JPH10238539A - Ball chain - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a ball chain to be excellent in lubricity and wear resistance of a ball against rolling, perform excellent rolling of aligned balls, provide a sufficient tensile strength, and prevent the occurrence of a breakage accident during use. SOLUTION: In a ball chain 1 formed such that a number of balls are aligned in a train and the balls 3 are rotatably held, a space 4 made of resin to brace the spherical surface of the ball 3 is located between the adjoining balls 3, and the spacers 4 are intercoupled through a coupling member 5 having a tensile strength higher than that of a resin material.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ball chain in which a large number of balls are arranged in a row and are held so as to be able to roll. For example, the present invention relates to a ball chain used in a linear guide device for infinite sliding. Relates to an improvement for improving the tensile strength of such a ball chain.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a linear guide device for guiding a movable body such as a table along a fixed portion such as a bed, a track rail having ball rolling grooves and a load rolling opposed to the ball rolling grooves are known. A slider having a groove and a no-load rolling path for circulating a ball from one end of the load rolling groove to the other end thereof, and a slider moving along the track rail; and applying a load between the slider and the track rail. It is known that the ball is rolled while being loaded, and is composed of a number of balls circulating in an endless track composed of a loaded rolling groove of the slider and an unloaded rolling path.

In the conventional linear guide device configured as described above, since the endless track of the slider is filled with the ball, when the slider moves along the track rail,
The balls adjacent to each other circulate in the endless track while colliding or rubbing each other, and there is a problem that the balls are worn early and the life of the device is shortened.

In order to solve such a problem, there has been proposed a linear guide device in which a ball chain in which a number of balls are aligned and held is incorporated in the endless track (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-52217). As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the ball chain 100 has a ball holding member 102 interposed between adjacent balls 101 and a pair of belts along the ball arranging direction. Ball 101 connected by member 103
Are connected in a bead shape, and are manufactured by injection molding of a flexible resin in which the ball 101 is disposed as a core in a mold.

The conventional ball chain 100 constructed as described above is incorporated in an endless track 105 of a slider 104 as shown in FIG. 9 and circulates in the endless track. Since the ball holding member 102 is interposed therebetween, mutual friction and collision between the balls are prevented, and wear of the ball 101 can be prevented as much as possible.

[0006]

Since the ball chain 100 is used by circulating the infinite activation of the slider, each ball must be flexibly bent within the infinite activation. It is preferable that the belt member 103 connecting the holding members 102 is formed as thin as possible and has a small cross-sectional area.

On the other hand, considering that each ball holding member 102 is in sliding contact with the ball 101, the resin material used for molding the ball chain 100 has lubricity against rolling of the ball 101, abrasion resistance and the like. Because of the necessity, the selection of the molding resin for the ball chain 100 has certain restrictions, and it is difficult to secure the mechanical strength of the molding resin itself.

For this reason, in the conventional ball chain 100, the tensile strength of the belt member 103 must be reduced, and each ball holding member 1 is used during use in an infinite circulation path.
02, the belt member 103 was broken.

The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide lubrication and abrasion resistance against rolling of a ball, and to provide an arrayed ball with good rolling. Moves and has sufficient tensile strength,
An object of the present invention is to provide a ball chain capable of preventing a breakage accident during use.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, a ball chain according to the present invention is provided between a plurality of balls arranged in a row and balls adjacent to each other so that the balls can rotate. A plurality of ball holding members for holding,
A connecting member for connecting these ball holding members,
Further, the tensile strength of the connecting member is larger than that of the ball holding member.

According to such technical means, a ball holding member for rotatably holding the balls is interposed between the balls adjacent to each other, and the ball holding members have a greater tensile strength than the balls. Since they are interconnected by a connecting member having tensile strength, even if a material having low mechanical strength is used as the molding material of the ball holding member, it is necessary to secure sufficient tensile strength for the entire ball chain. Can be. Further, since the tensile strength of the entire ball chain can be secured without making the mechanical strength of the molding material of the ball holding member itself a problem, the molding material can be used for lubrication against ball rolling and wear resistance. It can be selected only from the viewpoint of the properties and the like, and it is possible to expect good rolling of the arranged balls.

