Nippon Thompson Co., Ltd.

Toshiaki Geka

Hideaki Ogura

Hideki Kuwabara

Tatsuo Mottate

Takaaki Tsuboi

Takehiko Hara

Shigeki Kakei

Yukio Yoshioka

Tamotsu Iwata

Takahiro Shimo

Kazunari Shibazaki

Yukinobu Chikamatsu

Koji Kanoh

More than two roller rows are arranged on only a closed or looped circuit. A separator is arranged on one roller row out of phase relative to a separator on the other roller row, thereby making less any variation in posture of the slider, which would otherwise occur when the rollers transfer from or into the load-carrying race, and vice versa, eventually improving any travelling accuracy of the slider. The separator interposed between the adjoining rollers lying in the adjoining roller rows is composed of an isolation wall coming into sliding contact with the end surfaces of the rollers lying side by side in the roller rows juxtaposed with each other, a pair of first separator wing extending sidewise from one side of the isolation wall to embrace the circular rolling surface of the roller in one roller row from both sides thereof, and a second separator wing extending from another side of the isolation wall on the opposite side of the first separator wing to lie between circular rolling surfaces of two adjacent rollers in another roller row.

Linear motion guide unit with separators interposed between adjoining rolling elements

A wiper seal is less in sliding resistance that is encountered when the seal slides over a raceway surface of a guide rail, better in wear-proof quality, rich in durability, and further easy to steadily install it to a slider. The wiper seal is installed on one end of the slider in a linear motion guide system to wipe away foreign materials adhered on the guide rail. The wiper seal is made of polyester polyurethane foam having a reticular skeleton texture of three-dimensional construction including open-cells therein, the polyester polyurethane foam being squeezed or compressed into from &#xbc; to 1/20 in thickness to form a compact blank of three-dimensional construction having porosity therein. The wiper seal is set to come into sliding contact with the guide railto exert a positive interference of from 0.1 mm to 0.05 mm.

Linear motion guide system with wiper seal

By reducing the component count, a more compact linear motion guide unit having sealing structures capable of maintaining high sealing performance between slider and guide rail over a long term is realized. A rubber-made end seal, attached to each end face of a slider slidably straddling a guide rail, has a lip portion integrally formed on a contact face with the guide rail, and a recessed portion formed in a face opposite to a mounting face attached to the slider. A positional relationship is determined such that the lip portion is located closer to the slider than the recess bottom face is. An oil-impregnated wiper seal is mounted in the recessed portion of the end seal. A scraper is disposed along the outer side of the wiper seal mounted in the recessed portion, so that the wiper seal is fixedly interposed between the scraper and the recess bottom face.

Linear motion guide unit

An interlocking construction between an end cap and a retainer plate to support rollers in a load-carrying race is made to provide an endless circulating circuit with no gap to allow the rollers smoothly rolling through there with keeping adequate posture. The slider has a carriage, end caps, rollers rolling through a circulating circuit, a retainer plate extending along the load-carrying race to keep the rollers inside the load-carrying race, and a binding strip to fasten the retainer plate to the carriage. The retainer plate comes into connection with spigots extending out of the end caps. Lengthwise opposite ends of the retainer plate conform to ends of the spigots in a complementary relation to fit over the ends of the spigots in a sliding direction.

A linear motion guide unit is provided in which a crowning portion available extensively for standard specification is made easily. The crowning portion is comparatively small in depth, and rich in high accuracy and high durability. A raceway groove for a load race in a carriage is made at an ingress/egress area thereof with the crowning portion of a curved profile that varies gently to allow the rolling element to move in and out of the load race with smoothness. The carriage is provided at the forward and aft ends of the raceway groove with rounded bevels, which are made in a curved contour merging into the associated crowning portion without causing any discontinuity at a junction of the rounded bevel with the crowning portion.

The present invention provides a linear motion clamping unit capable of reliably holding the casing unit at an arbitrary position on the track rail with a small force. In this linear motion clamping unit, when the actuators are deenergized, the rollers arranged in the openings of the retainers are pushed by the spring force through the retainers to engage with the lock portions formed between the inclined surfaces of the wedge members and the side wall surfaces of the track rail. The resulting wedge action locks the casing unit on the track rail in one axial direction. When the actuators are energized, the rollers are released from the lock portions by the action of the retainers, thus unlocking the casing unit.

Linear motion clamping unit

A braking apparatus and a rolling guide unit on which it is equipped. A pressure control device, such as a hydraulic cylinder mechanism, operates according to a braking command signal emitted when an operation switch for braking is actuated, or when the braking command signal is emitted based on memory data. This causes the braking members to make contact with and push against a surface of the track rails other than the track surface, in order to fix the position of the rolling guide unit. The braking members are released from the surface based on the emission of a braking release command signal, so that the position is no longer fixed.

Braking apparatus and rolling guide unit on which it is equipped

A rolling guide unit that inhibits noise and vibrations is described. The above-mentioned advantage is obtained by providing an elastic member at a prescribed site on at least one of either a rolling element or rolling element circulating path in which said rolling elements roll so as to make contact with the other.

Rolling guide unit with elastic member

A linear motion guide unit of the finite type includes a rail, a slider, a plurality of rolling members interposed between the rail and the slider, and a retainer for retaining the rolling members in position. The slider is provided with a slider end plate at each end, which includes a first projection extending substantially across the gap between the rail and the slider. The rail is also provided with a rail end plate at each end, and the rail end plate is also provided with a second projection extending substantially across the rail to slider gap at a location so as not to come into engagement with the first projection. Thus, these first and second projections can serve as effective stopper for the retainer.

