JP4276372B2 - Female thread screwing and fixing device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to screwing of a female screw to a male screw, for example, screwing and fixing of a female screw suitable for screwing a female screw of a ball joint ball bearing housing of a rack and pinion type steering device to male screws at both ends of a rack bar. Relates to the device.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Screw parts that are used by screwing a female screw on a male screw are widely used. When the female screw is used in a place subject to vibration, the female screw may gradually loosen and fall off over a long period of use. In particular, the female screw that has an important effect on the device needs to be fixed to the male screw so as not to loosen.
[0003]
For example, FIG. 6 shows a rack and pinion type front wheel steering device for a four-wheeled vehicle, and a pinion shaft 1 connected to a handle of a four-wheeled vehicle (not shown) slides a rack bar 3 in a rack case 2 to the left and right. The tie rod 4 is connected to both ends of the rack bar 3, and both ends of the tie rod 4 are connected to the left and right front wheels to steer the front wheels. Both ends of the rack bar 3 are male screws 5, and the base end of the tie rod 4 and the end of the rack bar 3 are connected to a ball bearing 6 so as to be swingable and rotatable. Specifically, the base portion of the bearing housing 7 of the ball bearing 6 is a female screw 8 and is screwed to and connected to the male screw 5 at the end of the rack bar 3. If the female screw 8 of the bearing housing 7 of the tie rod 4 is loosened from the male screw due to wheel vibration or the like, the steering operation becomes loose and the steering feeling becomes undesirable. It is necessary not to loosen.
[0004]
Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the rack bar 3 has a lock washer in which the protrusion 9 is brought into contact with the flat surface portion 10 of the peripheral surface of the rack bar 3 so as not to rotate at the base end of the male screw 5. 11 is inserted, and the female screw 8 of the bearing housing 7 is screwed to the male screw 5 with a predetermined torque using a spanner, a torque wrench or the like. Then, the bent portion 13 is formed by hitting the lock washer 11 with a hammer or the like in accordance with the lock surface 12 provided on the side surface of the female screw 8 of the ball bearing housing 7. As a result, even if the female screw 8 is loosened and turns, the bent portion 13 of the lock washer 11 is in contact with the lock surface 12, so that the female screw 8 can be fixed so as not to turn.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In production by flow work, an operator in charge of the work of screwing the female screw 8 and the work of bending 13 the lock washer 11 and fixing the female screw 8 is the same work and a force work using a hammer or the like. It will be repeated, and it will be repeated for a long time, and fatigue will be great. In addition, since this is a manual operation using a hammer, there is a difference in the technique of bending the bent portion 13 so as to contact the lock surface 12 with no gap between the unskilled person and the skilled person. There may be a case where the work load increases such as reworking.
[0006]
The present invention can automate a series of operations in which a female screw is screwed onto a male screw, a lock washer inserted non-rotatably into the male screw is bent toward the female screw side, and the female screw is fixed so as not to loosen. It is an object of the present invention to provide a female screw fastening and fixing device that can save labor.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has the following configuration. In other words, the present invention holds a pinching portion that holds a male screw member inserted with a lock washer that restricts rotation so as to prevent rotation at a predetermined position, and a female screw member having a lock surface formed on the outer corner portion of the female screw hole side surface. A female screw rotating member that has a wrench portion to rotate and can move forward and backward relative to the pinching member, a rotary drive actuator that rotates the female screw rotating member with a predetermined torque, and the female screw rotation And a forward / backward drive actuator for moving the member forward and backward, and the female screw rotating member is configured to lock the predetermined peripheral edge portion of the lock washer with the tip claw portion after the female screw member is screwed into the male screw member. An internal thread screwing and fixing device comprising: a bending portion that bends toward a surface; and a bending drive actuator that causes the bending portion to perform a bending operation. .
