Bearing device

Abstract

Provided is a bearing device capable of suppressing corrosion for a long time. The bearing device is for use in a wiper arm to pivotably attach a retainer to an arm head. The bearing device includes an outer bushing press-fitted into a hinge portion of the arm head, an inner bushing rotatably inserted into a bore in the outer bushing, and a rivet inserted into a bore in the inner bushing to secure the retainer and the inner bushing together integrally. Thus, a hinge portion of the retainer, the inner bushing, and the rivet are pivotable relative to the hinge portion of the arm head and the outer bushing. The outer bushing has an inside bushing part and an outside bushing part provided around the outer periphery of the inside bushing part and joined to the inside bushing part. The joint surface of the inside bushing part and the joint surface of the outside bushing part are joined to each other by interatomic bonding. The outside bushing part is formed of the same material as that of the arm head.

Claims

1. A bearing device for use in a wiper arm, the bearing device configured to pivotably attach a retainer of the wiper arm to an arm head of the wiper arm, the bearing device comprising: an outer bushing formed in a shape of a cylindrical sleeve extending in an axial direction and immobilized to the arm head; an inner bushing formed in a shape of a cylindrical sleeve extending in the axial direction and inserted radially inside the outer bushing for rotation relative to the outer bushing; and a rivet inserted radially inside the inner bushing configured to immobilize the inner bushing to the retainer, wherein the inner and outer bushings configured for rotation relative to each other allow relative rotation between the retainer and the arm head, wherein the outer bushing comprises an inside bushing part and an outside bushing part both formed in a shape of cylindrical sleeve extending in the axial direction, the outside busing part provided radially outside of the inside bushing part, wherein the inside bushing part and the outside bushing part are joined together through bonding surfaces thereof that are fused together by means of interatomic bonding, and the outside bushing part is made of aluminum, and the inside busing part is made of metal other than aluminum.

2. The bearing device of claim 1, wherein the inside bushing part is made of stainless steel.

3. The bearing device of claim 1, wherein the interatomic-bonded bonding surfaces comprise pressure-roll bonded surfaces.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a wiper arm according to one embodiment of the present invention.

(2) FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a bearing device of the wiper arm, which is taken along the line A-A in FIG. 1.

(3) FIG. 3 is a schematic view schematically showing an arm head and an outer bushing of the bearing device shown in FIG. 2.

(4) FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of the outer bushing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(5) A bearing device according to one embodiment of the present invention will be explained below on the basis of FIGS. 1 to 4, with regard to an example in which the bearing device is applied to a wiper arm.

(6) A wiper arm 10 includes an arm head 12 linked to a drive motor (not shown), a retainer 16 pivotably or rotatably connected to the arm head 12 through a bearing device 14, and an arm piece 18 secured to the retainer 16. The arm head 12 and the retainer 16 are connected to each other by a spring (not shown).

(7) In use of the wiper arm 10, the retainer 16 is urged to rotate downward as seen in FIG. 1 by the spring (not shown). Consequently, a wiper blade (not shown) held by the arm piece 18 is pressed against a to-be-wiped surface (e.g. a windshield surface of an automobile) with an appropriate pressing force. In normal use of the wiper arm 10, the retainer 16 assumes a position in which the retainer 16 is aligned with the arm head 12 in a substantially straight line. If necessary, however, the retainer 16 can be rotated upward to assume an erect position in which the retainer 16 is disposed at an angle to the arm head 12.

(8) It should be noted that the arm head 12 is preferably subjected to aluminum anodizing treatment to provide corrosion resistance.

(9) The bearing device 14 is provided between the arm head 12 as a first member and the retainer 16 as a second member. The bearing device 14 allows the retainer 16 to be pivotably attached to the arm head 12.

(10) The bearing device 14 includes a cylindrical outer bushing 20 press-fitted into a bore 12b formed in a hinge portion 12a of the arm head 12, an inner bushing 22 rotatably inserted into a bore 20a in the outer bushing 20, and a rivet 24 inserted into a bore 22a in the inner bushing 22 to secure the retainer 16 and the inner bushing 22 together integrally.

(11) The arm head 12 is formed in a continuous form and has one end portion 12b and another end portion 12a. The one end portion 12b constitutes a mount portion to be rotatably attached to the body of an automobile near the windshield surface. The other end portion of the arm head 12 constitutes a hinge portion 12b to which the retainer 16 is pivotably attached.

(12) The hinge portion 12a of the arm head 12 is formed therein with a through-bore 12c extending to intersect the longitudinal direction of the arm head. Into the through-bore 12c is press-fitted a cylindrical outer bushing 20 formed of a clad material and having a through-bore 20a. The outer bushing 20 is disposed so that the through-bore 20a is in coaxial relation to the through-bore 12c in the hinge portion 12a of the arm head 12.

(13) The through-bore 20a in the outer bushing 20 has the inner bushing 22 inserted therein rotatably. A surface of the outer bushing 20 that defines the through-bore 20a is coated with Teflon (registered trademark) so as to be highly durable to withstand relative rotary motion between the outer bushing 20 and the inner bushing 22. The inner bushing 22 is formed in a cylindrical shape in the same way as the outer bushing 20 and made by carburizing an SWRCH (Steel Wire Rod Cold Heading) material and plating the carburized material with nickel.

(14) The retainer 16 has a top portion 30 and sidewall portions 32 extending from the laterally opposite ends, respectively, of the top portion. The retainer 16 has a hinge portion 32a at an end thereof closer to the arm head 12. The sidewall portions 32 of the retainer have holes 32b formed in the hinge portion 32a at respective positions facing the through-bore 12c in the arm head 12.

