Locking washer assembly

Abstract

A locking washer assembly includes a first locking washer and a second locking washer. The first and second locking washers include a mechanism for engaging an element to be attached by means of a screw joint. The first and second locking washers include a mechanism for engaging each other. The first locking washer includes a central through hole that is larger than a central hole of the second locking washer. An attachment assembly includes a screw intended to be used with the locking washer assembly.

Claims

1. An attachment assembly comprising a screw having a non-sharp transition from a head of the screw to a shank of the screw, and a locking washer assembly comprising a first locking washer and a second locking washer, wherein the first and second locking washer comprise mechanism for engaging an element to be attached at a screw joint and further comprise mechanism for engaging each other, wherein the first and second locking washer are arranged parallel to a flat surface of the underside of the head of the screw and the first locking washer is positioned adjacent to the head of the screw wherein the first locking washer comprises a central through hole that is larger than a central through hole of the second locking washer, and wherein the diameter of the central through hole of the second locking washer is sized such that the second locking washer is prevented from engaging the head of the screw.

2. An attachment assembly according to claim 1, wherein the central through hole of the first locking washer has a diameter corresponding to the diameter of a circle that can be described as where a radius between the head of the screw and the shank of the screw joins the flat surface of the underside of the screw head that begins when the radius ends.

3. An attachment assembly according to claim 1, wherein the first and second locking washers are identical except for the diameter of their respective central through hole, and that they are turned opposite to each other.

4. An attachment assembly according to claim 1, wherein the central through hole of the second locking washer has a size that is larger than the diameter of the shank of the screw, but not larger than allowing for guidance of the second locking washer on the said shank of the screw.

5. An attachment assembly according to claim 1, wherein the mechanism for engaging the element to be attached is in the form of radially extending teeth.

6. An attachment assembly according to claim 1, wherein the mechanism for engaging the first and the second locking washer to each other is in the form of radially extending cams.

Description

LIST OF DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 Discloses prior art locking washers in a pair.

(2) FIG. 1a Discloses prior art locking washers and a screw locked by these.

(3) FIG. 2 Discloses a screw with locking washers from above.

(4) FIG. 3 Discloses a section of a screw with a pair of locking washers according section A-A of FIG. 2.

(5) FIG. 4 Discloses a section B-B of a screw with and corresponding section of locking washers with an adapted central through hole.

(6) FIG. 5 Discloses the same configuration as in FIG. 4 with the locking washers on the shank of the screw in a section C-C.

(7) FIG. 6 Discloses a locking washer assembly according to the invention, in a section D-D.

(8) FIG. 7 Discloses a locking washer assembly according to the invention, in a section D-D.

(9) FIG. 8 Discloses a locking washer assembly according to the invention, in a section D-D.

(10) FIG. 9 Discloses an alternative embodiment of the locking washer assembly of the invention, in a section D-D.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(11) FIGS. 1-3 discloses prior art of locking washers 8A, 8B used in pair. The locking washers general comprises engagement means in the form of teeth 11 on one side and engagement means in the form of cams 12 on the other side. The locking washers 8A, 8B are intended to be used in a pair and are always exact copies of each other. The only difference between washer 8A and 8B is that they are turned opposite to each other.

(12) FIG. 1, discloses a prior art locking washer 8A, 8B having ha chamfer 10. This chamfer 10 has been introduced to adapt the locking washer to a screw having a radius 5 or a chamfer with two radiuses 5′, 5a, 5b, see FIGS. 7 and 8, for explanation of how the screw 15 can be constituted. The washers in FIG. 1 has this constitution with chamfers 10 such that the washers 8A, 8B can fit on a screw having the radius 5 or chamfer 5′ with two radiuses 5a, 5B and thus the teeth of washer 8A can be engage with the head of the screw as seen in FIG. 1a.

(13) FIG. 1a discloses the function of the teeth 11 and the cams 12. The teeth 11 engage with the screws head and with the work piece to be attached 16. The screw 15 has a thread that engages with a threaded element 17. The pitch angle β of the thread is always smaller than the wedge angle α of the cams of the locking washers. With this configuration the screw joint is locked firmly.

