WO1993009352A1

WO1993009352A1 - Interconnecting member

Info

Publication number: WO1993009352A1
Application number: PCT/SE1992/000747
Authority: WO
Inventors: Leif Gullblom
Original assignee: Leif Gullblom
Priority date: 1991-10-28
Filing date: 1992-10-28
Publication date: 1993-05-13
Also published as: SE468447B; AU2918892A; SE9103142D0; SE9103142L

Abstract

The invention refers to an interconnection arrangement to interconnect, e.g., a power cylinder or a rodless cylinder with a guide rail (30). The interconnecting member itself has two faces corresponding to the width of the cylinder, one side of the member presenting along the full length of the element paired to each other obliquely facing projections (14a, 14b) having a shape corresponding to in the cylinders parallel cut grooves. The projections (14a, 14b) do have a shape such that when the interconnecting member (10) is laid along a cylinder, the projections (14a, 14b) easily will slide into the corresponding parallel grooves (4) of an interconnecting cylinder. The interconnecting member presents at its second opposing side, at the top surface of the interconnecting member, a protrusion (20) running against in the guide rail a fitted central recess, and provided with threaded holes (17) having predefined intervals corresponding to the holes of the guide rail for the attachment of the guide rail to the interconnecting member, which offers a secured fixing between the guide rail and the interconnecting member. When joining the guide rail and the interconnecting member by screws the projections (14a, 14b) are pressed further in the direction towards each other for the locking of the interconnecting member with the cylinder by the influence of surfaces (21, 22) sloping towards the protrusion (20) at the top side of the interconnecting member.

Description

INTERCONNECTING MEMBER -¹

Technical field

The present invention relates to an interconnection arrangement for power cylinders or rodless cylinders for the interconnection of a guide rail and a cylinder, and more exactly to an inter¬ connection arrangement designed as an uniform opposite positioned interconnecting member.

Prior art

In the use of power cylinders or rodless cylinders there is a general demand of being able to interconnect, into a compact package, a power cylinder or a rodless cylinder and a guide rail.

A known rodless cylinder having an arrangement for the inter¬ connection of several power cylinders is disclosed by the Swedish Patent SE 458874 in which the power cylinders are interconnected by means of two identical but mirrored members using a pair of T-shaped grooves on each side of the cylinders. This demands that each interconnecting member must in its total length be pushed into the corresponding T-shaped groove along the full length of the power cylinder and then separately be locked to prevent any type of displacement action.

From SE 461 746 is disclosed an interconnection of a power cylinder and a guide rail by means of two separate interconnect¬ ing members. Interconnecting devices consisting of two portions like those in SE 458874 and SE 461746 also do have the drawback that the members may each vary in measure in relation to the other resulting in an unsatisfactory interconnection due to that in such a case not being able to fully ensure that the intercon¬ necting members will not be inclined in relation to each other.

In an additional document SE 462 402 is demonstrated, on each side of the power cylinder, a similar but single T-groove having arched bottom surfaces to leave space for locking screws being clamped through the interconnecting device put into the T-shaped groove in the same manner as in the previous discussed Patent. Another British document GB-A-2 156 480 discloses a power cylinder having longitudinal flat supporting faces with or without longitudinal grooves into which attachment means may be pushed in a similar way as previously mentioned, whereby a protruding trapezoidal projection is formed, if present between two such longitudinal grooves. However, this design does not permit a fully symmetrical interconnection of the power cylin¬ ders.

In connection to this may also incidentally be mentioned a German document DE-2939422 disclosing a cylinder block having several to each other interconnected cylinders at the ends of which there are interconnection elements allowing, as to the rest, round cylinders to be interconnected. These cylinders furthermore are provided with a piston rod and do not actually have anything in common with the technical field concerning power cylinders or rodless cylinders in arrangements for linear motion.

Today there is no really simple and efficient device available, in a stable way into a compact package, to interconnect devices like two or more power cylinders or rodless cylinders, alterna¬ tively a power cylinder or a rodless cylinder and a guide rail. Among other thing there is a demand of a means which does not have to be pushed along the side of the full length of grooves in power cylinders, but may in a simple way be attached and released from the side along its full length but still providing an absolute fixing of the devices to each other and at the same ^■fcime the interconnecting device must use a minimal space, as the demand is to connect the devices in a close relationship to each other.

