Expanded – threaded – driven – headed – tool-deformed – or locked-thr – Threaded fastener locked to a discreet structure – Design of fastener or substructure restricts rotation
Patent
1995-06-30
1998-10-13
Wilson, Neill R.
Expanded, threaded, driven, headed, tool-deformed, or locked-thr
Threaded fastener locked to a discreet structure
Design of fastener or substructure restricts rotation
411433, 411437, 411513, 411516, 411509, F16B 3706, F16B 3708, F16B 3716, F16B 1900
Patent
active
058203230
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention refers to a fastener which is welded by arc welding by one end face to a component and which is in the form of a radially resilient sleeve with a longitudinal slit and designed to permit resilient compression of the fastener, to a welding assembly apparatus for welding on elongate fasteners, with a feed channel and an axially displaceable holder for the fasteners, and to an arrangement for securing an assembly part on a fastener which has been welded by arc welding on to a component.
A fastener is known from the German Patent No. 832,086, whereby this element is formed as clamping sleeve. While such a clamping sleeve could be welded in principle, since made of metal, the mentioned patent specification is silent in this respect, in the contrary the invention is directed on rounding off the ends of the sleeve. Therefore, this clamping sleeve is not appropriate for a permanent fixation and is not provided with retaining means for the fastening of assembly elements.
Furthermore fasteners are known from the Canadian Patent Specification No. 887,911, resp. British Patent Specification No. 1,275,799 in which a slotted sleeve is gripped in the interior of its central portion, by means of a bolt under resilient pressure, is pressed on to and welded to a component, whereupon the lateral portions are bent over. Such a method is not suitable for rationalised and above all for reliable production, as is required in the automotive industry.
The same applies to the element according to U.S. Pat. No. 3,996,446, which is in fact resilient in its design, but must firstly be taken into its single possible correct position in order to be gripped internally and pressed on during welding.
Further fasteners are known, such as are frequently used in the automotive industry, in order to fasten, for example, car body components or electrical cables or the like. A common factor in all these previously-known weld-on fasteners is that they are manufactured as solid studs, which as a rule have a flange by means of which they are welded to the sheet metal, for example according to German Patent Application No. 3,218,886 or German Utility Model No. 7,923,469. Such a solid stud requires a flexible collet on a stud welding equipment. It is apparent from the drawings of the German publication that the gripping with the collet of the stud welding equipment, due to the rigid design of the stud, and in particular also by the flange with wider diameter, requires the use of expensive mechanical parts, which must operate reliably even at high operating frequencies.
Moreover, problems arise due to the design of the previously-known studs relating to uniform weld quality of the fusion between the sheet metal part and the stud, for which special measures are necessary for the design of the welding surfaces of the stud. This applies also for the fasteners according to DE-B-2 227 384, in which either the threaded studs or the nuts must be welded on as fasteners. Both these illustrated fasteners cause high demands on the collet of the stud welding equipment, which must be specially designed for this purpose.
Moreover, when there is fatigue in the collet, electrical contact with the stud can no longer be guaranteed, which leads to scorched areas, reducing reliability, which is essential in assembly lines.
Finally, the previously known weld studs or fasteners have a defined welding surface, which must be accurately positioned in the welding equipment. This complicates the feeding, as these elements must be fed into the welding equipment pre-sorted.
Using this prior art as a starting point, one purpose of the present invention is to propose a weld-on fastener which on the one hand guarantees reliable welding onto a support and, even in its simplest embodiment, offers the possibility of fastening a variety of assembly parts thereon, while on the other hand simplifying the retaining portion of the welding equipment and its feeding system, ensuring an optimal flow of current between the collet and the fastener. This is a fastener wherei
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Splitfast Technologies Limited
Wilson Neill R.
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