Abstract:
In at least some implementations, an apparatus includes a throttle valve rotatable between an first position and a second position, a connection member coupled to the throttle valve and a wire retainer coupled to the connection member. The connection member is adapted to be coupled to a wire that controls rotation of the throttle valve, and the wire retainer is adapted to overlie the wire and inhibit unintended decoupling of the wire from the connection member.

Description:
REFERENCE TO CO-PENDING APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/834,951 filed Jun. 14, 2013, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0002]    The present disclosure relates generally to a device having a throttle valve actuated by a cable and a device to retain the cable coupled to the throttle valve. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    Fuel systems for combustion engines can sometimes include a carburetor that delivers a combination of fuel and air to an engine to support operation of the engine. A throttle valve may be coupled to a user actuated lever or trigger so that the position of the throttle valve may be changed by the user to permit the user to alter the speed and/or power of the engine. A cable may interconnect the throttle valve and the user actuated lever or trigger. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0004]    In at least some implementations, an apparatus includes a throttle valve rotatable between an first position and a second position, a connection member coupled to the throttle valve and a wire retainer coupled to the connection member. The connection member is adapted to be coupled to a wire that controls rotation of the throttle valve, and the wire retainer is adapted to overlie the wire and inhibit unintended decoupling of the wire from the connection member. 
         [0005]    In at least some implementations, an apparatus for a device having a rotatable throttle valve includes a connection member and a wire retainer. The connection member may be adapted to be coupled to the throttle valve and to a wire that provides a force to rotate the throttle valve. The wire retainer member may be coupled to the connection member and adapted to overlie a portion of the wire to inhibit unintended decoupling of the wire from the connection member. This may be useful, in the example of a carburetor, to maintain a throttle cable coupled to the throttle valve throughout the life of the device. 
         [0006]    In at least some implementations, a retainer is provided for a swivel coupled to a throttle valve lever, where the swivel includes a slot in which a throttle wire is received. The retainer may include a base adapted to be carried by the swivel, and an arm extending from the base to overlie at least a portion of the slot to retain a throttle wire within the slot. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0007]    The following detailed description of preferred embodiments and best mode will be set forth with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
           [0008]      FIG. 1  is a side view of a carburetor illustrating a throttle control cable and throttle valve lever coupled to a throttle valve; 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  is an enlarged, fragmentary plan view taken in the direction of the arrows  2 - 2  in  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0010]      FIG. 3  is an enlarged, fragmentary sectional view taken generally along the line  3 - 3  in  FIG. 2 ; 
           [0011]      FIG. 4  is an end view of a swivel and clip for a throttle valve lever; 
           [0012]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of a clip like that shown in  FIG. 4 ; 
           [0013]      FIG. 6  is a fragmentary perspective view of a swivel and a clip; and 
           [0014]      FIG. 7  is a fragmentary sectional view of the swivel and clip shown in  FIG. 6 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0015]    Referring in more detail to the drawings,  FIG. 1  illustrates a rotary throttle valve carburetor  10  that includes a carburetor main body  11  provided with a fuel and air mixing passage  12 . Air enters the mixing passage  12  at one end, is mixed with fuel, and a fuel and air mixture flows out of an outlet end of the mixing passage  12  for delivery to an engine. The main body  11  also includes a valve bore  14  ( FIG. 3 ) extending perpendicular to and communicated with the mixing passage  12 . A rotary throttle valve  16  is placed in the valve bore  14  and includes an intake or valve passage therethrough that is variably aligned or registered with the mixing passage  12  to selectively open and close the same. While the description herein relates to a rotary throttle valve carburetor  10  as shown in the drawings, the disclosure may also be applied to other devices having a throttle valve actuated by a wire or cable, for example, a throttle body having a throttle valve that controls airflow through the throttle body, as well as other types of carburetors. 
         [0016]    In the implementation shown, the throttle valve  16  includes a throttle valve body  18  rotatably received in the valve bore  14  for movement between an idle position and a fully or wide open position with respect to the mixing passage  12  in accordance with the angular position of the throttle valve body  18 . At least a portion of the valve body  18  extends out of the carburetor main body  11  and is connected to a throttle valve lever  19  such as by, for example, a rivet  31  or other fastener, weld, adhesive, friction fit, or the like. The throttle valve lever  19  is connected to an end of a throttle control cable  20  which may be a bowden type cable having an outer sheath  22  and an inner wire  24  that is slidably moveable within and relative to the sheath  22 . The sheath  22  and wire  24  may be formed of any suitable materials. A cable retainer  26  for fixedly retaining the sheath  22  of the throttle cable  20  is provided on the carburetor main body  11 . 
