JPH11253007A - Cover for power transmission shaft - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cover for a power transmission shaft, capable of being changed into a state where the cover is largely extended in the axial direction to cover the power transmission shaft or into a state where the cover is contracted in a small size to strip the power transmission shaft. SOLUTION: When the bellows portion 22 of the cover 20 for a power transmission shaft is subjected to a contraction operation, the posture of the group of diameter-contracting tapered portions 24 is inverted into such a form as the inversion of disc springs. The group of the diameter-contracting tapered portions 24 are thereby superposed on the group of diameter-expanding tapered portions 23 to shorten the size of the bellows portion in the axial direction. When the group of the bellows portions 22 is expanded in the axial direction, the posture of the group of the diameter-contracting tapered portions 24 is inverted to leave the group of the diameter-extending tapered portion 23, thereby enlarging the size of the bellows portion in the axial direction. The bellows portion is thus extended or contracted in the axial direction and restrained in the extended state or in the contracted state.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a cover for a power transmission shaft. An example of the power transmission shaft is a drive shaft of a tractor. One yoke of a universal joint provided at the shaft end of this drive shaft is attached to and detached from driven shafts of various working machines as necessary.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An example of this type of conventional attachment / detachment mechanism will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, A is a tractor, and B is a working machine.

A universal joint 2 is attached to a shaft end of a drive shaft 1 of a tractor A, and a cylindrical portion of one yoke 3 of the universal joint 2 is spline-fitted to a driven shaft 4 of a working machine B.

[0004] The drive shaft 1 has an arched link 5.
Are supported via appropriate brackets (not shown). A hook 5a is provided at the top of the arched link 5, and pins 5b (one not shown) are provided at the lower two corners.

[0005] The work machine B includes an upper link 6 having a pin 6a which engages with a hook 5a of the arch type link 5,
Lower link 7 having an engagement recess 7a hooked on pin 5b of arched link 5 (one not shown in the figure)
And a link 8 for connecting the links 6 and 7 to each other.

When connecting the tractor A to the work implement B, first, the hook 5a and the pin 5
b is engaged with the pin 6a and the engaging recess 7a of the working machine B, respectively, and while the operator supports the one yoke 3 of the hanging universal joint 2 by hand, the driven shaft 4
Are spline-fitted. This spline fitting is performed while holding down the lock pin 10 of FIG.
The lock pin 10 is fitted into the recess 4 a of the driven shaft 4 to prevent the driven shaft 4 from falling off.

[0007]

By the way, the outer periphery of the universal joint 2 of the drive shaft 1 of the tractor A is shown in FIG. 5 in order to prevent something from touching the rotating drive shaft 1, for example. like,
A bellows-like cover 9 made of synthetic resin is attached.

By the way, since the cover 9 is mounted, when connecting the tractor A and the work implement B, the yoke 3 and the driven shaft 4 are spline-fitted while pushing the lock pin 10. Therefore, it is difficult for the worker to support one yoke 3 of the universal joint 2 by hand. In this case, the universal joint 2 may be exposed by shrinking the cover 9, but the universal joint 2 cannot be exposed since the cover 9 attempts to return to its original shape by its elastic restoring force.

By the way, if the cover 9 is shortened and the portion where the one yoke 3 of the universal joint 2 is exposed is increased to make it easier to support by hand, the reason for the existence of the cover 9 itself disappears. There is room for improvement here.

[0010] Accordingly, the present invention enables the state of the power transmission shaft cover to be changed between a state in which the power transmission shaft is greatly extended in the axial direction to conceal the power transmission shaft, and a state in which the power transmission shaft is slightly shrunk to expose the power transmission shaft. The purpose is to:

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a cover for a power transmission shaft is mounted so as to surround the universal joint on a power transmission shaft provided with a universal joint at at least one shaft end. A bellows portion formed by connecting the diameter-increase taper portion and the diameter-reduction taper portion alternately in the axial direction, and when the bellows portion is operated for compression, one of the diameter-increase taper portion and the diameter-reduction taper portion is provided. Is inverted to a state where it overlaps the other side, and that state is restrained.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cover for a power transmission shaft according to the first aspect, wherein the bellows portion is formed of a synthetic resin material, and one of an enlarged taper portion and a reduced taper portion. The thickness of the tapered portion is set thinner than the other tapered portion.

As described above, according to the present invention, in short, the bellows portion of the cover can be changed between a natural state in which the cover is extended in the axial direction and a folded state in which the cover is contracted in the axial direction. I am trying to.

Thus, for example, if the cover is extended in the axial direction, for example, the entire universal joint of the power transmission shaft can be concealed, and if the cover is contracted, most of the universal joint can be exposed. . Therefore, for example, when the drive shaft of the tractor is connected to the driven shaft of the working machine, for example, as described in the above-described prior art, the worker can easily support by hand, and After connecting them, concealing them can prevent an operator from touching the rotating part.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the embodiments shown in FIGS.

FIGS. 1 to 3 relate to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a longitudinal side view of an upper half showing an entire power transmission shaft with a cover attached thereto, and FIG. 2 is (2) of FIG. -(2)
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the upper half showing a state where the cover is contracted.

In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes the whole power transmission shaft. The power transmission shaft 10 includes a male shaft 11 having spline teeth on an outer peripheral surface and a female shaft 1 having a spline groove on an inner peripheral surface.
2 is connected so as to be able to expand and contract in the axial direction.

