Boltless housing for gear heads and the like

Abstract

There is disclosed a housing assembly for gear heads or speed reducers and the like, and a method of assembly of such devices, which eliminates all drilling, tapping, fasteners, shims, gaskets and sealants, as well as doing away with assembly skill, which has been required heretofore to set proper bearing clearance. It is applicable to the assembly of any rotating element, such as a worm wheel, into a housing. The housing may have a bore for the introduction of the rotating element on one side only. The bore is closed by a side plate which fits into the housing with a small clearance and is sealed with an ordinary O-ring. After the rotating element and its bearings have been inserted into the housing and side plate, the side plate is pressed into the bore until zero axial clearance is attained. The bore in the housing has an annular groove, and by the use of a circular die which has an annular chamfer or rabbet opposed to the annular groove, and which has a suitable sprue and vent holes, molten zinc is introduced through the sprue to form an annular key to hold the parts in assembly. By virtue of the annular chamfer, the zinc key is exposed so that it can be removed by machine or melting, if it should become necessary to gain access to the interior of the housing, as for example to replace the bearings. The parts can then be reassembled in the same way as before.