JP2524623B2 - Control cable play absorption device - Google Patents

Description

Description: [Industrial application] The present invention relates to a device for automatically absorbing play of a control cable for transmitting a movement of an operating portion to a driven portion (driven side).

[Prior Art] As a device for automatically absorbing the elongation of a control cable, various structures have been proposed.
For example, the control cable of Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 62-29695 (Prior Art 1) automatically adjusts the expansion margin of the inner cable by utilizing the restoring force of a pair of coil springs. The control cable of Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 54-32088 (Prior Art 2) uses a plurality of ratchets to automatically adjust the play due to expansion and contraction of the inner cable. The control cable of Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 54-32090 (Prior Art 3) utilizes a plurality of corrugated notches. In the control cable of Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 56-39778 (Prior Art 4), a rod-shaped body fixed to one end side of the inner wire is tightened by a chuck, and when the inner wire is permanently stretched, the rod-shaped body spreads in the radial direction. The structure is such that the extension of the inner cable is absorbed by moving inside the chuck. Furthermore, the control cable of Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 61-44951 (Prior Art 5) uses the wire feeding mechanism, the outer wire adjusting mechanism, the adjusting bolt, the adjusting lever, etc., provided in the housing to extend the inner wire (inner cable). Is trying to absorb.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The above-described prior arts 1, 2, and 3 have the following drawbacks because the extended amount is always absorbed when the inner cable is extruded from the outer cable. . That is,
When the inner cable is pushed out from the outer cable due to temporary relative displacement of the mounting parts of the cable end fixed to the operating side device or the driven side device due to device vibration, etc. Even when the upper extension occurs, it is absorbed as the extension of the inner cable, so that the normal operating clearance of the driven device cannot be secured.

Further, when the chuck mechanism as in the prior art 4 is used, the structure is such that the inner cable is pulled through the frictional force of the chuck portion, so that the operation is unstable, and when the operating force becomes large, it is caused by wear. It is not reliable because it is expected to have adverse effects.

The prior art 5 requires a large housing, has a complicated structure, and has too many parts. Moreover, prior art 2,3,
With the structure of 5, the elongation cannot be absorbed unless the elongation of the inner cable progresses to some extent, and it is impossible to adjust the elongation in small steps.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a compact play absorption device for a control cable, which can reliably and steplessly absorb only substantial elongation of the inner cable, and can reliably transmit an operating force.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The device invented by the present inventor to achieve the above object is
A first member having a first screw portion; and a second member having a second screw portion that is screwed into the first screw portion and capable of being screwed relative to the first member, A spring that applies a torque between the first member and the second member in a direction in which the first screw portion and the second screw portion are attracted to each other, and a relative screw advance of the first member and the second member is prevented. And a memory member that allows axial movement of the first member and the second member when a force greater than a certain force is applied, and the first member and the second member are axially moved. A stopper is provided to prevent the memory member from moving more than the stroke when the memory member is moved by a predetermined stroke by being pulled.

[Operation] The movement of the operation portion is transmitted to the inner cable via the first member and the second member which are screwed together. If the inner cable does not substantially expand even if the operation portion is moved, the first member, the second member, and the memory member move integrally with each other by a predetermined stroke, and thus the first and second members and the memory. The relative position with respect to the member does not change.

When the inner cable is substantially stretched, when the inner cable is pulled by moving the operating portion to the full extent, the first member and the second member move by a predetermined stroke or more by the length of the inner cable stretched. However, since the memory member can be moved only by a predetermined stroke by the stopper, the memory member stops when the memory member relatively moves in the axial direction of the first member by the extension of the inner cable. While the inner wire is being pulled, an axial force (hereinafter referred to as an axial force) acts between the first member and the second member, so that the first screw portion and the second screw portion are separated from each other. Because frictional force is working on
The first and second members do not rotate relative to each other due to the torque of the spring. In this state, when the axial force between the first member and the second member is canceled by returning the operation portion to the original position (initial position before the operation), the first screw portion and the second screw portion are released. In order to eliminate or reduce the frictional force between the threaded portion and the threaded portion, the torque of the spring causes the threaded portion of the first member to screw into the threaded portion of the second member and rotate to the position of the memory member. Stop. By pulling the first member toward the second member in this manner, the extension of the inner wire is absorbed.

