Bearing device

Details Bearing device Bearing device

2001-03-05

2003-09-16

Rodriguez, Pam (Department: 3683)

Bearings

Rotary bearing

Antifriction bearing

C384S544000, C301S105100

Reexamination Certificate

active

06619852

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bearing device such as a hub unit for a vehicle comprising a shaft and a bearing and a rolling bearing mounted to the shaft body.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to
FIG. 7
, in a conventional hub unit, a double row angular contact ball bearing
82
with vertex of contact angles outside of bearing is fitted and mounted around a shaft portion
81
of a hub wheel
80
. A free end of the shaft portion
81
is bent outward in a radial direction by rolling-caulking. The bent caulked portion
85
pushes an outer end face of an inner ring
84
of the bearing
82
. With this pushing operation, the bearing
82
is fixed to the hub wheel
80
to prevent the bearing
82
from falling out from the hub wheel
80
.
Before the free end of the shaft portion
81
is caulked, the free end has a shape of a cylindrical portion. This cylindrical portion is rolling-caulked using a caulking jig. With this operation, the cylindrical portion of the shaft portion
81
is bent outward in the radial direction to form the caulked portion
85
so that the inner ring
84
is prevented from falling out.
In such a hub unit, an entire outer surface of the inner ring
84
of the bearing
82
is subjected to hardening treatment. Therefore, in order to enhance a resisting force against the falling-out phenomenon of the bearing
82
, it is necessary to set a caulking load stronger.
On the other hand, if the caulking load is excessively strong, a raceway surface of the inner ring
84
is affected and there is an adverse possibility that rolling characteristics of the bearing
82
is deteriorated. Therefore, it is necessary to set the caulking load appropriately.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, it is a main object of the present invention to provide a bearing device capable of appropriately setting a caulking load such that a raceway surface of an inner ring is not affected while a falling-out resistance of a bearing can be strengthened.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description.
A bearing device of the present invention comprises a shaft body and a rolling bearing mounted around the shaft body, wherein the shaft body is provided at its free end with a caulked portion. The caulked portion is bent outward in a radial direction to push an end face of an inner ring of the rolling bearing, thereby preventing the rolling bearing from falling out. A raceway surface of the inner ring of the rolling bearing is subjected to hardening treatment, and other portion of the inner ring is made of raw material which is not hardened.
According to such a structure, the portion of the inner ring of the rolling bearing other than the raceway surface can be made of raw material. Therefore, the caulked portion formed by the caulking plastically deforms the relatively soft inner peripheral corner of the miner ring and as a result, the caulked portion and the end face of the inner ring are adhered to each other strongly without adversely affecting the raceway surface of the inner ring.
In the invention, preferably, the inner ring is made of high-carbon chromium bearing steel or carbon steel for machine structural use as base material, and its raceway surface is subjected to hardening treatment by induction hardening. The raw material portion of the inner ring is prevented from being excessively deformed by a caulking load at the time of caulking so that a stable structure can be obtained.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4880281 (1989-11-01), Merkelbach
patent: 5226738 (1993-07-01), Valette et al.
patent: 5439300 (1995-08-01), Hirakawa et al.
patent: 5536075 (1996-07-01), Bertetti
patent: 6280096 (2001-08-01), Miyazaki et al.
patent: 6363799 (2002-04-01), Toda et al.
patent: 6398419 (2002-06-01), Kashiwagi et al.
patent: 6422758 (2002-07-01), Miyazaki et al.
patent: 0854303 (1998-07-01), None

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