(15) The inner bushing 22 has a rivet 24 inserted in the through-bore 22a. The rivet 24 has a rod-shaped rivet body 24a and staked (or crimped) portions 24b formed at both ends of the rivet body 24a. The rivet 24 extends through the holes 32b formed in the sidewall portions 32 of the retainer 16 and through the through-bore 22a in the inner bushing 22. The rivet 24 is configured to have a length longer than the longitudinal length of the inner bushing 22 and longer than the lateral length of the arm head 12 and also longer than the lateral length of the retainer 16. Accordingly, the rivet 24 projects from the respective the inner bushing 22, the hinge portion 12a of the arm head 12, and lateral sidewall portions of the hinge portion 32a of the retainer 16. The portions of the rivet 24 that project from the lateral sidewall portions of the hinge portion 32a of the retainer are staked or crimped to form staked portions 24b. The staked portions 24b allow the rivet 24 and the retainer 16 to be connected together and also allow the inner bushing 22, the rivet 24, and the retainer 16 to be joined together integrally. Further, the rivet 24 is inserted in the through-bore in the inner bushing 22, as has been stated above. With this structure, the rivet 24, the inner bushing 22, and the retainer 16 can pivot together integrally relative to the outer bushing 20 and the arm head 12.

(16) The outer bushing 20 has a length somewhat longer than the lateral length of the arm head 12, i.e. than the distance between the lateral sides of the hinge portion 12a of the arm head 12, so that the outer bushing 20 projects outward from the lateral sides of the hinge portion of the arm head. The opposing ends of the outer bushing 20, which project outward from the lateral sides of the hinge portion 12a of the arm head 12, abut against the inner wall surfaces of the lateral sides of the hinge portion 32a of the retainer 16.

(17) The outer bushing 20 has, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, an inside bushing part 40 made of stainless steel, and an outside bushing part 42 made of aluminum, which is provided around the outer periphery of the inside bushing part and joined to the inside bushing part. The joint surface of the inside bushing part and the joint surface of the outside bushing part are joined to each other by interatomic bonding. In FIG. 2, the outer bushing 20 is schematically shown with a view to facilitating the understanding of the structure of the bearing device 14.

(18) The outer bushing 20 comprises a clad material (also known as a hybrid material), as has been stated above. The outer bushing 20 is formed by joining together a surface of one metal (stainless steel in this embodiment) and a surface of another metal (aluminum as a different kind of metal in the present invention) by roll-bonding under pressure. The outer bushing 20 is formed by a method of producing a clad material, i.e. a producing method comprising:

(19) (1) a cleaning step in which joint surfaces of one material and another material are cleaned to remove dirt, dust, oxides, etc. therefrom, and the cleaned surfaces are roughened to make the surfaces easily bondable to each other;

(20) (2) a roll-bonding step in which the two materials, i.e. stainless steel sheet and aluminum sheet, are surface-joined to each other under pressure (i.e. the two materials are joined together in such a manner as to enter each other's regions by interatomic bonding);

(21) (3) a heat-treating step in which the interatomic bonding is strengthened by heat treatment; and

(22) (4) a rolling step in which the resulting material is rolled out into a thin sheet having a required thickness.

(23) In this way, the joint surface 41 of the inside bushing part 40 made of stainless steel and the joint surface 43 of the outside bushing part 42 made of aluminum, which is provided around the outer periphery of the inside bushing part, are roll-bonded under pressure and thus joined to each other by interatomic bonding. The joint surfaces 41 and 43 are completely firmly bonded together by heat treatment, thus achieving an increase in bonding strength, as has been stated above. Consequently, the atoms of the mating materials at the joint interface are inter-diffused into each other's regions by heat treatment, thereby achieving firm bonding. There is therefore no possibility of salt water entering between the bonded surfaces, and there is no fear of corrosion.

(24) The outside bushing part 42 is made of the same material as that of the arm head 12, e.g. aluminum. Thus, the outside bushing part 42 and the arm head 12 can be made of material having the same mechanical strength or rigidity; therefore, the outer bushing or the arm head is less likely to be scratched than in the conventional device when the former is press-fitted into the latter. Even if either the outside bushing part 40 or the arm head 12 is scratched and salt water enters the scratch, because the outside bushing part 40 and the arm head 12 are made of the same material, e.g. aluminum, there is no possibility of occurrence of an electric potential difference as experienced in the conventional device. Accordingly, corrosion can be suppressed or prevented.

(25) Although the above-described embodiment shows an example in which the bearing device according to the present invention is used in a wiper arm, the present invention may also be applied to bearing devices other than those for wiper arms, e.g. general hinge structures such as a structure for pivotally attaching a door to a main body, a window opening-closing structure, etc.

(26) Further, the application of the wiper arm bearing device is not limited to automobile wiper arms but may also be used in wiper arms of other moving bodies such as railway vehicles, aircraft, marine structures, etc.

(27) Although in the above-described embodiment the present invention has been described in detail with regard to an example in which aluminum and stainless steel are used as constituent materials, the present invention is not limited thereto but may be applied to any other metals.

(28) Although only some exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described above, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that various changes or improvements can be made to the exemplary embodiments without materially departing from the novel teaching and advantages of the present invention. Accordingly, all such changes or improvements are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention.

(29) The foregoing embodiments may be combined at will.

(30) Although only some exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described above, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that various changes or improvements can be made to the exemplary embodiments without materially departing from the novel teaching and advantages of the present invention. Accordingly, all such changes or improvements are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention. The foregoing embodiments may be combined at will.

(31) The present application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2015-85757 filed on Apr. 20, 2015. The entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2015-85757 filed on Apr. 20, 2015 including specification, claims, drawings and summary is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.