US3483800A

US3483800A - Fluidically operated actuator means or the like

Info

Publication number: US3483800A
Application number: US599064A
Authority: US
Inventors: Robert L Golden
Original assignee: Robertshaw Controls Co
Current assignee: Robertshaw Controls Co
Priority date: 1966-12-05
Filing date: 1966-12-05
Publication date: 1969-12-16
Anticipated expiration: 1986-12-16

Description

DEC.

FLUIDI'CALLY OPERATED ACTUATOR MEANS OR THE LIKE 2 -Sheet Deo mvENTo ROBERT L. GOLDEN Dec. 16, 1969 Filed Dec.

R. L. GOLDEN FLUIDICALLY OPERATED ACTUATOR MEANS OR THE LIKE f'ij 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR z ROBERT L. GOLDEN Q2 HlS ATTORNEYS United States Patent Q 3,483,800 FLUIDICAIJLY OPERATED ACTUATOR MEANS OR THE Llm Robert L. Golden, Greensburg, Pa., assiguor to Robertshaw Controls Company, Richmond, Va., a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 5, 1966, Ser. No. 599,064 Int. Cl. F151) 15/10 US. C]. 92-99 10 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure relates to a pneumatically operated actuator having two cupshaped housing members snap fitted together at the open ends thereof and sealingly holding an outer periphery of a flexible diaphragm between flange means of the housing members, each flange means having an outwardly directed rib offset relative to the rib of the other flange means and respectively compressing into the outer periphery of the flexible diaphragm. The outer periphery of the flexible diaphragm has a substantially Sshaped cross-sectional surface that mates with a like outboard cross-sectional surface of the housing member with which the diaphragm cooperates to define a fluid chamber therebetween.

This invention relates to an improved fluidically operated actuator or the like.

It is well known that fluidically operated actuator means can be provided wherein a flexible diaphragm or the like cooperates with a housing means to define a chamber therebetween whereby when such chamber means is at normal atmospheric conditions, the flexible diaphragm will hold an actuating member or the like in a predetermined position thereof. However, when a pressure differential is created across the flexible diaphragm of such actuator means by directing a fluidic signal to the chamber of the actuator, the diaphragm is moved to another position thereof to position the actuator means in another operating position thereof.

Accordingly, it is a feature of this invention to provide an improved fluidically operated actuator means of the above type wherein the flexible diaphragm is simply and effectively sealed to the housing means to prevent fluid leakage at such interconnection means.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved fluidically operated actuator means having one or more of the novel features set forth above or here- {inafter shown or described.

Other objects, uses and advantages of this invention are apparent from a reading of this description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a cross-sectional view of the improved actuator means of this invention.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, cross-sectional view of the diaphragm sealing means of the actuator of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a view similar to FIGURE 1 and illus trates the actuator of this invention in another operating position thereof.

While the various features of this invention are hereinafter described and illustrated as being particularly adaptable for providing a vacuum operated actuator means or the like, it is to be understood that the various features of this invention can be utilized singly or in any combination thereof to provide other types of actuator means as desired.

Therefore, this invention is not to be limited to only the embodiment illustrated in the drawings, because the drawings are merely utilized to illustrate one of the wide variety of uses of this invention.

Referring now to FIGURE 1, the improved actuator means of this invention is generally indicated by the reference numeral 10 and comprises a pair of cup-shaped, rigid casing or

housing members

11 and 12 respectively having outwardly directed annular flange means 13 and 14 at the open ends thereof to provide snap-fit connection means for snap-fitting the

casing members

11 and 12 together in their assembled condition, as illustrated in FIGURE 1 and in a manner hereinafter described.