[0008]
According to the present invention, a male screw member into which a lock washer that restricts rotation is inserted is pinched so as to be prevented from rotating at a predetermined position by the pinching member, and the female screw member having a lock surface formed at the outer corner portion of the female screw hole side is attached to the spanner. The female screw rotating member is moved forward relative to the pinching member and rotated to hold the female screw to the male screw with a predetermined torque. Then, after the female screw member is screwed into the male screw member in a predetermined manner, the predetermined peripheral edge portion of the lock washer is bent toward the lock surface at the tip claw portion. Therefore, the female screw is screwed into the male screw by the operation of each member and the actuator, and the lock washer inserted by restricting the rotation (or non-rotatable) to the male screw is bent to the female screw side so that the female screw does not loosen. It is possible to automate a series of operations to be fixed to the head and save labor.
[0009]
In the present invention, it is preferable that the bent portion is configured such that the tip claw portion is pressed and retracted in the bending direction via a link mechanism between the bent portion and a drive actuator including a cylinder in which the rod moves forward and backward. is there.
[0010]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an external thread screwing and fixing device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5, taking a rack and pinion type steering device as an example.
[0011]
1 is a front view of the main part of the screwing and fixing device of the male screw, FIG. 2 is a front view of the device, FIG. 3 is a side view, and FIG. 4 is an end of the rack bar 3 on which the male screw into which a lock washer is inserted is formed. FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a state in which the female screw of the ball bearing housing of the male screw is screwed.
[0012]
The male screw screwing and fixing device of this embodiment includes pinching pieces (corresponding to pinching members) 14, 14, a rotating metal fitting (female screw rotating member) 15, a control motor (rotary drive actuator) 19, and air. It has a cylinder (advance / retreat drive actuator) 18, a link piece 23 provided with a lower end claw (corresponding to a front end claw portion) 24 on the rotary fitting 15, and a bent air cylinder 22.
[0013]
A sub-base in which sandwiching pieces 14, 14 are provided on a base plate 30 that is installed upright with respect to the floor surface, and the turning metal 15, control motor 19, and bending air cylinder 22 are mounted on the front side thereof. 31 is moved forward and backward by the air cylinder 18.
[0014]
Here, a lock washer 11 for restricting the rotation of the bearing housing 7 (in which the female screw 8 is formed) is inserted into the male screw 5 at the end of the rack bar 3. The rack bar 3 has a planar portion 10 facing and parallel to the peripheral surface of a portion adjacent to the end where the male screw 5 is formed (in the embodiment, a portion adjacent to the center as shown in FIG. 4). 10 is formed.
[0015]
The sandwiching pieces 14 and 14 are located symmetrically from the left and right, and sandwich the flat portions 10 and 10 formed on the peripheral surface of the rack bar 3 so as to prevent rotation at a predetermined position.
[0016]
Further, the turning bracket 15 has a U-shape that is substantially downwardly opened as a whole, and has a spanner portion 17 for holding the bearing housing 7 having a lock surface at the outer corner of the side surface of the female screw 8 hole by the female screw receiver 16. It is provided at the lower end so that it can rotate and advance and retract relative to the sandwiching pieces 14 and 14.
[0017]
In addition, the control motor 19 is configured to be driven to rotate with a torque meter 20 interposed between the control motor 19 and the turning bracket 15 so as to rotate the turning fitting 15 with a predetermined torque. The cylinder 18 moves the turning bracket 15 forward and backward together with the sub-base 31.
[0018]
Further, the turning bracket 15 includes a link piece 23 for bending a predetermined peripheral edge of the lock washer 11 toward the lock surface 12 by a tip claw 24 after the female screw 8 is screwed to the male screw 5 in a predetermined manner. An air cylinder 22 for bending driving for causing the piece 23 to bend is provided. A rotary valve 21 for transmitting driving air to the air cylinder 22 is provided at a rotation support portion between the torque meter 20 and the rotating metal fitting 15.