(14) The teeth 11 can have any general configuration in order to be able to engage. The shown configuration is a leaning pyramidal shape where the leaning teeth 11 engage with their steeper side to the head of the screw 15 or work piece 16. Other configurations of the teeth 11 are thinkable. For example the teeth 11 could have configuration with a homogenous pyramidal shape. The teeth 11 can also have a trapezoidal shape. It is important that the teeth 11 have a hardness that is superior the screw head and the work piece 16. The reason for this is that the teeth 11 must be able to engage with the material they are positioned adjacent, in order to achieve a locking function. Other wise the teeth could be flattened by the momentum when tightening the screw joint, or slide on a harder adjacent surface. Thus the locking washer 8A is moved with the screw 15 when tightening the screw joint and the locking washer 8B is keep still on the work piece 16.

(15) The cams 12 can be described as wedges see FIG. 2 as an example of this. The cams 12 have the ability to lock against each other's steep surface. The respective locking washer 8A, 8B can thus when being tightened to each other have their respective cams 12 positioned adjacent each other. Locking is achieved by the wedge shape of the cams 12. When the tightened screw is being unscrewed for example by vibrations or a user, the teeth 11 of the locking washers engage with the screw's head and the element 16 that has been attached. Thus the locking washer 8A is seeking to follow the motion in the turning direction of the screw 15 and the other washer 8B is seeking to be maintained in position by its respective teeth 11 engaged with the work piece 16. The cams 12 slide on each other thus seeking to extend the screw joint in the longitudinal direction of the screw 15, by means of the inclination, wedge angle α, of the cams surface when sliding in the untightening direction. This extension locks the screw joint and prevents the screw from untightening. Thus the cams 12 prevent the locking washers 8A, 8B from being moved in the untightening direction of the screw.

(16) The difference between teeth 11 and cams 12 can in genera be described in that the teeth are note designed to interact with another serrated surface, where as the cams 12 is intentionally intended to cooperate with each other on the respective locking washer. And the cams 12 should have a wedge angled of particular configuration as above and as seen in FIG. 1a.

(17) In order to adapt the locking washer to a screw having a non sharp transition from the head of the screw 15 to the shank 7 of the screw the central through hole of the washers have been adapted to the washers disclosed in FIG. 4. In FIG. 3 one can see a standard configuration of locking washers 8A, 8B. And it can be seen that there is a small gap 4 between the upper serrated side of locking washer 8A and the screw head. This is due to the radius 5 that is present on the screw 15. In FIG. 4 the centre through hole has been enlarged in order for the teeth of the upper washer 9A to be able to engage with the head of the screw 15. FIG. 5 discloses the problem with this configuration of FIG. 4. The locking washer 9A and 9B has been dislocated to one side and thus the locking washers 9A, 9B is no longer centred on the screw. Thus FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 explains explicitly the problem with the prior art. Thus the locking washers 8A and 8B of FIG. 3 can crack or mal function due to the gap 4. And in FIG. 5 it is clear that the looking function of the locking washers 9A, 9B have a risk of not being centred with each other. This means that the cooperative locking of the locking washers 9A, 9B is jeopardized. The force distribution against the surface where the teeth 11 are to engage is also affected negatively, as it becomes unbalanced and more surface is provided on one lateral side of the locking washers 9A, 9B than the other side.

(18) FIG. 6 discloses a locking washer assembly 1 according to the proposed solution to remove at least some of the drawbacks of the discussed prior art. The locking washer assembly comprises a first locking washer 2 and a second locking washer 3. The first locking washer 2 is intended to be positioned adjacent the screw head of a screw 15. The screw 15 as disclosed in FIG. 6 has a radius between the head and the shank 7 of the screw.