         [0017]    To yieldably rotatably bias the throttle valve  16  toward its idle position a biasing member, such as a torsion coil spring, is positioned between the throttle valve lever  19  and carburetor main body  11  and may be coaxially wound around the throttle body  18 . In use, the throttle valve lever  19  connected to the throttle cable  20  is angularly moved so that the throttle valve  16  rotates about its axis  32  to open and close the mixing passage  12 . In this implementation, absent a force provided by the control cable to move the throttle valve  16  toward its wide open position, the throttle valve  16  will tend to rotate to its idle position under the force of the spring biasing member. 
         [0018]    As shown in  FIGS. 1-3 , the throttle valve lever  19  is connected to an end of the throttle cable  20 , specifically the inner wire  24  while the outer sheath is coupled to the carburetor body  11  at cable retainer  26 . A retention feature may be provided on the wire portion extending out of the sheath  22  to facilitate coupling the wire  24  to the throttle valve lever  19 . The retention feature may be any suitable member and is shown as an enlarged and generally cylindrical end fitting  36  that may be crimped, soldered or otherwise connected to the wire  24 . 
         [0019]    The cable retainer  26  may include a threaded portion  27  and an adjustment nut  29  serving as a lock nut threads onto part of the threaded portion  27  so that the position of the retained end of the outer sheath  22  may be adjusted with respect to the cable retainer  26 . 
         [0020]    As noted earlier, the inner wire  24  extends out of the sheath  22 , beyond the cable retainer  26  and is coupled to the throttle valve lever  19  to control actuation of the throttle valve  16 . In the implementation shown, the throttle valve lever  19  includes a wire connection member by which the wire is coupled to the throttle valve lever. The connection member as shown includes a swivel  40  carried by the throttle valve lever  19  for rotation about an axis  42  relative to the throttle valve lever  19  to permit the wire  24  to stay generally aligned with the sheath  22 . The swivel  40  is located spaced from the axis of rotation  32  of the throttle valve  16  so that it swings an arc about the axis  32  as the throttle valve  16  rotates. An opening  44  through the lever  19  may receive a post  46  of the swivel  40  and a clip  48 , weld, fastener, adhesive or any other suitable member or feature may retain the swivel  40  on the lever  19 . In the implementation shown, the swivel  40  is releasably or removably coupled to the lever  19  such that the swivel  40  can be removed from the lever  19  without damaging the lever. This may facilitate retrofitting an existing throttle valve lever  19  with a swivel  40  constructed as set forth herein. 
         [0021]    As shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3  the swivel  40  includes a connection feature to retain the wire  24 . The connection feature in the implementation shown is a slot  50  that may have an enlarged portion  52  adapted to receive the wire end fitting  36  and provide a shoulder  54  against which the end fitting  36  bears so that a pulling force of the wire  24  is transmitted to the swivel  40  to rotate the throttle valve  16 . The enlarged portion  52  may be open at one end  56  to a peripheral sidewall  58  or edge of the swivel  40  and extend radially inwardly of the swivel  40  an amount greater than the length of the end fitting  36 . The enlarged portion  52  may be spaced from an upper surface  60  of the swivel  40  so that the end fitting  36  must be inserted into the slot  50  via the open peripheral end  56 . That is, in this implementation, the slot  50  at the upper surface  60  of the swivel  40  is too small to fit the end fitting  36  therethrough, but large enough to receive the wire  24  therethrough. To maintain the wire  24  generally coaxially aligned with the outer sheath  22 , the slot  50  may be arranged at the same axial height (relative to the axis  32  of throttle valve rotation) as the wire  24 , as shown in  FIG. 1 . This may facilitate smooth actuation of the wire  24  and throttle valve  16 . 
         [0022]    To help retain the wire  24  within the slot  50  and coupled to the swivel  40 , a wire retainer may be provided that overlies at least a portion of the slot  50  and the wire  24  within the slot  50 . In the implementation shown, the wire retainer includes a clip  62  that includes a base  64  that is coupled to the swivel  40  and an arm  66  extending from the base  64 . The clip  62  may be formed from a metal or plastic material and the base  64  and arm  66  may be formed from the same piece of material or from different pieces of material that are joined together. In the embodiment shown, the base  64  includes a generally circular loop of material that is fitted around the peripheral sidewall  58  of the swivel  40 , such as within a radially inwardly extending groove  68  formed in the sidewall  58  of the swivel  40  (see e.g.  FIGS. 3 and 4 ). In the implementation shown, the arm  66  is provided at an acute included angle a ( FIG. 5 ) relative to the base  64  and, in assembly, overlies at least part of the peripheral end  56  of the enlarged portion  52  of the slot  50  to block the end  56  of the slot  50  to prevent the wire end fitting  36  from backing out of the slot  50  and thereby decoupling the wire  24  from the swivel  40 . It has been found that the wire  24  may tend to move relative to and decouple from the swivel  40  when the rate of return of the throttle valve  16  back toward its idle position (caused by the return spring) is greater than the rate at which the wire  24  moves within its sheath  22  in a given instance. With the clip  62  in place, the relative movement between the end fitting  36  and the swivel  40  is limited or prevented. 