Here, the ball chain of the present invention can be assembled by inserting a connecting member such as a wire into a resin-molded ball holding member. In order to reduce the time and labor required for assembling, it is preferable to insert the ball holding member into the connecting member by injection molding of a synthetic resin from the viewpoint of reducing assembly labor.

In addition, when the ball holding member is fleshed by the injection molding, the connecting member corresponds to the fleshed portion of the ball holding member so that the molded ball holding member does not fall off the connecting member. It is preferable to form irregularities in advance.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a ball chain according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of a ball chain 1 according to the present invention. The ball chain 1 is formed by arranging a plurality of balls 3 in a row on a connecting belt 2 at predetermined intervals, and the balls 3 are freely rotatable while being held by the connecting belt 2.

The connecting member belt 2 is composed of a plurality of ball holding members 4 interposed between the balls 3 and a band-like connecting member 5 for connecting the adjacent ball holding members 4 to each other. Each of the ball holding members 4 is formed with a spherical seat 4a for enclosing the spherical surface of the ball 3. This allows
Each ball 3 is held by the adjacent ball holding member 4 from the left and right, and is held by the linked belt 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, the connecting member 5 has a through-hole 5a slightly larger than the ball diameter formed in a belt-shaped stainless steel plate (SUS304 or the like) having a thickness of 0.05 to 0.2 mm. The ball 3 is accommodated in the through hole 5a. On the other hand, the ball holding member 4 is formed of a synthetic resin such as a polyamide-based elastomer or a polyester-based elastomer, and is filled with the connecting member 5 by injection molding. That is, as shown in FIG. 2A, ball dies 21 having a diameter larger than the diameter of the ball 3 project in a row at a predetermined interval in the molding die 20, and are connected as shown in FIG. The ball molds 21 are accommodated in the through holes 5 a of the member 5, and the ball holding member 4 is injection-molded from this state to fill the connection member 5. Thereafter, the ball mold 21 is forcibly extracted from the space between the ball holding members 4, and the ball 3 is pushed into the place where the ball mold 21 has come off, so that the ball 3 is opened by the ball holding member 4 in the through hole of the connecting member 5. The ball chain enclosed in 5a is completed.

The ball chain 1 according to the present embodiment constructed as described above is used by being incorporated in an endless track of a slider constituting a linear guide device or the like. A connecting member formed from a stainless plate is used. 5 has a significantly higher tensile strength than the ball holding member 4 made of synthetic resin, so that even if a large tensile force acts on the ball chain 1 during the circulation in the endless track, the ball chains 1 are not separated from each other. Adjacent ball holding members 4, 4
Thus, the ball chain 1 can always be expected to smoothly circulate without breaking.

Further, since the tensile strength of the ball chain 1 itself depends on that of the connecting member 5, it is not necessary to expect mechanical strength such as tensile strength in the resin material for forming the ball holding member 4. In addition, the resin material used in the injection molding can be selected only from the viewpoint of lubricity against the rolling of the ball 3 and abrasion resistance. Therefore, smooth rolling of the ball 3 can be expected.

FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of the ball chain according to the present invention. In the above-described first embodiment, the connecting members 5 are provided along both sides of the row of balls arranged in a row. In this embodiment, the connecting members 6 are provided only on one side of the row of balls. In other respects, the configuration and the manufacturing method are the same as those of the first embodiment.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, the connecting member 6 of this embodiment has the arched notches 6a arranged at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction.
The ball 3 is accommodated in a.

