Loading patent…
AssigneeBrunswick Corporation
InventorsAngus N. Cuddon-Fletcher, deceased, Greg J. Michels
Estimating the term…
The crankshaft bearing cap of a connecting rod is formed from a forged rod blank which includes an integral circular head having an internal bearing surface and have integrally formed interconnecting lug portions. The lug portions are provided with cracking openings aligned with and parallel to a cracking plane. Each of the openings is provided with a cracking notch or recess which extends downwardly from one side of the head between twenty and fifty percent of the opening length. The assembly is located on a lubricated supporting bed with the unnotched face resting on the supporting surface. Interconnected cracking pins with a suitable tapered configuration are simultaneously forced into the cracking holes with an impact type force. The tapered pins are interconnected to a common support equalizing the cracking impact pressure as the pins are moved into cracking openings. Each of the notches is formed with a V-shape with an inclusive angle of forty-five degrees and a relatively shallow depth of from 0.010 to 0.020 inches to define a sharp apex in the cracking plane. Suitably sized and circumferentially spaced radial lubrication holes in the cap provide an improved lubrication and simplify the manufacturing process. The lubrication holes are spaced in accordance with the spacing of the needle roller bearings such that only one roller bearing is in aligned overlying relationship with each lubrication hole at any given instant.
The method of splitting a member along a common plane, comprising providing a cracking opening in said member, said cracking opening lying in the cracking plane, forming opposed and oppositely located notches in the wall of the opening in the cracking plane and each notch having sidewalls extending outwardly from the opening and toward each other into the member to a common line connection lying in the cracking plane and essentially extending parallel to the axis of the opening and each notch extending from an impact receiving end of said member inwardly less than the total length of the opening, and forcing a cracking member into said opening from said impact receiving end to split the member along said plane.
The method of manufacturing a split tubular unit from an integral tubular blank by cracking along the planes between the individual split members of the tubular unit comprising forming cracking openings with the cracking openings located within the cracking planes, forming opposed and oppositely located notches in the walls of said cracking openings in the cracking plane, each of said notches having sidewalls extending outwardly from the opening and toward each other into the member to a common line connection lying in the cracking plane and each notch extending parallel to the axis of the opening and extending from an impact receiving end of said member inwardly less than the total length of the opening, supporting a non-notched side of the tubular blank, forcing a cracking element into the cracking openings from the notched side of the cylindrical member to thereby generate and propagate cracking downwardly in said planes to split the member along said planes.
The method of manufacturing a split cylindrical member from an integral blank, said cylindrical member being split to the opposite sides thereof in a common cracking plane, forming cracking openings to the opposite side of the cylindrical member with the axis of the openings in the cracking plane, forming opposed and oppositely located notches in the wall of the opening in the cracking plane, each notch having sidewalls extending outwardly from the opening and toward each other into the member to a common line connection lying in the cracking plane and essentially extending parallel to the axis of the opening and each notch extending from an impact receiving end of said member inwardly less than the total length of the opening, supporting a non-notched side of the cylindrical member on a low friction supporting means, and forcing cracking members into the cracking openings from the notched side of the cylindrical member to thereby generate and propagate cracking downwardly in said plane to split the member along said plane.
The method of forming a connecting rod comprising the step of forming an integral metal rod having a connecting shank with an integral wrist pin boss on one end and a crankshaft head at the opposite end, said crankshaft head having an internal cylindrical opening and having outer laterally extending connecting lugs parallel to the shank, forming cracking holes through the connecting lugs, said holes being precisely aligned with the separating plane in said connecting lugs, forming opposed and oppositely located notches in the wall of said cracking holes in the cracking plane, each of said notches having sidewalls extending outwardly from the opening into the member and toward each other to a common line connection lying in the cracking plane and each notch extending between 20 and 50 percent of the length of the hole, locating said integral rod on a horizontal bed having a low friction upper surface, and introducing interconnected, cracking pins into said holes from the notched end of said holes to split the rod along said plane.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.