Patent ID: 8702543

Claim:
A tensioner for tensioning a belt, the tensioner comprising: a support housing having a pivot arm rotatably mounted thereto to form a spring cavity, the support housing and the pivot arm each having cooperating stops, each stop including a slide surface and a stop surface; a spring disposed in the spring cavity and operatively connected to the arm and support housing; wherein the spring biases the arm to pivot relative to the support housing; and a deflectable armplate seated on the arm and deflected into engagement with the support housing, wherein engagement of the armplate and support housing provides an axial force that clamps the arm and the support housing together; wherein the pivot arm, during assembly with the spring connected to the pivot arm and to the support housing, transitions from a partially unassembled position to an assembled, unloaded position by rotating the pivot arm in a direction that slides the slide surface of the stop of the pivot arm along the slide surface of the stop of the support housing until the stop surface of the stop of the pivot arm passes over the stop of the support housing and the respective stop surfaces engage each other; wherein the stop of the support housing extends from an upper surface thereof and its slide surface includes a relatively flat surface region and a relatively angled surface region, and the slide surface of the stop of the pivot arm includes a relatively flat surface region and a relatively angled surface region, and wherein the angled surface regions of both stops cooperate to allow the stop of the pivot arm to slide along the flat surface region of the stop of the support housing.