[0019]
In the above configuration, the male screw 5 is provided at both ends of the rack bar 3, and the lock washer 11 is inserted into the male screw 5, and the protrusion 9 of the lock washer 11 is rotated in accordance with the flat portion 10 of the rack bar 3. The disabled one is sandwiched between the flat portion 10 at one end of the rack bar 3 to which the bearing housing 7 is to be screwed and sandwiched between the pieces 14, and the male screw 5 is prevented from rotating and set at a predetermined position (rack bar 3 Set with one end facing up and the other end on the lower floor side). On the other hand, the bearing housing 7 at the base end of the tie rod 4 is inserted into the female screw receiver 16 provided at the lower portion of the rotating metal fitting 15 above the male screw 5, and the outer peripheral portion of the bearing screw 7 forming portion of the bearing housing 7 is formed. It is clamped by the spanner part 17 to prevent rotation. When the male screw 5 and the female screw 8 are set in this manner, the metal cylinder 15 is lowered by turning with the air cylinder 18, the female screw 8 is pressed against the tip of the male screw 5, the control motor 19 is started, and the torque meter 20 is turned on. Then, the female screw 8 is screwed onto the male screw 5 with a predetermined torque.
[0020]
Next, the pinch piece 14 is retracted and removed from the flat surface portion 10 of the male screw 5 so as to be freely rotatable, and the entire surface of the female screw 8 side and the male screw 5 side is rotated by the turning bracket 15 to lock the lock surface 12 of the female screw 8. The left and right link pieces 23 are moved by a bending air cylinder 22 via a rotary valve 21 and the lock washers 11 are connected to the lock surface 12 of the female screw 8 on both sides of the lock washer 11 with the claws 24 at the lower ends of the link pieces 23. The female screw 8 is fixed by bending toward it (forming the bent portion 13).
[0021]
This completes a series of operations for fixing the female screw 8 by screwing the female screw 8 and bending the lock washer 11 (forming the bent portion 13), so that the male screw 5 side and the female screw 8 side are entirely Remove it to the front. In this way, the worker can screw and fix the female screw 8 only by attaching and detaching the male screw 5 side and the female screw 8 side to the apparatus.
[0022]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, since the present invention is configured as described above, the operator simply attaches / detaches the male screw and the female screw to / from the apparatus, screws the female screw to the male screw, and attaches the lock washer to the female screw side. It is possible to automate a series of operations to bend and fix the female screw. Thereby, since the worker's fatigue is reduced, labor can be saved, and the cost can be reduced by saving labor. And there are many things that need to fix female screws to male screws with lock washers, and the jigs where the male screws and female screws are attached must be replaced with ones that match the shape of each male screw and female screw. The range of use can be expanded.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a front view of an essential part of a male screw screwing and fixing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an overall front view of the apparatus.
FIG. 3 is a side view of the apparatus.
FIG. 4 is a detailed view of an end portion of a rack bar on which a male screw into which a lock washer is inserted is formed.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a state in which a female screw of a male ball bearing housing is screwed.
FIG. 6 is an overall view of a rack and pinion steering device.
[Explanation of symbols]
3 Rack Bar 4 Tie Rod 5 Male Thread 6 Ball Bearing 7 Bearing Housing 8 Female Thread 9 Lock Washer Projection 10 Flat Part 11 Lock Washer 12 Locking Face 13 Bending Part 15 Turning Bracket 23 Link Piece 24 Link Piece Lower Claw

Claims (2)

A pinch portion for holding a male screw member inserted with a lock washer for restricting rotation so as to prevent rotation at a predetermined position, and a spanner portion for holding a female screw member having a lock surface formed on an outer corner portion of the side surface of the female screw hole A female screw rotating member that can rotate and advance and retract relative to the pinching member, a rotation drive actuator that rotates the female screw rotating member with a predetermined torque, and advancing and retracting the female screw rotating member. And a forward / backward drive actuator, and the female screw rotating member is bent so that a predetermined peripheral edge portion of the lock washer is bent toward the lock surface at a tip claw portion after the female screw member is screwed into the male screw member. And a female screw mounting and fixing device, comprising a bending drive actuator for causing the bending portion to perform a bending operation. The bending portion is configured such that a tip claw portion is pressed and retracted in a bending direction via a link mechanism between the bending portion and a drive actuator including a cylinder in which a rod moves forward and backward. Female threading and fixing device.

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