Patent Application
20130000470
The present invention relates to a toothed cable, a cable device including the toothed cable, and a system for moving a moving object.
Conventionally, a toothed cable is constituted of a core cable and a wire disposed spirally around the core cable at a fixed pitch. The toothed cable has flexibility, and the wire is engaged with a gear so that the toothed cable is used as a toothed cable rack for converting rotation of the gear into linear motion of the toothed cable. The toothed cable moves along a guide member that is curved as necessary, and an end of the toothed cable is connected to a moving object, such as a sunroof or a window glass of a vehicle, so as to be used as a system for moving the moving object. There is known a toothed cable including a braid disposed in a groove formed of the core cable and the wire so that, instead of the wire, the braid contacts with an inner surface of the guide member, thereby reducing a noise generated from the sliding between surface of the wire of the toothed cable and the inner surface of the guide member.
Japanese Laid-Open Application Publication No. 63-28991 (Patent Document 1) discloses a toothed cable including an intermediate layer obtained by heating a core cable and a spiral wire, disposing a braid made of a thermoplastic resin in the groove, and melting and fixing the braid by the heat of the core cable and the wire.
Further, Japanese Laid-Open Application Publication No. 6-294460 (Patent Document 2) discloses a toothed cable in which a braid having piles formed radially around a core thread with adhesive is disposed in the groove to be fixed with adhesive.
However, the toothed cable described in Patent Document 1 has the following problem. Because the core cable and the wire are heated to a temperature higher than the melting point of the braid so as to melt the braid in contact with the wire, the braid is melt to adhere not only to the core cable but also to the wire. Therefore, the adhesion area increases, and lengths of piles are shortened due to the melting and adhering so that flexibility of the braid may be deteriorated.
In addition, the toothed cable described in Patent Document 2 has a problem that if the amount of the adhesive applied to the core cable is large, flexibility of the braid may be deteriorated because the adhesive enters between the piles and is solidified with the piles. On the contrary, if the amount of the adhesive is small, it would be difficult to adjust the application amount of the adhesive and, as a result, joining between the core cable and the braid may be off due to an uneven application of the adhesive.
The toothed cable of present disclosure is conceived in view of the above-mentioned problem, and an object thereof is to provide a toothed cable in which the braid can be securely joined to the core cable while maintaining flexibility of the braid.
A toothed cable of the present disclosure includes a core cable, a wire disposed spirally around the core cable at a fixed pitch, and a braid having a core thread and piles fixed to the core thread, the braid being disposed spirally along a groove having side walls and a bottom, the side walls and the bottom being formed by the wire and the core cable. The toothed cable is obtained by a manufacturing method including a filament thread disposing step of disposing a meltable filament thread in the groove, a braid disposing step of disposing the braid in the groove with tension after the filament thread is disposed, a filament thread melting step of melting the filament thread after the braid is disposed, and a joining step of joining the braid to the core cable by solidifying the melted filament thread.
(1) The disclosed toothed cable can be obtained by the manufacturing method including a filament thread disposing step of disposing a meltable filament thread in the groove, a braid disposing step of disposing the braid in the groove with tension after the filament thread is disposed, a filament thread melting step of melting the filament thread after the braid is disposed, and a joining step of joining the braid to the core cable by solidifying the melted filament thread. Therefore, the braid can be securely joined to the core cable while maintaining flexibility of the braid.
(2) If the filament thread is constituted by binding plural filaments together, the filaments are spread on the bottom surface of the groove when they are disposed in the groove. Therefore, the joining area between the core cable and the braid is increased and the braid can be securely joined to the core cable.
(3) If the filament thread is constituted of a single filament having a width larger than its height, the surface of the wider side is used for joining the core cable and the braid so that the joining area between the core cable and the braid is increased. Thus, the core cable and the braid can be securely joined.
(4) If the melting point of the filament thread is lower than the melting point of the braid, the braid is not melted when the temperature reaches the melting point of the filament thread. Therefore, flexibility of the braid can be maintained.
(5) If a distance between the center of the core thread and the bottom surface of the groove is smaller than a distance between the center of the core thread and tips of the piles before being disposed in the groove, the piles between the core thread and the bottom surface of the groove become tight so that the joining area is increased. Therefore, the core cable and the braid can be securely joined.
(6) If the filament thread and the core thread are disposed close to one of the side walls in the groove, the gear would hardly contact with the core thread when the gear and the wire are engaged with each other. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the core thread from being worn out and broken from the contact between the core thread and the gear.
Referring now to the attached drawings which form a part of this original disclosure.
Hereinafter, a toothed cable according to an embodiment of the present invention is described with reference to the drawings.
As illustrated in
A groove 6 formed by the core cable 1 and the wire 5 is formed spirally of side walls 6a and a bottom 6b. The side walls 6a are outer surfaces of the wire 5, and the bottom 6b is an outer surface of the core cable 1. A braid 7 described later is disposed in the groove 6.
The braid 7 is constituted of a core thread 7a and piles 7b as illustrated in
As a manufacturing method of the braid 7, a method including applying adhesive to the core thread 7a, and fixing the piles 7b to the core thread 7a radially by electrostatic flocking or the like may be used. It is possible to use other known methods such as a method including disposing piles between two core threads in the direction perpendicular to the core threads, and twisting the two core threads so that the piles are fixed to the core threads.
