Abstract:
A cage nut has a nut holder ( 1 ) and a nut part ( 20 ), the nut part ( 20 ) being captively floatingly mounted in the nut holder ( 1 ) via an engagement arrangement formed by laterally protruding retaining tongues ( 4, 5 ) and stop tongues ( 16, 17, 18, 19 ) that project in a hook-like manner. Despite the relatively simple construction of the cage nut, a robust connection is thereby obtained between the nut part ( 20 ) and the nut holder ( 1 ), one that is tolerant of deformation of the nut holder ( 1 ) and is stable against high torques.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application is a U.S. National Phase Patent Application based on International Application Serial No. PCT/EP2007/009247 filed Oct. 25, 2007, the disclosure of which is hereby explicitly incorporated by reference herein. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to a cage nut. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0005]    One cage nut is known from DE 20 2006 003 639 U1. The prior cage nut comprises a nut part having a nut shaft and two side plates, which are formed onto the nut shaft on mutually opposite sides thereof. Also present is a nut holder, which has a contact portion configured with a pass-through opening and against which the nut part rests. Lastly, there is an engagement arrangement that cooperates with the side plates to hold the nut part in a floating mounting, the engagement arrangement being formed by two side walls which are bent at right angles from mutually parallel edge sides of the contact portion, and which are provided with longitudinal slits through which the side plates engage. A floating mounting is contrived by properly dimensioning the spacing between the side walls and the size of the longitudinal slit. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    The present invention provides a cage nut, which, while being of simple construction, can be welded onto a support part without compromising functionality and is sufficiently stable against high tightening torques. 
         [0007]    By virtue of the fact that the inventive cage nut is configured to comprise retaining tongues formed in a step-like manner and engaging behind the nut part and to comprise bent stop tongues that limit the travel of the side plates, the cage nut is relatively easy to manufacture, is relatively insensitive to deformations occurring during the welding-on process, and presents a sufficiently high resistance even to high torques. 
         [0008]    In one form thereof, the present invention provides a cage nut including a nut part having a nut shaft and two side plates formed onto the nut shaft on mutually opposite sides of the nut shaft, a nut holder provided with a support portion which is configured with a pass-through opening and on which the nut part rests, and an engagement arrangement that cooperates with the side plates to hold the nut part in a floating mounting, characterized in that the engagement arrangement includes two mutually oppositely disposed retaining tongues each of which is configured with a pedestal portion that protrudes from the support portion and with an end portion angled away from the pedestal portion, the end portions extending toward each other, and is provided with four stop tongues which are disposed opposite each other in pairs and which extend, bent away from the support portion, in the same direction as the pedestal portions and confine the side plates on the longitudinal sides thereof that extend to the nut shaft. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
         [0009]    The above mentioned and other features and objects of this invention, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and the invention itself will be better understood by reference to the following description of embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
           [0010]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a nut holder in an exemplary embodiment of a cage nut according to the invention; 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the exemplary embodiment according to  FIG. 1  with a nut part in engagement with the nut holder; and 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is a section of the exemplary embodiment according to  FIGS. 1 and 2  in an installed situation. 
       
    
    
       [0013]    Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. Although the exemplifications set out herein illustrate embodiments of the invention, in several forms, the embodiments disclosed below are not intended to be exhaustive or to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention to the precise forms disclosed. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0014]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the nut holder  1  in an exemplary embodiment of a cage nut according to the invention. The nut holder  1  is made from a single piece of sheet metal of rectangular shape and has two laterally disposed side portions  2 ,  3  with an approximately square base area. By a punching and bending process, each of the mutually facing sides of the side portions  2 ,  3  is configured, approximately centrally, with a retaining tongue  4 ,  5 , each said retaining tongue  4 ,  5  having a pedestal portion  6  that is oriented substantially at right angles to the side portion  2 ,  3 , and an end portion  7  that extends at right angles from the pedestal portion  6 , from the one side portion  2 ,  3  toward the respective other side portion  2 ,  3 . The pedestal portion  6  and the end portion  7  of each retaining tongue  4 ,  5  are configured trapezoidally, with edge sides that merge one into the other to form a shape that tapers toward the respective free end, such that a pass-through opening  8  configured centrally in a support portion  9  disposed between the side portions is formed into mutually opposite side openings  10 ,  11  that widen trapezoidally in the direction of side portions  2 ,  3  and that open, via contact portions  12 ,  13 ,  14 ,  15  in the form of constrictions, into the pass-through opening  8 , which is more largely dimensioned in terms of diameter. 
         [0015]    Also provided in support portion  9  are laterally disposed stop tongues  16 ,  17 ,  18 ,  19 , also produced by a stamping and bending process, which extend at right angles to support portion  9  and are arranged on the same side as the retaining tongues  4 ,  5 . Said stop tongues  16 ,  17 ,  18 ,  19  extend for a distance from the support portion  9  that roughly corresponds to the projecting height of the end portions  7  of retaining tongues  4 ,  5 , but at least to the length of the pedestal portions  6 . The stop tongues  16 ,  17 ,  18 ,  19  are arranged, in the longitudinal direction of the cage nut  1 , between and spaced apart from the free ends of the end portions  7  of the retaining tongues  4 ,  5 . 