In the device of the present invention, by providing the memory member, the first
Since the screw part and the second screw part can be constantly tightened with a certain amount of force, there is no backlash between the screw parts. When the memory member is not provided and only the male screw and the female screw are provided, the play of the screw portion causes backlash in the device itself.

[Embodiment 1] Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to a cable play absorbing device 10 shown in FIGS. 1 to 4.

The control cable 11 is composed of an outer cable 12 and an inner cable 13 that is inserted into the outer cable 12 so as to be axially movable, and a cable end 14 is provided at the tip of the inner cable 13. The fixed end 15 of the outer cable 12 is fixed to a thimble 16, and the thimble 16 is fixed to a fixing plate 17 which is a part of the device by a nut 18. The inner cable 13 is inserted through a through hole 19 provided in the thimble 16.

The housing 21 has a cylindrical shape with both ends open.
One end of the housing 21 is fixed by caulking the thimble 16. A second member 30 described later is inserted into the open end 22 of the housing 21.

A first member 24 is provided inside the housing 21.
The first member 24 has a male screw portion 25 as an example of a first screw portion on the tip side thereof, and a shaft portion having a hexagonal cross section on the base side.
26 are provided. Hole 27 penetrating the center of the first member 24
Inner cable 13 is inserted through. A large diameter portion 27a is provided on one end side of the hole 27, and the cable end 14 is rotatably held by the large diameter portion 27a.

The male screw portion 25 of the first member 24 is screwed into the female screw portion 31 of the second member 30. The second member 30 has a substantially columnar shape, and the female screw portion 31 as a second screw portion is provided on one end side thereof. Since the screw portions 25 and 31 are right-handed screws, when the first member 24 is rotated clockwise (clockwise), the first member 24 is relatively drawn into the second member 30 by an amount corresponding to the rotation angle. It is screwed in the direction to be covered.

The operation member 33 located on the other end side of the second member 30 has a bolt
The second member 30 is rotatably and pivotally attached by the 34 and the nut 35. The operating member 33 is configured to reciprocate within a predetermined operating stroke L ₁ in accordance with the operating stroke of the driven device when the inner cable 13 is not extended.

A torsion coil spring 40, which is an example of a spring, is attached to the outer peripheral portion of the second member 30. The fixed end 41 of the spring 40 is bent inward in the radial direction of the coil, and is fitted into a locking hole 42 provided in the second member 30. The free end 43 of the spring 40 extends in the axial direction, and in a state in which the spring 40 is twisted from the free state by a predetermined rotation in the tightening direction, that is, an initial torque is applied, a hole 58 of a detection plate 52 described later is provided. Has been inserted.

A memory member 50 is provided on the first member 24.
The memory member 50 of this embodiment includes a memory block 51 made of a rubber-like elastic body and a disc-shaped detection plate made of metal or the like.
And 52. At the center of the memory block 51, a hexagonal hole 53 corresponding to the cross-sectional shape of the shaft portion 26 of the first member 24 is provided. The inner shape of the hole 53 is slightly smaller than the outer shape of the shaft portion 26. Therefore, by press-fitting and fitting the shaft portion 26 into the hole 53, the memory block 51 can be relatively moved only in the axial direction of the shaft portion 26 with frictional resistance.
The total of the frictional resistance force generated between the memory block 51 and the shaft portion 26 and the frictional resistance force generated between the memory block 51 and the end surface of the second member 30 depends on the torque of the torsion coil spring 40. It is set so as to be stronger than the axial propulsive force generated between the second member 30 and the second member 30. In the initial set state shown in FIG. 1, the memory block 51 is in contact with the end surface of the second member 30.

