JPH07101054B2 - Shaft coupling - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a shaft coupling, particularly a tractor, which is composed of a male member and a female member that are axially slidable but fitted so as not to rotate relative to each other. The present invention relates to a shaft coupling that connects agricultural equipment.

[Conventional technology]

In this type of shaft coupling, one member is provided on the tractor and the other member is provided on the agricultural equipment, and the male member and the female member are movably suspended from the elevating arm.
The male member is provided with a guide surface and a groove for cooperating with the pin.

When connecting a male member and a female member, the male member is inserted into the female member to connect, but normally, the male member and the female member are out of phase with each other and are not aligned. It is not possible to combine them into shapes. Therefore, the forward movement and the backward movement are repeated with respect to the member in which the male member in this mismatched state is inserted. Then, due to the cooperation of the pin of the male member and the guide surface of the female member, the female member is rotated with respect to the male member so that they are aligned with each other. The lemon structure is a perfect fit to formally bond both parts.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

As described above, the male member and the female member are respectively provided with the guide member (pin) and the guide surface, but providing the guide surface on the female member is extremely complicated and difficult to process, and therefore its cost is expensive. You will get tired of it. Also,
Since the female member is provided with the guide surface, the length of the portion of the female member that forms a shape connection with the male member becomes short, which is not preferable for torque transmission. Furthermore, by providing a deep guide groove in the female member, the wall thickness of that portion of the female member is reduced and its strength is reduced. If the length of the female member is increased or the wall thickness is increased in order to avoid this, the outer diameter of the female member is increased, and accordingly, the weight is also increased. Furthermore, since the guide member is provided on the female member, it is not possible to sufficiently increase the length of the shape-coupling portion of the female member in terms of design, so it is not easy to couple both members, and it is not preferable for torque transmission. There is a problem such as.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a shaft coupling that is smaller and lighter in weight than conventional shaft couplings of the related art, is easy to process, and can be manufactured at low cost.

Another object of the present invention is to connect both joints easily and surely even though the normal length is almost the same as the conventional one, and shortening the length of the guide portion enables torque transmission. An object of the present invention is to provide this kind of shaft coupling in which the involved portion can be lengthened.

[Means and Actions for Solving Problems]

According to one of its characteristics, the shaft coupling of the present invention is a shaft coupling made of a male member and a female member which are axially slidable but formally fitted so as not to rotate relative to each other. There is at least one guide groove whose side faces form a guide surface that merges with each other at the tip and expands toward the tip and merges with each other at a position near the tip, to which the female member cooperates with said groove. It is provided with a guide member.

According to the above configuration, the side surface of the groove formed in the male member forms the guide surface, and the male member having the guide surface is the conventional one when fitted to the female member having the guide portion (pin). Similarly to the above, the female member can be rotated by the cooperation of the pin and the guide surface to match the phases of the female member and form coupling. Since the groove forming the guide surface can be processed with high precision from the outside, the processing is extremely easy and reliable.

According to another feature of the shaft coupling of the present invention, the male member includes the guide shaft and the protective cover concentric therewith; the female member is concentrically and rotatably fitted to the inner sleeve. A front part consisting of a fixed outer sleeve and a rear part consisting of an inner sleeve and a rear part consisting of two relatively rotatable intermediate sleeves, which are concentrically and removably inserted between the inner and outer sleeves of the front part. A female member is fitted between the guide shaft of the male member and the protective cover, and the guide shaft of the male member and the inner sleeve of the female member cooperate with each other.

Therefore, the expanding male member and the male member can be connected very easily by the elastic action of the spring, and after the connection, the spring of the female member is compressed and the rear part is pushed into the front part to an arbitrary length. It can be shortened and used like the conventional one.

