Lifting Point

Abstract

An attachment point with a lower part having connection means for connecting the attachment point to an object to be handled, and with an upper part which is rotatable relative to the lower part and connected thereto. The upper part has a connection element for connecting a lifting, attachment or lashing means. The upper part has a bearing surface that tapers conically in the axial direction, and the lower part has a bearing surface that tapers conically in the same direction. Roller bearing bodies are arranged between the two bearing surfaces. Each roller bearing body has a form defined by an axis of rotation thereof and a rotationally symmetrical lateral surface. The axes of rotation of the roller bearing bodies are aligned in the direction of the conical taper of the bearing surfaces and angled relative to the axis of rotation of the upper part relative to the lower part.

Claims

1. An attachment point comprising: a lower part which is connectable to an object to be handled with the attachment point, wherein the lower part has a head portion and a shaft portion formed thereon, with the shaft portion having a smaller diameter than the head portion, and an upper part having a connecting element for connecting a lifting, attachment or lashing device to the attachment point, wherein the upper part is connected to the lower part and rotatable relative to the lower part, and wherein the lower part extends through the upper part, wherein the upper part has a bearing surface which tapers conically in an axial direction, the lower part has a bearing surface which tapers conically in the same axial direction and which is provided by a lateral surface portion of the head portion, and roller bearing bodies are arranged between the two bearing surfaces, wherein each roller bearing body has a shape defined by an axis of rotation thereof and a lateral surface that is rotationally symmetrical about the axis of rotation, wherein the axes of rotation of the rolling bearing bodies are aligned in a direction of the conical taper of the bearing surfaces and oriented at an angle?30? and ?60? relative to an axis of rotation of the upper part relative to the lower part, and wherein, to hold the lower part and upper part together, a closure body is provided which is connected to the shaft portion of the lower part and engages under the upper part in a radial direction at least partially.

2. The attachment point of claim 1, wherein the closure body comprises a disk shape and a surface thereof, which faces away from the lower part, forms an attachment surface for tightening the attachment point with the object to be handled.

3. The attachment point of claim 1, wherein the shaft portion of the lower part has a stop shoulder facing away from the head portion, and the closure body has a counter stop designed to complement the stop shoulder of the shaft portion.

4. The attachment point of claim 1, wherein the closure body comprises a wall which encloses the shaft portion of the lower part and extends in the axial direction of the lower part, and wherein the wall is equipped to connect the closure body to the shaft portion of the lower part.

5. The attachment point of claim 4, wherein the wall formed on the closure body is designed as a locking wall with an inner side facing towards the shaft portion of the lower part and an outer side facing opposite thereto, and wherein either the inner side of the locking wall or the shaft portion bordered by the locking wall has a locking groove formed therein, and complementarily to the locking groove, the shaft portion bordered by the locking wall or the inner side of the locking wall has a locking bead which engages in the locking groove.

6. The attachment point of claim 4, wherein an end face of the wall facing the head portion of the lower part is designed as a stop which acts against the bearing surface of the lower part.

7. The attachment point of claim 6, wherein the shaft portion comprises a threaded shaft portion with an external thread, and the closure body has a complementary internal thread on an inner side thereof enclosing the shaft portion.

8. The attachment point of claim 4, wherein the shaft portion comprises a threaded shaft portion with an external thread, and the closure body has a complementary internal thread on an inner side thereof enclosing the shaft portion.

9. The attachment point of claim 1, wherein the axes of rotation of the roller bearing bodies enclose an angle of 45? or approximately 450 with respect to the axis of rotation of the upper part.

10. The attachment point of claim 1, wherein the roller bearing bodies are arranged and guided in a bearing body cage.

11. The attachment point of claim 1, wherein the two bearing surfaces have the same angle of inclination and the roller bearing bodies have a cylindrical lateral surface.

12. The attachment point of claim 1, wherein the upper part on an underside thereof facing the closure body has a lower bearing surface, and the closure body on a side thereof facing the upper part has a bearing surface that interacts with the lower bearing surface, such that, at least when the connecting element of the upper part is subjected to a transverse load, the upper part is supported with the lower bearing surface on the bearing surface of the closure body.

