Thrust sliding bearing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10006485-B2
Application number	US-93600809-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 1, 2009
Priority date	Apr 2, 2008
Publication date	Jun 26, 2018
Grant date	Jun 26, 2018

Abstract

A thrust sliding bearing 1 includes: a synthetic resin-made upper casing 3 which has a vehicle body-side seat surface 10 for a mounting member 8 on a vehicle body side and an annular lower surface 2 ; a synthetic resin-made lower casing 5 on which an annular upper surface 4 opposed to the annular lower surface 2 and a spring seat surface 25 for a suspension coil spring 7 are integrally formed, and which is superposed on the upper casing 3 so as to be rotatable about an axis O of the upper casing 3 in an R direction; and a synthetic resin-made thrust sliding bearing piece 6 which is disposed in an annular gap 9 between the annular lower surface 2 and the annular upper surface 4 , and has an annular thrust sliding bearing surface 51 which slidably abuts against at least one of the annular lower surface 2 and the annular upper surface 4.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A combination mechanism of a thrust sliding bearing and a suspension coil spring,
wherein said thrust sliding bearing comprises:
a synthetic resin-made upper casing having a vehicle body-side seat surface for a vehicle body side and an annular lower surface;
a synthetic resin-made lower casing having an annular upper surface opposed to the annular lower surface and a spring seat surface for said suspension coil spring, said synthetic resin-made lower casing being superposed on said upper casing so as to be rotatable about an axis of said upper casing; said lower casing being made from a united piece without having a spring seat member; and
a thrust sliding bearing piece disposed in an annular gap between the annular lower surface and the annular upper surface, and having a first thrust sliding bearing surface which slidably abuts against the annular lower surface and a second thrust sliding bearing surface which abuts against the annular upper surface,
wherein said upper casing includes a first base portion having the vehicle body-side seat surface formed on its upper surface and the annular lower surface formed on its lower surface; and an inner cylindrical suspended portion which is suspended from an inner peripheral portion of the first base portion toward the lower casing,
wherein said lower casing includes a second base portion having the annular upper surface of the lower casing,
said thrust sliding bearing piece having an annular plate body with the first and second thrust sliding bearing surfaces formed on upper and lower surfaces thereof and a cylindrical portion which is integrally formed on an inner peripheral portion of the annular plate body in such a manner as to extend toward the lower casing, and has a first radial sliding bearing surface formed on an inner peripheral surface thereof and a second radial sliding bearing surface formed on an outer peripheral surface thereof,
said first radial sliding bearing surface slidably abutting against an outer peripheral surface of the inner cylindrical suspended portion and said second radial sliding bearing surface slidably abutting against an inner peripheral surface of the second base portion,
said suspension coil spring directly abuts the spring seat surface without abutting the spring seat member, and
wherein the vehicle body-side seat surface which directly abuts against a mounting member on the vehicle body side, the first thrust sliding bearing surface, the second thrust sliding bearing surface, and a portion of the spring seat surface where the suspension coil spring directly abuts are positioned in series to each other on a straight line parallel to an axial direction.

2. The combination mechanism of the thrust sliding bearing and the suspension coil spring according to claim 1 , wherein said lower casing has a plurality of recessed portions or hole portions formed in the annular upper surface.

3. The combination mechanism of the thrust sliding bearing and the suspension coil spring according to claim 2 , wherein the plurality of recessed portions or hole portions are arranged at equal intervals in a circumferential direction.

4. The combination mechanism of the thrust sliding bearing and the suspension coil spring according to claim 2 , wherein said lower casing includes a cylindrical portion formed integrally on a lower portion of the second base portion, the spring seat surface is formed by an outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion of the lower casing and a lower surface of the second base portion, and a portion formed by the lower surface of the second base portion of the spring seat surface where the suspension coil spring abuts, the vehicle body-side seat surface, and the first and second thrust sliding bearing surfaces are positioned in series to each other on a straight line parallel to the axial direction.

5. The combination mechanism of the thrust sliding bearing and the suspension coil spring according to claim 1 , wherein said upper casing includes an outer cylindrical suspended portion suspended from an outer peripheral portion of the first base portion toward said lower casing, and an inside diameter of the outer cylindrical suspended portion at an end portion of the outer cylindrical suspended portion on the lower casing is gradually enlarged as a position of an inner peripheral surface of the end portion is located gradually away from the first base portion in the axial direction.

6. The combination mechanism of the thrust sliding bearing and the suspension coil spring according to claim 5 , wherein a portion of an outer peripheral surface of said lower casing opposed to the end portion of the outer cylindrical suspended portion on the lower casing is located gradually away from the end portion as the position of the outer peripheral surface of said lower casing is located away from the first base portion of said upper casing.

7. The combination mechanism of the thrust sliding bearing and the suspension coil spring according to claim 5 , wherein an annular engaging hook portion having a shape of a recessed surface for engaging said lower casing is formed on an inner peripheral surface of the outer cylindrical suspended portion, and the engaging hook portion is adjacent to the end portion of the outer cylindrical suspended portion on the lower casing.

8. The combination mechanism of the thrust sliding bearing and the suspension coil spring according to claim 1 , for use as a thrust sliding bearing of a strut suspension in a four-wheeled motor vehicle.

9. The combination mechanism of the thrust sliding bearing and the suspension coil spring according to claim 1 , wherein the thrust sliding bearing piece has an L-shaped cross section, including a horizontal leg and a vertical leg.

Assignees

• Kaneko Ryohei
• Oiles Industry Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kaneko Ryohei

Classifications

• F16F1/126

  comprising an element between the end coil of the spring and the support proper, e.g. an elastomeric annulus (F16F1/13 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F16C2240/54

  Surface roughness · CPC title

• F16C2208/70

  Polyesters, e.g. polyethylene-terephthlate [PET], polybutylene-terephthlate [PBT] · CPC title

• F16C2208/04

  Glass fibres · CPC title

• F16C33/74

  of sliding-contact bearings · CPC title