Method of manufacturing gear-shift lever and the lever constitution

• US 4,732,030 A
• Filed: 06/17/1986
• Issued: 03/22/1988
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/1986
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Takeru Tanaka
• Original Assignee: Takeru Tanaka
• Inventors: Tanaka, Takeru
• Primary Examiner(s): Larson, Lowell A.
• Application Number:
  US06/875,270
• Time in Patent Office: 644 Days
• Field of Search: 72/356, 72/360, 72/367, 72/370, 72/306, 72/316, 72/318, 27/161, 74/473 P, 74/523
• US Class Current: 72/356
• CPC Class Codes: B21D 53/88 other parts for vehicles, e.g. cowlings, mudguards
• CPC Class Codes: B21K 1/76 elements not mentioned in one of the preceding groups
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 74/20177 Particular element [e.g., shift fork, template, etc.]

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a power-transmission-gear-shifting lever which is made available for conventional passenger cars, trucks, agricultural machinery, civil-engineering and construction machinery, and other machinery by making up said lever with either a plastic or metallic tube, while the invention also relates to the constitution of the lever reflecting its preferred embodiments, wherein the manufacturing method is comprised of the sequential steps of first forming expanded tubular portion by expanding an end of tube with punching means, followed by contraction of the expanded tubular portion into eliptic shape using mold means before eventually cold-forging the eliptic portion into spherical shape, thus allowing the manufacturer to effectively save welding process and simplify assembly process before completing a light-weight gear-shifting lever.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing a transmission gear shifting lever, comprising the steps of

A. preparing a dice comprising a hollow cylindrical hole of a depth the same as a hollow cylindrical blank, and of a diameter the same as the outside diameter of said blank, and a mouth portion having a larger diameter than said outside diameter of said blank and tapered from the larger diameter to the hole diameter;

B. placing said blank into said hole;

C. inserting a punch having the same shape as said mouth portion of said dice and of a diameter smaller than the outside dimensions of said mouth portion by an amount equal to the walls of said blank, and applying pressure to said punch thereby to form said blank into the shape of said mouth portion;

D. repeating steps A, B and C hereinabove, but in each subsequent step increasing the dimensions of the mouth portion and increasing the dimensions of the punch accordingly;

E. placing said blank having the formed mouth portion into a pair of molds having the shape of a hollow cylinder to fit the unshaped portion of the blank, and an ellipse portion toward one end thereof, and applying pressure to said molds to cause the mouth portion to form an ellise;

F. placing said blank having the formed ellipse into a pair of molds having the shape of a hollow cylinder to fit the unshaped portion of said blank, and a sphere portion toward one end thereof, and applying pressure to said molds to cause the ellipse portion to form into a spherical portion having a cylindrical connecting portion at said one end thereof; and

G. placing said blank having the formed spherical portion into a pair of molds having a tapered shape for the unshaped portion of said blank and said sphere portion toward said one end thereof, and applying pressure to said molds to cause the unshaped portion to form into a single tapered portion and enlarging the wall thickness of said connecting portion.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the tapered portion contains a threaded end portion.