Linear motion rolling contact guide unit having complementary end plates

An apparatus for transporting a machine tool such as a robot arm comprises: upper and lower track rails each having a square or circular cross-sectional shape which are horizontally arranged in parallel so as to be away from each other in the vertical direction; and a casing slidably inserted therebetween. Rack tooth trains are formed on the lower surface of the upper track rail and on the upper surface of the lower track rail. The casing has an almost H-shaped cross-sectional shape and comprises a casing main body and two side plates attached at both end surfaces thereof. Rail side track grooves and casing side track grooves are formed on the inner wall surfaces of the track rails and casing main body. Balls are inserted between the corresponding opposite track grooves. A return passage is formed in the casing main body, ball direction turning passages are formed in the side plates, and the return passage is coupled with the casing side track grooves, thereby forming an infinite circulating passage for the balls. A pinion is rotatably arranged at the central position in the longitudinal and transversal directions of the casing main body. When the lower track rail is fixed to the fixed table and the casing main body is moved, the upper track rail moves in the same direction as the casing at the double speed.

Apparatus for transporting machine tools and work tools

A holding device of a rectilinear motion rolling guide unit comprises: a long rail; first track grooves formed on both side wall surfaces in the longitudinal direction of the rail; a saddle-shaped slide unit formed with an inner concave portion and slidably mounted on the rail; second track grooves formed on the surface of the inner concave portion at the positions opposite to the first track grooves; and balls inserted between the first and second track grooves, thereby enabling the slide unit to be slidably moved on the rail therealong through the rolling of the balls. A holding portion to hold the balls is formed at the edge surface on the bottom surface side of the inner concave portion of each second track groove so as to be projected to the side of the rail by exceeding a perpendicular passing through the center of the ball. A holding plate is formed at the edge surface of the second track groove on the opening side of the inner concave portion in the direction opposite to the holding portion at the position inside of the bisector passing through the center of the ball and dividing the first and second track grooves. The holding plate is fixed to the edge surface of the second track groove so as to be projected to the side of the rail by exceeding the bisector dividing the first and second track grooves. The balls are held by the holding plate and holding portion.

Holding device of rectilinear motion rolling guide unit

A retainer for use in a linear motion rolling-contact bearing is provided. In a linear motion rolling-contact bearing, there is provided an endless passage including a load passage section, a return passage sections and a pair of connection passage sections connecting the corresponding ends of the load and return passage sections. The rolling members, balls or rollers, are provided in the endless passage and they move endlessly so as to provide a relative motion between a rail and a slider assembly. The return and connection passage sections are defined in the slider assembly, but the load passage section is defined between the rail and the slider assembly so that there is normally provided a retainer for retaining the rolling members in position when they pass through the load passage section. The retainer of the present invention basically includes a flat base portion formed with an elongated slot having a width larger than the maximum size of each of the rolling members used and a central retaining portion formed integrally with the flat base portion and having a generally U shape.

Retainer of a linear motion rolling-contact bearing and its

A crossed roller type linear motion rolling contact bearing assembly includes a straight rail and a slider mounted on the rail slidably therealong. An endless circulating path is defined in the slider, in which a plurality of rollers are provided. Since the path includes a load section where the rollers provide a rolling contact between the slider and the rail, the slider may slidably move along the rail. Also provided in the endless path are a plurality of roller separators each of which is interposed between two adjacent rollers thereby keeping these two rollers as spaced apart from each other at all times. The separator has a pair of roller-receiving recesses for holding therein the associated rollers in a crossed arrangement, and each of the roller-receiving recesses is so shaped that the roller received therein can change its orientation over a predetermined range so as to maintain a predetermined positional relationship between the two rollers received in the recesses on both sides of the separator.

Linear motion roller bearing assembly having a roller separator

There is a direction turning passage of a rolling bearing for a rectilinear motion comprising: a track member and a slide member which are slidably come into engagement with each other between first and second track surfaces formed in the track and slide members through rolling members. The direction turning passage in the slide member adapted to turn the direction of the rolling members along a curved line is formed by the curves having two or more kinds of curvatures so as to be continuous with the track to which a bearing load is applied, and the first portion at the nearest location of the track side is formed so that its curvature is smaller than that of the second portion subsequent thereto. The direction turning passage in the slide member, on one hand, may be formed by the arcs having two or more kinds of radii and the first arc at the nearest location of the track side is formed larger than the second arc subsequent to the first arc, or it may be formed by an ellipse in which at least the track side is a minor axis. With this arrangement, the overall bearing size can be made small and the slide resistance of the bearing becomes small.

Direction turning passage of rolling bearing for rectilinear motion

A linear motion ball bearing structure provided between a slider and a straight track rail for allowing the slider to move along a straight line of movement defined by the track rail is provided. The present linear motion ball bearing structure includes an endless travelling path in the slider and which includes a load path section, a return path section and a pair of connection path sections each connecting the corresponding ends of the load and return path sections, thereby defining a closed loop. Thus, the balls provided in the endless path roll from the load path section into the return path section through one of the connection path sections and then back into the load path section through the other of the connection path sections as the slider moves along the rail in one direction. The return path section is provided in the slider above and inward of the load path section, where the balls in the path are placed in rolling contact between the slider and the rail, so that the present structure may be made compact in size, particularly in its width.

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Kamakura, Japan

Toshiaki Geka