Description of the invention

The present invention does solve the previous mentioned drawbacks byproviding an interconnection arrangement offering interconnec¬ ting means having a uniform contact surface for a paired inter¬ connection of a guide rail and a power cylinder or a rodless cylinder without any risk of displacement in any direction between the devices.

According to the present invention there is provided an intercon¬ nection arrangement which does not have to be pushed along the power cylinder or the rodless cylinder at the time of intercon¬ nection but are simply fitted straight from the side.

Additionally the present invention provides an interconnection arrangement with uniform contacting interconnecting means having towards each other facing paired parallel projections which fit into corresponding grooves in the power cylinder or the rodless cylinder and being simply clamped by a number of clamping screws accessible from a free face of the interconnection arrangement, the paired to each other obliquely facing parallel projections will due to shearing lock into the grooves of the power cylinder at the same time when the guide rail by means of the clamping screws is attached to the interconnection member.

The present invention furthermore provides an interconnection arrangement having one in the guide rail fitted central recess, a protrusion running in the top face of the interconnecting member and provided with threaded holes having predetermined intervals corresponding to holes in a guide rail for the fitting of the guide rail to the interconnecting member, which from the manufacturing point of view offers a fixing means between the guide rail and the interconnecting member, which is simple to produce.

Furthermore the interconnection arrangement according to the present invention provides a thin interconnecting means allowing the power cylinder or the rodless cylinder and the guide rail to be interconnected closely together.

Description of the drawings

The invention will be described below in a preferred embodiment by means of the attached drawings where corresponding parts are given the same reference numbers and in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a linear power assembly having a guide rail and a cylinder interconnected by an interconnecting member according to the present in¬ vention, and

Fig. 2 is a front end view of the power assembly of Fig. 1 showing the interconnecting member according to the invention.

A preferred embodiment

Fig. 1 is demonstrating in a perspective view a preferred embodiment of a linear power assembly having a cylinder 1, an interconnecting member 10 and a guide rail 30. Additionally a slider may be moved along the guide rail.

The interconnecting member is made as a structural shape extending along the full length of the cylinder and the guide rail. Furthermore the interconnecting member is provided on its upper face with a central, essentially squared shaped protrusion 20 running along the interconnecting member. The protrusion 20 is provided with threaded holes 17 which in relation to each other have predetermined intervals along the protrusion. Furthermore is illustrated in Fig. 2 that the upper face of the interconnecting member additionally symmetrically on each side of the protrusion has upwardly facing surfaces 21 and 22. The surfaces 21 and 22 are designed such that each of the surfaces is sloping somewhat inward towards the protrusion 20 with an angle of a few degrees to the plane parallel to the upper surface of the protrusion 20.

The interconnection member has a width approximately correspon¬ ding to the width of the cylinder or the width of the guide rail and the width is such that the interconnecting member does not constitute any obstacle for the slider along the guide rail.

In its downwardly facing surface, in Figure 1 and 2, the inter¬ connecting member presents an undercut longitudinal groove 18. On the remaining portions of the bottom surface at each side of the undercut groove there are along the full length of the interconnecting member two to each other obliquely directed projections 14a and 14b intended for fitting into parallel grooves 4 of a cylinder 1. On each side of both the projections 14a and 14b there are supporting surfaces 15a and 16a, respec¬ tively 15b and 16b.

Due to the cut portions 18a and 18b, respectively, in the undercut groove 18 and slightly sloping surfaces 21 and 22 there is created a possibility for the projections 14a and 14b to slightly move towards each other when the interconnecting member 10 is fixed to the guide rail by means of the threaded holes 17 in the protrusion 20 and with the threaded clamping means through the corresponding holes in the guide rail. When the clamping means are further tightened the protrusion 20 is further moved into the corresponding recess in the guide rail and due to the slightly sloping surfaces 21 and 22 projections 14a and 14b will be slightly displaced in a direction towards each other due to the thin material created underneath the sloping surfaces 21 and ^■22 by the undercut portions 18a and 18b, respectively, enabling the small displacements of the bottom portions of the intercon¬ necting member having the projections 14a and 14b.

