An assembly comprising first and second structural elements having aligned holes, a fastener that occupies at least respective portions of the holes without a surrounding sleeve, and a mating part that is coupled to the fastener. The fastener comprises: a head; a circular cylindrical shank extending from the head; a mating portion comprising external projections; and a transition portion disposed between the shank and the mating portion. The transition portion comprises a tapered lead-in section that meets the shank at a shank/lead-in intersection and a radiused lead-in section that meets the tapered lead-in section. The tapered lead-in section tapers gradually in a first axial direction toward the mating portion and has a first profile that is linear and a taper angle equal to or less than 20 degrees, while the radiused lead-in section curves abruptly in the first axial direction and has a second profile that is a circular arc having a radius.

A spline installation device for use with a spline/rail type frame to assemble the splines to the rails. The device including a base that defines a platform for receiving a frame subassembly; and a plurality of linkages that are disposed about the platform and coupled to the base. Each linkage is configured to move between a first position in which a fence bearing surface thereof is at an angle other than 90 degrees relative to the platform and a second position in which the fence bearing surface is set at an at least substantially 90 degree angle relative to the platform for locking and holding the frame subassembly in place. The linkages further being configured to receive a spline instillation tool for locking the splines in place relative to the rails.

The joining method for members according to the present invention includes: providing an aluminum component including an insertion hole provided with a rib in at least part of an edge part, and a hollow steel pipe; inserting the steel pipe into the insertion hole of the aluminum component; and expanding and deforming the steel pipe to join the steel pipe to the aluminum component by press-fitting.

A transmission housing (2) including two housing elements (9) that can be positioned to press against each other and that in the assembled state define: a cavity (13); a shaft (6) projecting at least in part from the housing; a motion transmission mechanism (30) for transmitting motion to said shaft (6), the motion transmission mechanism (30) being housed at least in part inside the cavity (13) of the housing (2); and adhesive connection means (16) for connecting together housing elements (9) that are arranged in the zone where said housing elements (9) are pressed together and referred to as a join plane (10). The adhesive connection means (16) include a main channel (163) for receiving adhesive surrounding said cavity (13), said main channel (163) comprising a female element (1631) carried by a housing element (9) and a male element (1632) carried by the other housing element (9) with the male element (1632) being engaged at least in part in the female element (1631) in the assembled-together state of said housing elements (9).

Provided is a joint component manufacturing method for reducing occurrence of burrs upon bonding between a first member having a hole and a second member having a shaft portion and firmly bonding both members. In the method for manufacturing a joint component 100, a hole-side weak press-fit portion 112 is formed at a hole 111 of a flat plate ring-shaped first member 110. Moreover, each of a shaft-side weak press-fit portion 122 and a shaft-side strong press-fit portion 124 is formed at a shaft portion 121 of a cylindrical second member 120. The hole-side weak press-fit portion 112 and the shaft-side weak press-fit portion 122 are defined by a first weak press-fit interference Lw1 formed thinner than a first strong press-fit interference Ls1. The shaft-side strong press-fit portion 124 is defined by a first strong press-fit interference Ls1 as the minimum necessary press-fit interference for electric resistance welding upon electric resistance welding between the hole 111 and the shaft portion 121.

Provided is a joint component manufacturing method for reducing occurrence of burrs upon bonding between a first member having a hole and a second member having a shaft portion and firmly bonding both members. In the method for manufacturing a joint component 100, a hole-side weak press-fit portion 112 is formed at a hole 111 of a flat plate ring-shaped first member 110. Moreover, each of a shaft-side weak press-fit portion 122 and a shaft-side strong press-fit portion 124 is formed at a shaft portion 121 of a cylindrical second member 120. The hole-side weak press-fit portion 112 and the shaft-side weak press-fit portion 122 are defined by a first weak press-fit interference Lw1 formed thinner than a first strong press-fit interference Ls1. The shaft-side strong press-fit portion 124 is defined by a first strong press-fit interference Ls1 as the minimum necessary press-fit interference for electric resistance welding upon electric resistance welding between the hole 111 and the shaft portion 121.

A joint structure includes a first member having a fit-in groove, a second member made of a material different from a material of the first member and having an insertion section to be inserted into the fit-in groove, and a plurality of bonding layers having different hardness and formed between the fit-in groove and the insertion section.

A device and a method are provided for setting a press-in element into a workpiece at a predetermined location. The device includes main body; a fixing unit, which is attached to the main body and which is designed to fix the workpiece; and a processing unit, which is attached to the main body and includes: a boring unit, which is designed to create a bore in the workpiece fixed by the fixing unit; and a pressing unit, which is designed to press a press-in element into the bore. The method fixes the workpiece; creates a bore in the workpiece; positions a press-in element over the bore; and presses the press-in element into the bore, wherein a single device is used to carry out the method.

An assembly comprising first and second structural elements having aligned holes, a fastener that occupies at least respective portions of the holes without a surrounding sleeve, and a mating part that is coupled to the fastener. The fastener comprises: a head; a circular cylindrical shank extending from the head; a mating portion comprising external projections; and a transition portion disposed between the shank and the mating portion. The transition portion comprises a tapered lead-in section that meets the shank at a shank/lead-in intersection and a radiused lead-in section that meets the tapered lead-in section. The tapered lead-in section tapers gradually in a first axial direction toward the mating portion and has a first profile that is linear and a taper angle equal to or less than 20 degrees, while the radiused lead-in section curves abruptly in the first axial direction and has a second profile that is a circular arc having a radius.

A press-in fastener incorporates a compound wave pattern into the shank knurl. The knurl is generally aligned vertically but instead of a straight uniform knurl pattern, the rows of knurls have an undulating curved shape that alternates from a narrow to a wider cross-section as they transverse axially along the length of the pin shank. The knurls are arranged in straight or serpentine longitudinal rows equally spaced around a circumference of the shank. At least one of the rows has a wavy cross-sectional profile in a radial plane containing the longitudinal axis wherein said profile consists of a series of contiguous alternating crests and valleys. The compound wavy configuration of the knurls yields a number of benefits without adversely affecting the manufacturing process. The knurl configuration also reduces the installation force and disruption of the host material while maintaining a better lock on the host material.