This invention relates to a boot band for clamping a member, such as a boot made of rubber, resin, or the like, and for fixing that member on another member.
A boot band is used, for example, as a constant-velocity joint that transmits the drive power of an engine from a drive shaft to a driven shaft. In a constant-velocity joint, a drive-power transmission portion is covered by a bellows-like boot, and grease is retained inside the boot. A boot band is wound around the outer periphery of both ends of the boot and is reduced in diameter, whereby the boot band clamps the boot so as to prevent the grease from leaking out of the boot. A pair of boot-band pawls are provided on such a boot band so that a clamping tool can be hooked onto the boot-band pawls to clamp the boot band, whereby clamping force is applied via the pair of the boot-band pawls in the direction to reduce the diameter of the boot band.
As shown in
The second boot-band pawl 6 is press-molded so as to rise outward in the radial direction, and an opening 6b, which opens toward the first boot-band pawl 7, is formed in the second boot-band pawl 6, and the outer wall of the opening 6b forms a pressing part 6a. In addition, in the outer-layer portion 4, a portion that is closer to the top end (free end) of the outer-layer portion 4 of the boot band 1 than is the first boot-band pawl 7 serves as a terminal end 14 and extends in a flat form. This terminal end 14 is inserted into the second boot-band pawl 6 through the opening 6b. The terminal end 14 that is inserted into the opening 6b is pressed by the pressing part 6a so as to prevent the terminal end 14 from lifting outward in a radial direction. Because the terminal end 14 at the top end of the outer-layer portion 4 is inserted into the second boot-band pawl 6 so that the top end (terminal end 14) of the outer-layer portion 4 is pressed by the pressing part 6a, it is not necessary to press the outer-layer portion 4 inward at the time of clamping. Therefore, clamping of the member to be clamped is done simply by clamping the boot band in the diameter-reducing direction. In other words, clamping is performed by one action, which improves clamping workability. Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent No. 4403728) discloses a boot band in which, as is the case with the boot band of
In the prior-art boot band, as shown in
The above-mentioned prior-art boot band 1 has a problem that the inner-layer portion 5 of the boot band 1 might buckle when the band body 3 is clamped. How such buckling can occur will now be described with reference to
Because the sliding is stopped, a load that should have been used for reducing the diameter of the band body 3 is applied to the portion between the engagement pawl 11 and the second boot-band pawl 6 in the inner-layer portion 5. Under this condition where the sliding of the top-end engagement hole 12 is stopped and locked, even when a clamping force F is applied to the band body 3, the condition becomes the same as that when the load of the clamping force F is received by the inner-layer portion 5 between the engagement pawl 11 and the second boot-band pawl 6 in the inner-layer portion 5. When the clamping load on the band body 3 exceeds the buckling-resistance capability of the band body 3, resulting in an overload state, buckling 16 occurs in the inner-layer portion 5 between the engagement pawl 11 and the second boot-band pawl 6 in the inner-layer portion 5 (see
Patent Document 1 discloses a boot band having a structure in which the second boot-band pawl 6 presses the terminal end provided at the top end of the outer-layer portion 4 so that clamping is performed by one action (as is the case with the boot band of FIG. 12), thereby preventing the aforementioned occurrence of buckling in the inner-layer portion 5. In the invention of Patent Document 1, a slit or the like is provided between the top-end engagement hole 12 and the first boot-band pawl 7 in the outer-layer portion 4, so that the rigidity of the outer-layer portion 4 between the top-end engagement hole 12 and the first boot-band pawl 7 is reduced. As a result of this reduction of the rigidity, when the band body is clamped the outer-layer portion 4 is allowed to slide so as to press the portion between the engagement pawl 11 and the second boot-band pawl 6 in the inner-layer portion 5; in addition, the load by which the outer-layer portion 4 presses the back face 11a of the engagement pawl 11 toward the center of the ring-like form is reduced, thereby preventing buckling 16 of the area between the engagement pawl 11 and the second boot-band pawl 6 in the inner-layer portion 5.
Also, Patent Document 1 discloses that a rib or the like is formed between the second boot-band pawl 6 and the engagement pawl 11 in the inner-layer portion 5, so that the rigidity of the inner-layer portion 5 between the second boot-band pawl 6 and the engagement pawl 11 is increased so as to increase the buckling-resistance capability of the boot band, thereby preventing buckling at the portion of the inner-layer portion 5 between the engagement pawl 11 and the second boot-band pawl 6 in the inner-layer portion 5.
