Patent Application
20160356309
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ball-type universal joint, particularly to an adjustable ball-type universal joint whose rotation can be modulated with elastic resilience.
Description of the Related Art
The level of living is increasing with social development and science-technology advancement, and the expectation to the quality of industrial and consumer products is growing higher and higher. In the conventional ball-type universal joint, the motion to a specified angle and the fixation at a specified position are controlled by the friction among the components thereof. Thereby, the conventional ball-type universal joint can connect the workpieces respectively aligned to different directions. However, the friction-based constraint method has some disadvantages: too large a friction force leads to difficulty of motion, and too small a friction force leads to failure of fixation.
Friction-based constraint is hard to verify and control. Friction would gradually decrease with abrasion. A friction-constraint device responds variably to the manipulations of different persons because the forces applied by them are hard to be completely identical. Even an identical friction-constraint device will respond variably to identical force because friction decreases with usage. Therefore, the performance of products using the conventional ball-type universal joint is imperfect and hard to meet the demands of consumers. Thus, the application of the conventional ball-type universal joint is limited. Accordingly, the Inventors develop an adjustable ball-type universal joint, which uses resilience of an elastic element to overcome the problems of difficult manipulation and unstable performance of the conventional ball-type universal joint.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide an adjustable ball-type universal joint, wherein an elastic element is added to a ball-type universal joint to effectively control the rotation and fix the position, whereby the ball-type universal joint can perform more reliably, wherefore the manpower and fabrication cost is reduced, and wherefore the quality and competitiveness of the products is promoted.
To achieve the abovementioned objective, the present invention proposes an adjustable ball-type universal joint, which comprises a body, a ball-type joint and an elastic element. The body has an assembly socket, and the ball-type joint and the elastic element are installed in the assembly socket. The elastic element is arranged below the bottom of the ball-type joint, providing and storing elastic resilience, and limiting the vertical displacement of the ball-type joint in the assembly socket. While intending to vary the angle of the ball-type joint, the user applies external force greater than the elastic resilience of the elastic element to press down the ball-type joint. Thus, the elastic element together with the ball-type joint descends. Then, the user applies external force to adjust the angle of the ball-type joint. After the ball-type joint acquires the intended angle, the user stops applying external. Hence, the elastic element releases the elastic resilience to move the ball-type joint upward to resume the ball-type joint to the original constrained state and preserve the acquired angle securely.
In the adjustable ball-type universal joint of the present invention, the elastic resilience of the elastic element is used to stabilize the rotation of the ball-type joint. As long as a force greater than the elastic resilience is applied to the ball-type joint, the ball-type joint can be rotated stably to a required angle. Once the force is removed, the elastic resilience restores the ball-type joint to the original constrained state with the acquired angle being fixed securely. The present invention uses the elastic resilience to effectively promote the performance in rotation and fixation of the ball-type joint and enable the user to manipulate the ball-type joint easily and confidently. Therefore, the present invention can increase the reliability of the products and raise the commercial value of the products.
Below, embodiments are described in detail to make easily understood the objectives, technical contents, characteristics and accomplishments of the present invention.
Refer to
In the embodiment shown in
The body 10 includes a seat 11 and a sleeve 12, which are hollow structures and assembled together by a plurality of fixing elements (such as screws). The fixing elements are not depicted in the drawings lest they interfere with the emphasis of the characteristics of the present invention. An assembly socket 17 is formed in the assemblage of the seat 11 and the sleeve 12, receiving the other components (such as the ball-type joint 20 and the elastic element 30). The top of the assembly socket 17 has a hole 15 open to the exterior. A pressing member 16 is formed below the hole 15 and near the hole 15, extended to the interior of the assembly socket 17 and slightly contracting inward, as shown in
Refer to
While intending to rotate the ball-type joint 20 for adjusting the angle thereof, the user applies an external force F to the ball-type joint 20. If the external force F is able to overwhelm the elastic resilience of the elastic element 30 (i.e. the compression force is greater than the elastic resilience), the ball-type joint 20 would press the elastic element 30 to descend along the assembly socket 17, as shown in
In the adjustable ball-type universal joint disclosed in the abovementioned embodiments, the elastic element is made of a metallic material; the displacement and deformation of the structure of the elastic element is used to control the rotation of the ball-type joint and modulate the force of operating the rotation. However, the present invention does not limit that the elastic element must be made of a metallic material. In other embodiments, the elastic element is an elastic body made of a plastic material or a rubber material.
Refer to
In conclusion, the present invention proposes an adjustable ball-type universal joint to overcome the imperfect performance and quality of the conventional ball-type universal joint. The present invention uses the resilience of an elastic element to modulate the actions of rotation and angular adjustment of the ball-type joint. The elastic resilience of the elastic element acts on the ball-type joint to enable the user to rotate the ball-type more stably and precisely and fix the direction of the ball-type joint more securely. Thereby, the present invention can make the user operate the ball-type universal joint more easily and confidently and promote the performance and reliability of the ball-type universal joint effectively. Therefore, the present invention can save manpower and materials, reduce fabrication cost, and upgrade commercial competitiveness.
The embodiments described above are only to exemplify the present invention but not to limit the scope of the present invention. Any equivalent modification or variation according to the characteristic or spirit of the present invention is to be also included within the scope of the present invention.
