Bearings – Rotary bearing – Plain bearing
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-19
2001-12-25
Hannon, Thomas R. (Department: 3682)
Bearings
Rotary bearing
Plain bearing
C384S295000, C384S419000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06332715
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a bearing device composed of a bearing and a washer integrally formed with each other, which can be readily loaded to a shaft and its fitting operation can be greatly facilitated.
2. Background Art
Conventionally, as one example of a small electronic device provided with a bearing component such as a bearing, there has been provided so far a disk player for reading out data recorded on an optical disk or the like. The disk player is provided with a disk loading device for carrying the optical disk into and/or out of the disk player, and is further provided with a carriage roller for sending the optical disk to a predetermined location.
The bearing device for use in a disk loading device is explained below, by taking up a carriage roller provided in the loading device as an example.
FIG. 16
is a front view of a carriage roller to which a conventional bearing device is attached,
FIG. 17
is an exploded perspective view showing the state in which neither a bearing nor a gear is attached to the carriage roller,
FIG. 18
is an exploded perspective view showing the state in which both a bearing and a gear are attached to a carriage roller,
FIG. 19
is a magnified front view of an end portion of a carriage roller and
FIG. 20
is an exploded perspective view of a carriage roller and a base flap.
In these figures, reference numeral
11
denotes a shaft,
11
a
denotes a stepped portion,
12
denotes a rubber roller for carrying a disc-shape recording medium such as an optical disk (not shown) to a predetermined location, and is integrally formed with the shaft
11
,
13
denotes a bearing secured to the shaft
11
, the shifting movement thereof toward the rubber roller
12
being limited by the stepped portion
11
a
. Further, numeral
14
denotes a gear that is pressure-inserted to be fixed to the end portion of the shaft
11
, numeral
15
denotes a base flap for rotatably supporting the shaft
11
, and numeral
15
a
denotes a bearing-holder recess for holding the bearing
13
.
The operation of the conventional bearing device is as follows.
As shown in
FIG. 20
, by engageably inserting the bearing
13
attached to the shaft
11
into the bearing-holder recess
15
a
, the shaft
11
is rotatably supported by the base flap
15
.
Since the conventional bearing device is constructed as such, in order that the bearing
13
is not brought into contact with the rubber roller
12
, the shaft
11
has to be formed with the stepped portion
11
a
and the rubber roller
12
has to be integrally formed with the shaft
11
, and because of this construction, there has been such a problem that the fabrication thereof requires much labor and the total cost is thereby raised.
For solving this problem, there has been provided so far a carriage roller, in which the rubber roller is not integrally formed with the shaft but is formed as an individually different component, and the shaft is inserted into the rubber roller. The carriage roller constructed as such is further formed with a washer between the bearing
13
and the rubber roller for preventing the rubber roller from shifting in the axial direction of the shaft and brought into contact with the bearing
13
.
However, as both the bearing
13
and the washer explained above are made thin and small, the problem still remains that the installation of these components to the shaft is rather difficult, and that the installation itself cannot be readily automated.
The present invention has been proposed to solve the problems aforementioned, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a bearing device, which can be easily mounted to the shaft and the automation of its mounting operation can also be readily implemented.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In order to achieve the above object, the bearing device according to the present invention is constructed in such a manner as to comprise: a bearing fitted to a shaft, a washer fitted to the shaft at the close proximity to the bearing, a coupling piece for coupling the bearing and the washer, and also separating itself from the washer and the bearing by an applied pressure force, wherein the bearing, the washer and the coupling piece are integrally formed with each other.
Due to this construction, an operator can easily hold the bearing and the washer as one component, and the coupling piece can be readily removed by applying a predetermined pressure force thereto, so that a working efficiency for installing this device can be drastically improved, and the automated mounting operation thereof can also be easily implemented. Further, the washer and the bearing are prevented from being lost during the mounting operation of the bearing device.
The bearing device according to the present invention further comprises a projection provided at the close proximity to the bearing holding recess.
Due to this, the coupling piece is severed by applying a pressure force to one part of the coupling piece when fitting the bearing to the bearing holding recess, so that the coupling piece can be readily removed, and the working efficiency for installing this device can thereby be drastically improved,.
The bearing device according to the present invention further comprises a projection formed on the inner surface of its shaft insertion hole of the bearing, and the shaft is formed with a fitting groove for fitting and primarily fixing the projection to the groove.
Due to this, the bearing device can be readily shifted or carried to another location as an attachment provided to a carriage roller.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2724867 (1955-11-01), Smith
patent: 3297223 (1967-01-01), Bueker
patent: 3751122 (1973-08-01), Dubay
patent: 3994542 (1976-11-01), Wojdyla
patent: 5845947 (1998-12-01), Arabia, Jr. et al.
patent: 6142292 (2000-11-01), Patterson
patent: 03103614-A (1991-04-01), None
patent: 5-87125 (1993-04-01), None
patent: 6-300034 (1994-10-01), None
patent: 8-212654 (1996-08-01), None
Kuzuu Takashi
Morimoto Takao
Hannon Thomas R.
Mitsubishi Denki & Kabushiki Kaisha
Sughrue Mion Zinn Macpeak & Seas, PLLC
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