JPS626132B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an overrunning clutch used in a one-way transmission mechanism of a starting motor device, and in particular, to a clutch outer and a clutch inner surrounded by the clutch outer, the clutch outer and the inner A wedge chamber with one side open is formed, a clutch roller and a spring that presses the clutch roller toward the narrow side of the wedge chamber are housed in the wedge chamber, and a cover plate for closing the wedge chamber is fixed to the clutch outer. related to what was done.

Conventional overrunning clutches are
Since the cover plate of the wedge chamber is fixed by caulking to the outer periphery of the clutch outer, when it is fixed, the caulking force is applied to the clutch outer, which tends to cause deformation of the wedge chamber. This causes the inconvenience of hindering operation.

The present invention was proposed in view of the above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an overrunning clutch which allows the cover plate to be easily and securely fixed to the clutch outer without deforming the wedge chamber, and which has excellent maintainability. shall be.

In order to achieve this purpose, the present invention
A wedge chamber is formed between the opposing peripheral surfaces of the clutch outer and the clutch inner surrounded by the clutch outer, and one side of the clutch outer and the inner is open. In the overrunning clutch, a cover plate for closing the wedge chamber is fixed to the clutch outer. A concave portion having an annular retaining groove is provided in the concave portion, and the cover plate is fitted into the concave portion, and each apex portion of a retaining ring made by bending a steel wire having a circular cross section into a polygon is attached to the concave portion of the cover plate. It is characterized in that the locking ring is elastically engaged with the locking groove on the back side, and each linear portion of the locking ring is opposed to the back surface of the cover plate.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a starting motor device for an automobile engine will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, the transmission housing, which is designated as a whole by the symbol H, consists of a front housing 1 and a rear housing 2 that are connected to each other, and the rear housing 2 is equipped with a starting motor M and an electromagnetic switch S for starting it. are mounted parallel to each other as follows.

That is, the stator 3 of the starting motor M and the rear bearing bracket 4 are sequentially stacked on the rear surface of the rear housing 2, and are fixed to the front housing 1 together with the rear housing 2 by bolts 5. The rotor shaft 6 of the starting motor M is supported by the rear housing 2 and the bearing bracket 4 via a ball bearing 7 and a bearing bush 8, respectively, and the output end, that is, the front end of the rotor shaft 6 protrudes into the transmission housing H. are doing.

In the electromagnetic switch S, a switch cylinder 10 holding a solenoid 9 is fixed to the rear housing 2 with screws 11. Inside the solenoid 9, a fixed iron core 13 connected to the switch tube 10 via a yoke 12 and a movable iron core 14 that moves forward and backward with respect to the front surface of the fixed iron core 13 are arranged. A return spring 15 is provided to bias the return spring 14 in a direction away from the front surface of the fixed iron core 13. The movable core 14 is integrally formed with a switch operating rod 16 that penetrates the fixed core 13, and a movable contact 17 is slidably attached to the tip of the switch operating rod 16. The switch actuating rod 16 is held at the tip position by the resilient force. At the rear end of the switch tube 10 is a terminal cap 1 made of insulating material.
A pair of terminal bolts 20 passing through the end wall of the cap 19 are fixed to the cap 19, and the movable contact 1 is attached to the inner end of the bolts 20.
A pair of fixed contacts 21 facing 7 are formed. Of the pair of terminal bolts 20, one is connected to a conducting wire connected to a power source, and the other is connected to a conducting wire connected to a starting motor M (both not shown).

Furthermore, an operating rod 22 with a hook 22a that protrudes into the transmission housing H is also integrally formed on the movable iron core 14.

The transmission housing H includes an output shaft 2 that is parallel to the rotor shaft 6 and the operating rod 22 at an intermediate position therebetween.
3 and a one-way transmission mechanism T that transmits driving force in one direction from the rotor shaft 6 to its output shaft 23. The shaft is rotatably supported through the shaft and cannot be moved in the axial direction.

The one-way transmission mechanism T includes a small-diameter drive gear 26 formed at the output end of the rotor shaft 6, and a large-diameter driven gear 2 that meshes with the drive gear 26 concentrically with the output shaft 23.
7 and an overrunning clutch C of the present invention interposed between the driven gear 27 and the output shaft 23.The structure of the overrunning clutch C will be explained in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

The overrunning clutch C includes a clutch outer 30 integrally provided with the driven gear 27 on the outer periphery.
and a clutch inner 31 integrally formed at the intermediate portion of the output shaft 23 so as to be surrounded by the clutch inner 31. A plurality of wedge chambers 51 are formed between the opposing peripheral surfaces of both 30 and 31, and each wedge chamber 51 includes a clutch roller 32, and the clutch roller 32 is inserted into the wedge chamber 51.
A spring 52 is housed therein to press the spring 52 toward the narrower side. Further, a circular concave portion 53 is formed on one side of the clutch outer 30 to open the wedge chamber 51 to the bottom surface.
Further, an annular locking groove 54 is formed on the inner circumferential surface of the recessed portion 53. A cover plate 55 for closing the wedge chamber 51 is press-fitted into the concave portion 53, and a stop ring 56 for suppressing the back surface of the cover plate 55 is engaged with the stop groove 54 in the following manner.