For a boot used as a member to be clamped, a boot made of rubber can be used instead of a boot made of a hard resin. Because a boot made of rubber is softer than a boot made of hard resin, a boot band used for clamping a boot made of rubber can be thinner and narrower than a boot band used for clamping a boot made of hard resin, so that the area of the cross-section of the boot band can be made smaller than that of a boot band used for clamping a boot made of hard resin. Therefore, a boot band used for a boot made of rubber has an advantage in that it can be made lighter than a boot band used for clamping a boot made of hard resin. However, the rigidity of a boot band used for a boot made of rubber is low despite its advantage of being thin, and accordingly the buckling-resistance capability of the boot band at the time of clamping becomes reduced. In such a case, even if the boot band has a structure so as to prevent buckling as disclosed in Patent Document 1, the buckling-resistance capability is not sufficiently strong, and hence buckling is not prevented. Thus, there is an increasing requirement for a boot band having a structure that prevents buckling even when the boot band is thin.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems of prior-art boot bands. One objective of this invention is to provide a boot band that has a structure such that clamping is performed by one action, as is disclosed in Patent Document 1, and that further has a feature that even if the boot band is made to be thin and/or narrow, buckling is prevented.
A boot band of the present invention includes (1) a band body that is wound in a ring-like form for clamping around a member to be clamped, in such a way that the outer-layer portion of the band body overlaps the inner-layer portion of the band body; (2) a first boot-band pawl that is formed on the top of the outer-layer portion of the band body; (3) a planar terminal end that is formed in the outer-layer portion of the band body, and that is located nearer to the top end of the outer-layer portion than the first boot-band pawl is; (4) a second boot-band pawl that is formed in the inner-layer portion of the band body, which has (a) an opening into which the aforementioned terminal end can be inserted, (b) a pressing part that presses, from the outside, with said terminal end that is inserted into the opening, and that clamps the band body together with the first boot-band pawl so that the band body is reduced in diameter; (5) multiple engagement holes formed in the lengthwise direction in the outer-layer portion of the band body; and (6) an engagement pawl that is formed on the inner-layer portion of the band body and that rises in a slope-like form facing the top end of the outer-layer portion of the band body; and in a state wherein the engagement pawl is inserted into a top-end engagement hole that is located at the top end of the outer-layer portion of the band body in the lengthwise direction, clamping force is applied to the band body in the diameter-reducing direction, so that the top-end engagement hole climbs over the engagement pawl, whereby a following engagement hole is engaged with the engagement pawl; and a guide means is provided at the back end of the top-end engagement hole and opposite the engagement pawl.
In such a case, it is preferable that (1) the guide means is an R part provided to a part of the back end of the top-end engagement hole, the R part facing the inner-layer portion of the band body; (2) the guide means has a sloping portion that meets the engagement pawl; (3) the guide means is a guide pawl that slopes upward from the back end of the top-end engagement hole in the direction in which the engagement pawl rises, and the sloping portion is provided to the surface of the guide pawl, with the surface being opposite the engagement pawl; (4) the guide means is on the inner surface of the back end of the top-end engagement hole, with the inner surface being opposite the engagement pawl, and the sloping portion extends to the inner surface of the back end of the top-end engagement hole; (5) the clamping force in the diameter-reducing direction allows the guide means to climb over the back face of the engagement pawl, and the slope of the back face of the engagement pawl is formed so as to include two stages of angles, an inclination angle β at the beginning stage of the climbing over and an inclination angle α at the ending stage of the climbing over, with the relationship between β and α being α<β; and (6) the clamping force in the diameter-reducing direction allows the guide means to climb over the back face of the engagement pawl, and the slope of the back face of the engagement pawl is formed so as to include two stages of angles, an inclination angle β at the beginning stage of the climbing over and an inclination angle α at the ending stage of the climbing over, and wherein the slope of the guide means has an inclination angle γ, with the relationship between the angles α, β, and γ being α<β<γ.
In the present invention, a guide means is provided to the area in the top-end engagement hole into which the engagement pawl is inserted, with the area being opposite the engagement pawl, and therefore when the band body is clamped, the outer-layer portion does not get stuck with the engagement pawl. Accordingly, the resistance that occurs when the outer-layer portion of the band body climbs over the back face of the engagement pawl is decreased, whereby the outer-layer portion can smoothly move and climb over the engagement pawl. Thus, overload is not applied to the inner-layer portion of the band body, and accordingly, even if the band body is made to be thinner, buckling of the area between the engagement pawl and the second boot-band pawl in the inner-layer portion of the band body is prevented.
The present invention will now be explained in detail, with reference to the drawings showing the embodiments.