〔Example〕

In FIG. 1, a male member 10 has a guide shaft 12 fitted and fixed to a yoke 11, and a protective cover 17 is rotatably attached to a bearing 16 between the guide shaft 12 and the protective cover 17. An annular gap 18 is formed for receiving the female member. As is clear from FIGS. 1 and 2, a pair of guide surfaces (cam surfaces) 13 are formed near the tip of the guide shaft 12. Between the guide surface 13 of the guide shaft 12 and the rear end portion fitted to the yoke 11, as shown in FIGS. 2 (a) to (f),
6 to 14 splines 14 are formed in the axial direction.
The guide surface 13 is formed by a groove deeper than a normal recess formed between the splines. That is, the vertical groove 15 formed between the splines is widened toward the tip of the guide shaft 12 so as to increase its width, and joins each other just before the tip. Therefore, the guide surfaces 13 also join each other on the tip side and have a sharp tip. Instead of providing the splines 14, the shaft 12 can have a lemon-shaped cross section,
Further, the shaft 12 may be a polygonal prism. The protective cover 17
A slit 18 (not shown) that is long in the axial direction is provided for the following purpose. [See FIG. 4c].

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the female member 20 comprises a concentrically fitted front portion 30 and rear portion 40 and a spring 50 therebetween.

The front portion 30 is formed by rotatably fitting an inner sleeve 31 and an outer sleeve 35 via a bearing 37 provided at the tip. The inner sleeve 31 has a spline formed on its inner surface for engaging with the spline of the guide shaft over a predetermined length, and has a spline formed on its outer surface for substantially the entire length. Further, a short sleeve portion 36 for receiving a spring (not shown) is concentrically provided inside the front end portion of the outer sleeve 35, and a protrusion 38 is further provided on the outer peripheral surface,
A wire rope 39 connected to the lifting arm is locked in the hole. A trumpet-shaped guide surface 32 for introducing a male member is formed at the tip of the inner sleeve 31, and a pair of holes 34A are formed in the vicinity of this guide surface, and a pin 34 as a guide member is inserted therein. , The plug 34B prevents it from being pulled out. The pin 34 protrudes from this hole to the outside and can act as a guide member. A rear end of the inner sleeve 31 further projects from the outer sleeve 35, and a retaining ring 33 is provided at the end of the inner sleeve 31 so that the inner and outer portions 20 and 30 are not pulled out from each other when fitted.

On the other hand, the rear portion 40 is provided with an inner intermediate sleeve 41 rotatably and concentrically with an outer intermediate sleeve 44 via a bearing 46. Inside the outer intermediate sleeve 44 there is a short sleeve portion 45 for spring relief. In addition, a spline 43 that engages with a spline provided on the outer surface of the inner sleeve 31 of the front portion 30 is formed on the inner side of the tip end portion of the inner intermediate sleeve 41 for a portion of half or less of the entire length. , In cooperation with the ring 33 of the inner sleeve 31 of the front part 30, prevents the rear part 40 from axially slipping out after the front part 30 and the rear part 40 have been assembled.

A spring 50 is inserted between the front portion 30 and the rear portion 40 of the female member, and the rear portion 40 is fitted to the front portion 30 of the female member, and both members are fully extended. Is shown in. The retaining ring 33 is a spline 43 on the rear part 40.
It engages the shoulders of the and prevents further rear portion 40 from slipping out of front portion 30.

The connection of the joint of the present invention will be described below.

The male member 10 and the female member 20 of the joint are attached to, for example, a tractor and agricultural equipment, respectively, and are suspended by an elevating arm.

When connecting the fittings, initially the male member 10 and the female member 20 of the fitting are usually not aligned, as shown in Figures 1a and 1b.

Then, the male member 10 is slightly inserted into or removed from the female member 20. Then, for example, even if the pin 34 is just at the position of the tip of the guide surface 13 of the guide shaft 12 of the male member,
Due to the action of the spring 50, the female member 20 is slightly rotated and comes to a position along the guide surface 13 during insertion and removal. Then, when the male member 10 is pushed in as it is, the female member 20 is driven by the male member 10 to rotate, and the pin 34 advances along the guide surface 13 to reach the groove 15. That is, the male member 10 and the female member 20 can be completely connected as shown in FIGS. When the agricultural working equipment is operated by the tractor, since the male and female members are respectively suspended by the lifting arms, this shaft coupling has a predetermined length suitable for the agricultural working equipment, and expands and contracts. It becomes free, and the shock of the spring 50 can be absorbed.

