Guide for transmission device

• US 7,524,254 B2
• Filed: 02/17/2006
• Issued: 04/28/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tsubakimoto Chain Company
• Original Assignee: Tsubakimoto Chain Company
• Inventors: Konno, Masahiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Johnson; Vicky A
• Application Number:
  US11/356,612
• Publication Number:
  US 20060205548A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,166 Days
• Field of Search: 474/101, 474/109, 474/110, 474/111, 474/140
• US Class Current: 474/111
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 2007/0872 Sliding members
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 7/18 Means for guiding or supporting belts, ropes, or chains construction of pulleys F16H55/36

Abstract

In a sliding contact chain guide of the kind used in the timing transmission of an internal combustion engine, a synthetic resin guide shoe is attached to a pivoting support arm by protrusions formed as unitary parts of the shoe, which engage notches formed in the support arm. L-shaped protrusions formed on one side edge of the shoe engage both the back face and one side edge of the arm, and strip shaped protrusions on the opposite side edge of the shoe engage the opposite side edge of the arm. An L-shaped protrusion is formed adjacent one end of the shoe on the edge having the strip-shaped protrusions.

Claims

1. A sliding contact guide comprising:

an elongated supporting arm having a front face, a back face, a first side and a second side, all extending longitudinally from a front end toward a back end, the first side having a first set of longitudinally spaced notches, and the second side having a second set of longitudinally spaced notches;

an elongated, synthetic resin, shoe positioned on the front face of the elongated arm, the shoe having a surface against which an endless power transmission is slidable, the shoe having front and back ends adjacent the front and back ends of the arm respectively, and opposite first and second longitudinal edges adjacent the first and second sides of the arm respectively, each of said first and second longitudinal edges extending from the front end to the back end of the shoe, the shoe having a first set of protrusions consisting of a plurality of protrusions each extending from its first longitudinal edge into a notch of the first set, and a second set of protrusions consisting of a plurality of protrusions each extending from its second longitudinal edge into a notch of the second set, the protrusions of the first set being all of the protrusions extending from said first longitudinal edge into notches in said first side of the supporting arm, and the protrusions of the second set being all of the protrusions extending from said second longitudinal edge into notches in said second side of the supporting arm;

wherein each of a plurality of the protrusions of the first set is an L-shaped protrusion having a leg engaged with the back face of the arm; and

wherein a protrusion of the second set, longitudinally spaced from the L-shaped protrusions of the first set and disposed adjacent one end of the shoe, is also an L-shaped protrusion having a leg engaged with the back face of the arm, and each remaining protrusion of the second set is a strip-shaped protrusion extending substantially entirely in a direction perpendicular to the front face of the supporting arm and thereby being capable of moving into and out of a notch of the second set of notches along a direction substantially perpendicular to said front face upon a twisting movement of the shoe;

whereby the shoe is held against longitudinal and lateral movement relative to the supporting arm by cooperation of the notches with the protrusions, and held against movement away from the front face of the supporting arm by engagement of legs of the L-shaped protrusions with the back face of the arm.

2. A sliding contact guide according to claim 1, including a receptacle formed on an end of the shoe remote from the L-shaped protrusion of the second set, the receptacle receiving one of the front and back ends of the support arm, the receptacle being open toward the second longitudinal edge of the shoe and open toward the end of the shoe adjacent the L-shaped projection of the second set.

3. A sliding contact guide according to claim 1, in which the sets of notches are disposed relative to each other so that, for each notch in one of the sets, a next notch, of the notches of said sets, proceeding longitudinally along the arm, is a notch of the other set, and, for each pair of adjacent notches of each set, a notch of the other set is disposed at a longitudinal position between the longitudinal positions of the notches of the pair.

4. A sliding contact guide comprising:

an elongated supporting arm having a front face, a back face, a first side and a second side, all extending longitudinally from a front end toward a back end, the first side having a first set of longitudinally spaced notches, and the second side having a second set of longitudinally spaced notches;

an elongated, synthetic resin, shoe positioned on the front face of the elongated arm, the shoe having a surface against which an endless power transmission is slidable, the shoe having front and back ends adjacent the front and back ends of the arm respectively, and opposite first and second longitudinal edges adjacent the first and second sides of the arm respectively, each of said first and second longitudinal edges extending from the front end to the back end of the shoe, the shoe having first and second L-shaped protrusions, each extending from its first longitudinal edge into a notch of the first set, a third L-shaped protrusion extending from its second longitudinal edge, at a location adjacent said back end of the shoe, into a notch of the second set, and first and second strip-shaped protrusions extending from the second edge of the shoe into notches of the second set;

wherein each of the L-shaped protrusions has a leg engaged with the back face of the arm;

wherein each of said strip-shaped protrusions extends substantially entirely in a direction perpendicular to the front face of the supporting arm and is thereby capable of moving into and out of a notch of the second set of notches along a direction substantially perpendicular to said front face upon a twisting movement of the shoe; and

wherein the first L-shaped protrusion is located laterally opposite a location between the first and second strip-shaped protrusions, and the second L-shaped protrusion is located laterally opposite a location between the second strip-shaped protrusion and the third L-shaped protrusion, and wherein the third L-shaped protrusion is the only L-shaped protrusion extending from the second longitudinal edge of the shoe into a notch of the second set;

whereby the shoe is held against longitudinal and lateral movement relative to the supporting arm by cooperation of the notches with the protrusions, and held against movement away from the front face of the supporting arm by engagement of legs of the L-shaped protrusions with the back face of the arm.