Embodiment 1
The band body 33 is formed by press-punching a thin metallic plate into the form of a belt that is used for clamping a member to be clamped (not shown) under the condition that the band body 33 in the shape of a belt is wound around the member to be clamped, such as a boot, so as to form a ring shape. The band body 33, which is wound like a ring, is formed with an outer-layer portion 34 that overlaps an inner-layer portion 35, and these outer-layer and inner-layer portions 34, 35 are pressed in the diameter-reducing direction (the directions of the arrows F in
A first boot-band pawl 37 is formed on the top-end side (the right-end side in
A second boot-band pawl 36—which forms a pair with the first boot-band pawl 37—is formed on the inner-layer portion 35. The second boot-band pawl 36, which is formed so as to rise atop the inner-layer portion 35, has a pressing part 36a, as well as an opening 36b that faces the first boot-band pawl 37, so that the terminal end 38 of the outer-layer portion 34 can be inserted thereinto. The pressing part 36a covers the outside of the opening 36b in the circumferential direction, and acts so as to press the terminal end 38—which is inserted in the opening 36b—from the outside.
Thus, the terminal end 38 of the outer-layer portion 34 is pressed by the pressing part 36a of the second boot-band pawl 36 provided to the inner-layer portion 35, whereby the outer-layer portion 34 does not rise when the band body 33 is clamped, so that pressing the outer-layer portion 4 inward at the time of clamping is not necessary. Therefore, simply clamping in the diameter-reducing direction allows the clamping of the member to be clamped, so that clamping is performed by one action, and clamping workability is improved.
An engagement pawl 41 is formed so as to be raised by cutting and pressing on the inner-layer portion 35, sloping upward and facing the top end of the outer-layer portion 34 (the right-end side in
Multiple engagement holes 42, 43, and 44 are formed in the lengthwise direction on the outer-layer portion 34. The engagement hole 42 is located at the top far end of the outer-layer portion 34 (the right-end side in
A guide means 51 is formed on the top-end engagement hole 42 of the boot band 31. In this embodiment, the guide means 51 is formed by a guide pawl 52 that rises from the back end 42a (the left-side end in
As shown in
The R part 56 is formed at the back end 42a of the top-end engagement hole 42, on the part that faces the inner-layer portion 34, and the sloping portion 53 is continuously formed from this R part 56. The sloping portion 53 slopes upward starting from the R part 56 the same as the back face 46 of the engagement pawl 41. The sloping portion 53 smoothly extends over the back face of the engagement pawl 41 without getting stuck with the engagement pawl 41 when the clamping of the band body 33 in the diameter-reducing direction is achieved.
Further, in this embodiment, there is also formed on the rim of following engagement hole 43 a second guide pawl 57 (not shown) [Kyosei's Note: In this paragraph, the author of this specification has several times mistakenly used “57” to refer to the second guide pawl. However, in all other instances in this specification “57” is an R part, not a second guide pawl. Moreover, none of the figures show a second guide pawl.] that is shapes similar to the guide pawl 52 (see
Next, the operation to clamp the boot band 31 in this embodiment will be described with reference to
Thus, at the top-end engagement hole 42, the guide pawl 52 moves along the back face 46 of the engagement pawl 41 while the guide pawl 52 climbs over the back face 46, whereby the band body 33 is smoothly reduced in diameter.
Thus, in this embodiment, the sloping portion 53 smoothly extends over and slides along the back face 46 of the engagement pawl 41 and slides along the back face 46 of the engagement pawl 41, so that the top-end engagement hole 42 can climb over the engagement pawl 41. Due to this climbing over, the following engagement hole 43 that is behind the top-end engagement hole 42 moves toward the engagement pawl 41. Due to this movement, the engagement pawl 41 is inserted into and engaged with the following engagement hole 43 (
In such an embodiment, at the time of clamping the band body 33, the outer-layer portion 34 does not get stuck with the engagement pawl 41 while the top-end engagement hole 42 climbs over the back face 46 of the engagement pawl 41, and therefore the band body 33 is smoothly reduced in diameter. Therefore, overload is not applied to the area between the engagement pawl 41 and the second boot-band pawl 36 in the inner-layer portion 35, even if the band body 33 is made thinner.
