Patent ID: 6112610
Filing Date: 2000-09-05
Classification: F16H,Y10T

Abstract:
In a ball nut and screw system:a. a tubular ball nut having exterior and interior surfaces and a helical groove with turns on its said interior surface;b. a ball screw formed to provide, with said nut, a helical raceway;c. load bearing balls for said raceway disposed to occupy portions of said turns;d. said nut having a passage with radially outer and inner ends extending through said nut from said exterior surface thereof to said interior surface thereof to permit said balls to be fed into a ball-occupied portion of said turns through said passage;e. a snap-in crossover button, having an underface, disposed in said nut passage and providing an axially diagonal, ball return channel in its said underface for channeling said balls from one portion of one of said turns over an intervening land surface on the screw to a portion of another turn to recirculate them;f. said nut passage and snap-in button comprising a laterally compressible system, with a recess having a radially outer marginal lateral wall spaced radially inwardly of said radially outer end of said passage and a snap-in projection received in said recess radially inwardly of said marginal lateral wall, operable automatically upon insertion of said button to a predetermined position to locate said button radially in a position in which said crossover channel aligns helically with portions of said turns to furnish a passage over said intervening land surface of the screw.