Nippon Thompson Co., Ltd.

Shinji Kanoh

Toyohisa Ishihara

A ball-spline with rotary mechanism is provided which is as small as possible in size, able to perform high-precision works on a small scale and also weighs less than ever, helping the downsizing of the component-placement systems. The ball-spline has a spline shaft, a slider movable along the spline shaft through balls, and bearings installed on the opposite ends of the slider for rotation relative to a machine bed. The holder has a pair of projections which extend through slots in the spacer parts and slots in the end-cap major body to fit into slots in a carriage. Fastening screws fit into threaded holes in the projections to fasten the holder to the opposite ends of the slider.

Ball-spline with rotary mechanism

A linear motion guide unit in which the smaller pitch between the center-lines of adjacent rollers installed in a cage results in the greater number of the rollers lying in a preselected length of the cage to increase load-carrying capacity. The cage plate has openings for retaining the rollers arranged in the lengthwise direction of the cage plate. Each of the openings has a contour whose major axis lies in a widthwise direction of the cage plate. Bearing lips retain axially opposite end surfaces of the rollers, the bearing lips extending inside from an edge around the opening at locations corresponding with diametrically opposite ends of the major axis. The bearing lips end into wedged bearing edges deformable elastically. The bearing edges have bearing slants that conform to the end surfaces of the roller to bear the roller thereon. The bearing slants are in diametrically symmetric relation to each other.

Linear motion guide unit with cage

A pinion-holder assembly is compact in size to fit easily within a transverse area of a raceway defined between raceway grooves on guideway members. The pinion-holder assembly is preferable to fit securely into a cage plate with ease, helping lessen required number of parts, simple and compact in construction, and less costly to fabricate. A holder has sides bulged widthwise into triangular shapes in transverse section to closely conform to the raceways on the guideway members and recesses lying in the lengthwise direction at apexes or ridges of the triangular shapes. A cage plate has a window of rectangular shape longer in sides in the lengthwise direction of the cage plate, and the longer sides have fringes somewhat raised inside the window so as to fit into the recesses on the holder, hereby fastening the holder to the cage plate.

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Gifu-ken, Japan

Shinji Kanoh