Metal working – Method of mechanical manufacture – Assembling or joining
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-24
2002-05-21
Hughes, S. Thomas (Department: 3726)
Metal working
Method of mechanical manufacture
Assembling or joining
C029S446000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06389673
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a curvilinear guide rail for guiding a moving body along a curve having a given curvature in a curvilinear guide device for use in a vibration isolating apparatus applied to a precision instrument, a fine art showcase or the like, and a curvilinear guide rail manufactured according to the present method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as an earthquake measure for real estate such as a building or a house, or as a vibration measure when conveying a precision instrument, a fine art showcase or the like, there has been used a vibration isolating apparatus which absorbs the vibrations of the ground or a floor to relieve the shaking motion thereof. As the vibration isolating apparatus, there has been known an apparatus employing a curvilinear guide device that guides a moving body in a curvilinear manner along a curvilinear guide rail (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Hei 10-122238).
FIG. 4
shows a specific example of a vibration isolating apparatus
100
with a curvilinear guide device. The vibration isolating apparatus
100
includes a first curvilinear guide device
60
fixed to a floor
50
, a second curvilinear guide device
70
fixed to a supported body
51
such as a precision instrument from which vibrations are to be isolated by the apparatus
100
, and a universal coupling
80
that connects those two curvilinear guide devices
60
and
70
to each other. The first and second curvilinear guide devices
60
and
70
are so disposed as to meet each other at right angles.
Also, those two curvilinear guide devices
60
and
70
respectively include curvilinear guide rails
61
and
71
respectively formed in a curved manner with their respective given curvatures, and moving bodies
62
and
72
respectively movable along their associated curvilinear guide rails
61
and
71
. The universal coupling
80
connects the moving bodies
62
and
72
of the first and second curvilinear guide devices
60
and
70
to each other. The two curvilinear guide devices
60
and
70
are previously formed by bending with their respective curvatures so as not to be fixed directly to the floor which provides a plane. Therefore, they are respectively fixed to the floor
50
and supported body
51
through their associated fixing bases
63
and
73
which are formed in curved shapes respectively having the same curvatures as those of the curvilinear guide rails
61
and
71
. In this specification, the term “bending” means “bending involved with plastic deformation”, that is, means that, after the rail is once formed by bending, the rail can never be naturally restored to its original shape.
FIG. 5
is a schematic view of the above-structured vibration isolating apparatus, showing a specific method for using the same. Referring to
FIG. 5
, reference numeral
50
designates a floor (floor surface) and
51
stands for a supported body such as a fine art showcase. Four vibration isolating apparatuses
100
of the above-mentioned type are respectively disposed at four positions between the floor
50
and supported body
51
in such a manner as to support the supported body
51
. Thanks to this arrangement, if the floor
50
is caused to shake due to an earthquake or the like, the moving bodies
62
and
72
of the first and second curvilinear guide devices
60
and
70
move on their respective curvilinear guide rails
61
and
71
in such a manner as to absorb such shaking motion of the floor
50
, thereby preventing the vibrations of the floor
50
from being propagated to the supported body
51
.
However, the above-mentioned conventional curvilinear guide device suffers from the following problem. That is, a guide rail, which has been formed by drawing in such a manner as to have a given sectional shape and still remains in a linear shape, is subjected to bending, thereby producing a curvilinear guide rail. Further, in this bending operation, it is necessary to bend the guide rail with a given curvature. As a result, it takes time and labor to produce the curvilinear guide rail.
Also, when forming a ball rolling surface on a curvilinear guide rail, because the ball rolling surface cannot be formed by grinding on the curvilinear guide rail after the curvilinear guide rail has been bent, such grinding operation is executed prior to the bending operation. In addition, since the hardness of the ball rolling surface must be enhanced, it is necessary to carry out heat treatment such as cementation hardening the surface of the guide rail before the grinding operation. However, when stainless steel is used as the forming material of the guide rail in order to meet the requirements such as anticorrosion, the hardening treatment hardens not only the surface of the guide rail but also the center portion thereof. As a result, if the guide rail is bent beyond the elastically deformable limit thereof, then there arises such a problem that there occurs a crack in the curvilinear guide rail produced by such bending.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made to eliminate the drawbacks with the above-conventional curvilinear guide rail, and therefore an object of the invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a curvilinear guide rail which, when manufacturing a curvilinear guide rail of a curvilinear guide device for guiding a moving body along a curved line having a given curvature, can manufacture the curvilinear guide rail without taking time and labor and at a low cost.
Also, another object of the invention is to provide a curvilinear guide rail which can be manufactured without taking time and labor and at a low cost.
To achieve the above objects, according to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a curvilinear guide rail for guiding a moving body along a curved line having a given curvature, the method comprising the steps of: preparing a linear guide rail for guiding a moving body in a linear manner; pressing a bottom surface of said linear guide rail against a curved rail mounting surface of a fixing base formed with a given radius of curvature to elastically deform the linear guide rail in a curvilinear manner; and fixing the linear guide rail to the rail mounting surface while the linear guide rail remains deformed elastically, to produce a curvilinear guide rail.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a curvilinear guide rail for guiding a moving body along a curved line having a given curvature, the curvilinear guide rail comprising: a rail fixing base having a curved rail mounting surface formed with a given radius of curvature; a rail main body formed in a linear shape and elastically deformable in a curvilinear manner when it is pressed against the rail mounting surface of the rail fixing base; and rail fixing means for fixing the rail main body to the rail mounting surface.
In the the invention, the bottom surface of the linear guide rail is pressed against the rail mounting surface formed in a curved shape, and the linear guide rail is fixed to the rail mounting surface while the linear guide rail remains deformed within its elastically deformable range, thereby manufacturing a curvilinear guide rail for moving a moving body along a curved line having a given curvature. Thanks to this, not only a bending operation taking time and labor can be omitted, but also a curvilinear guide rail can be manufactured easily using a currently existing linear guide rail which can be obtained easily on the market, which makes it possible to manufacture a curvilinear guide rail having a given curvature at low costs.
Also, in the present invention, it is necessary to provide a rail fixing base against which the bottom surface of a linear guide rail is pressed. Similarly, even in the conventional curvilinear guide rail, when it is fixed to a floor or the like, it is necessary to use a rail fixing base having a curved rail mounting surface. However, according to the
Konomoto Masashi
Michioka Hidekazu
Hughes S. Thomas
Morgan & Lewis & Bockius, LLP
Omgba Essama
THK Co. Ltd.
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