Sealing system for a spherical bearing

Details Sealing system for a spherical bearing Sealing system for a spherical bearing

2001-07-26

2003-01-07

Footland, Lenard A. (Department: 3682)

Bearings

Rotary bearing

Plain bearing

Reexamination Certificate

active

06502993

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sealing system for a spherical bearing in which a spherical surface of a split inner race is supported by an inner spherical surface of an outer race.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in
FIGS. 6 and 7
, a spherical bearing
31
in which a spherical surface
33
a
of an inner race
33
is slidably supported by an inner spherical surface
32
a
of an outer race
32
has been known. In the spherical bearing
31
a shaft not shown fixed in an axial hole
33
b
provided on the inner race
33
is supported rotatably and oscillatory. There has been provided with a spherical bearing
31
wherein the inner race
33
is split at a given split surface
33
c
in such a manner that the inner race
33
is easily inserted into the inner spherical surface
32
a
of the outer race
32
when being assembled. Further, when sealing the spherical bearing
31
in a conventional method, a seal
35
made of silicon, nylon or rubber is hold by an annular retainer
34
made of steel while a side end portion of the retainer
34
is welded to an end surface
32
b
of the outer race
32
by means of an electron beam as shown in
FIGS. 6 and 7
.
However, when the retainer
34
holding the seal
35
is connected to both end surfaces
32
b
of the outer race
32
, the retainer
34
is welded to each of the end surfaces
32
b
through a different process resulting in additional processes and time. Moreover, since the end surface
32
b
requires high flatness for the sealing system, processing the outer race
32
becomes more complicated. Furthermore, when the spherical bearing
31
is fixed by abutting the end surface
32
b
of the outer race
32
to the housing not shown, the sealing is not possible. As shown in
FIGS. 6 and 7
, in a structure to mount the seal
35
to the retainer
34
, the seal
35
may be twisted while the inner race
33
is under a sliding operation and a gap is generated between the seal
35
and the spherical surface
33
a
of the inner race
33
resulting in a deterioration of the sealing function. In this case, the retainer
34
once fixed needs to be removed from the end surface
32
b
of the outer race
32
for welding again. And, since the sealing system is formed in such a manner that the seal
35
is extended inside an edge portion
32
c
of the inner spherical surface
32
a
of the outer race
32
, the seal
35
gives a limitation to a swing angle of a shaft not shown fitted to the inner race
33
resulting in a difficulty to obtain a desired swing angle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in the light of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a sealing system of a spherical bearing in such a manner as to maintain a high sealing function with a simple structure and to avoid a limitation of a swing angle.
In order to attain the above object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, in a sealing system of a spherical bearing wherein spherical surfaces of a split type inner race is slidably supported by an inner spherical surface of an outer race, an annular seal groove is provided to the inner spherical surface of the outer race with a given space from an edge of the inner spherical surface of the outer race.
With this construction, the spherical bearing can be sealed in such a manner as to abut the seal fitted in the seal groove to the spherical surface of the inner race.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, a side wall of a seal groove wherein a seal is fit is bent inside.
With this construction, the seal is fixed more tightly to the seal groove by a deformation of a section of the seal groove. And, a sealing function can be improved by closely abutting the seal to the spherical surface of the inner race in such a manner that the seal is deformed.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3588201 (1971-06-01), Schmidt
patent: 3848938 (1974-11-01), Stella et al.

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