A filament thread 8 is constituted of a plurality of filaments 8a bound together, as illustrated in
Next, a manufacturing method of the toothed cable of the present disclosure is described. First, a feeding device of the filament thread 8 is rotated while the core cable 1 and the wire 5 are restricted so as to not rotate, such that the filament thread 8 is disposed to contact with the bottom 6b of the groove, while applying a tension to the filament thread 8. In this case, the filaments 8a constituting the filament thread 8 spread laterally so that the thickness of the filament thread 8 is decreased (see
Next, similarly to when the filament thread 8 is disposed, a feeding device of the braid 7 is rotated while the core cable 1, the wire 5, and the filament thread 8 are restricted so as to not rotate. Thus, the braid 7 is disposed with tension such that the core thread 7a contacts with the surface of the filament thread 8. The tension when the braid 7 is disposed is set so that the piles between the core thread 7a and the filament thread 8 are curved, and that a distance La between the center of the core thread 7a and the bottom 6b of the groove becomes smaller than a distance Lb between the center of the core thread 7a and the tips of the piles 7b before being disposed (see
Next, while maintaining the tension, the core cable 1 and the wire 5 are heated by a high frequency induction heating apparatus or a heating furnace to a temperature at which the filament thread 8 is melted. By this heating, only the filament thread 8 is melted and enters recesses on the surface of the upper layer 4 of the core cable 1, recesses on the core thread 7a on the bottom 6b side, and gaps between the piles 7b, so that the core cable 1 and the braid 7 are connected to each other. Because the filaments 8a are disposed on the bottom 6b side in advance, the melted filament thread 8 does not migrate to the tips of the piles 7b, so that flexibility of the braid can be maintained after the solidification. Further, if the heating is performed to a temperature at which the piles 7b are softened, the stress corresponding to the restoring force to bring the piles back to the straightened state is removed, so that the relationship of La<Lb of the core thread 7a can be maintained easily. In addition, by setting the melting point of the synthetic resin used for the filament thread to be lower than the melting point of the synthetic resin used for the braid, the braid is not melted and maintains its shape even when it reaches a temperature at which the filament thread is melted. Therefore, flexibility of the braid can be maintained.
Finally, the filament thread 8 is kept at room temperature to be solidified. The filament thread 8 maintains in the state in which the core cable 1 and the braid 7 are connected to each other, and the piles 7b maintains the relationship of La<Lb of the core thread 7a. The filament thread 8 become hardened then. Thus, the stress corresponding to the restoring force to bring the piles 7b back to the straightened state is removed, and the core cable 1 and the braid 7 are joined to each other while maintaining the relationship of La<Lb and the flexibility of the piles. Note that when the filament thread 8 is to be solidified, it is possible to use a forced cooling method.
Note that when the filament thread 8 and the core thread 7a are disposed at the bottom 6b of the groove, if they are disposed close to one of the side walls 6a in the groove 6, a gear H would hardly contact with the core thread 7a when the gear H engages with the wire 5 as illustrated in
Materials of the core cable, the wire, the filament thread, and the braid, the shape of the groove, and the like can be appropriately selected depending on the need. For instance, a toothed cable was manufactured by the steps including: disposing the galvanized hard steel wire having a diameter of 1.2 mm around the galvanized hard steel wire serving as the core cable at a pitch of 2.54 mm, so as to form the groove having a width of 1.34 mm and a depth of 1.2 mm; disposing in the groove the filament thread having a circular cross section and a linear density of 880 decitex, which is constituted of 80 filaments bound together, each of which being made of copolymer nylon of nylon 12 having a diameter of 35 μm; disposing the braid, in which the piles made of nylon 6 having an outer diameter of 28.6 μm and a length of 1.8 mm are formed by electrostatic flocking around the core thread having a linear density of 470 decitex and constituted of fibers bound together, each being made of nylon 6 having higher melting point than the filament thread; heating for two seconds at approximately 140 degrees, which is higher than the melting point of the filaments and lower than the melting point of the braid, so as to remove the stress of the piles by melting the filament thread and softening the braid; and leaving the resulted outcome naturally so that the filament thread is cured and the braid is solidified. As to the obtained toothed cable, it was confirmed that the braid was securely joined to the core cable while the flexibility of the braid was maintained.
The toothed cable may be inserted into a guide member such as a tube made of metal or synthetic resin that is curved as necessary and has an inner diameter larger than the outer diameter of the wire or a guide having a U-shaped cross section with a width and a height larger than the outer diameter of the wire, so as to be used as a cable device moving in the guide member.
In addition, the toothed cable may be connected at an end thereof to a moving object such as a sunroof, a window glass, a sheet, or a sliding door of a vehicle, or a windshield of a motorbike, so as to be used as a drive system that converts a rotational motion of a gear into a linear motion of the moving object. The present invention, however, is not to be limited to the above-mentioned moving objects.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-221319 | Sep 2009 | JP | national |
This application is a U.S. National stage application of International Application No. PCT/JP2010/066070, filed Sep. 16, 2010, which claims priority claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) to Japanese Patent Application No. 2009-221319, filed in Japan on Sep. 25, 2009, the entire contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP10/66070 | 9/16/2010 | WO | 00 | 3/23/2012 |