13. The attachment point of claim 12, wherein the closure body comprises a wall which encloses the shaft portion of the lower part and extends in the axial direction of the lower part, wherein the wall is equipped to connect the closure body to the shaft portion of the lower part, and wherein the bearing surface of the closure body is delimited inwardly in the radial direction by an outer side of the wall facing away from the shaft portion.

14. The attachment point of claim 13, wherein rolling bodies are arranged between the lower bearing surface of the upper part and the bearing surface of the closure body to provide a rolling body bearing.

15. The attachment point of claim 14, wherein the rolling body bearing is a needle bearing.

16. The attachment point of claim 12, wherein rolling bodies are arranged between the lower bearing surface of the upper part and the bearing surface of the closure body to provide a rolling body bearing.

17. The attachment point of claim 16, wherein the rolling body bearing is a needle bearing.

18. The attachment point of claim 1, wherein the upper part has an annular extension which encloses the closure body radially over at least a portion of the closure body in the axial direction, and the annular extension forms a labyrinth seal with the closure body.

19. The attachment point of claim 1, wherein the lower part has a threaded bolt for connecting the attachment point to the object to be handled.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] Example embodiments according to the disclosure are described below with reference to the attached drawings, wherein:

[0029] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an attachment point with components thereof depicted in explosion.

[0030] FIG. 2 shows the attachment point of FIG. 1 in its assembly.

[0031] FIG. 3 shows a longitudinal sectional view through the assembled attachment point of FIG. 2 with enlarged detail views A. B. C, and D,

[0032] FIG. 4 shows the attachment point of the above figures connected to an object to be handled, which object is depicted schematically, with different pulling loads shown acting on the connecting element of the attachment point, and

[0033] FIG. 5 shows a partially sectioned perspective view of another attachment point.

[0034] It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in application to the details of particular arrangements shown in the drawings, since the invention is capable of other embodiments. Embodiments and figures disclosed herein are to be considered illustrative rather than limiting.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] An attachment point 1 comprises an upper part 2 and a lower part 3. The upper part 2 has an eyelet bow 4 as a connecting element for connecting a lifting, attachment or lashing device. The eyelet bow 4 is formed onto a ring-shaped base body 5. The ring-shaped base body 5 encloses a lower part receptacle 6 constructed as an opening. The wall forming the inside of the base body 5 and enclosing the lower part receptacle 6 comprises an upper cylindrical wall portion 7 and a bearing surface 8 adjoining it. The bearing surface 8 is conically tapered in the direction facing away from the eyelet bow 4. The conical taper is straight in the illustrated embodiment.

[0036] The lower part 3 has a head portion 9, a shaft portion 10 and a threaded bolt 11. The threaded bolt 11 of the attachment point 1 represents its connection means for connecting the attachment point 1 to an object to be handled.

[0037] The head portion 9 has a bearing surface 12 on the underside and thus pointing in the direction of its threaded bolt 11. This is tapered at the same angle and in the same direction as the bearing surface 8 of the upper part 2. The bearing surface 12 is formed by a lateral surface portion of the head portion 9 protruding in radial direction relative to the shaft portion 10. A rotary driving contour 14 designed as a hexagon is provided in the upper end face 13 of the lower part 3, which is designed in principle as a screw bolt. A plurality of rotary driving recesses 16 arranged at the same angular distance from one another are introduced in the radially facing outer side 15 of the head portion 9. The recesses 16 are designed as grooves open at the ends in the axial direction. The shaft portion 10 carries a locking bead 17 running all the way around.

[0038] Cylindrical roller bearing bodies 18, which are arranged and guided in a bearing body cage 19, serve to support the rotational mobility of the upper part 2 relative to the lower part 3. For this purpose, the bearing body cage 19 has a number of rolling element receptacles 20 corresponding to the number of rolling bearing bodies 18. The bearing body cage 19 has a positioning ring 21 on its upper side. The radial outer side 22 of the positioning ring 21 is supported on the wall portion 7 of the upper part 2. The outer contour of a lower positioning ring 23 is shaped to engage in the transition of the bearing surface 8 into a radially inwardly directed projection 24 (see FIG. 3).