First yokes 13a and 14a of universal joints 13 and 14 are fixed to the shaft ends of the male shaft 11 and the female shaft 12, respectively. As shown in FIG. 2, spline grooves are formed in the cylindrical portions 13c and 14c of the second yokes 13b and 14b of the universal joints 13 and 14, respectively. These cylindrical parts 13c, 14
Although not shown, a shaft such as a driven shaft of a conventional working machine is connected to c.

The male shaft 11 of the power transmission shaft 10
2 is fitted to the outer periphery of the connection portion between the female shaft 12 and the female shaft 12 so as to be slidable in the axial direction so as to surround it with a required gap.
Two protection rings 15 and 16 are mounted, and bellows-like covers 20 and 20 are mounted on both ends of the power transmission shaft 10 in the axial direction so as to cover almost the entire universal joints 13 and 14, respectively. Have been.

The above-mentioned protective rings 15 and 16 have one ends respectively mounted on the outer circumference of the shaft ends of the first yokes 13a and 14a of the universal joints 13 and 14.
The outer rings 7 and 18 (the symbols are omitted) are press-fitted to the outside. The rolling bearings 17,
The small-diameter cylindrical portion 21 at one axial end of the covers 20, 20 is externally fitted to the outer peripheral portion of the cover 18 and fixed by screws (omitted by reference numerals). With such a configuration, the above-described protective rings 15 and 16 and the covers 20 and 20 can rotate relative to the first yokes 13a and 14a of the universal joints 13 and 14.

The feature of the present invention resides in the cover 20. That is, the cover 20 includes the small-diameter cylindrical portion 21 and the bellows portion 22, and is entirely formed of, for example, a synthetic resin material such as polyethylene. The bellows portion 22 has a diameter-increased taper portion 23 that increases in diameter from the small-diameter cylindrical portion 21 side to the other end side in the axial direction.
And the diameter-reducing tapered portion 24 for reducing the diameter are alternately connected. The thickness of the reduced diameter tapered portion 24 group is set smaller than the thickness of the increased diameter tapered portion 23 group. With such a configuration, the bellows portion 22 of the cover 20 is formed.
However, when the compression operation is performed, as shown in FIG. 3, each of the thin-walled tapered portions 24 is reversed in posture as if the coned disc spring is inverted, and the thick-walled enlarged tapered portions 23 are formed.
Each of them overlaps and is restrained in that state.

In such a foldable cover 20, for example, if the bellows portion 22 of the cover 20 is extended in the axial direction to be in a natural state, for example, the entire universal joints 13 and 14 of the power transmission shaft 10 can be concealed. Can,
Further, if the bellows portion 22 of the cover 20 is contracted to be folded, most of the universal joints 13 and 14 can be exposed.

It is assumed that the power transmission shaft 10 is, for example, the drive shaft 1 of the tractor A shown in the conventional example. In this case, for example, when the drive shaft 1 of the tractor A is connected to the driven shaft 4 of the work implement B, if the bellows portion 22 of the cover 20 is in a contracted and folded state, most of the universal joints 13 and 14 are exposed. Therefore, it can be easily supported by a worker by hand. And after this connection is completed,
If the bellows portion 22 of the cover 20 is extended to a natural state,
Since almost all of the universal joints 13 and 14 can be concealed, it is possible to prevent a worker or anything from touching the universal joints 13 and 14 while the drive shaft 1 is rotating. Become.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to only the above embodiment, and various applications and modifications are conceivable.

(1) The cover 20 of the present invention is not used only for the drive shaft 1 such as the tractor described in the conventional example, but can be used for a power transmission shaft used in various devices. .

(2) In the above embodiment, the relationship between the thickness of the tapered portion 23 and the thickness of the tapered portion 24 may be reversed. That is, the thickness of the enlarged diameter tapered portion 23 may be set to be thinner than the reduced diameter tapered portion 24.

[0027]

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the state can be restrained by extending in the axial direction or contracting in the axial direction, so that the cover can be extended. For example, the whole of the universal joint of the power transmission shaft can be hidden, and if the cover is contracted and folded, most of the universal joint can be exposed. Therefore, for example, when the drive shaft of the tractor is connected to the driven shaft of the work implement, for example, when the drive shaft of the tractor is connected to the driven shaft of the work implement, the operator can easily support the device and contribute to smooth connection work. After the connection, the connection portion can be hidden, so that something can be prevented from touching the connection portion.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal side view of an upper half showing an entire power transmission shaft equipped with a cover according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line (2)-(2) of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an upper half showing a state in which a cover is contracted.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing a conventional connection between a tractor and a working machine.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional side view of the upper half showing a state where a cover is attached to the drive shaft of FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 power transmission shaft 13, 14 universal joint 13 b, 14 b second yoke of universal joint 20 cover 22 bellows part of cover 23 tapered part of bellows part with increased diameter 24 tapered part of bellows part

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A cover attached to a power transmission shaft provided with a universal joint at at least one shaft end so as to surround the universal joint, wherein the enlarged diameter tapered portion and the reduced diameter tapered portion are connected alternately in the axial direction. A bellows portion, and when the bellows portion is subjected to a compression operation, the posture is reversed so that one of the enlarged diameter tapered portion and the reduced diameter tapered portion overlaps the other, and the state is restrained. A cover for a power transmission shaft. 2. The cover according to claim 1, wherein the bellows portion is formed of a synthetic resin material, and the thickness of one of the tapered portion and the tapered portion is larger than the other. A cover for a power transmission shaft, which is set to be thinner than that of the power transmission shaft.