US2529093A - Lock nut - Google Patents

Description

'R. w. LUCE 2,529,093

. LOCK NUT Nov. 7, 1950 Filed July 25, 1945 INVEN OR My Ja P ATTORN EY Patented Nov. 7, 1950 OFFICE 2,529,093 LooK NUT Richard W. Luce, Southport, Conn.

Application July 25, 1945, Serial No. 606,918

1 Claim.

The invention herein disclosed relates to a lock-nut of the kind in which there is efiected a frictional engagement between the thread thereof and the thread of a bolt entered therein. More particularly, the invention relates to a, lock-nut of this kind in which two axially spaced tapped portions are normally maintained with the threads thereof out of phase by a resilient portion having a curved wall section.

There are several forms of lock-nuts of the kind mentioned. Among these, there is the form which includes a body portion having the loadcarrying thread therein, and a smaller tapped portion formed by bending inwardly an axially extending cylindrical wall through substantially one hundred and eighty degrees. The curved section of the wall which unites the two tapped portions is resilient and the two tapped portions are normally maintained out of phase. The cylindrical extension must be of such thickness that the axial portion, formed by inwardly bending the extension, is thick enough to have a thread tapped therein and to maintain the thread. When this condition exists, there is too much metal in the resilient portion for the desired resiliency of a nut that must maintain its locking action over repeated use.

The object of this invention is to provide a simple construction in which the metal of the resilient portion is reduced to that amount which provides the desired resiliency, and to provide a simple and inexpensive method for makin the nut. A further object of the invention is to provide such a construction withoutsubstantially altering the appearance of the nut.

The foregoing "objects and certain advantages that will hereinafter appear are realized in the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings and described in detail below.

The drawings include:

Fig. 1 which is a plan of a lock nut embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 which is an elevation of the same; and

Fig. 3 which is an axial section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1. v

The lock-nut illustrated in the drawings includes a body portion l of hexagonal configuration that is bored and tapped to form the loadcarrying thread 2 therein. Axially spaced from and in alignment with the tapped body portion l,

' there is a smaller tapped portion 3. The thread 4 of the smaller tapped portion 3 is of the same pitch and diameter as the thread 2 of the body portion. However, the smaller tapped portion 3 is normally maintained with the thread 4 thereof axially displaced out of phase with the thread of the body portion in a direction towards the body portion and in an amount slightly less than onehalf the pitch of the thread.

The two tapped portions are united by a resilient portion 5. This resilient portion consists of a cylindrical extension formed integral with and extending from one end of the body portion and shaped to form the resilient portion and the smaller tapped portion 3. The cylindrical extension is bent inwardly through substantially one hundred and eighty degrees to form the smaller tapped portion 3, and the curved resilient portion 5 uniting the smaller tapped portion and the supporting portion 6 of the cylindrical extension.

In constructing a nut in this way, the thickness of the wall of the cylindrical extension must be at least such that when it is bent inwardly, the wall of the smaller tapped portion will be thick enough to receive and maintain the thread 4. When this condition exists, there is too much metal in the resilient portion for it to have the necessary or desired resiliency wherein there is sufficient recovery for repeated use. To provide the desired resiliency the curved section 5 of the resilient portion is partly slotted through as shown at 1, 8 and 9. While the slots go through the curved section, they are of course, discontinuous or spaced so that only part of the curved section is cut through.

Preferably, as illustrated the curved wall section is slotted in a plurality of places disposed about the axis of the nut. With three slots disposed symmetrically about the axis of the nut, the result is the same as though the sections I0, I I and l 2 were removed. This leaves three resilient sections I3, M and I5 symmetrically disposed about the axis of the nut supporting and holding the smaller tapped portion with its thread normally out of phase with the thread of the body portion. The slotting is preferably, and comparativel inexpensively, done by moving the nut axially against three rotating saws, each of'which makes a saw cut through the curved section of the resilient portion.

It will be obvious that various changes may be -made by those skilled in the art in the steps of themethod and the details of the nut illustrated in the drawings and described above within the principle and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claim. 1

I claim:

A lock-nut of the kind for effectin a frictional engagement between the surface of the thread thereof and the surface of the thread of a bolt entered therein, which lock-nut comprises an internally tapped body portion having the loadcarrying thread therein, an axially spaced smaller tapped portion and a resilient portion including a circular inwardly curved wall section reversely bent through an angle of approximately one hundred and eighty degrees uniting the two tapped portions and normally maintaining the two tapped portions with the threads thereof out of phase, the resilient portion havin a plurality of elongated relatively narrow slots extending through the bend thereof and along chords of the circular wall.

RICHARD W. LUCE.

2 4 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,215,560 Oddie Sept. 24, 1940 2,320,785 Luce June 1, 1943 2,385,390 Tripp Sept. 25, 1945 2,393,520 Cr-owther Jan. 22, 1946' 2,412,896 Luce Dec. 17, 1946

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