[0039] Part of the lower part 3 is a closure body 25 designed in the manner of a disk, which is positively connected to the shaft portion 10 of the lower part 3 in the axial direction. For this purpose, the closure body 25 has a circumferential locking wall 26 and the inner side of the wall 26, which faces towards the shaft portion 10, has a locking groove 27 at a position complementary to the locking bead 17. The locking wall 26 extends, starting from the disk-shaped base body of the closure body 25, in the axial direction in the direction of the head portion 9 of the lower part 3. The outer side 28 of the locking wall 26, which faces outwards in the radial direction, delimits the inside of a bearing surface 29. A needle bearing 30 is located thereon. The needle bearing 30 is shown only schematically and in an actual configuration has more than just the four rolling elements 31 shown. The rolling elements 31 are held in a cage 32. Overall, the needle bearing 30 can be handled and installed without any problems. The underside of the upper part 2 has a bearing surface 33 which faces towards the closure body 25 and provides the complimentary bearing surface to the bearing surface 29 (see FIG. 3).

[0040] A locking ring 34 is used to close an annular gap between the outside 15 of the head portion 9 of the lower part 3 and the cylindrical wall portion 7 of the upper part 2. For the purpose of assembly, latching webs 35 arranged in pairs with one another are formed on the underside of the locking ring 34. The latching heads of paired latching webs 35 point away from one another. The latching webs 35 of a pair of latching webs reach through a rotary driving recess 16 in the axial direction and the latching heads engage behind such a rotary driving recess 16 for locking the locking ring 34 on the head portion 9 of the lower part 3 on the underside. As a result, the locking ring 34 is connected to the lower part 3 in a torque-locking manner. The upper side of the locking ring 34 has identification arrows, which indicate the positions of the rotary driver recesses 16 to a user.

[0041] The rotary driving recesses 16 of the lower part 3 allow the attachment point 1 to be hand-tightly connected to an object to be handled by means of its upper part 2 without using tools. To achieve such a rotary drive for connecting the attachment point 1 to an object to be handled or for detaching the attachment point 1 from such an object, the upper part 2 is equipped, in the region of its annular base body 5, with two coupling devices 36 which can be actuated independently of one another. Each coupling device 36 comprises a coupling bolt 37, a compression spring 38 as a restoring element, and an actuating cap 39. The end face of the actuating cap 39 acts against the force of the compression spring 38 when the coupling device 36 is actuated to engage the tip of the coupling bolt 37 in a rotary driving recess 16. An actuated coupling device 36 is thus reset by the compression spring 38. The coupling bolts 37 are each guided in a radially aligned guide bore 40 of the upper part 2. The actuating cap 39 is located in a recessed grip 41, which in the illustrated embodiment is formed as a funnel-shaped enlargement of the guide bores 40. Such a recessed grip 41 is useful so that no actuating element protrudes beyond the outer lateral surface of the base body 5 of the lower part 3.

[0042] FIG. 2 shows the assembled attachment point 1 and illustrates its compact design.

[0043] The rotatable mounting of the upper part 2 and lower part 3 can be seen in the sectional view of FIG. 3 as an assembly of the individual elements described for FIG. 1. Details are highlighted with enlarged detail views. The detail view A shows the cylindrical roller bearing bodies 18 arranged in their bearing body cage 19 between the two positioning rings 21, 23. The roller bearing bodies 18 rest against the bearing surface 12 as part of the head portion 9 of the lower part 3. The complementary bearing surface of the upper part 2 is formed by the bearing surface 8. Both bearing surfaces 8, 12 are inclined at 45 degrees relative to the axis of rotation of the upper part 2 relative to the lower part 3. This mounting of the upper part 2 in relation to the lower part 3 allows a particularly high power transmission as a result of the use of non-spherical rolling bodies, namely through the use of cylindrical rolling bearing bodies 18 in the example embodiment shown. As a result of the described inclination of the bearing surfaces 8, 12 and the longitudinal axis of the roller bearing body 18 aligned parallel thereto, the upper part 2 can rotate relative to the lower part 3 under pulling stress in both the axial and in the radial direction. If this bearing has play or gains play as a result of wear, this is of no importance for the intended use of the attachment point 1. Finally, the roller bearing bodies 18 are held and guided in the roller body cage 19, so that their alignment is retained even if there is bearing play.

