Ball screw device with means for maintaining balance

Abstract

In a ball screw device which provides a screw shaft including a ball screw groove in the outer peripheral surface, a ball nut including a ball screw groove formed in the inner peripheral surface opposite to the ball screw groove of the screw shaft, a plurality of balls fitted between the ball screw grooves of the screw shaft and ball nut, and a tube type circulation path for circulating these balls, the ball screw device can reduce the moment of inertia of a rotary portion of the device so as to facilitate the use of the ball screw device of a nut rotation type. Further, the ball screw device further provides an oil supplying structure which includes a first oil supplying hole formed in the outer race of the rolling bearing and passing through the outer race from the outer peripheral surface thereof to the inner peripheral surface thereof, and a second oil supplying hole formed in the ball nut, passing through the ball nut from the outer peripheral surface thereof to the inner peripheral surface thereof and also communicating with the first oil supplying hole through an annular gap. The oil supplying structure can supply oil even while the ball screw device is in operation, and eliminate the mounting and removal of an oil supplying pipe when supplying the oil.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.