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US 5,964,535 AGranted
Slide assembly for preloading roller bearings
AssigneeBayside Controls, Inc.
InventorsAlan Feinstein, Robert Nichols
Life of this patent
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AssigneeBayside Controls, Inc.
InventorsAlan Feinstein, Robert Nichols
Estimating the term…
A machine slide comprising a support member having two longitudinally-extending races with outwardly-facing, longitudinally extending grooves at opposite sides thereof, and a carriage movable on the support member. The carriage has two longitudinally-extending races having inwardly facing, longitudinally-extending grooves. When the carriage is placed on the support member, the grooves of the support member and the grooves of the carriage correspond to define two parallel longitudinally-extending raceways for roller bearings. There are two longitudinally-extending slits forming an island in the bottom surface of the carriage above one of the races on the carriage. A longitudinally-extending groove is located along the outside face of the side wall of the carriage nearest the island. A bearing retainer that regulates the spacing of the roller bearings is mounted within each raceway. At least one adjustment screw is disposed in the outside wall of the carriage nearest the island and extends through the race on the support member. Turning the adjustment screw adjusts the size of the raceways and applies a preload to the bearings. The slits and the longitudinally-extending groove on the carriage allow the carriage to flex and absorb irregular forces during sliding. In an alternative embodiment, the carriage is rigid and the support member has a flexible side wall that can absorb irregular forces.
A machine slide comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
Drawings are temporarily unavailable. Open the PDF at USPTO
From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
Ball or roller bearings: having rollers crossed within a row
Bearings for parts moving only linearly: arrangements for adjusting play
Shafts
Term ended 21 Nov 2017 (estimated)
USPTO file history isn’t available for this patent, so only indexed dates are shown.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a novel linear machine slide. In particular, the invention relates to a design for preloading roller bearings in a linear machine slide to enable frictionless and reproducible operation of the slide.
2. The Prior Art
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed as an illustration only and not as a definition of the limits of the invention.
In the drawings, wherein similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views:
FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the slide assembly according to the invention;
Referring now in detail to the drawings and, in particular, FIG. 1, there is shown a perspective view of one embodiment of the slide assembly according to the present invention. Assembly 1 includes a support member 10 and a carriage 20 slidably mounted on support member 10. Two steel races 11 and 11' are mounted on support member 10 and extend along the length of support member 10. Races 11 and 11' are mounted to support member 10 with screws 15. Each one of races 11 and 11' has an outwardly-facing groove 13. A second set of steel races 21 and 21' are mounted along the length of carriage 20 with screws 16. Each one of races 21 and 21' has an inwardly-facing groove 23.
Each groove 13 mates with a groove 23 to form a longitudinally-extending raceway 24. A plurality of roller bearings 25 are mounted in a crossed arrangement within each raceway 24, as shown in FIG. 2. Each roller bearing 25 has an axis of rotation that is perpendicular to the axis of rotation of adjacent roller bearings, thus the crossed arrangement. Roller bearings 25 can be solid, hollow or a mixture of both solid and hollow. Roller bearings 25 are mounted in a strip-like bearing retainer 26, which keeps bearings 25 at an even spacing from one another.
Carriage 20 is slid back and forth across support member 10 to accomplish a particular operation, such as to enable scanning semiconductor parts. Bearings 25 roll within raceway 24 and enable the smooth sliding of carriage 20.