Huck International, Inc.

Vsi Corporation

Alcoa Inc.

Rexnord Holdings Inc.

Thomas E Harbin

Michael U March

Wilhelm F Schepergerdes

Tai H Do

Hai-Tao Wang

Shahriar M Sadri

Robert J Corbett

Marvin P Reece

Daniel J McCorkle

Vahid Zare-Ardestani

Tung Le

Franz I Berghammer

Son Nguyen

Douglas Pyle

A locking nut assembly including a bearing nut having a plurality of external serrations, a shaft nut having a plurality of external serrations, and a locking collar having a plurality of internal serrations. The bearing nut and the shaft nut are threadedly installed on a shaft assembly having an impeller, a bearing, and a spline adapter installed within the impeller. The plurality of serrations of the bearing nut align with the plurality of serrations of the shaft nut when they are installed on the impeller. The locking collar is installed on the bearing nut and the shaft nut so that the aligned plurality of serrations of the bearing nut and the plurality of serrations of the shaft nut engage the plurality of serrations of the locking collar. The locking collar is retained on the bearing nut and shaft nut by a retaining ring.

Locking nut assembly

A fastening system is provided that includes a fastener having a pin member with a lock groove and crest geometry that is optimized to receive swaged material from collars of materials of different strengths for securing workpieces for different load applications. The lock grooves have the longest width required for collars of lower strength for one application or greater strength for a second application and the crests have the longest width required for collars of greater strength for the second application whereby satisfactory clamp and tensile loads and resistance to failure will result when the lock grooves are filled with collar materials of different strengths. Certain collars of different materials have similar outside diameters for installation by a tool having a swage anvil with a uniform swage cavity that swages the collars into the lock grooves for securing workpieces in shear, shear/tension, shear composite and shear/tension composite applications.

Swage type fastener

A fastening system is provided that includes a fastener having a pin member with a lock groove and crest geometry that is optimized to receive swaged material from collars of materials of different strengths for securing workpieces for different load applications. The lock grooves have the longest width required for collars of lower strength for one application or greater strength for a second application and the crests have the longest width required for collars of greater strength for the second application whereby satisfactory clamp and tensile loads and resistance to failure will result when the lock grooves are filled with collar materials of different strengths. The lock groove and crest geometry is of a uniform construction for the plurality of applications with pin members of a common diameter. Certain collars of different materials have similar outside diameters for installation by a tool having a swage anvil with a uniform swage cavity that swages the collars into the lock grooves for securing workpieces in shear, shear/tension, shear composite and shear/tension composite applications. A method of designing a fastener is also provided that has a uniform lock groove and crest geometry for use in the plurality of applications.

Method of designing and manufacturing a swage type fastener

A two piece fastener system for including a pin member and a collar having an optimized strength with the materials of the pin member and collar having a predetermined shear strength ratio; the collar has a preselected excess volume to provide a desired 'overpacking' condition and is of a size whereby after swage it will define a minimum wall thickness; the collar has an outer surface with a contour which in combination with a preselected excess volume results in a reduction in load required to swage the collar and with a pull type fastener providing a breakneck groove of reduced strength whereby severance of the pintail will occur at a reduced load resulting in a reduction in shock or ghost load applied to workpieces including those of a plastic or composite material.

Swage type fastener with low swage load

A fastener includes a pin and a collar for engaging the pin. The pin includes a pin head for engaging one exposed surface of the workpieces and a pin shank for positioning through a bore in the workpieces. The pin shank includes a second working second working edge, a second locking groove, a first working edge, a first locking groove, a breakneck groove and a pin tail having a plurality of pulling grooves. The collar includes an enlarged head and a through bore. The collar is placed over the pin shank and an installation tool is used to grip the pulling grooves. The installation tool forces the presses the collar onto the pin. As this happens, the first working edge engages the through bore of the collar and moves material from the through bore into the first locking groove to create a lock between the collar and the pin. Continued movement of the collar with respect to the pin engages the second working edge with the through bore of the collar and moves material from the through bore into the second locking groove to create an additional lock between the collar and the pin.

Fastener with staged locking system

A spring clip having two apertured end portions. In the preferred embodiment, the first end portion has an unidirectional clutch formed into the aperture wall, or face. The second end portion provides an aperture wall formed to provide an anti-rotation feature. In one embodiment, the clip is used with fluid adapters, the second end portion face having a serration and shape which raises the serration above the parent material to mate with the serration in the upper portion of the adapter lockring. The second end portion has different shapes depending upon the spring clip application.

Anti-rotation locking device for preventing separation of coupling nuts

A fluid connector and lock combination is described for connecting a tube to a base element. A relatively fixed, threaded base element has a passageway for passing fluid. A threaded mounting connector for surrounding the circumference of a portion of a tube is provided and which also mounts the tube to the relatively fixed, threaded base element through threaded engagement. The connector maintains a seal between the tube and a corresponding surface in the base element when the connector is sufficiently threaded to a sealed position relative to the base element to prevent leakage of fluid across the seal. A linkage is provided between the connector and the base element for preventing unthreading of the connector from the sealed position relative to the base element. The linkage includes a first portion which is linked to the connector and a second portion which engages slidingly in an axial direction the base element for preventing relative rotation between the connector and the base element.

Hydraulic fitting locks

A fluid connector fitting nut lock includes a sleeve that fits down over the nut and that has an integral locking mechanism to fix the sleeve in a raised position that allows the nut to be turned and in a locked position that prevents the nut from backing off due to vibration or other external forces. The integral locking mechanism eliminates the need for a separate lockwire or clipwire.

Hydraulic fitting nut lock

A barrel nut fastener apparatus that includes a nut loosely retained in a prescribed position by a retainer that is adapted to be slidably received in a cylindrical bore formed in a panel. The nut is carried loosely on a seat formed in the retainer and is positioned to threadedly receive a bolt projecting through aligned transverse holes in both the panel and the retainer. A spring is interposed between the nut and the seat, to bias the nut outwardly to a position where a cylindrical extension of the nut projects outwardly into engagement with the panel's transverse hole. This ensures that the fastener apparatus remains in its desired position within the panel's cylindrical hole for proper engagement by a bolt.

Growing community of inventors

Westminster, CA, United States of America

Thomas E Harbin