Metal working – Method of mechanical manufacture – With testing or indicating
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-27
2004-02-03
Olms, Douglas (Department: 2661)
Metal working
Method of mechanical manufacture
With testing or indicating
C029S407050, C029S505000, C073S862453
Reexamination Certificate
active
06684473
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for manufacturing a belt for use in a continuously variable transmission.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known a belt for use in a continuously variable transmission which comprises an annular hoop of laminated metal elements each having a body and a head joined thereto with a pair of recesses defined therebetween, and a pair of rings inserted respectively in the recesses and each comprising a plurality of laminated metal web-shaped rings.
The above hoop is manufactured by forming elements on an element production line, forming laminated rings on a ring production line, and assembling the elements and the laminated rings together on a belt assembly line.
On the element production line, elements of desired shape are blanked out of a metal plate, tempered, and then finished by grinding. On the ring production line, sheet-like rings of desired shape are rolled from ring-shaped metal sheets, then subjected to a solution treatment, corrected for their circumferential length, aged and nitrided, and then laminated into a ring.
One known belt assembling process for being carried out on the belt assembly line is disclosed in Japanese laid-open utility model publication No. 59-22344. According to the disclosed belt assembling process, an annular hoop of laminated elements is held in an annular support groove defined in a block stand. Recesses defined in the respective elements are successively arranged in an annular pattern, and are open on one side of the hoop. Then, a laminated ring is pushed into the successively arranged recesses. At this time, the laminated ring is guided by an annular guide having a tapered guide surface whose diameter is progressively larger in the direction in which the laminated ring is inserted into the recesses, so that the laminated ring has its diameter progressively increased as it is guided into the recesses.
The above conventional process of manufacturing a belt for a continuously variable transmission, or particularly the known belt assembling process, suffers the following problem: If gaps smaller than the thickness of an element are created between the elements that are placed in the support groove in the block stand due to thickness errors of the elements, then since no element can be inserted into the gaps to bring the elements into intimate contact with each other, the elements bundled together by the laminated ring tend to be spaced excessively from each other, resulting in poor belt performance.
According to the above conventional belt manufacturing process, if the head of each element has dimples and holes defined in both face and back sides thereof (see, for example, Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 63-57942 and Japanese utility model publication No. 5-34354), then the dimples present an obstacle making it difficult to hold a desired number of elements in the support groove in the block stand.
Furthermore, according to the above conventional belt manufacturing process, inasmuch as the laminated ring is increased in diameter by the annular guide with the tapered guide surface, if the laminated ring has circumferential length variations and its circumferential length is relatively small, then it is difficult for the laminated ring to be increased in diameter by the tapered guide surface. If the laminated ring whose circumferential length is relatively small is forcibly slid along the tapered guide surface to increase its diameter, then the laminated ring may possibly be damaged.
Elements that are manufactured on the element production line may be bent or damaged, or laminated rings manufactured on the ring production line may be in a poorly laminated state. If elements are bent or damaged or laminated rings are in a poorly laminated state, then continuously variable transmission belts assembled on the belt assembly line are of lowered quality.
One solution is to inspect continuously variable transmission belts assembled on the belt assembly line for their assembled state. For example, clearances between elements bundled by laminated rings of a continuously variable transmission belt are selected at some locations, and visually measured by a manually applied thickness gage. If the measured clearances are smaller than a predetermined dimension, then the continuously variable transmission belt is judged as being in a well assembled state. If the measured clearances are greater than the predetermined dimension, then the continuously variable transmission belt is judged as being in a poorly assembled state and hence is rejected.
The above inspection process is disadvantageous in that the inspection process is not efficient as it involves the manual application of the thickness gage and tends to suffer accuracy variations due to inspection personnel differences and different skill levels. In addition, if the clearances between elements which have not been measured are not acceptable or the number of elements that make up a continuously variable transmission belt is not sufficient, then the performance of the continuously variable transmission belt is adversely affected.
With the above inspection process, furthermore, it is difficult to identify causes of defective assembled states. Specifically, continuously variable transmission belts may be assembled defectively because some elements are bent or cracked or laminated rings are not in a well laminated state. Any of these causes cannot easily be identified simply by measuring the clearances between elements according to the above inspection process. Therefore, when a continuously variable transmission belt is judged as being assembled defectively, the judgment cannot quickly and smoothly be reflected in adjustments of various apparatus of the element production line and the ring production line.
Still another problem of the above inspection process is that even if produced elements include defective elements, since continuously variable transmission belts need to be actually assembled in order to be inspected according to the inspection process, some of the assembled continuously variable transmission belts cannot be delivered as products due to those defective elements, and hence the efficiency of the belt assembly line is low.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a belt for use in a continuously variable transmission efficiently in a well assembled state by rejecting in advance defective elements and laminated rings.
To achieve the above object, there is provided in accordance with an aspect of the present invention a method of manufacturing a belt for use in a continuously variable transmission which comprises an annular hoop of laminated metal elements each having a body and a head joined thereto with a pair of recesses defined therebetween, and a pair of rings inserted respectively in the recesses and each comprising a plurality of laminated metal web-shaped rings, with an element production line for producing the elements through a plurality of processes, a ring production line for producing the laminated rings through a plurality of processes parallel to the element production line, and a belt assembly line joined to the element production line and the ring production line, for bundling the elements with the laminated rings thereby to assemble the belt. The method comprises the steps of inspecting the elements for a produced state thereof at a terminal end of the element production line and sending those elements which are judged as acceptable to the belt assembly line, inspecting the laminated rings for a laminated state thereof at a terminal end of the ring production line and sending those laminated rings which are judged as acceptable to the belt assembly line, and inspecting belts for an assembled state at the belt assembly line and delivering those belts which are judged as acceptable as products.
On the element production line, the elements are produced through the plurality of p
Nakajima Katsuyuki
Suzuki Tetsuo
Yamagishi Hiroaki
Blount Steve
Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Olms Douglas
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