspection, etc. It takes a considerable time to be sufficiently applied to the lubrication point. Therefore, it is necessary to sufficiently supply new grease to the lubrication point manually before mounting the automatic lubricant feeder.

Further, in the case of the automatic lubricant feeder, it is impossible to manually feed the lubricant unless it is removed after installation, so that the lubricant at the lubrication point is entirely replaced with a new lubricant for a relatively long time. There is a difficulty that you cannot do it.

In addition, there is a centralized supply system for supplying a lubricant by piping from one lubricant supply device to all lubrication points of a mechanical device, and labor saving of the lubricant supply is being promoted. It is difficult to change the type and supply amount of the lubricant depending on the point.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a lubricant supply device capable of manual supply as well as automatic supply of lubricant.

[0009]

One end of a pipe is connected to a lubrication point in a mechanical device, and the other end is branched to install an automatic lubricant feeder and a manual lubricant feeder.

It is preferable to add the following specific configuration. Place automatic lubricant dispenser and manual lubricant dispenser on the outer surface of the machine. A lubricant dispenser is for grease and is located close to the cover of the machine, an automatic lubricant dispenser has a visible residual scale and a manual lubricant dispenser for the grease gun fixed to the cover. Be a nipple. The tube is a flexible tube.

[0011]

The automatic lubricant feeder constantly and automatically supplies a fixed amount of lubricant to the lubrication point through the pipe. The manual lubricant feeder makes it possible to supply an arbitrary amount of lubricant at an arbitrary time even during automatic supply of the lubricant by the automatic lubricant supplier. The configuration in which the tube is a flexible tube enables the supply of the lubricant to the lubricating point whose position varies.

[0012]

1 shows an embodiment according to the present invention, which shows a lubricating device for one lubrication point A in a mechanical device. The lubrication point A is set on the ball nut 2 which is the movable side of the ball screw / nut mechanism 1. Reference numeral 3 is a ball screw.

At the lubrication point A, a one-touch type adapter 4
One end of a flexible tube (for pressure resistance) 5 is connected via the
It is connected to the. The adapter 4 connects one end of the tube 5 to a lubricant supply hole 8 formed in the ball nut 2.

An automatic lubricant feeder 9 and a manual lubricant feeder 10 are arranged on the outer surface side of the mechanical device, that is, close to the cover 6. The manual lubricant feeder 10 is a nipple (nipple 10) in this embodiment.

The automatic lubricant feeder 9 is of a cartridge type in which a piston pushed by a spring together with a lubricant or a high-pressure incombustible gas is enclosed, and the remaining amount of the lubricant inside can be seen directly. A scale 11 is provided. The automatic lubricant feeder 9 is connected to the tube 5 through the passage 13 ′ inside the valve by mounting the discharge port on the receiving port 12 of the valve 7.

An inner end of the nipple 10 is fixed to the valve 7 and communicates with the passage 13, and an outer end of the nipple 10 projects outward from the cover 6. The passages 13 ′ and 13 communicate with each other inside the valve 7 and are connected to the tube 5.

The passage 13 of the valve 7 is a three-way port, and the pressure of the lubricant supplied is between the receiving port 12 side where the automatic lubricant feeder 9 is mounted and the passage side where the nipple 10 is mounted. The oscillating valve 14 which is automatically operated by which one of the passages is selected from the tube 5 side is installed. That is, the other end of the tube 5 is branched by the valve 7 into the automatic lubricant feeder 9 side and the nipple 10 side.

Therefore, when the automatic lubricant feeder 9 is attached to the receiving port 12 of the valve 7, the internal lubricant is pushed out and enters the passage 13 of the valve 7, and the swing valve 14 is pushed and the passage on the nipple 10 side is pushed. Is blocked, the lubricant is supplied to the lubrication point A through the tube 5. Further, when the lubricant is supplied from the nipple 10 with a grease gun or the like, the swing valve 1
4 is pushed to close the receiving port 12 side, and guides the lubricant supplied manually to the lubrication point A via the tube 5.

Since the manual supply of lubricant can be made sufficiently higher than the supply pressure of the automatic lubricant supplier 9, even if the lubricant is being supplied to the valve 7 from the automatic lubricant supplier 9, The rocking valve 14 can be opened to supply the lubricant.

That is, the lubricant supply condition in this case is
As shown in Fig. 2 (c), in addition to the constant fixed amount m2 of supply, an arbitrary amount m1 of supply is added at any time. Normally, a fixed amount of m2 minutes is used to prevent depletion of lubrication. It is possible to completely replace the lubricant at the lubrication point A in minutes m1. Similarly, when supplying a new lubricant such as when re-supplying the lubricant after maintenance and inspection, the lubricant can be quickly and manually filled.

Further, the tube 5 is flexible and can follow the ball nut 2 without any trouble even if the position of the ball nut 2 changes. The remaining amount scale 11 of the automatic lubricant supply device 9 can be monitored from the outside to know the time of replacement of the automatic lubricant supply device 9 or the lubricant supply time. Further, since the nipple 10 is pulled out to the cover 6, it is easy to manually supply the lubricant.

The above is one embodiment, and the present invention is not limited to the specific construction shown. The lubrication point A is a representative of lubrication points in many one mechanical devices, and the other lubrication points are similarly configured. Therefore, the type of lubricant can be changed for each lubrication point.

The tube 5 is generally a tube, and a metal pipe made of copper, stainless steel or the like can be provided at a lubricating point whose position does not change. The valve 7 is not essential, and the automatic lubricant feeder 9 and the manual lubricant feeder (nipple) 10 may be simply connected to the branched other end of the tube 5. In this case, the lubricant from the manual lubricant supplier 10 may enter the automatic lubricant supplier 9, but there is no particular problem. The lubricant is not limited to grease as long as it can flow.

[0024]

As described above, the lubricant can be automatically and continuously supplied to the lubrication points of the mechanical device, and a large amount of the lubricant can be supplied when necessary to renew the lubricant at the lubrication points all at once. Lubricants can be supplied individually according to the characteristics of the lubrication point.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a mechanism.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a supply state of a lubricant.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Ball Screw / Nut Mechanism 2 Ball Nut 3 Ball Screw 4 Adapter 5 Tube 6 Cover 7 Valve 8 Lubricant Supply Hole 9 Automatic Lubricant Supply Device 10 Nipple 11 Scale 12 Receiving Port 13 Passage 14 Swing Valve

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A lubricant supply device characterized in that one end of the pipe is connected to a lubrication point in a mechanical device, and the other end of the pipe is branched and attached to an automatic lubricant supply device and a manual lubricant supply device. . 2. The lubricant supply device according to claim 1, wherein the automatic lubricant supply device and the manual lubricant supply device are arranged at outer surface portions of the mechanical device. 3. A lubricant feeder is provided for grease and is arranged close to a cover of a mechanical device, the automatic lubricant feeder has a residual amount scale which can be seen through from the outside, and the manual lubricant feeder is a cover. The lubricant supply device according to claim 1, wherein the lubricant supply device is a nipple fixed to a grease gun. 4. The lubricant supply device according to claim 1, wherein the pipe is a flexible tube.