A flexible diaphragm 15 has its outer peripheral means 16 held between the snap-fitted flange means 13 and '14 of the

casing members

11 and 12 to cooperate with the casing member 11 in defining a chamber 17 therebetween. The inner periphery 18 of the flexible diaphragm 15 is snap-fitted into an annular recess 19 formed in an actuating post means 20 having a diaphragm back-up plate means 21 disposed in the chamber 17 and abutting the under side 22 of the flexible diaphragm 15 and having an integral post 23 extending through a central opening 24 of the diaphragm 15 and out through a central opening iiizeans 25 formed in the end wall 26 of the casing member The actuating post 23 can be interconnected to any suitable device to be operated by the actuator means 10 in a manner hereinafter described. For example, in the embodiment illustrated in the drawings, the actuating post 23 is pivotally interconnected to a lever 27 by a pivot pin 28, the lever 27 having one end 29 thereof pivotally mounted by a pivot pin 30 to a supporting structure 31 whereby movement of the actuating post 23 from the position illustrated in FIGURE 1 to the position illustrated in FIGURE 3 will cause the lever 27 to be moved about its pivot point 30 in a counterclockwise direction to actuate any suitable structure, such as an electrical switch or the like. The lever means 27 is normally held in the :position illustrated in FIGURE 1 by a suitable tension spring 32 whereby the flexible diaphragm 15 is normally in the position illustrated in FIGURE 1 when the chamber 17 of the actuator 10 is in a normal atmospheric condition.

The cup-shaped casing member 11 has the bottom or closed Wall 33 thereof substantially dish-shaped and is provided with opposed tubular members 34- and 35 extending in opposite directions from the central portion of the wall 33, the

tubular members

34 and 35 respectively having passage means 36 and 37 formed therethrough and interconnected together by a small passage means 38 formed in an integral disc-like part 39 separating the bores 36 and 37 from each other.

In this manner, a flexible conduit 40 or the like can have one end 41 thereof telescoped onto the outwardly projecting tubular portion 34 of the casing membre 11 and be held thereon in a press-fit relation, as desired. For example, the tubular member 34 can have an outwardly directed annular bead 42 intermediate its opposed ends to outwardly deform the end 41 of the flexible conduit 40 in the manner illustrated by the reference numeral 43 to hold the flexible conduit 40 onto the tubular extension 34.

The flexible conduit 40 is adapted to be interconnected to a vacuum source 44 when a selector switch for valve means 45 is in a proper position thereof whereby when the vacuum source 44 is interconnected to the chamber 17 of the actuator 10 by the selector means 45, the subsequent ecacuation of the chamber 17 causes the flexible diaphragm 15 to move from the position illustrated in FIGURE 1 to the position illustrated in FIGURE 3 to pull the lever 27 to the operating position illustrated in FIGURE 3 for any suitable purpose.

When the selector valve means 45 disconnects the vacuum source 44 from the chamber 17 of the actuator 10, air is adapted to return to the chamber 17 either through the selector means 45 and the interconnecting conduit means 40 or by a controlled bleed means generally indicated by the reference numeral 46 in FIGURE 1.

In particular, the control bleed means 46 includes a tubular extension 47 formed on the end wall 33 of the casing member 11 and having a stepped bore means 48 passing therethrough to fluidly interconnect the exterior of the casing member 11 with the chamber 17. However, an orifice cup member 49 is disposed in the bore means 48 and has a fixed orifice 50 passing through the bottom wall 51 thereof to control the amount of air that can return to the chamber 17 through the orifice means 36, the air returning to the chamber 17 being filtered by a suitable filter means 52 disposed in the bore means 46 outboard of the orifice cup 49.

The size of the orifice 50 in the orifice cup 49 is so constructed that when the vacuum source 44 is interconnected to the chamber 17 in the manner previously described the amount of air tending to return to the chamber 17 through the orifice 50 is not suflicient to effect the movement of the diaphragm from its normal position illustrated in FIGURE 1 to its actuated position illustrated in FIGURE 3. However, when the vacuum source 44 is disconnected from the chamber 17 by the selector means 45, the air returning to the chamber 17 through the orifice 50 is at a fixed controlled rate whereby the flexible diaphragm 15 in FIGURE 3 will move at a predetermined rate from the position illustrated in FIGURE 3 back to the position illustrated in FIGURE 1, as the chamber 17 returns to a normal atmospheric condition by means of the controlled bleed means 36 and by the tension spring 32 pulling the diaphragm 15 back to the position illustrated in FIGURE 1.

The back-up plate means 21 of the actuating post means includes a substantially flat plate-like portion 53 engaging the under side 22 of the flexible diaphragm 15 in the manner illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 3 and having a substantially centrally disposed inwardly directed tubular extension 54 and a plurality of stiffening rib means 55 radiating from the tubular extension 54.