FIG. 5 shows a fourth embodiment of the ball chain of the present invention. In the first and second embodiments, the strip-shaped stainless steel plate is used as the connecting member. However, in the present embodiment, the thin wire 7 is used as the connecting member, and the wire 7 is formed by injection molding of synthetic resin. The ball holding member 8 is fleshed.

Each ball holding member 8 is disposed so as to contact only one ball, and a pair of ball holding members located on both sides of the ball constitute an independent ball holding unit. Therefore, even when such a ball chain is extremely bent and used, in each ball holding unit, the pair of ball holding members 8 and 8 reliably hold the ball 3, and the ball 3 is prevented from falling off. It is planned.

FIG. 6 shows a fourth embodiment of the ball chain of the present invention. In the ball chain of each of the above-described embodiments, the ball holding member 4 interposed between the balls 3 is integrated with the band-like connecting member 5 (or 6) by using injection molding of synthetic resin. In this embodiment, the connecting member is a wire 9 having a small diameter, and the wire 9 is attached to a ball holding member 10 formed in advance by injection molding of a synthetic resin.
Was inserted later.

That is, a through hole for inserting the wire 9 is formed in the ball holding member 10, and the ball holding members 10 are connected to each other by passing the wire 9 through the through hole. . The wire 9 is folded back by a ball holding member 10a located at the end of the ball chain,
The ball holding members 10 are inserted on both sides of the ball row. A stopper plate for locking both ends of the wire 9 is provided at an end (not shown) of the ball chain.
After the both ends of the wire 9 passed through the stopper plate are passed through the stopper plate, the wire 9 is subjected to a retaining process.

Also in the ball chain of the fourth embodiment, the ball holding member 10 made of synthetic resin is connected by the wire 9 having a large tensile strength, thereby holding the ball 3 rotatably. Even if a large pulling force is applied to the ball chain, the ball chain is connected to the ball holding members 10, 1 adjacent to each other.
By using a resin material excellent in lubrication of the ball 3 as the ball holding member 10, smooth rolling of the ball 3 can be expected.

[0026]

As described above, according to the ball chain of the present invention, the ball holding members interposed between the balls adjacent to each other are connected to each other by the connecting members having a higher tension. Therefore, even if a material having low mechanical strength is used as the molding material of the ball holding member, a sufficient tensile strength can be secured as a whole ball chain, so that the ball chain breaks during use. An accident can be prevented from occurring.

Further, even when a material having low mechanical strength is used as the molding material of the ball holding member, the ball chain can be secured in a tensile strength to prevent the occurrence of a breakage accident. In selecting the molding material, it is only necessary to consider only the viewpoints such as lubricity and abrasion resistance against the rolling of the balls, whereby it is possible to expect good rolling of the arranged balls.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view and a sectional view showing a first embodiment of a ball chain of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a connecting member according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a front view and a sectional view showing a second embodiment of the ball chain of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing a connecting member according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a front view and a sectional view showing a third embodiment of the ball chain of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a front view and a sectional view showing a fourth embodiment of the ball chain of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing a conventional ball chain.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing a conventional ball chain.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the ball chain is incorporated in the endless track of the slider of the linear guide device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Ball chain, 3 ... Ball, 4 ... Ball holding member, 5 ... Connecting member

Claims (5)

[Claims] A plurality of balls arranged in a line, a plurality of ball holding members provided between adjacent balls for rotatably holding the balls, and a connecting member for connecting the ball holding members. A ball chain comprising: a ball chain, wherein a tensile strength of the connecting member is greater than that of the ball holding member. 2. The ball chain according to claim 1, wherein the connecting member is made of a metal material, and the ball holding member is made of a resin material. 3. The ball chain according to claim 1, wherein the connecting member and the ball holding member are made of a resin material. 4. The ball chain according to claim 2, wherein the ball holding member is filled with the connecting member by injection molding. 5. The ball chain according to claim 4, wherein the connecting member is formed with irregularities corresponding to the thickened portions of the ball holding member.