JPH09144746A - Flexible supporter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide excellent strength and smooth slidability, and prevent wear and deterioration by combining materials whose friction coefficients are different from each other with a male member and a female member and using them. SOLUTION: A female member A and a male member B are formed out of materials whose friction coefficients are different from each other. The lubricant contained in the female member A is supplied to a sliding part between the recessed part 3 of the female member A and the protruding part 6 of the male member B for stability of frictional force or slidability between them, and prevention of the sliding part between the recessed part of the female member and the protruding part of the male member from wear and deterioration. For the female member A, the material containing lubricant is used, therefore, the strength of the recessed part 3 of the female member A is deteriorated. However, resin material with excellent strength is used for the female member B, thus it is possible to avoid concerns which would happens failure in parting strength and bending strength at the protruding part 3 and the recessed part 6 of both the members.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flexible support body formed by rotatably fitting a female member having spherical concave portions at both ends and a male member having spherical convex portions at both ends.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a portable luminaire, one in which a lamp portion and a battery case portion are connected using a flexible tube has been proposed. As such a flexible tube, a joint member having a ball joint shape is proposed. A flexible support in which a plurality of is connected may be used.
As such a flexible support, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-375
A member having a spherical inner peripheral surface concave portion at one end and a spherical outer peripheral surface convex portion at the other end, such as a flexible support such as a cable described in Japanese Patent No. 18 There has been proposed a flexible support body or the like configured by slidably connecting a plurality of and outer peripheral surfaces to each other.

[0003]

However, in the flexible support as described above, since a plurality of members having the same shape are connected to each other, adjacent members are made of the same material in consideration of manufacturability. Generally, when similar materials slide with each other, adhesion and peeling are repeated on the contact surface, and the friction coefficient becomes unstable.Therefore, smooth sliding cannot be obtained and squeak noise is generated. There were problems such as occurrence and easy wear. On the other hand, although the sliding property can be improved by using a resin material containing a lubricant to improve the sliding property,
Generally, a resin material containing a lubricant tends to have reduced tensile strength and flexural strength, so that the flexural strength and pull-out strength of the connecting portion are reduced, and the convex portion easily comes out from the concave portion. It was

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a flexible support body which is excellent in strength and can obtain smooth slidability.

[0005]

According to the present invention, a female member having spherical concave portions at both ends and the concave portion and the convex portion of a male member having spherical convex portions at both ends are rotatably fitted to each other, A flexible support body formed by alternately and continuously connecting the female member and the male member, wherein one of the female member and the male member is formed of a material having a friction coefficient different from that of the other. . Further, the material is formed of a resin material containing a lubricant. Further, the material was formed of acetal resin. Further, the female member is formed of a resin material having a smaller friction coefficient than the male member.

[0006]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The flexible support of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be described in detail below. 1 shows an overall cross-sectional view of the flexible support of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a flexible support, which is constituted by alternately connecting a female member A and a male member B made of resin, and a lamp for illumination is provided at one end of the support 1. It is possible to connect a lighting unit having a battery and a power supply unit having a battery for powering the lamp to the other end, and further electrically connect the lamp and the battery to the hollow portion of the support body 1 with a lead wire. A flexible portable luminaire can be constructed. The female member A is disposed on the center line of the female member A on the bottom surface of the recess 3 having a substantially hemispherical recess 3 having an opening 2 at the end, and integrally projects toward the opening 2. The formed hollow cylindrical projections 4 are provided at both ends. The male member B has hollow convex portions 6 having a substantially hemispherical outer peripheral surface 5 at its left and right end portions. The convex portion 6 is formed to be slightly larger than the concave portion 3 of the female member A, and the outer peripheral surface 5 of the convex portion 6 is fitted into the concave portion 3 so as to smoothly and rotatably connect in the three-dimensional direction. Is configured.
The convex portion 6 is formed with an inner portion 7 for accommodating the protruding portion 4 in the concave portion 3 and loosely swinging by a certain amount, and the male shape is formed around the opening 8 of the inner portion 7. A contact surface 9 is formed which comes into surface contact with the side surface of the protrusion 4 when the member A is bent at a certain angle with respect to the female member B. Thereby, when the female member A and the male member B are bent to each other, the contact surface 9 comes into contact with the side surface of the protrusion 4,
It is configured to function as a stopper mechanism that regulates the bending angle of both male and female.

The female member A and the male member B are made of materials having different friction coefficients. For example, when the male member B is made of an acetal resin and the female member A is made of an acetal resin containing a lubricant, in this case, the female member A is different from the male member B by the lubricant. The friction coefficient becomes smaller, and the lubricant contained in the female member A is supplied to the sliding portion between the concave portion 3 of the female member A and the convex portion 6 of the male member B. It is possible to stabilize the frictional force, that is, the slidability, and it is possible to prevent wear and deterioration of the uneven sliding portions of the female member A and the male member B. The strength of the concave portion 3 of the female member A is reduced by using the resin material containing the lubricant for the female member A, but the resin member having excellent strength can be adopted for the male member B. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the problem that the pull-out strength and the bending strength in the convex portion 3 and the concave portion 6 of both members are defective.

When the male and female members are bent, the neck portion 10 connecting the convex portions 6 at both ends of the male member B is constructed so as to receive the concave end portions 3a of the female member A, and accordingly, the male and female members. In order to increase the bending angle of both members, it is necessary to make the neck portion 10 as thin as possible. Therefore, the neck portion 10 of the male member B is more difficult to secure bending strength than other portions, and when the support body 1 is excessively bent and bending stress is applied to the neck portion 10, the male portion It is necessary to consider the problem that the member is bent at the neck portion 10. However, a resin material having a relatively high strength is used for the male member B and a resin material containing a lubricant is used for the female member A. By using, it is possible to eliminate the bending of the neck portion 10 of the male member B, to provide a flexible support body having no problems in strength and good slidability.

Thus, the male member B and the female member A are
Moreover, by using materials having different properties in combination, it is possible to easily change the slidability, the pull-out strength, and the bending strength of the both, and it is possible to prevent wear deterioration.

[0010]

According to the present invention, by using the male member and the female member in combination with the materials having different friction coefficients, the slidability and pull-out strength of the two members can be improved.
It is possible to provide a flexible support which can eliminate the problem of bending strength, is excellent in strength, can obtain smooth slidability, and can prevent wear deterioration.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a flexible support of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged partial sectional view of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 A female member B male member 3 concave portion 6 convex portion

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A female member having spherical concave portions at both ends thereof, and a concave portion and a convex portion of a male member having spherical convex portions at both ends thereof are rotatably fitted to each other to alternate the female member and the male member. A flexible support body continuously connected to the flexible member, wherein one of the female member and the male member is made of a material having a friction coefficient different from that of the other. body. 2. The flexible support according to claim 1, wherein the material is a resin material containing a lubricant. 3. The flexible support according to claim 1, wherein the material is acetal resin. 4. The female member is formed of a resin material having a smaller friction coefficient than that of the male member.
Or the flexible support according to item 3.