[0044] The needle bearing 30 inserted between the bearing surface 29 of the closure body 25 and the bearing surface 33 of the upper part 2 is used for the rotatable support of the upper part 2 relative to the closure body 25 as part of the lower part 3, especially in the case of transverse load stresses acting on the connecting element of the upper part 2. A tilting of the upper part 2 in relation to the lower part 3, which is possible when there is a transverse load on the connecting element of the attachment point 1 if there is play in the bearing, is effectively intercepted in this way and thus permanent rotational mobility of the upper part 2 in relation to the lower part 3 is also possible even at such loads. The base body 5 of the upper part 2 carries a downwardly protruding annular extension 42 (see detail view B). This annular extension 42 encloses the upper portion of the disk-like closure body 25 radially on the outside and forms a labyrinth seal 43 therewith while leaving a movement gap. This prevents the penetration of contaminants into the needle bearing 30 or also into the bearing provided with the rolling bearing bodies 18. For this purpose, a portion of the closure body 25 engages under the lower end of the ring extension 42.

[0045] The form fit acting in the axial direction between the closure body 25 and the shaft portion 10 of the lower part 3 is shown in detail view C. The locking bead 27 formed on the outside of the shaft portion 10 is positioned in the locking groove 27 of the locking wall 26. The shaft portion 10 forms a stop shoulder 44 in the transition to its threaded bolt 11. A stop extension 45 of the closure body 25 engages under the stop shoulder 44. This defines the assembly position in the axial direction of the closure body 25 on the shaft portion 10 of the lower part 3. At the same time, this protects the runout of the thread of the threaded bolt 11 in the direction of the stop shoulder 44 against transverse load stress and a notch effect associated therewith. In the axial direction, the underside of the closure body 25 is at a distance from the stop shoulder 44 at which the thread of the threaded bolt 11 ends.

[0046] The underside of the closure body 25 forms an attachment surface 46 with which the attachment point 1 is tightened to the surface of an object to be handled.

[0047] If only hand-tight tightening is required, the attachment point 1 may be connected to an object 47 to be handled (which is shown schematically as a cuboid in FIG. 4) by actuating one or both coupling devices 36 so that the tip of at least one coupling bolt 37 engages in a rotary driving recess 16 of the lower part 3, thereby coupling the upper part 2 to the lower part 3 in a torque-locking manner, and then rotating the upper part 2. When the actuating cap 39 is released, the coupling bolt 37 returns back to its initial position as a result of the energy stored in the return spring, which is designed as a helical compression spring 38 in this example, such that the upper part 2 can then be freely rotated in relation to the lower part 3 again. If tightening with higher forces is desired, the lower part 3 can be further tightened to the object 47 by using a tool and the rotary driving contour 14 in the upper end face 13 of the head portion 9.

[0048] FIG. 4 shows different tensile load positions that can act on the upper part 2 and/or its connecting element 4, with the upper part 2 nevertheless being able to rotate in relation to the lower part 3. In the example positions shown in FIG. 4, the eyelet bow 4 is already aligned in the respective pulling direction. If, on the other hand, the eyelet bow 4 has a different spatial position before a pulling force is applied, the eyelet bow 4 will automatically align itself into the orientation shown in FIG. 4 when the pulling force is applied, even with higher pulling forces. With this attachment point 1, a load on the connection element 4 of the upper part 2 is also possible in transverse directions which are inclined by more than 90 degrees in relation to an adjacent axial pulling direction. The guarantee of free rotation of the upper part 2 in relation to the lower part 3 in the case of such pulling stresses is ensured by the needle bearing 30 being inserted between the upper part 2 and the closure body 25 of the lower part 3. As a result of the described mounting of the upper part 2 relative to the lower part 3, the rotational mobility is maintained even when the object 47 is lifted. This is particularly desirable when an object to be handled is to be transferred from a first lifting means to a second lifting means, which regularly leads to the upper part 2 pivoting relative to the lower part 3. Due to the described mobility of the upper part 2 relative to the lower part 3, this does not impair the tightening of the lower part 3 with the object 47 to be handled.