         [0023]    In a typical application, the throttle wire  24  is not coupled to the swivel  40  until after the carburetor  10  is mounted to an engine. When so mounted, access to the throttle valve lever  19  and swivel  40  may be limited by adjacent components or structures, making installation of the clip  62  or other wire retaining feature difficult. To overcome this, the clip  62  may be installed on the swivel  40  before the wire  24  is coupled to the swivel  40 , and before the carburetor  10  is mounted on an engine. Further, if desired, in at least some embodiments the clip  62  may be rotated or otherwise moveable relative to the swivel  40  to facilitate insertion of the wire end fitting  36  into the slot  50  and thereafter positioning the clip  62  so that it overlies a portion of the slot  50  and end fitting  36 . The arm may include a bent free end  67  that may be provided to increase an area of engagement for rotating the clip, to avoid an upwardly or outwardly projecting straight and sharp end of the arm  66 , facilitate handling and assembly of the clip  62  or for other reason(s). 
         [0024]    In one form, the clip  62  may initially be positioned relative to the swivel  40  such that the arm  66  does not block the peripheral end  56  of the slot  50 . After the wire  24  is installed in the slot  50 , the clip  62  may be rotated relative to the swivel  40  until the arm  66  overlies or blocks at least part of the peripheral end  56  of the slot  50 . Rotation of the clip  62  may be accomplished by pushing or pulling on the arm  66  (and/or base) until the arm  66  is registered or aligned with the slot  50 . The arm  66  may be resiliently flexed against the swivel  40  when the arm  66  is not aligned with the slot  50  and unflexed or flexed less when aligned with the slot  50  so that the arm  66  flexes radially inwardly into the slot  50  when aligned therewith. This may facilitate retaining the arm  66  aligned with the slot  50  in use, regardless of vibrations or other forces that may tend to rotate the clip  62  relative to the swivel  40 . 
         [0025]    As shown in  FIGS. 6 and 7 , a clip  62 ′ may include an arm  66 ′ having a stop surface or catch  70  arranged to more definitely extend into the slot  50 , especially the open end  56  of the slot. In the example shown, the catch  70  is defined by an inwardly bent portion of the arm  66 ′. When the arm  66 ′ is aligned with the slot  50 , the catch  70  extends inwardly of the open end  56  so that the catch is overlapped by the swivel at either edge of the slot  50 . This more securely retains the clip in position relative to the slot and prevents vibration or other forces from unintentionally removing the clip from the slot in use. The increased overlap or extent to which the clip is received within the slot may also make installation of the clip easier as an operator can more readily tell when the arm is aligned with the slot and a tendency to rotate the arm past the slot will be inhibited or prevented. While shown as a simple bend in the arm  66 ′, the catch could be formed in any suitable manner and may be an integral portion of the arm  66 ′ (i.e. a feature formed from/on/in the same piece of material as the rest of the arm) or a separate component carried by the arm  66 ′ or base  64 ′ of the clip. 
         [0026]    While described as having a base  64 ,  64 ′ and arm  66 ,  66 ′, the wire retaining feature may include any member that inhibits or prevent unintended withdrawal of the wire  24  from the swivel  40 . Further, while described as being rotatable or otherwise moveable relative to the swivel  40  from an assembly position to a final position, the wire retaining feature need not be so constructed, and could instead be installed after the throttle wire  24  is coupled to the swivel  40  rather than before. Further, instead of being rotatable about the swivel  40 , the arm  66 ,  66 ′ may pivot or otherwise move outwardly away from the slot  50  to allow the end fitting  36  to be received within the slot  50  and then be pivoted or moved to a position at least partially blocking the slot  50 . That position may be maintained by a snap or interference fit between the base  64 ,  64 ′ and the arm  66 ,  66 ′ of the clip  62 , or a portion of the swivel  40 , as desired. 
         [0027]    While the forms of the invention herein disclosed constitute presently preferred embodiments, many others are possible. It is not intended herein to mention all the possible equivalent forms or ramifications of the invention. It is understood that the terms used herein are merely descriptive, rather than limiting, and that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.