Patent Application
20070281051
While this invention is susceptible of embodiments in many different forms, there are shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail, preferred embodiments of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the broad aspect of the invention to the embodiments illustrated.
The present invention is an angle pin roller guide.
Adjacent to each angle pin receiving hole 110 is at least one pair of roller bearings 120 mounted in the slide 100. In various preferred embodiments the roller bearings 120 have a concave shape, which compliments the round shape of the angle pins. Preferably the roller bearings 120 are mounted just below the top surface 130 of the slide 100. Mounting the roller bearings 120 in such a manner can be achieved in various ways. For example, a pocket 140 can be machined or milled into the slide 100 for receiving the roller bearing 120 and any needed mounting hardware. This mounting hardware can include roller bearing mounts 150 which secure the roller bearing 120 and provide means for securing said roller bearing 120 to the slide 100.
In operation, the movement of the angle pin in a first direction imparts a force on the roller bearings 120, which results in a corresponding movement of the slide 100 in second direction, which is substantially perpendicular to the first direction. For example, vertical movement of the angle pin results in horizontal movement of the slide 100.
The use of roller bearings 120 has several advantages. First, the use of roller bearings 120 reduces the risk of galling to the angle pin and the slide 100 because the contact between the angle pin and the roller bearing 120 is a rolling contact as opposed to the pure sliding of the current angle pin guide technologies. Second, the use of roller bearings 120 may reduce or eliminate the need for lubricants to be used in the slide 100 action, which is desirable for clean room and medical mold applications because the roller bearing 120 itself rolls, the contact friction between the angle pin and roller bearing is reduced, thus reducing the need for other lubricants. Third, the use of roller bearings 120 also reduces bending and braking of the angle pin because of the rolling nature of the roller bearing 120, a slightly misaligned angle pin that would dig our gouge into the angle pin receiving hole of the current angle pin guide technologies is still able to roll along the roller bearing 120 of the present invention.
Another advantage of using roller bearings 120 to affect movement of the slide 100 is the ability to vary the movement of the slide 100 for a given angle pin.
Yet another advantage of using roller bearings 120 to affect movement of the slide 100 is ability to have an increased angle pin angle. As discussed above, an increased angle pin angle results in greater movement of the slide 100. The increased performance of the roller bearings 120 to move the slide 100, also discussed above permits an increase in the angle pin angle to twenty or even thirty degrees. This increased angle pin angle permits the use of conventional side actions, albeit with the roller pin guides of the present invention, where previously more complex side actions, such as hydraulic side actions, would have to be used.
While specific embodiments have been illustrated and described, numerous modifications come to mind without significantly departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of protection is limited by the scope of the accompanying claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/810,203, filed on May 31, 2006, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60810203 | May 2006 | US |