In addition, the relationship between the inclination angle β of the beginning-stage slope 46a (the angle at the beginning of the climbing over) and the inclination angle α of the ending-stage slope 46b (the angle at the ending of the climbing over) is set to be α<β. This enables the inclination angles α and β to be adapted according to the magnitude of the reaction force from the boot. That is, at the beginning of the clamping of the band body 33 shown in
At the ending of the clamping of the band body 33 as shown in
In
In
Thus, the embodiment described above has a structure such that the inclination angle γ of the sloping portion 53 of the guide pawl 52 is made to be larger than the inclination angles α and β of the back face 46 of the engagement pawl 41, so that a gap is provided between the sloping portion 53 and the back face 46 of the engagement pawl 41. Therefore, if a clamping force F is applied to the band body 33 in the diameter-reducing direction, in the beginning of the clamping where the sloping portion 53 faces the beginning-stage slope 46a in the back face 46 of the engagement pawl 41, the top end of the sloping portion 53 (the right side in
Furthermore, in the case where the reaction force of a boot becomes larger at the ending of clamping of the band body 33, because the inclination angle γ of the sloping portion 53 is set to be larger than the inclination angle α (the angle at the ending of the climbing over) of the engagement pawl 41, the top end of the sloping portion 53 (the right side in
By providing the configuration shown in
Embodiment 2
Also in the boot band 31A according to this embodiment, there are formed, in the lengthwise direction on the outer-layer portion 34, a top-end engagement hole 42 and a following engagement hole 43 behind the top-end engagement hole 42, which are opposite the engagement pawl 41 of the inner-layer portion 35. The inner surface 55 of the top-end engagement hole 42 is inclined so that the as to meet the slope of the back face 46 of the engagement pawl 41, and the sloping portion 53 is formed by press molding, coining, or the like so as to be inclined in the same direction as the back face 46. Also, an R part 57 (not shown in
The inner surface 55 having the sloping portion 53 and the R part 57 in the top-end engagement hole 42 is a component of the guide means 51 of the present invention. That is, because the sloping portion 53 is formed so as to meet the back face 46 of the engagement pawl 41, and the R part 57 is formed at the root portion of the sloping portion 53, when the band body 33 is clamped in the diameter-reducing direction, the sloping portion 53 smoothly climbs over the back face 46 of the engagement pawl 41 due to the R part 57. Thus, the clamping of the band body 33 at the beginning of the clamping is smoothly performed, thereby more surely preventing buckling from occurring in the area between the engagement pawl 41 and the second boot-band pawl 36 in the inner-layer portion 35.
In the above described structure, if the band body 33 is further clamped in the diameter-reducing direction, the top-end engagement hole 42 climbs over the engagement pawl 41, and the sloping portion 53 that forms the inner surface 55 of the top-end engagement hole 42 extends along the back face 46 of the engagement pawl 41 while the sloping portion 53 climbs on and slides along the back face 46. Therefore, the outer-layer portion 34 does not get stuck with the back face 46 of the engagement pawl 41, and hence no overload is applied to the area between the engagement pawl 41 and the second boot-band pawl 36 in the inner-layer portion 35. Accordingly, as is the case in Embodiment 1, even if the band body 33 is made thinner, buckling is prevented from occurring in the area between the engagement pawl 41 and the second boot-band pawl 36 in the inner-layer portion 35.
Also, in this embodiment, as is explained with reference to
Also, in this embodiment, as is explained with reference to
Also, at the ending of clamping, the contact pressure between the sloping portion 53 and the back face 46 of the engagement pawl 41 can be reduced, and the friction force generated between them can also be reduced. Accordingly, because the sloping portion 53 can smoothly slide on the ending-stage slope 46b under the condition where the sloping portion 53 has climbed over the ending-stage slope 46b, the sloping portion 53 does not get stuck with the engagement pawl 41, and no overload is applied to the area between the engagement pawl 41 and the second boot-band pawl 36 in the inner-layer portion 35. Thus, while the clamping of the band body 33 is proceeding from beginning to end, buckling is more surely prevented from occurring in the area between the engagement pawl 41 and the second boot-band pawl 36 in the inner-layer portion 35, even if the band body 33 is made to be thinner.
Also in this embodiment, when the inner surface 55 of the top-end engagement hole 42 contacts the beginning-stage slope 46a of the engagement pawl 41 at the beginning of clamping, the inner surface 55 climbs over and slides along the beginning-stage slope 46a by allowing the R part 57 to contact the beginning-stage slope 46a, and therefore the inner surface 55 does not get stuck with the engagement pawl 41, and no overload is applied to the area between the engagement pawl 41 and the second boot-band pawl 36 in the inner-layer portion 35.
Also, in this embodiment, when the band body 33 is clamped and the top-end engagement hole 42 is moved over the back face 46 of the engagement pawl 41, the outer-layer portion 34 does not get stuck with the engagement pawl 41, and the band body 33 is smoothly reduced in diameter. Therefore, no overload is applied to the area between the engagement pawl 41 and the second boot-band pawl 36 in the inner-layer portion 35, and even if the band body 33 is made thinner, buckling is prevented from occurring in the area between the engagement pawl 41 and the second boot-band pawl 36 in the inner-layer portion 35.
Also in the Embodiment 2 shown in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2011-142690 | Jun 2011 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/JP2012/064218 | 5/31/2012 | WO | 00 | 3/31/2014 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2013/001981 | 1/3/2013 | WO | A |
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Entry |
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Japanese Office Action from Corresponding Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-522551, mailed Sep. 15, 2015. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20140201955 A1 | Jul 2014 | US |