The outer peripheral shape of the central portion 54 in the thickness direction of the memory block 51 is also hexagonal, and the hexagonal hole 55 of the detection plate 52 is fitted into this portion 54, whereby the memory block
The detection plate 51 and the detection plate 52 are held so as not to rotate relative to each other. Moreover, since the detection plate 52 is sandwiched between the flange portions 56 and 57 of the memory block 51, the memory block 5
The relative movement of 1 and the detection plate 52 in the axial direction is prevented. Incidentally, the cross-sectional shape of the shaft portion 26 and the memory block 51 may be other than the hexagonal shape described above, that is, the cross-sectional shape other than the circular shape which can prevent the mutual fitting members from rotating, For example, a rectangular cross section can be adopted. The free end 43 of the spring 40 is axially slidably fitted into an axial hole 58 formed through the peripheral edge of the detection plate 52.

A stopper 60 is provided on the end surface side of the housing 21. The stopper 60 is for regulating the position of the detection plate 52 so that the memory member 50 can move by a predetermined stroke L ₂ . Detection plate 52 to stopper 60
The distance L ₂ up to is matched with the operating stroke L ₁ of the operating member 33. The stopper 60 of this embodiment is formed in a flange shape by bending the edge of the housing 21 on the open end 22 side inward over the entire circumference.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment device having the above configuration will be described. FIG. 1 shows an initial state in which the load applied to the inner cable 13 is zero.

When the inner cable 13 is not extended and the operating stroke is not changed due to wear of the driven side device, the stroke of the operating member 33 is L ₁ and is unchanged. That is, if the operation member 33 is moved by L ₁ , the movement is the same as that of the second member 30 and the first member.
It is transmitted to the inner cable 13 via the member 24, and the inner cable 13 moves by L ₁ so that the driven device can be normally moved. In this case, when the operating member 33 is moved to the full L ₁ , the detection plate 52 comes into contact with the stopper 60,
Above that, the first member 24, the second member 30, and the detection plate
Since 52 does not move, the relative positions of the first member 24, the second member 30, and the detection plate 52 do not change.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the load applied to the inner cable 13 is zero, even if the cable fixed end of the driven side device is relatively displaced due to the influence of vibration or the like, the inner cable 13 may be apparently stretched. Since the memory block 51 is in close contact with the end surface of the second member 30, the screw portions 25, 31
Does not screw. Therefore, even if a temporary stretch due to vibration or the like occurs, it is not absorbed.

When the inner cable 13 is permanently stretched, the driven-side device will not operate normally unless the operation portion side is moved by an additional amount. That is, in this case, the stroke of the operating member 33 is L ₃ which is longer than L ₁ . As shown in FIG. 3, when the operating member 33 is fully moved by the stroke L ₃ , the detection plate 52 comes into contact with the stopper 60 at the position where the detection stroke L _{2 has} moved by a predetermined stroke L ₂ , so that the detection plate 52 cannot move any more. . However, the first member 24 and the second member
Since both 30 move by full stroke L ₃ ,
There is a gap of (L ₃ −L ₂ ) = L ₄ between the member 30 and the memory block 51.

When the cable 13 is pulled, since an axial force acts between the first member 24 and the second member 30, a frictional force acts between the screw portions 25 and 31 of both members. Therefore, the first member 24 cannot be rotated by the torque generated by the spring 40. Therefore, even if the outer cable 12 is elastically deformed by pulling the inner cable 13,
Do not absorb the apparent growth of.

