Abstract:
The present invention relates to a ball spacer and the rolling device using it. The ball spacer of the present invention makes the ball doesn&#39;t touch to his adjoining ball, so as to reduce the noise. Besides, the ball spacer comprises a cylinder surface touching to the ball, so that the spacer can rotate according to the ball and almost hasn&#39;t relative motion to his adjoining ball.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates to ball spacer structure and the rolling device which are applied to prevent interference between adjacent balls, wherein the rolling device comprises ball bearing, ball screw and linear rolling guideway, the rolling ball includes steel ball, ceramic ball and so on. 
   DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ARTS 
   A ball bearing is developed based on the principle that rolling friction is far minor than the sliding friction. For example, ball bearing can make its mating parts rotate relative to a concave surface through rotation of the rolling balls (namely the ball rotating bearing) or move linearly (namely linear ball bearing). Ball screw can enable its mating parts to move helically through rotation of the rolling balls. Linear rolling guideway enables its mating parts to move linearly along the rail.  FIG. 8  shows a rolling device of prior art, in which, a moving member  1  moves relative to a fixed member  2 , and a plurality of balls  3  are disposed between the moving member  1  and the fixed member  2 . When the balls  3  slide left, the moving member  1  will be caused to move right. Although the moving member  1  doesn&#39;t contact the fixed member  2  and the friction drag is relatively small, noises and frictions will be produced between the adjacent balls  3 ,  3 ′ due to they contact directly with each other but move in opposition directions (ball  3  rolls upward while ball  3 ′ rolls downward). 
     FIG. 9  shows an improved design disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,955, wherein a small ball  4  is interposed between the big balls  3 ,  3 ′, so that the small ball  4  will rotate clockwise when the big balls  3 ,  3 ′ rotate counterclockwise. In this case, the big balls  3 ,  3 ′ don&#39;t contact each other and almost no relative motion will be caused between the small ball  4  and the big balls  3 ,  3 ′, the noise and friction can be reduced accordingly. However, the quantity of the big balls  3 ,  3 ′ are reduced to half, thus, the load capacity of this device is seriously reduced. 
     FIG. 10  shows an improved ball spacer structure which is widely used presently. In this ball spacer structure, a spacer-block  5  is interposed between the balls  3 ,  3 ′. Due to the balls  3 ,  3 ′ rotate while the spacer  5  can&#39;t rotate, relative motion will be caused between the balls and the spacer  5 . Although the balls  3 ,  3 ′ don&#39;t contact with each so that the noise is relative reduced, there is still friction between the balls  3 ,  3 ′ and the spacer  5 . 
   The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the conventional ball spacer. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided with a ball spacer having axial symmetrical concave surface for contacting with the balls, the two adjacent balls are separated from each other and located at both sides of the ball spacer, such that the ball doesn&#39;t directly collide with the adjacent one, so as to reduce the collision-caused noise between the adjacent balls. 
   Due to the ball spacer has axial symmetrical concave surfaces, the ball spacer will in an opposite direction to the rotation of the balls, there is almost no relative motion between the point of contact of the balls and the ball spacer, such that the friction is reduced. 
   The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, which shows, for purpose of illustrations only, the preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a cross sectional view of ball spacer and the rolling device using it in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a cross sectional view taking along A-A′ of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 3  is an amplified view of the ball spacer and the balls in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 4  is a plan view, partly in section, of showing a ball spacer in accordance with a second preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 5  shows a ball spacer of the present invention applied to a ball bearing; 
       FIG. 6  shows a ball spacer of the present invention applied to a ball screw; 
       FIG. 7  shows a ball spacer of the present invention applied to a linear rolling guideway; 
       FIG. 8  shows a first type of rolling device of prior arts; 
       FIG. 9  shows a second type of rolling device of prior arts; 
       FIG. 10  shows a third type of rolling device of prior arts. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIG. 1  is a cross sectional view of ball spacer and the rolling device using it in accordance with the present invention,  FIG. 2  is a cross sectional view taken along line A-A′ of FIG.  1 . Wherein a ball spacer  6  has a concave surface  61  serving to separate ball  3  and ball  3 ′, such that the balls  3 ,  3 ′ will not collide with each other. As shown clearly in  FIG. 1 , the ball spacer  6  rotates clockwise when the balls  3 ,  3 ′ rotate counterclockwise, so that there is almost no relative motion between the point of contact of the balls  3 ,  3 ′ and the ball spacer  6 . Furthermore, the ball spacer  6  is provided with a concave surface  61  which is formed in the shaped of the balls  3 ,  3 ′, such that volume of the ball spacer  6  is substantially reduced on the premise that the balls  3 ,  3 ′ don&#39;t interfere with each other. Thereby the rolling device of the present invention is able to accommodate more balls  3 ,  3 ′. As shown in  FIG. 2 , both end surfaces  62  of the ball spacer  6  are spherical surfaces which are two portions of the spherical surface of the same sphere. The shape of the ball spacer  6  of the present invention just likes an apple whose outer peripheral portion has been bitten off (also likes a sandglass) and the concave surface  61  exactly resembles the contour of the portion bitten from the apple. Due to both end surfaces  62  are two portions of the same sphere, the ball spacer  6  of the present invention still has the advantages of a sphere. when the ball spacer  6  moves in the rolling track, there will be no apparent interferences between the end surfaces  62  of the ball spacer  6  and the surface of rolling track even if the ball spacer  6  deviates from the rolling track occasionally. Furthermore, if the two end surfaces  62  contact the balls  3 ,  3 ′ when the intervals between the ball spacer  6  and the adjacent balls  3 ,  3 ′ are relatively large, the ball spacer  6  will not be jammed but will keep rolling, like a ball, until the concave surfaces  61  of the ball spacer  6  mates with the balls  3 ,  3 ′ again. In addition, the ball spacer  6  should not be larger than the cross section of the rolling track, the easy way to achieve this is to make the ball spacer  6  slightly smaller than the balls  3 ,  3 ′. Thus, the two end surfaces  62  of the ball spacer  6  may be designed as two portions of same sphere whose radius is slightly minor than the radius of the balls  3 ,  3 ′. 