[0049] FIG. 5 shows a further attachment point 1.1. The above descriptions regarding the attachment point 1 apply equally to the attachment point 1.1, unless otherwise indicated in the following statements. Same components of attachment point 1.1 are marked with the same reference marks as for attachment point 1, but supplemented by the suffix 0.1.

[0050] In the case of the attachment point 1.1, the lower part 3.1, which can also be referred to as a screw part, is provided as part of the functional lower part unit by a standard screw. The head portion 9.1 has a conical surface inclined at an angle of 45 degrees in the direction of the shaft portion 10.1 which thus provides the bearing surface 12.1 on the underside of the head portion 9.1. The shaft portion 10.1 has an external thread 48 (depicted schematically) which ends in the axial direction just before the bearing surface 12.1. The closure body 25.1 has a complementary internal thread 49 on its inside enclosing the shaft portion 10.1. The closure body 25.1 can thus be screwed onto the thread 48 of the shaft 10.1. The closure body 25.1 also has the annular peripheral wall 50 formed on the disk-like base body. The internal thread 49 extends into this wall 50. The axial extent of the wall 50 is designed such that the end face of the wall 50 facing the head portion 9.1 forms a stop surface which acts against the bearing surface 12.1. Thus, the closure body 25.1 is tightened to the bearing surface 12.1 with the stop surface provided by the upper end of the wall 50. An additional safeguard against loosening of the closure body 25.1 can be provided by screwing the closure body 25.1 up beyond the threads of the external thread 48 that run out just before the bearing surface 12.1. In this respect, the closure body 25.1 is screwed further onto the external thread 48 of the shaft 10.1 than is possible with its own thread. This represents a special safeguard against unintentional loosening. In FIG. 5, the runout of the thread of the external thread 48 of the shaft portion 10.1 is identified by reference number 48.1. It can be clearly seen in this figure that the wall 50 is screwed with its internal thread 49 beyond the thread runout 48.1 onto the external thread 48 of the shaft portion 10.1.

[0051] In principle, however, it is considered sufficient if the closure body 25.1 is clamped with its free end face provided by the wall in relation to the bearing surface 12.1. An embodiment is also possible in which the wall is not supported on the bearing surface 12.1 of the lower part 3.1 and the position of the closure body 25.1 is fixed on the external thread 48 of the shaft 10.1 by adhesive introduced into the threads.

[0052] The bearing designed as a needle bearing 30.1 between the underside of the upper part 2.1 and the upper side of the closure body 25.1 can also be clearly seen in the partially sectioned representation of the attachment point 1.1 in FIG. 5.

[0053] The cylindrical roller bearing bodies 18.1 are also located in a roller body cage 19.1 in this embodiment. The rolling body cage 19.1 is designed in the manner of a snap ring and sits in a circumferential groove 51 formed in the upper part 2.1. This groove 51 has a rectangular cross-sectional area. By appropriately designing the upper end of the rolling element cage 19.1 pointing towards the upper part 2.1, the gap between the radial outside of the head portion 9.1 of the lower part 3.1 and the inside of the upper part 2.1 can be closed, through which the central opening of the upper part 2.1 is also closed at the same time.

[0054] An advantage of the attachment point 1.1 is that the lower part 3.1, which is designed as a screw part and together with the closure body 25.1 forms the functional lower part unit, is formed by a standard screw, which reduces the cost of manufacturing. In addition, it is possible to detach the closure body 25.1 from the lower part 3.1, in particular also to detach it several times.

[0055] The attachment point 1.1 may also be provided with coupling means, such as the coupling devices 36 described in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 4, to enable the upper part 2.1 to rotationally drive the lower part 3.1. It is then only necessary to introduce rotational driving recesses at appropriate points in the outer lateral surface of the head portion 9.1.