From the state of FIG. 3, the operating member 33 the original position, that is, the load applied to the inner cable 13 is returned by a stroke L ₃ to a position where zero, even only L ₃ sensing plate 52 as shown in Figure 4 Upon returning, the first member 24 and the second member
By eliminating the axial force between the member 30 and
In order to eliminate or reduce the frictional force acting on 1, the spring 40
The torque generated by the first member 24 causes the memory member 50 to move.
Rotate relatively clockwise with. At this time, since the second member 30 is prevented from rotating by the operation member 33, the first member 24 is pulled toward the second member 30 until the gap L ₄ disappears, and the first member 24 is brought to the end surface of the second member 30. Memory block
The rotation of the first member 24 stops when 51 is hit. Thus for the inner cable 13 is pulled out to the second member 30 side by L ₄ minutes, it is possible to absorb the extension L ₄ of the inner cable 13 within the second member 30.

After the clearance L ₄ is eliminated as described above, the stroke of the operating member 33 returns to L ₁ . It should be noted that, in the above description, for the sake of easy understanding, the case where the inner cable 13 is stretched by L ₄ minutes at a stretch has been described.
Grows little by little. In this embodiment, the inner cable 13
Even if it grows by a small amount, it can be absorbed steplessly by that amount. Further, even when the operation stroke increases due to wear of the driven device, the inner cable 13 is pulled toward the second member 30 side by the increased amount, so that the operating clearance of the driven device can be always kept constant.

[Second Embodiment] Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The same parts as those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment and the description thereof will be omitted. FIG. 5 shows an initial state in which the load applied to the inner cable 13 is zero.

The housing 21 of this embodiment has a thimble on one end side.
It is stuck to 16. Through hole 19 provided in thimble 16
An operation wire 61 is inserted through the wire 61, and a bolt 62 provided at the operation end of the wire 61 is connected to an operation member (not shown). The other end of the wire 61 is inserted into a through hole 63 provided in the second member 30 and extending in the axial direction. A large diameter portion 64 is provided on the inner side of the through hole 63, and the wire end 65 is rotatably held by the large diameter portion 64. The fixed end 15 of the outer cable 12 is fixed to the other end of the housing 21.

The structure of the first member 24 and the torsion coil spring 40 is the same as that of the first embodiment, but the detection plate 52 of the memory member 50 has convex portions 68 and 69 protruding to the left and right sides. This convex part 68,69
Is an axial guide hole 71, 72 provided in the housing 21.
Is movably engaged in the axial direction. Therefore, the memory block 51, the detection plate 52, and the first member 24 cannot rotate with respect to the housing 21, but can move in the axial direction.

The ends of the guide holes 71, 72 are used as the stopper 60. In the initial state shown in FIG. 5, the distance L ₂ from the detection plate 52 to the stopper 60 is the same as the predetermined stroke L ₁ of the operating member as in the first embodiment. Torsion coil spring 40
Is set in a state in which it is twisted a predetermined number of times in the winding tightening direction from the free state.

In the second embodiment having the above-described structure, as described in the first embodiment, the stroke of the operating member 33 is constant at L ₁ unless the inner cable 13 extends. That is, if the operating member is moved by L ₁ , the movement is transmitted to the inner cable 13 via the second member 30 and the first member 24, and the inner cable 13 moves by L _1, so that the driven side device can be normally moved. it can. In this case, when the operation wire 61 is pulled to the full extent of L ₁ , the protrusions 68 and 69 of the detection plate 52 come into contact with the stopper 60,
Above that, the first member 24, the second member 30, and the detection plate
Since 52 does not move, the relative positional relationship among the first member 24, the second member 30, and the detection plate 52 does not change.

If the inner cable 13 is stretched, the driven device will not operate normally unless the operation wire 61 is moved by L ₁ or more. That is, in this case, the stroke of the operation wire 61 is L ₃ which is longer than L ₁ . As shown in FIG. 7, when the operating wire 61 is fully drawn by the stroke L ₃ , the detection plate 52 comes into contact with the stopper 60 at the place where the stroke L _{2 has} moved by a predetermined stroke, so that the detection plate 52 cannot move any more. . However, since the first member 24 and the second member 30 move by the full stroke L ₃ , there is a gap of (L ₃ −L ₂ ) = L ₄ between the second member 30 and the memory block 51. The distance L ₆ from the second member 30 to the thimble 16 is L ₂ and
It is larger than L ₃ .