Similarly, the cup-shaped bottom wall 33 of the casing member 11 has a plurality of stiffening rib means 56 radiating from the inwardly directed tubular extension thereof, with the inner edges 57 of the rib means 56 being coplanar with the flat end 58 of the tubular extension 35. However, the ribs 55 of the back-up plate means 21 having their inner edges 59 angularly disposed toward the back-up plate 53 at the outer ends thereof and feathering to the flat end surface 60 of the tubular extension 54 at the inner ends thereof.

In this manner, when the vacuum source 34 is interconnected to the chamber 17 of the actuator 10, the diaphragm 15 is moved from right to left to the position illustrated in FIGURE 3 wherein the end surface 60 of the tubular extension 54 of the back-up plate means 21 abuts against the inner edges 54 of the stiffening rib means 56 of the casing member 11 to terminate leftward movement of the diaphragm 15 while the bore 61 in the tubular extension 54 of the back-up plate means 21 is concentrically disposed about the tubular extension 34 of the casing member 11 so that the vacuum source 34 will be continuously interconnected to the chamber 17 to positively hold the diaphragm 15 in the operating position illustrated in FIGURE 3 as long as the selector valve is interconnecting the vacuum source 44 to the flexible conduit 40. In this manner, the diaphragm 15 is positively held in the actuating position illustrated in FIG- URE 3, even though the controlled bleed means 46 is tending to permit air to return to the evacuated chamber 17 because the vacuum source 44 fully overcomes the slow bleed of air into the evacuated chamber 17 to positively hold the diaphragm 15 in the actuated position of FIGURE 3.

As previously stated, another feature of this invention is to provide improved means for sealing the outer peripheral means 16 of the diaphragm 15 between the snap-fit flange means 13 and 14 of the

casing members

11 and 12 whereby reference is now made to FIGURE 2 fully illustrating such unique structure.

The outwardly directed peripheral flange means 13 of the casing member 11 defines a substantially flat surface means 62 on a tongue portion 63, as well as an outwardly directed annular bead or rib means 64 projecting substantially perpendicularly relative to the flat surface 62.

The outwardly directed peripheral flange means 14 of the casing member 12 defines a substantially L-shaped structure having a first arm 65 disposed at a right angle relative to the other arm 66 thereof, with the arm 65 defining a flat surface 67 disposed parallel to the flat surface 62 of the flange means 13 of the casing member 11. However, an outwardly directed rib means 68 extends substantially perpendicular to the flat surface 67 of the arm 65 for a purpose hereinafter described.

The arm 66 of the flange means 14 of the casing member 12 has an annular recess 69 formed therein to snapfittingly receive the tongue 63 of the casing member 11 in the manner illustrated in FIGURE 2, whereby the

casing members

11 and 12 can be snap-fitted together through the natural resiliency of the material forming the

casing members

11 and 12, such material being a suitable plastic-material or the like.

The outer peripheral means 16 of the flexible diaphragm 15 includes an enlarged bead or annular projection 70 extending from the side 22 thereof at the extreme outer end of the diaphragm 15.

The projection 70 of the flexible diaphragm 15 is so constructed and arranged that when the exposed side 71 of the diaphragm 15 is placed against the flat surface 67 of the arm 65 of the casing member 12, the casing member 11 being snap-fitted to the casing member 12 through the cooperation of the tongue means 63 and recess means 69 causes the rib means 64 thereof to compress a part 72 of the flexible diaphragm 15 into sealing engagement with the flat surface 67 of the arm 65 while the head 70 of the diaphragm 15 is aligned with the rib means 68 of the arm 65 and is compressed between the flat surface 67 of the arm 65 and the flat surface 62 of the flange means 15 of the casing member 11. The configuration of the projection 70 complements the configuration of the projection 64 of the casing member 11 in the manner illustrated in FIGURE 2. In this manner, the projection means 68 on the arm 65 of the casing member 12 fully embeds into the bead means 70 of the flexible diaphragm 15 in offset relation relative to the bead or rib means 64 of the cup-shaped member 11 so that a positive fluid seal is provided between the flange means 13 and 14 of the

casing members

11 and 12 and the outer peripheral means 16 of the diaphragm 15.

