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US 2004/0140006 A1Published application
Pin insert
AssigneeThomas Industries, Inc.
InventorsRichard C. Fuksa, Jun Zhu
Life of this patent
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AssigneeThomas Industries, Inc.
InventorsRichard C. Fuksa, Jun Zhu
Estimating the term…
A valve pin insert has a body for insertion into a valve plate and a stud integrally formed with the body and extending from one end of the body above the valve plate. The body has a lower shank at an end of the body that is opposite from the end at which the stud is positioned, and an upper shank at the end of the body adjacent to the end of the body at which the stud is positioned. The lower shank is of a lesser diameter than the upper shank and an undercut shoulder between the shanks forms a recess opening in the direction toward the lower shank and forms a tooth which shears material of the valve plate as the pin is inserted into a hole in the valve plate. The insert is a relatively harder plastic and the valve plate is a relatively softer plastic. In one form, the undercut shoulder extends radially inward beyond the surface of the lower shank to form an axially outwardly facing shoulder on top of which valve plate material flows when the pin is inserted into the valve plate so as to hold the pin in the plate.
In a valve pin insert of a type having a body for being inserted into a valve plate, the improvement wherein the body has a lower shank at one end of the body and an upper shank adjacent to the lower shank, the lower shank being of a first diameter and the upper shank being of a second diameter, the first diameter being less than the second diameter and wherein between the lower shank and the upper shank of the body an undercut shoulder forms a recess opening in the direction toward the lower shank, the recess forming a tooth that shears material of the valve plate as the pin is inserted into a hole in the valve plate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.