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US 9,909,636 B2Granted
Canted coil spring with longitudinal component within and related methods
AssigneeBal Seal Engineering, Inc.
InventorsJoshua Kompa, Farshid Dilmaghanian, Daniel Poon
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A coil spring for use in a cavity, such as in a groove of a pin, a housing, or both. The cavity can also be part of a seal assembly. The coil spring can have a longitudinal component positioned within the plurality of interconnected coils that runs along the spring coil axis in order to increase rigidity of the coil spring. The longitudinal component applies a load against the coil spring and/or provides restriction against the coil spring taking a shape or size different than that of the coil spring retaining groove.
Claims25
A coil spring comprising:
- a plurality of spring coils interconnected along a length in a ring configuration and having a spring axis, said plurality of spring coils are each canted along a same general direction to form a canted coil spring and having two ends that are welded together;
- at least one longitudinal component comprising two free ends and having two or more loops located within the plurality of spring coils such that the two or more loops run generally along the spring axis;
- wherein the at least one longitudinal component is located within at least half the length of the coil spring and the two free ends can be separated to place the at least one longitudinal component inside the plurality of spring coils;
- and
- wherein an outer diameter of the at least one longitudinal component is larger than an outside diameter of the ring configuration prior to placing the at least one longitudinal component inside the plurality of spring coils.
2 more elements
A coil spring comprising:
- a plurality of interconnected coils having a length and a spring coil axis, said plurality of interconnected coils are each canted along a same general direction to form a canted coil spring and having a circular ring configuration with two ends that are welded together;
- a longitudinal component comprising two free ends and having two or more loops located within the interconnected coils having a length that is at least half the length of the plurality of interconnected coils and the longitudinal component runs generally along the direction of the spring coil axis;
- and
- whereby the longitudinal component provides resistance against an interior outer surface of the interconnected coils only and the two free ends can be separated to place the longitudinal component inside the interconnected coils.
1 more element
A connector comprising:
- a pin, a housing, and a coil spring;
- a groove in or on one of the housing or the pin and having the coil spring located therein;
- the pin is insertable into the housing to load the spring between the pin and the housing and provide a spring force to keep the pin and housing connected;
- the coil spring comprising:
- a plurality of spring coils interconnected along a length in a ring configuration having two ends that are welded together and having a spring axis;
- said plurality of spring coils are each canted along a same general direction to form a canted coil spring;
- a longitudinal component comprising two free ends and having two or more loops located within the interconnected coils such that the two or more loops run generally along a direction of a spring coil axis;
- wherein the longitudinal component is located within at least half the length of the coil spring and the two free ends can be separated to place the longitudinal component inside the interconnected coils whereby the longitudinal component provides added rigidity to the coil spring;
- and
- wherein an outer diameter of the longitudinal component is larger than an outside diameter of the ring configuration of the coil spring prior to placing the longitudinal component inside the plurality of spring coils.
7 more elements
A method of using a connector comprising:
- providing a pin;
- providing a housing with a bore,
- inserting the pin into the bore to trap a coil spring in a groove of one of the housing or the pin;
- the coil spring comprising:
- a plurality of spring coils interconnected along a length in a ring configuration having two ends that are welded together and having a spring axis;
- said plurality of spring coils are each canted along a same general direction to form a canted coil spring;
- a longitudinal component comprising two free ends and having two or more loops located within the interconnected coils such that the two or more loops run generally along a direction of a spring coil axis;
- wherein the longitudinal component is located within at least half the length of the coil spring and the two free ends can be separated to place the longitudinal component inside the interconnected coils whereby the longitudinal component provides added rigidity to the coil spring;
- and
- wherein an outer diameter of the longitudinal component is larger than an outside diameter of the ring configuration of the coil spring prior to placing the longitudinal component inside the plurality of spring coils.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.