     FIG. 3  is an amplified view of the spacer and the balls. In which, the intervals between the concave surfaces  61  and the balls  3 ,  3 ′ are very small so as to diminish the space that the ball spacer  6  occupies. On the other hand, the distance between the balls  3 ,  3 ′ will be changed when making a turn, thus the ball spacer  6  should be designed to have certain flexibility for permitting some changes in the distance between the balls  3 ,  3 ′. The contour of the ball spacer  6  is designed to mate with the balls. 
     FIG. 4  is a plan view of showing a spacer in accordance with a second preferred embodiment of the present invention. Wherein each of the end surfaces  62  of the ball spacer  6  is provided with an annular groove  63  for increasing flexibility of the ball spacer  6 . In case that the end portion  611  of the concave surface  61  contacts the balls, if the distance between the balls  3 ,  3 ′ changes slightly, the end portion  611  will be more susceptible to bend, thus reducing the load on the balls. 
     FIG. 5  shows a ball spacer of the present invention applied to a ball bearing. The ball bearing includes an outer ring  71 , an inner ring  72 , a plurality of balls  3 ,  3 ′ and ball spacers  6 , wherein the outer ring  71  is provided in the inner surface with an annular rolling track (not shown) and the inner ring  72  is correspondingly provided in the outer surface with an annular rolling track (not shown), the outer ring  71  is mounted to outside of the inner ring  72 . The balls  3 ,  3 ′ are arranged between the outer ring  71  and the inner ring  72  and move therebetween when the outer ring  71  rotate with respect to the inner ring  72 . The ball spacers  6  are disposed in the intervals between the balls  3 ,  3 ′, such that the balls  3 ,  3 ′ don&#39;t contact each other. When the balls  3 ,  3 ′ rotate, the ball spacers  6  will be caused to rotate in an opposite direction to the balls  3 ,  3 ′, so that the friction drag between the ball spacer  6  and the balls  3 ,  3 ′ will be reduced. 
     FIG. 6  shows a ball spacer of the present invention applied to a ball screw. The ball screw includes a nut  81 , a screw shaft  82 , a circulation assembly  82 , a plurality of balls  3 ,  3 ′ and ball spacers  6 . Wherein the nut  81  is provided in the inner surface with a helical groove (not shown) and an opposite annular groove (not shown) is correspondingly provided in the outer surface of the screw shaft  82 . The balls  3 ,  3 ′ are helically arranged between the nut  81  and the screw shaft  82  along the helical grooves. When the nut  81  rotates about the screw shaft  82 , the balls  3 ,  3 ′ will be caused to rotate. The ball spacers  6  are arranged in the intervals between the balls  3 ,  3 ′, such, that the balls don&#39;t contact each other directly. When the balls  3 ,  3 ′ rotate, the ball spacers  6  will be caused to rotate in an opposite direction to the balls  3 ,  3 ′, so that the friction drag between the ball spacer  6  and the balls  3 ,  3 ′ will be reduced. 
     FIG. 7  shows a ball spacer of the present invention applied to a linear guideway. The linear guideway includes a sliding block  91 , a rail  92 , a circulation unit  93 , a plurality of balls  3 ,  3 ′ and ball spacers  6 . The sliding block  91  is provided in the inner surface with a rolling groove (not shown) and an opposite rolling groove (not shown) is correspondingly defined in the outer surface of the rail  92 . The sliding block  91  is mounted on the outside of the rail  92 , the balls  3 ,  3 ′ are arranged between the sliding block  91  and the rail  92  along the rolling grooves. The circulation unit  93  is provided for altering the moving direction of the balls  3 ,  3 ′. When the sliding block  91  rotates about the rail  92 , the balls  3 ,  3 ′ will be caused to rotate. The ball spacers  6  are arranged in the intervals between the balls  3 ,  3 ′, such that the balls don&#39;t contact each other directly. When the balls  3 ,  3 ′ rotate, the ball spacers  6  will rotate in an opposite direction to the balls  3 ,  3 ′, so that the friction drag between the ball spacer  6  and the balls  3 ,  3 ′ will be reduced. 
   In order to adjust the intervals between the ball spacer and the balls, two different sized ball spacers may be used in the same circulation unit. Wherein the diameters of the middle sections of the two ball spacers are different so as to adjust intervals between the ball spacers and the balls. 
   Due to the ball spacer of the present invention is provided with axially symmetrical concave surfaces that separate the balls from each other, such that the collision and friction between the adjacent paired balls and the noise can be prevented. The concave surfaces of the ball spacer can rotate easily relative to the balls so that almost there is no relative motion between the point of contact of the balls and the ball spacer, and accordingly, the friction is reduced. Furthermore, the concave surface of the ball spacer is thicker at the edges and thin in the middle so as to reduce the spaces that the spacers take, thus, the rolling device of the present invention may accommodate more balls as compared with the conventional ball spacer. The ball spacer is designed to have two spherical end surfaces so as to prevent interferences between the balls and the ball spacer. 
   While we have shown and described various embodiments in accordance with the present invention, it should be clear to those skilled in the art that further embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.