The surfaces 15a and 16a, respectively 15b and 16b constitute supporting surfaces which are resting against the cylinder 1 when the projections 14a, 14b are inserted into the grooves 4. Due to its configuration the interconnecting member 10 does not moreover demand that the cylinder presents a flat surface for the inter¬ connection with a guide rail, but the cylinder is permitted to even have, e. g., a cylindrical form whereby essentially only the supporting surfaces 15a and 15b will constitute the supporting surfaces resting against the cylinder.

By influence of the supporting surfaces 15a, 15b and the pro¬ jections 14a, 14b the interconnecting member will securely engage the grooves 4 of the cylinder when the clamping means within the threaded holes 17 of the protrusion 20 are further tightened.

Claims

1. An interconnecting arrangement for the interconnection of a power cylinder or rodless cylinder, the outer surface of which being provided with parallel grooves (4) running along the full length of the cylinder (1), and a corresponding guide rail (30), characterized by an interconnecting means (10) made as one integrated part, in that said interconnecting means (10) is having a first (12) and a second opposing face essentially corresponding to the width of, for example, a power cylinder or a rodless cylinder to be interconnected with a guide rail, said interconnecting means (10) presenting along the full length of said interconnecting means paired to each other obliquely facing projections (14a, 14b) corresponding to in said cylinder present parallel grooves (4), in that said to each other obliquely facing projections (14a, 14b) are having a design such that when said interconnecting means with said first face being laid against said cylinder, said projections (14a, 14b) easily slide into the corresponding in the cylinder longitudinally running grooves ( ), in that said interconnecting means (10) along said opposing face presents a central running protrusion (20) comprising two parallel side surfaces and a top surface.

2. The interconnecting arrangement according to claim 1, characterized in that said opposing face of said interconnecting means additionally presents on each sides of said central running protrusion (20) essentially inward towards said protrusion (20) sloping surfaces (21, 22), that said interconnecting means at said first face presents an undercut groove (18) the cut portions (18a, 18b) of which serve to make the projections (14a, 14b) slightly mobile in the direction to each other, that said central running protrusion presents from above threaded holes (17) having predetermined intervals corresponding to the holes in a guide rail for the clamping of a suitable guide rail to said interconnecting means.

3. The interconnecting arrangement according to claim 2, characterized in that in connection to each projection (14a, 14b) there are supporting surfaces (15a, 16a; 15b, 16b) from which said projections (14a, 14b) emanate, whereby when said interconnecting means makes contact with its first face against a cylinder, at least the inner supporting surfaces (15a, 15b) are supported against the cylinder (1) when respective said projections (14a, 14b) are fit into said grooves (4) of the cylinder.

4. The interconnecting arrangement according to claim 3, characterized in that when said interconnecting means (10) has been positioned with said two projections fitted into, e.g., said parallel running grooves (4) in a power cylinder or a rodless cylinder and is supporting a respective supporting surface (15a, 15b) against the cylinder and said central running protrusion, having the threaded clamping means through said holes of said guide rail and within said threaded holes of said central running protrusion, said protrusion is dragged into a corresponding recess in said guide rail, said parallel to each other running obliquely facing projections (14a, 14b) are further pressed towards each other due to action of said essentially inward sloping surfaces (21) and (22), respectively, on each side of said central running protrusion (20) in cooperation with said undercut portions (18a) and (18b), respectively.

5. The interconnecting arrangement according to claim 4, characterized in that said interconnecting means (10) is made of a yielding tenacious material, preferably aluminum or an aluminum alloy.

6. The interconnecting arrangement according to claim 5, characterized in that said threaded clamping means are made of a metal preferably iron or iron alloy demonstrating adequate features to cooperate with said threaded holes in the material of said interconnecting means (10).

7. The interconnecting arrangement according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that furthermore the bottom face of said guide rail is arranged having inwardly to its center sloping surfaces to give additional space for the upper sloping surfaces (21, 22) of said interconnecting means upon interconnection with a cylinder.