[0056] The attachment point 1.1 can also be designed without a roller bearing body between the two bearing surfaces 8.1, 12.1 of the head portion 9.1 and the upper part 2.1, which are inclined in the same direction and at the same angle, if the rotatability of the upper part 2.1 in relation to the lower part 3.1 is less important than the possibility of absorbing high lateral or shear forces. With such a design, the needle bearing 30.1 will also not necessarily be used. The upper part 2.1 is then mounted in relation to the lower part 3.1 via the mutually contacting bearing surfaces 8.1, 12.1 as plain or sliding bearings. The particularly high transverse force absorption of such an attachment point is based on the fact that the closure body 25.1 with its circumferential wall 50 extends over a threaded portion of the lower part 3.1 designed as a screw part and, typically, over the end of the thread and the transition from the cylindrical shaft portion 10.1 into the inclined bearing surface 12.1 of the head portion 9.1, as described for the embodiment in FIG. 5. Since the inclination of this bearing surface 12.1 is at an angle of 45? with respect to the longitudinal axis of the screw part 3.1, the angle between the bearing surface 12.1 and the lateral surface of the shaft portion 10.1 is 135?. Through these measuresindividually or combined with one anothernotch effect influences are reduced to a minimum, especially in the case of transverse loads acting on the connecting element, compared with previous attachment points.

[0057] While several aspects and embodiments have been discussed herein, those persons skilled in the art will recognize numerous possible modifications, permutations, additions, combinations and sub-combinations therefor, without these needing to be specifically explained or shown within the context of this disclosure. The claims should therefore be interpreted to include all such modifications, permutations, additions and sub-combinations, which are within their true spirit and scope. Each embodiment described herein has numerous equivalents.

[0058] The terms and expressions which have been employed are used as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention in the use of such terms and expressions of excluding any equivalents of the features shown or described, or portions thereof, but it is recognized that various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention. Thus, it should be understood that although the invention has been specifically disclosed by preferred embodiments and optional features, modification and variation of the concepts herein may be resorted to by those skilled in the art, and that such modifications and variations are considered to be within the scope of this invention as defined by the claims. Whenever a range is given in the specification, all intermediate ranges and subranges, as well as all individual values included in the ranges given are hereby incorporated into this disclosure. When a Markush group or other grouping is used herein, all individual members of the group and all combinations and sub-combinations possible of the group are hereby individually included in this disclosure. In general, the terms and phrases used herein have their art-recognized meaning, which can be found by reference to standard texts, references and contexts known to those skilled in the art. Any above definitions are provided to clarify their specific use in the context of the invention.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0059] 1, 1.1 attachment point [0060] 2, 2.1 upper part [0061] 3, 3.1 lower part [0062] 4 eyelet bow [0063] 5 base body [0064] 6 lower part receptacle [0065] 7 wall portion [0066] 8 bearing surface [0067] 9 head portion [0068] 10, 10.1 shaft portion [0069] 11 threaded bolt [0070] 12, 12.1 bearing surface [0071] 13 end face [0072] 14 rotary driving contour [0073] 15 outer side [0074] 16 rotary driving recess [0075] 17 locking bead [0076] 18, 18.1 roller bearing body [0077] 19, 19.1 bearing cage [0078] 20 rolling element receptacle [0079] 21 positioning ring [0080] 22 outer side [0081] 23 positioning ring [0082] 24 projection [0083] 25 closure body [0084] 26 locking wall [0085] 27 locking groove [0086] 28 outer side [0087] 29 bearing surface [0088] 30, 30.1 needle bearing [0089] 31 rolling elements [0090] 32 cage [0091] 33 bearing surface [0092] 34 locking ring [0093] 35 latching web [0094] 36 coupling device [0095] 37 coupling bolt [0096] 38 compression spring [0097] 39 actuation cap [0098] 40 guide bore [0099] 41 recessed grip [0100] 42 ring extension [0101] 43 labyrinth seal [0102] 44 stop step [0103] 45 stop extension [0104] 46 stop surface [0105] 47 object to be handled [0106] 48 external thread [0107] 48.1 thread runout [0108] 49 internal thread [0109] 50 wall [0110] 51 groove