In this case, since the rotational torque is transmitted through the two universal joints on both sides, the yokes of the universal joint must have the same phase as shown in Figs. 4a and 4b. is necessary. Therefore, two grooves 15 are provided so that the female member can rotate up to 180 degrees with respect to the male member. Similarly, even in the case of a so-called lemon shaft having a lemon-shaped cross section, it is preferable to provide two grooves in a portion not involved in torque transmission,
One groove is also possible. Further, when the shaft has an n-sided cross section, it is preferable to provide as many grooves as 360 ° / n, but it goes without saying that the number of grooves can be any number from 1 to n. .

〔The invention's effect〕

In the present invention, the guide member and the groove and the guide surface are provided on the female member and the male member, respectively, contrary to the prior art, so that the female member can be processed by, for example, broaching, while the female member is By forming the groove, it is possible to provide a guide surface, and the groove of the male member comes to the outside, so it is easy to process the groove, and therefore the processing of the entire joint is facilitated, thus reducing the processing cost. You can save money. Since it is not necessary to provide a groove and a guide surface in the female member, the strength does not decrease even if the wall thickness is reduced.

Further, since the female member is divided into two parts, the front part and the rear part, the length at the time of connection can be changed to a length required for the distance to the tractor according to the agricultural equipment used. . Therefore, it can be used for various working machines.
Further, since the spring is fitted between the front part and the rear part of the female member, when introducing the female member into the female member,
Even when these phases do not match, the front part of the female member retracts into the rear part by the elastic action of the spring just by pressing the male member against the lightly squeezing member, so the pin as the guide member immediately guides the guide surface. And the male member can be easily inserted into the female member. Therefore, the connecting operation becomes extremely easy.

[Brief description of drawings]

1a and 1b are a longitudinal sectional view and a transverse sectional view showing a state in which a male member and a female member of a joint are being coupled (however, a rear portion of the female member is excluded). Similarly, it is a cross-sectional view of the rear portion of the female c member. 2A to 2F are a side view, a plan view and a front view, respectively, of the two types of guide shafts of the male member. FIG. 3 is an assembled view of the female member in a stretched state. 4A to 4C are a longitudinal sectional view, a lateral sectional view, and a main-part sectional view showing a joined state of the joint. Reference numeral in the figure: 10 ... Male member, 12 ... Guide shaft, 13 ... Guide surface, 15 ... Groove,
17 …… Protective cover, 18 …… Annular gap, 20 …… Female member, 30
...... Front part, 31 …… Inner sleeve, 32 …… Trumpet-shaped guide surface, 34 …… Guide member, 34A …… Hole, 34B …… Plug, 35 …… Outer sleeve, 41 …… Intermediate sleeve, 40… … Rear part, 50 ……
Spring

Claims (2)

[Claims] Claims: 1. A shaft coupling comprising a male member (10) and a female member (20), which are capable of sliding in the axial direction but which are fitted into each other so as not to rotate relative to each other.
Has at least one guide groove (15) whose side faces form a guide surface (13) which joins each other at the tip and which expands toward the tip and joins each other at a position close to the tip, and a female member (20). Is provided with a guide member (34) that cooperates with the groove. 2. A male member (10) comprises a guide shaft (12) and a protective cover (17) concentric therewith; a female member (20) being concentric and rotatable relative to the inner sleeve (31). A front part (30) consisting of an outer sleeve (35) fitted to the
And a rear part (40) consisting of two inner and outer intermediate sleeves (41, 44) which are removably inserted concentrically between the inner and outer sleeves (31, 35) of the front part (30).
And a spring (50) inserted between the two parts; a female member (20) is fitted between the guide shaft (12) of the male member (10) and the protective cover (17), and the male member is inserted. The shaft coupling according to claim 1, characterized in that the guide shaft (12) of the (10) and the inner sleeve (41) of the female member (20) cooperate with each other.