When the operation wire 61 returns to the original position by the stroke L ₃ from the state of FIG. 7 to reach the state of FIG. 8, the axial force between the first member 24 and the second member 30 is canceled. As a result, the frictional force acting on the screw portions 25, 31 is eliminated or reduced, so that the torque generated by the spring 40
The member 30 rotates in the direction of retracting the first member 24. The operation wire 61 has a constant length, and the first member 24 is axially movable although the rotation is blocked by the detection plate 52. Therefore, the first member 24 is the second member until the gap L ₄ disappears. When the memory block 51 hits the end surface of the second member 30, the rotation of the second member 30 is stopped. After the extension of the inner cable 13 is absorbed in this way, the distance from the detection plate 52 to the stopper 60 returns to L ₁ .

[Embodiment 3] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, a play absorbing device 10 is provided in the middle of the cables 11a and 11b connecting the operating side and the driven side. In this embodiment, each outer cable 12a, 12b is fixed to the housing 21, one inner cable 13a is fixed to the first member 24, and the other inner cable 13b is fixed to the second member 30. Also, the first member 2
A spiral spring 40 'is used as a spring for applying a torque to the fourth member 30 and the second member 30. One end side of the spiral spring 40 'is locked to the detection plate 52 of the memory member 50 via the pin 80, and the other end side of the spiral spring 40' is locked to the second member 30 in a state where an initial torque is applied. ing. Other configurations and operations are similar to those of the above-described embodiment.

[Advantage of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, only the substantial extension of the inner cable is automatically detected at the end of the stroke when the member on the operation portion side is moved to pull the cable and then returned to the original position. Can be absorbed reliably and steplessly. The device of the present invention transmits the operating force in the axial direction via the screw portions provided on the first member and the second member, so that there is no risk of slipping, and the force can be reliably transmitted. Moreover, since the housing, the first member, the second member, the spring, etc. can be arranged coaxially in the axial direction of the cable, a compact structure can be achieved.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 4 show a first embodiment of the present invention.
The figure is a vertical cross-sectional view of the play absorbing device for the cable, and Fig. 2 is the first.
A sectional view taken along the line II-II in the drawing, FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a state in which a cable is pulled, and FIG. 4 is a side view showing a state immediately before the memory member is restored in a partial sectional view, Figures through 8
FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view of a play absorbing device for a cable, FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI in FIG. 5, and FIG. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a pulled state, FIG. 8 is a side view showing a partial cross-section of the state immediately before the memory member returns, and FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing a third embodiment of the present invention. 10 …… Control cable play absorber, 11 …… Control cable, 12 …… Outer cable, 13 …… Inner cable, 21 …… Housing, 24 …… First member, 25
...... First screw part, 30 ...... Second member, 31 ...... Second screw part, 33 ...... Operation member, 40 ...... Spring, 50 ...... Memory member,
51 …… Memory block, 52 …… Detection plate, 60 …… Stopper.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A device for absorbing play of a control cable composed of an outer cable and an inner cable, the first member having a first screw portion, and a second member screwed to the first screw portion. Second member that has a threaded portion and is capable of being screwed relative to the first member, and the first member and the second member in a direction in which the first threaded portion and the second threaded portion are drawn toward each other.
A spring for applying a torque between the first member and the second member, which prevents relative screwing of the first member and the second member and moves in the axial direction when a force equal to or greater than a certain force is applied. The memory member that allows the second member to be threaded, and the memory member having a stroke greater than or equal to the stroke in a state where the memory member has moved by a predetermined stroke by pulling the first member and the second member in the axial direction. A play absorption device for a control cable, which is provided with a stopper for preventing movement.