Cable or the like protection and guide device

• US 7,174,702 B2
• Filed: 06/14/2004
• Issued: 02/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tsubakimoto Chain Company
• Original Assignee: Tsubakimoto Chain Company
• Inventors: Ikeda, Masaaki, Matsuda, Takayuki, Komiya, Shoichiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Jones; David B.
• Application Number:
  US10/866,915
• Publication Number:
  US 20050029393A1
• Time in Patent Office: 974 Days
• Field of Search: 59/781, 248/49, 248/51
• US Class Current: 59/78.1
• CPC Class Codes: F16G 13/16 with arrangements for holding electric cables, hoses, or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H02G 11/006 using extensible carrier for the cable, e.g. self-coiling spring extensible conductors or cables H01B7/06

Abstract

To provide a cable or the like protection and guide device, which can suppress the sliding contact noise by reliably limiting a linear position and a bending position exhibited during the movement of the cable or the like, and at the same time, which can reduce a setting space by suppressing the impact noise and wear of a connecting pin piece on a connecting pin hole even if the height size of the link body is decreased. A connecting pin piece 13, convexly provided on a link body 10, which forms a cable or the like protection and guide device, includes stopper surfaces 13a, 13a, which are parallel to the upper edge center portion and the lower edge center portion of the side plates 11 and are oppositely disposed across a bending center point O and a pair of front, and rear arc-shaped outer circumferential surfaces 13b, 13b, which are oppositely disposed across the bending center point O. Further a connecting pin hole 14, concavely provided in said link body 10, includes a pair of linear position maintaining surfaces 14a, which are parallel to the upper edge center portion and the lower edge center portion of the side plate 10, and are oppositely disposed across the bending center point O, bending position limiting surfaces 14b, which are oppositely disposed across the bending center point O in a plane symmetry, and a pair of arc-shaped inner circumferential surfaces 14c oppositely disposed across said bending center point O in a plane symmetry to be brought into sliding contact with said connecting pin pieces 13.

Claims

1. A cable protection and guide device for protecting and guiding a cable in a cable inserting space, comprising:

a number of adjacent longitudinal link bodies each articulably interconnected;

each of said link bodies includes a bending center point;

each of said link bodies includes a pair of left and right side plates;

each of said side plates includes an upper edge center portion, a lower edge center portion, an end side and another end side;

a connecting plate is laterally bridged over said upper edge center portion and said lower edge center portion of said right and left side plates;

each of said side plates includes a convex connecting pin piece provided on said an end side of said side plate;

each of said side plates includes a concave connecting pin hole provided on said another end side of said side plate;

each of said convex connecting pin pieces of each of said side plates being articulably interconnected to a respective adjacent concave connecting pin hole of said adjacent link body;

each of said convex connecting pin pieces of said side plates includes a pair of upper and lower stopper surfaces which are parallel to said upper edge center portion and said lower edge center portion and oppositely disposed about said bending center point of said adjacent link bodies;

each of said connecting pin pieces includes a pair of front and rear arc-shaped outer circumferential surfaces joining said stopper surfaces and being oppositely disposed about said bending center point of said adjacent link bodies;

each of said connecting pin holes includes a pair of arc-shaped inner circumferential surfaces;

each of said connecting pin holes includes a pair of inner linear position maintaining surfaces which are parallel to said upper edge center portion and said lower edge center portion of said side plates and are oppositely disposed about said bending center point of said adjacent link bodies simultaneously abutting said pair of upper and lower stopper surfaces of said respective connecting pin pieces;

each of said connecting pin holes includes inner bending limiting surfaces which are formed at a bending limiting angle with respect to said linear maintaining surfaces and are oppositely disposed about said bending center point of said adjacent link bodies simultaneously abutting said pair of upper and lower stopper surfaces of said respective connecting pin pieces; and

, each of said pair of arc-shaped inner circumferential surfaces oppositely disposed about said bending center point being rotatably in sliding contact with said pair of front and rear arc-shaped outer circumferential surfaces of said connecting pin pieces.

2. A cable protection and guide device for protecting and guiding a cable in a cable inserting space as claimed in claim 1 further wherein each of said side plates includes a linear positioning complementary surface and a bending position complementary surface.