DAMPING ELEMENT HAVING BAYONET CLOSURE

Abstract

A damping element (1) has grooves (5) on its circumferential surface in the manner of a bayonet closure. The grooves (5) are open towards an end face (2, 3) of the damping element (1), wherein the grooves (5) or at least first portions (8) of the grooves (5) open towards the end face (2, 3) of the damping element (1) run substantially in the longitudinal direction of the damping element (1). Moreover, the grooves (5) have narrow points (10). Projections (11) in a recess (13) in a first body (12) can engage in the grooves (5) in order to secure the damping element (1) in the first body (12). By means of the bayonet closure, the damping element (1) can be fastened to the first body (12) and separated therefrom again with little effort. A fastening element (23) can fasten the damping element (1) to a second body in order to fasten the first (12) and the second bodies to one another in a vibration-damped manner.

Claims

1-18. (canceled)

19. A damping element in combination with a first body, wherein the damping element engages with a recess in a first body and which has, on a circumferential surface, a groove which at a first end is directed towards an end face of the damping element, so that a projection in the recess of the first body runs in the groove along a longitudinal axis of the groove, and wherein the groove is closed at a second end, wherein the groove has a constriction such that the projection, when it runs in the groove the projection is fixable between the constriction and the closed second end in a section of the groove.

20. The damping element according to claim 19 wherein the section of the groove runs essentially in a circumferential direction of the damping element.

21. The damping element according to claim 19 wherein the damping element has a handling section in which at least one depression or at least one projection is arranged on a circumferential side of the damping element.

22. The damping element according to claim 21 wherein the at least one depression or the at least one projection of the handling section comprises a plurality of recesses or projections which are uniformly spaced in the circumferential direction.

23. An annular damping element having a circumferential surface with a groove formed in the circumferential surface, wherein the groove has at least one first section which opens towards an end face of the damping element and runs essentially in a longitudinal direction of the damping element, wherein the groove has at least one second section that runs in essentially the circumferential direction of the damping element and has a closed end.

24. The damping element according to claim 23 further comprising a sleeve arranged in a hole of the annular damping element.

25. The damping element according to claim 24 wherein the sleeve is made of metal.

26. A device for the vibration-damped fastening of a first body to a second body, wherein the device has a damping element according to claim 24.

27. The device according to claim 26 further comprising a fastening element which can engage in the hole of the damping element and a recess of the second body in order to connect them.

28. The device according to claim 27 wherein the fastening element is arranged in a captive manner in the sleeve.

29. The device according to claim 26 wherein the sleeve has a constriction at one of its ends on its inner side.

30. The device according to claim 27 wherein the fastening element has a head having a chin, wherein a diameter of the head is greater than a diameter of the hole of the damping element.

31. The device according to claim 27 wherein the fastening element is a screw.

32. A device comprising the damping element and the first body according to claim 1.

33. A device comprising a first body and a damping element which is insertable into a recess of the first body, wherein the recess of the first body has a groove which is open towards an end face of the first body, and wherein the damping element has a projection which runs in the groove when the damping element engages in the recess of the first body.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0037] Further advantageous configurations are described in greater detail below with reference to multiple exemplary embodiments illustrated schematically in the drawings, to which the invention is however not limited and in which:

[0038] FIG. 1 shows a damping element according to the invention in (a) perspective view and (b) cross-sectional view;

[0039] FIG. 2 shows a device according to the invention comprising damping element, first body, bush and fastening element in transport position in (a) perspective view and (b) cross-sectional view;

[0040] FIG. 3 shows a device according to the invention comprising damping element, first body, bush and fastening element in fastening position in (a) perspective view and (b) cross-sectional view;

[0041] FIG. 4 shows the recess in the first body in (a) a first cross-sectional view perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the recess and (b) along the section line A-A shown in (a); and

[0042] FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the device of FIGS. 2 and 3 with damping element inserted into the first body in (a) unlocked and (b) locked position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

[0043] In the description given below of preferred embodiments of the present invention, the same reference signs denote the same or comparable components.

[0044] A damping element 1 according to the invention has, as may best be seen in FIGS. 1a and 1b, an annular, to be precise hollow-cylindrical, shape, wherein the first 2 and the second 3 end faces are connected by a circumferential surface 4 of the damping element 1. In the circumferential surface 4, four grooves 5 are located, whose first ends 6 are open towards the first end face 2 and whose second ends 7 are closed. The grooves 5 are identical to one another and, as is readily visible in FIGS. 5a and 5b, spaced uniformly from one another.

