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US 4,228,889 AGranted
Lubrication connector for roller conveyors
AssigneeDresser Industries, Inc.
InventorStephen N. Garrison
Life of this patent
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AssigneeDresser Industries, Inc.
InventorStephen N. Garrison
Estimating the term…
An improved lubrication connector for roller conveyors of the type which includes a pair of idlers positioned end-to-end, each idler being rotatably mounted on a hollow shaft through bearing assemblies. The shafts communicate with associated bearing assemblies which are lubricated by forcing lubricant through the hollow shafts. A flexible tube connects adjacent portions of the hollow idler shafts for transporting lubricant from one shaft to the other. The improvement includes one end of the tube being resiliently held in place relative to one of the hollow shafts so that the interior of the tube will communicate with the interior of said hollow shaft, the other end of the tube being sized and shaped slightly smaller than the interior of the other hollow shaft for allowing the tube to be inserted in the shaft yet large enough to prevent lubricant under pressure from leaking between the tube and shaft. The tube will deflect when the lubricant exceeds a predetermined amount which causes one end to move outwardly in its cooperating hollow shaft. The end is contoured to provide a lubricant leakage passage permitting lubricant to escape from the tube and shaft before the end of the tube reaches the outer end of its cooperating hollow shaft.
An improved lubrication connector for an idler roller assembly comprising axially adjacent idler rollers rotatably mounted on hollow shafts through associated bearing assemblies lubricated by forcing lubricant through the hollow shafts and flexible tube means for lubricant-flow communication of the axially adjacent hollow idler shafts for transporting lubricant from one shaft to the next in the assembly, the improvement comprising:
A flexible tube connector for a flow through lubricating system between adjacent hollow shafts comprising means for resiliently holding one end of the tube in indexed lubricant flow communication relative to one of the shafts, the other end of the tube adapted to slidingly fit in the other shaft and sized to generally prevent pressurized lubricant from leaking therebetween, whereby upon the lubricant having a predetermined pressure limit the tube deflects between said shafts causing said other end of the tube to slide outwardly in said other shaft, and means defining a lubricant leakage passage between said other end and said other shaft for allowing lubricant to escape from the tube and shaft before said other end of the tube is expelled by said pressure from the outer end of its cooperating shaft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.