         [0016]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the nut holder  1  in the exemplary embodiment according to  FIG. 1 , comprising a nut part  20  that is mounted in the nut holder  1  captively, floatingly and in a rotationally locked manner by means of an engagement arrangement formed by the retaining tongues  4 ,  5  and the stop tongues  16 ,  17 ,  18 ,  19 . The nut part  20  is formed by a cylindrical nut shaft  21  and by two side plates  22 ,  23  of approximately square shape, which are joined to mutually opposite sides of the nut shaft  21 . The side plates  22 ,  23  are disposed at an end side of the nut shaft  21 , and in the arrangement according to  FIG. 2  are rearwardly engaged by the retaining tongues  4 ,  5 . The nut shaft  21  is configured with a centrally disposed screw opening  24  that is provided with an internal thread and extends in the longitudinal direction of the nut shaft  21 . 
         [0017]    The dimensions of the nut shaft  21  and of the side plates  22 ,  23  are, at the same time, adapted to the retaining tongues  4 ,  5  and the stop tongues  16 ,  17 ,  18 ,  19  in such a way that the outer diameter of the nut shaft  21  is smaller than the distance between the mutually confronting end faces of the end portions  7  of the retaining tongues  4 ,  5 , the distance between the pedestal portions  6  of the retaining tongues  4 ,  5  is greater than the dimension between the end faces of side plates  22 ,  23  that face away from each other, and the width of the side plates  22 ,  23  is smaller than the dimension between the stop tongues  16 ,  17 ,  18 ,  19  configured on mutually opposite edge sides of the nut holder  1  and disposed directly opposite each other. That being the case, the stop portions  12 ,  13 ,  14 ,  15  brace the nut part  20 , particularly in the region of the join between the side plates  22 ,  23  and the nut shaft  21 . 
         [0018]    This results in a sufficiently robust floating mounting of the nut part  20  in the nut holder  1 , and one whose dimensions can be adjusted relatively easily, the nut part  20  being relatively easy to connect to the nut holder  1  due to the fact that the bending of two stop tongues  16 ,  17 ,  18 ,  19  disposed on one edge side of the nut holder  1  does not take place until after the side plates  22 ,  23  have been slid in between the retaining tongues  4 ,  5 . 
         [0019]      FIG. 3  is a section of an exemplary embodiment of a cage nut according to  FIGS. 1 and 2  in an installed situation. In the overhead installed situation shown in  FIG. 3 , the side portions  2 ,  3  of the nut holder  1  are connected via weld seams  25 ,  26  to a carrier part  27 , the side portions  2 ,  3  and the stop tongues  16 ,  17 ,  18 ,  19  being so arranged that the nut part  20  held by them is directed away from the carrier part  27 . At the same time, the pass-through opening  8  is disposed in prolongation of a carrier part opening  28  configured in the carrier part  27 , so that a screw shaft  29  configured with an external thread and belonging to a fastening screw  30  can be inserted via a lead-in funnel  31  configured in nut shaft  21  and flaring in the direction of pass-through opening  8 , and can be brought into engagement with the internal thread configured in the screw opening  24 . To connect an add-on part  32  to the carrier part  27  under these circumstances, the screw shaft  29  engages through an add-on part opening  33  configured in the add-on part  32  and having an inner diameter that is smaller than the outer diameter of a screw head  34  of the fastening screw  30 . 
         [0020]    It can be seen from  FIG. 3  that due to the configuration of the engagement arrangement, with retaining tongues  4 ,  5  engaging behind the side plates  22 ,  23 , the nut part  20  is secured in the axial direction against coming out of the nut holder  1 , for example during the insertion of the fastening screw  30  into the nut shaft  21 , or against dropping out of an installed position that is rotated  180  degrees with respect to the arrangement of  FIG. 3 . The stop tongues  16 ,  17 ,  18 ,  19 , in turn, by forming a stop for the side plates  22 ,  23 , block rotation and secure the nut part  20  against slipping out laterally. Play in the floating mounting of the nut part  20  in the nut holder  1  is provided in an extremely simple manner by suitable relative dimensioning of the retaining tongues  4 ,  5 , the stop tongues  16 ,  17 ,  18 ,  19 , the nut shaft  21  and the side plates  22 ,  23 , such that deformation of the nut holder  1  can be compensated for relatively easily, for instance in cases where the weld seam  25 ,  26  has to be run on into the vicinity of the support portion  9  in order to achieve particularly high robustness during mounting on the carrier part  27 . 
         [0021]    It can also be understood particularly clearly from the representation according to  FIG. 3  that the nut shaft  21  is configured with a relatively thick wall thickness, so that due to the high robustness of the inventive cage nut, brought about the robust stops formed by retaining tongues  4 ,  5  and stop tongues  16 ,  17 ,  18 ,  19 , if the internal thread of screw opening  24  in nut shaft  21  should wear out, a new internal thread with a larger diameter can be cut in the event that, as is often the case, the nut part  20  is no longer accessible in the installation situation. 
         [0022]    While this invention has been described as having a preferred design, the present invention can be further modified within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. This application is therefore intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention using its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains and which fall within the limits of the appended claims.