(19) The first locking washer 2 has a through hole that is larger than the through hole of the second locking washer 3. The through hole diameter is essentially the same as the diameter of a circle that can be described as where the radius of the screw 15 joins the flat surface of the underside of the screw 15 that begins when the radius 5 ends. This diameter of the first locking washer 2 through hole sets the minimum diameter of the through hole. A larger through hole of locking washer 2 is thinkable, but the through hole should not be extensively larger than the minimum diameter as this both will diminish the surface of teeth 11 that can engage with the surface of the screw 15. A certain contact surface of the locking washer 2 against the screw head is necessary. A too large through hole will diminish the contact surface and also there is risk of deformation of the screw's head and compression set of the screw's head. In an alternative embodiment of the locking washer 2′, the through hole has a border that is chamfered according to FIG. 9. The chamfer 2′a is adapted such that the diameter of the through hole has a minimum diameter that is larger than the diameter of the through hole of the second locking washer 3. The chamfer 2′a makes the through hole border to have the constitution of a truncated cone.

(20) The second locking washer 3 is of standard configuration in line with locking washer 8B, wherein it has a diameter of the through hole that is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the screw shank 7. Slightly in this context means that the through hole of locking washer 3 is larger than the shank 7 of the screw 15 but not so large that no guidance of the locking washer 3 to the screw shank 7 is achieved. In other words the second locking washer 3 should essentially not be able to be put of centre on the screw shank 7. The guiding of the second locking washer 3 should be understood to mean that the through hole of the diameter of the second locking washer 3 is only slightly larger than the shank of the screw shank 7, such that the washer gets guidance from the shank when introduced on this. This means that the through hole should be in the range from where it is difficult to introduce the washer on the screw shank 7 to where it runs smoothly on the shank, but still cannot be put off center, to any considerable degree. The through hole of washer 3 should preferably have a diameter that means that if the washer is introduce wrongly i.e. closest to the head of a screw 15 having a radius 5 or a camfer 5′ having two radiuses 5a, 5b, the second locking washer 3 will, when being parallel, with the underside of the screw head, form a gap as seen in FIG. 3.

(21) The locking washer assembly 1 as discussed above provides for a very good engagement of the teeth 11 of the first locking washer 2 to the screw 15. And also by the engagement of the cams 12 between the first locking washer 2 and the second locking washer 3 the first locking washer 2 is prevented from being dislocated in the lateral direction of the screw 15. Thus the second locking washer 3 holds the first locking washer 2 by means of the smaller inner diameter of the through hole 3 against the shank 7 of the screw 15.

(22) The locking washer assembly 1 is possible to use with several different configurations of screws 15. The transition between the head of the screw 15 can have a radius 5 as shown in FIG. 7. The transition between the head of the screw 15 can also be in the form of a chamfer 5′ with two radiuses 5a, 5b as seen in FIG. 8.

(23) It is also possible, not shown in drawings, to use the locking washer assembly 1 with a screw head where the upper radius 5a ends in a notch in the screw head. This particular configuration holds the first locking washer 2 firmly in place.

(24) In a particular embodiment the locking washer assembly 1′ of FIG. 9 is used with a screw 15′ according to FIG. 8. With a good adaptation of the first locking washers 2′ upper diameter and the angle of the chamfer of the first locking washer 2′ to the chamfer part of the screw” a particularly well functioning locking function is achieved, where the wedged cam surface of locking washer 2′ can be made slightly larger than for a first locking washer 2 with straight inner border of the through hole.

(25) In the above it should be understood that locking washer assembly 1 can always be replace by locking washer assembly 1′.

(26) In a preferred configuration the first and the second locking washers 2, 2′, 3 is joined to each other such that the locking washer assembly 1, 1′ can be handled easily. The locking washer assembly 1; 1′ is called a locking washer unit. The locking washers 2, 2′, 3 are preferably joined to each other by means of a glue. The glue should allow relative movement between the first and the second locking washer 2, 2′, 3. Glues that have this ability are for example various melt glues. The locking washers 2, 2′ 3 should be able to be handled as an locking washer assembly 1, 1′ by means of the glue.

(27) In a preferred configuration the locking washer assembly 1, 1′ is preinstalled on a screw 15, 15′, and 15″ into an attachment assembly. Preferably the locking washer assembly can be put onto a non threaded screw 15, 15′, 15″ and thereafter a thread is rolled an a part of the screw 15, 15′, 15″, this augmenting the diameter and preventing the locking washer assembly 1, 1′ from being detached from the screw.