That is, the retaining ring 56 is constructed by bending a single steel wire having a circular cross section into a polygonal shape (triangular in the illustrated example), and its circumscribed circle is the inner diameter of the concave portion 53 when the retaining ring 56 is free. , and leave a predetermined distance between the opposing terminals 56a and 56b. If a contracting force is applied to the retaining ring 56 to narrow the gap, the retaining ring 56 can be made smaller than the inner diameter of the concave portion 53, and in this state, the retaining ring 56 is inserted into the concave portion 53 and the contracting force is applied. When released, the retaining ring 56 expands due to its own elasticity to engage each vertex portion of the polygon with the retaining groove 54, and also causes each linear portion of the same polygon to face the back surface of the cover plate 55 over a wide range. can be done. In this way, the retaining ring 56 mainly suppresses the back surface of the cover plate 55 with its linear portion, and reliably prevents it from coming off from the recessed portion 53.

The clutch outer 30 and the cover plate 55 are fitted with bearing bushes 28 and 29, respectively, which rotatably support the clutch outer 30 and the cover plate 55 on the output shaft 23.

The opposing ends 56a and 56b of the retaining ring 56 may be arranged in the straight line part of the polygon as shown in FIG.
Although it may be arranged at the apex as shown in the figure, in the latter case, the opposing terminals 56a and 56b are always in the locking groove 5.
4 and vibrations are suppressed, so the locking effect is particularly strong.

The output end of the output shaft 23 protrudes from the front surface of the front housing 1, and a cylindrical boss 33a of a pinion gear 33 is fitted to the outer periphery of the output end via a spline 34 so as to be slidable back and forth. This pinion gear 3
At a predetermined forward position of No. 3, a ring gear 35 of the engine that meshes with it is kept waiting.

The open front surface of the cylindrical boss 33a of the pinion gear 33 is closed by a dustproof plate 37 which is caulked and fixed thereto, thereby preventing dust and the like from entering into the interior of the boss 33a.

The pinion gear 33 is moved to a meshing position with the ring gear 35 when the electromagnetic switch S is operated, and a pinion moving device D for this purpose is provided in the transmission housing H as follows.

The pinion moving device D has a moving rod 38 that slides through the axial center of the output shaft 23, and the front end of the moving rod 38 has a dustproof plate 37 of the cylindrical boss 33a and a dustproof plate 37 of the cylindrical boss 33a. A retaining ring 3 secured to the inner wall of
Pressing flange 38a that can move forward and backward between
is formed, and a barrel-shaped buffer coil spring 39 is compressed between the flange 38a and the dustproof plate 37.

The rear part of the hollow part of the output shaft 23 is enlarged to form a guide hole 40, and a spring receiver 41 that slides into the guide hole 40 is fixed onto the moving rod 38 with a stop ring 42.
A return coil spring 43 that biases the moving rod 38 in the backward direction is compressed into the guide hole 40 via a flange 41a formed on the outer periphery of the rear end of the spring receiver 41.

The pinion moving device D also includes a shift lever 47 that is pivotally supported by the transmission housing H via a pivot pin 46, and an overload spring 48 that is a torsion coil spring wound around the outer periphery of the pivot pin 46. The shift lever 47 has a first arm 47a that engages with the rear end of the moving rod 38, and a pivot pin 46.
The first and second locking arms 48a of the overload spring 48 are provided on the rear surfaces of both ends 47a, 47b.
48b are respectively locked. At that time, spring 48
A predetermined torsion torque is applied to the coil portion as a set load, and the hook 22a of the operating rod 22 is locked and connected to the second locking arm 48b. In the above, the effective length of the second locking arm 48b of the spring 48 is shorter than that of the first arm 47a of the lever 47. Therefore, the movement of the actuating rod 22 can be transmitted to the movable rod 38 at increased speed by the ratio of these arm lengths.

Pinion gear 3 due to the action of return spring 43
3. The retracted position of the moving rod 38 and the shift lever 47 is such that the back of the first arm 47a of the shift lever 47 is located at a stopper portion 2a formed on the inner wall of the rear housing 2.
It is regulated by coming into contact with.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained. If the engine start switch is operated to energize the solenoid 9 of the electromagnetic switch S, the movable iron core 14 will be drawn to the fixed iron core 13, and the operating rod 22 will be drawn toward the fixed iron core 13.
rotates the shift lever 47 counterclockwise in FIG. 1 around the pivot pin 46 via the overload spring 48, and pushes the moving rod 38 forward (to the left in FIG. 1) with its first arm 47a. move. This moving rod 38
, the pressing flange 38a moves the pinion gear 33 to the ring gear 35 via the buffer spring 39.
advance to the meshing position. At this time, if the tooth traces of both gears 33 and 35 do not match and their tooth side surfaces collide, the moving rod 38 leaves the pinion gear 33 at the collision position and moves the buffer spring 3
The movable core 14 advances to the position where it contacts the dustproof plate 37 while compressing the overload spring 48, and then moves back to the position where it comes into close contact with the fixed core 13 while twisting the overload spring 48, causing elastic deformation of both springs 39, 48. This absorbs the shock caused by the collision between both gears 33 and 35.