[0045] Each groove 5 has, as may best be seen in FIGS. 1a and 1 b, a first portion 8 in the manner of the groove of a bayonet closure, said portion 8 comprising the open end 6 of the groove, and a second portion 9 comprising the closed end 7 of the groove. The first portion 8 runs in the longitudinal direction of the damping element 1, the second portion in the circumferential direction of the damping element 1. A narrow point 10 is located between the two portions 8 and 9. In the longitudinal direction of the damping element 1, the height of the narrow point 10 (see FIG. 1b) is less than that of a projection 11 in a recess 13 in a first body 12 (see FIG. 4b), which can engage in the groove 5 in order to secure the damping element 1 in the recess 13 in the first body 12. In this way, the projection 11 has to overcome the narrow point 10 contrary to the resilient force of the damping element 1 in the region of the narrow point 10, in order to pass from the first 8 into the second portion 9 of the groove 5. The second portion 9 of the groove 5 is precisely as wide and high as is needed to accommodate the projection 11.

[0046] In order to fasten the damping element 1 in the recess 13 in the first body 12, it is first of all inserted in the longitudinal direction into the recess 13, wherein the projections 11 pass through the open ends of the grooves 5 into the first portions 8 of the grooves 5, as shown in FIG. 5a. Then the projections 11 are moved by turning the damping element 1 about the longitudinal direction thereof against the resilient force of the damping element 1 in the region of the narrow point 10 beyond the narrow points 10 into the second portion 9 of the groove 5, so as to come to lie there. This position is visible in FIG. 5b. In the region of the first portion 8 of the grooves 5, the damping element 1 has circumferentially extending ribs 14 which pretension the damping element resiliently against the inner surface of the recess 13 in the first body 12 and thus ensure, jointly with projection 11 and second groove portion 9, that the damping element 1 sits firmly in the recess 13 in the first body 12. The recess 13 in the first body 12 is a circular cylindrical through-hole. The first body 12 is a coolant pump and in the figures is shown symbolically as a ring about its recess 13 solely for the purpose of simplification.

[0047] The damping element has a handling portion with four uniformly spaced depressions 15 on the circumferential face of the damping element. In another exemplary embodiment not shown in the figures, the handling element has just one depression. The handling portion is located between the grooves 5 and the second end face 3 of the damping element 1 and still projects, as is readily apparent in FIGS. 2a, 2b, 3a and 3b, beyond the recess 13 in the first body 12 even when the damping element 1 has been secured in the recess 13. In this way, a fitter can grasp the handling portion with their hand or with a tool in order to rotate the damping element 1 about its longitudinal direction relative to the first body 12 and in this way fasten it to the first body 12 or detach it therefrom.

[0048] A hole 16 in the damping element 1 extends from the first 2 to the second end face 3 of the damping element 1. In the hole 16 is arranged a bush 17 which spans the hole from the first end face 2 to shortly before the second end face 3. In this way, the damping element 1, as is easily visible in FIG. 3b, may be compressed in its longitudinal direction, without the bush 17 thereby exiting from the damping element 1 at an end face 2, 3, in particular the second end face 3. To secure the bush 17 in the damping element 1, it has an upper portion 18 with a somewhat larger external diameter than that of a lower portion 19, and the hole 16 in the damping element has a corresponding upper portion 20 with a somewhat larger internal diameter than that of a lower portion 21. Moreover, at the first end face 2 of the damping element 1, the bush 17 has a radially outwardly extending protrusion 22, which adjoins the first end face 2 of the damping element 1.

[0049] A screw 23 with a head 24 and a shank 25 engages as fastening element in the hole in the bush 17 and is preferably arranged captively in the bush 17. To this end, the bush 17 has an internal constriction 26 at the end pointing towards the second end face 3 of the damping element 1. The screw has an annular securing portion 27 on its shank 25, with a diameter which is of such a size that it cannot overcome the constriction 26 of the bush 17. The head 24 of the screw 23 also has a greater diameter than the constriction 26. Because the constriction 26 is located directly between head 24 and securing portion 27, the screw 23 is prevented from falling out of the damping element 1. The device comprising damping element 1, first body 12, bush 17 and captive screw 23 is shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b. The damping element 1 is secured in the recess 13 in the first body 12. The first body 12 with attached damping element 1 and screw 23 can be transported and delivered in this way for fitting to a second body (not shown), in particular an internal combustion engine.

[0050] At its end remote from the head 24, on the other side of the securing portion, the shank 25 of the screw 23 has a thread 28, with which it can engage in a recess in the second body. The recess in the second body is a blind or through-hole and is provided for this purpose with a corresponding internal thread. The fastening position with screw 23 screwed into the recess in the second body is shown in FIGS. 3a and 3b. The head 24 of the screw 23 has a chin 29, the diameter of which is of a size such it can act on the second end face 3 of the damping element 1, in order to compress the damping element 1.

[0051] In one variant of the above-described damping element 1 and of the above-described first body 12, grooves 5 and projections 11 are reversed in such a way that the grooves 5 are located on the first body 12 and the projections 11 are located on the damping element 1. Otherwise, the configuration and mode of operation correspond, mutatis mutandis, to that described above.

[0052] The features disclosed in the above description, the claims and the drawings may be of significance for implementation of the invention in its various embodiments either individually or in any desired combination.