In addition, it can be seen that when the diaphragm 15 is being drawn from the position illustrated in FIG- URE 1 to the position illustrated in FIGURE 3 by a vacuum being created in the chamber 17, such action causes the flexible diaphragm 15 to more firmly stretch around the annular projection 64 of the flange means 13 of the casing member 11 to tightly draw the bead 70 of the diaphragm 15 into sealing engagement with the projection 64 of the casing member 11 to prevent air and the like from passing between the bead 70 of the diaphragm 15 and the projection 64 of the casing member 11 into the evacuated chamber 17.

Further, it can be seen that through a simple snap-fit relation between the flange means 13 and 14 of the

casing members

11 and 12, the outer peripheral means 16 or the diaphragm 15 is fully secured therebetween in a unique arrangement to provide the aforementioned fluid sealing without requiring auxiliary fastening means or the like.

Therefore, it can be seen that this invention provides an improved fluidically operated actuator means or the like having many novel, useful and unobvious features.

While the form of the invention now preferred has been disclosed as required by the statutes, other forms may be used, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is:

1. A fluidically operated actuator comprising a first casing member having a first flange means, a second casing member having a second flange means, said first flange means having a first substantially flat surface provided with an outwardly directed first rib means, said first rib means having an outer arcuate cross-sectional surface and a reversely curving outboard cross-sectional side surface joining said fist flat surface, said first flange means having a first snap-fit connection means, said second flange means having a second snap-fit connection means sap-fitted to said first snap-fit connection means to hold said first and second casing members together, said second flange means having a second substantially flat surface that is disposed substantially parallel to said first flat surface and is provided with an outwardly directed second rib means, and a flexible diaphragm having an outer periphery held between said first and second flange means of said fist and second casing members to cooperate with said first casing member to define a chamber therebetween, said outer periphey of said diaphragm having a substantially S-shaped cross-sectional surface that mates with said arcuate and reversely curving surfaces of said first rib means, said first and second rib means being offset relative to each other and respectively compressing said outer periphery of said diaphragm against said first and second surfaces of said first and second flange means.

2. A fluidically operated actuator as set forth in claim 1 wherein said first casing member is cup-shaped and said first flange means thereof is at the open end thereof.

3. A fluidically operated actuator as set forth in claim 2 wherein said second casing member is also cup-shaped and has said second flange means thereof at the open end thereof. I

4. A fluidically operated actuator as set forth in claim 3 wherein said diaphragm carries an actuating post means extending outwardly therefrom, said second casing member having an opening passing through the closed end thereof and telescopically receiving said actuating post means.

5. A fluidically operated actuator means as set forth in claim 4 wherein said actuating post means includes a diaphragm back up plate means disposed in said chamber and engaging said diaphragm.

6. A fluidically operated actuator means as set forth in claim 1 wherein said second snap-fit connection means comprises an annular groove in said second flange means and wherein said first snap-fit connection means comprises an annular tongue on said first flange means received in said groove.

7. A fluidically operated actuator means as set forth in claim 6 wherein said second flange means is substantially L-shaped in cross section with one arm thereof defining said second surface and the other arm having said groove whereby said groove is disposed substantially at a right angle relative to said second surface.

8. A fluidically operated actuator as set forth in claim 6 wherein said tongue of said first flange is disposed substantially at a right angle relative to said first rib means.

9. A fluidically operated actuator as set forth in claim 1 wherein said outer periphery of said diaphragm has an enlarged bead disposed outboard of said first rib means and is in engagement with said second rib means.

10. A fluidically operated actuator as set forth in claim 9 wherein said second rib means deforms into said enlarged bead of said diaphragm while compressing said bead against said first surface of said first flange means carrying said first rib means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,339,876 1/1944 Phillips 9298 X 2,997,028 8/1961 Ayers.

3,035,552 5/1962 Hill 9299 X 3,109,346 11/1963 Julow 92-98 3,180,235 4/1965 Schmitz 9298 X 3,334,545 8/1967 Houser 9298 X 3,335,641 8/1967 Toschkoif.

3,354,831 11/1967 Acker et al.

MARTIN P. SCHWADRON, Primary Examiner I. C. COHEN, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 9298