On the other hand, the movable contact 17 contacts the pair of fixed contacts 21 almost at the same time as the movable core 14 is attracted to the fixed core 13 to energize the starting motor M and start it.

As the rotor shaft 6 rotates, the drive gear 26 and the driven gear 27 are rotated at a reduced speed in the direction of arrow R in FIG. Then, the clutch roller 32 bites into the narrow side of the wedge chamber 51 and the clutch outer 30
and the inner 31, so the driven gear 2
7 rotational torque is overrunning clutch C
is transmitted to the output shaft 23 via the pinion gear 3.
Rotate 3.

If the tooth traces of the pinion gear 33 and the ring gear 35 match in the initial stage of rotation, the pinion gear 33 moves forward due to the elastic force stored in the buffer spring 39 and the overload torsion coil spring 48, and completely engages the ring gear 35. Since the meshing state is entered and the ring gear 35 is driven, the engine is cranked and started.

When the engine is started, the ring gear 35 rotates at high speed and drives the pinion gear 33 at a faster speed than the rotation of the driven gear 27, and the overrunning clutch C becomes disengaged due to the opposite action, and the ring gear 35 rotates at a high speed. The reverse load is not transmitted to the starting motor M side, and overrun thereof can be prevented.

After starting, when the starting switch is turned off, the movable iron core 14 of the electromagnetic switch S is returned to its initial position by the elastic force of the return spring 15, and the movable contact 17 is separated from the fixed contact 21, thereby disabling the starting motor M. At the same time, the movable rod 38 retreats due to the elastic force of the return spring 43, moving the pinion gear 33 to the ring gear 35.
It is removed from the pinion housing 49 and stored in the pinion housing 49.

As described above, according to the present invention, a recess 53 is formed on one side of the clutch outer 30, the wedge chamber 51 is opened at the bottom, and the annular locking groove 54 is formed on the inner peripheral surface. The lid plate 55 of the chamber 51 is fitted, and each vertex of a retaining ring 56 formed by bending a steel wire having a circular cross section into a polygon is elastically inserted into the retaining groove 54 on the back side of the lid plate 55. At the same time, since each linear part of the retaining ring 56 is opposed to the back surface of the cover plate 55, the cover plate 55 can be easily fixed without applying a large fixing force to the clutch outer 30. As a result, deformation of the wedge chamber 51 can be prevented and normal operation of the clutch roller 32 can be guaranteed. Also, the polygonal retaining ring 56
Since the cross-sectional shape is circular, the outer radial contraction deformation is easy and it can be assembled into the locking groove 54 without difficulty.
Coupled with the effect that it can be easily removed from the locking groove 54 by simply hooking an appropriate tool onto the straight part, the maintainability is extremely good. Moreover, the retaining ring 56
Since the straight part of the retaining ring 5 can be opposed to the back surface of the cover plate 55 over a wide range, the retaining ring 5 has a great effect of preventing the cover plate 55 from coming off.
6 has a circular cross section, and although the amount of engagement with the cover plate 55 at each vertex is relatively small, the separation of the cover plate 55 from the concave portion 53 is prevented by the cover plate 55 and the retaining ring 56. This can be reliably prevented by engagement with the straight portion.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view of a starter motor device equipped with an overrunning clutch according to the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are sectional views taken along lines - and - in FIG. It is a drawing similar to FIG. 3, showing a modification of the retaining ring. C...Overrunning clutch, 30...
Clutch outer, 31...Clutch inner, 32
...clutch roller, 51 ... wedge chamber, 52 ... spring, 53 ... recessed part, 54 ... locking groove, 55 ...
Lid plate, 56... retaining ring.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A wedge chamber 51 with one side of the clutch outer 30 and the inner clutch 31 open is formed between the opposing peripheral surfaces of the clutch outer 30 and the clutch inner 31 surrounded by the clutch outer 30, and the clutch roller 32 is installed in the wedge chamber 51. and a spring 52 that presses it toward the narrow side of the wedge chamber 51, and a cover plate 55 that closes the wedge chamber 51 is attached to the clutch outer 3.
In the overrunning clutch which is fixed to the clutch outer 30, on one side of the clutch outer 30,
The wedge chamber 51 is opened at the bottom and is provided with a concave portion 53 having an annular locking groove 54 on the inner peripheral surface, the cover plate 55 is fitted into the concave portion 53, and a steel wire having a circular cross section is inserted into the concave portion 53. Each vertex of the rectangularly bent retaining ring 56 is elastically engaged with the retaining groove 54 on the back side of the cover plate 55, and each straight portion of the retaining ring 56 is connected to the retaining groove 54 on the back side of the cover plate 55. An overrunning clutch characterized by facing the back.