Patent GB-371473-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in automatic compensators for wear
IPC: F16J15/26
Filed: 1931-01-28
Abstract: 371,473. Compensating for wear in bearings. WYRICK, C. E., 476, Emmons Boulevard, Wyandotte, Michigan, U.S.A. Jan. 28, 1931, No. 2790. [Class 12 (i).] A compensator for automatically taking up wear between the working parts of lathes, drills, planers, motor vehicles, &c. comprises two relatively movable elements having opposed cam surfaces, means for urging the elements into relative movement along the surfaces and means for urging them directly apart. Means may additionally be provided for regulating the maximum and minimum limits of clearance permitted by the compensator. In the form shown in Figs. 2, 4, and 10a for regulating the end-play of a shaft in a cylindrical bearing, two annular elements 6, 7 have opposed helical surfaces 8 formed with annular grooves housing circumferential tension springs 10 which tend to rotate the elements 6, 7 relative to each other and so increase their combined thickness. Maximum and minimum clearance limits are provided for by a tooth 13 on the element 7 projecting into a series of facial teeth 12 in the element 6 to prevent relative rotation of the elements 6, 7 until they have worn sufficiently to be separated by a corrugated annular spring 11a so far as to permit the tooth 13 overriding the adjacent tooth 12 whereupon the springs 10 rotate the elements relatively and allow the tooth 13 to fall into the next space in the teeth 12. The tooth 13 is resiliently carried on a spring member 14 in a peripheral notch in the element 7 and is adjusted by a screw 17. The separative corrugated spring 11a acts on the element 6 through a flanged washer 11c on which the springs 10 rest. The device is mounted on a shaft between a nut thereon and the fixed part of the bearing to maintain clearance limits between two to five thousandths of an inch. In order that there shall be no tendency for one element to rotate relative to the other due to friction on the shaft abutment or on the stationary bearing member there is provided a liner 19 having a lateral face 20 and connected to the element 7 by tongue and groove 22 so as to permit relative axial, but not relative rotary movement of the parts 7 and 19. To exclude foreign matter there is a cover 23 fixedly spun into the element 6 and having a tongue 25 engaging an annular recess in the member 7 so as to limit the maximum relative movement. Figs. 11 and 14 show a compensator for wear of a rectilinear-motion bearing, comprising two elements 27, 28 having opposed wedge faces formed with grooves accommodating a tension spring 31. The clearance limiting means comprise a tooth 34 resiliently carried on a blade spring 36 in the element 28 and engaging teeth 32 on the element 27. The lateral separative force is supplied by the compressive distortion of. the spring coils 31 in the grooves. The compensator is shown arranged between the sliding surfaces of relatively reciprocating members 37, 38, three compensators being arranged in spaced relation in the slide. A wear plate 40 is also provided. In a simpler form of the bearing washer shown in Fig. 4 &c. the limit means 12, 13 are omitted and there are simply two elements 40, Fig. 20, having opposed helical surfaces and constantly urged into relative rotary movement by a single circumferential spring 42 wrapt around a wedge-shaped groove formed between the two elements. In a simplified form of that shown in Fig. 11 the limit means 33, 34 are omitted the elements being constantly urged along their opposed faces by the spring.