Abstract: An actuator is composed of a frame having a guide rail thereon and a slider movable relative to the frame by means of a ball lead screw. Lubrication of the ball lead screw is carried out by a lubricating member installed in the slider. A first lubricating member has an applicator nose which comes into sliding contact with a helical groove around the ball lead screw and a second lubricating member makes close contact with the first lubricating member to supply lubricant to the first lubricating member. The first and second lubricating members fit together in a recess made at one end of the slider major body. Both the first and second lubricating members have C-shaped contour. The first and second lubricating members lying in close engagement with each other are received in a recess in the end of the slider major body and held there with a presser plate which is secured using fastening screws.

Abstract: A linear motion guide unit makes application of lubricant around rolling elements at the turnaround passage to accomplish securely the maintenance-free lubrication over a prolonged period of time. A lubricant reservoir plate of porous compact is composed of a lubricant reservoir major body impregnated with lubricant and an applicator nose which is different in the molded density from the lubricant reservoir major body. The lubricant reservoir plate impregnated with lubricant is composed of the lubricant reservoir major body installed in a recess made in the end cap and the applicator nose extends through a slot of the turnaround passage to expose itself to the turnaround passage to make application of lubricant around the rolling elements.

Abstract: An inside seal is installed to make close contact with a lower surface of a slider to exclude foreign material from circulating circuits, ensuring smooth sliding movement of the slider relative to a guide rail. The inside seal is composed of a major portion made of an elastic member and a metallic core, an elastic lip extending sidewise from a lengthwise side of the major portion to come into sliding contact with a guide rail, and hooked portions upright to fit into slots on end caps to keep in place the inside seal. Another longitudinal side has elastic edges to come into elastic abutment against the inside wall surface of the end cap.

Abstract: More than two roller rows are arranged on only a closed or looped circuit. A separator is arranged on one roller row out of phase relative to a separator on the other roller row, thereby making less any variation in posture of the slider, which would otherwise occur when the rollers transfer from or into the load-carrying race, and vice versa, eventually improving any travelling accuracy of the slider.

Abstract: A sleeve fits in a through-hole in a carriage to provide a return passage which makes sure of both the flexibility and the stiffness of the sleeve. The sleeve is constituted with fore and aft circular ends, a pair of columns and a pair of flexible columns lying lengthwise between the fore and aft circular ends to guide the roller, lengthwise slits lying between the flexible columns and the columns, and complementary ends made on the terminals of the fore and aft circular ends. The flexible columns have raised lands having curved outer surfaces, and recessions flanked by the raised lands and having rolling wall surfaces or the return passage. The raised lands and the recessions are arranged alternately in the lengthwise direction of the sleeve to give the sleeve the capability of elastic deformation.

Abstract: A lip portion of an end seal is born against a metallic core to make no interference against an end cap. The metallic core controls deformation of the lip portion to improve the close engagement of the lip portion with a guide rail. The lip portion is composed of an outside lip extending outwards and an inside lip extending inwards of the slider. A root portion where the inside and outside lips are merged together is secured to the metallic core in such a relation that the metallic core bears stress exerted on respective center lines of the outside and the inside lips. The metallic core is composed of a mounting portion having a mounting surface, a bent portion extending widthwise of the slider and biased or deflected more outward of the slider to prevent the lip portion from make any interference with the end cap.

Abstract: A synthetic resin-made cage plate to retain rollers lies between guideway members. The smaller pitch between the adjacent rollers in a cage results in the greater number of the rollers lying in a preselected length of the cage to get heavier load-carrying capacity. A holder to receive a pinion is molded integrally with the cage plate. The rollers are retained in openings in the cage plate at a tilt such that their rotating axes are perpendicular to the lengthwise direction of the raceway surfaces and also tilting at 45 degrees relative to major surfaces of the cage plate. The openings on their contour edges have bearing lips to retain end surfaces of the rollers. The cage plate has flanges extending lengthwise on its' widthwise opposite edges and bulging sidewise out over the major surfaces of the cage plate to render the cage plate tougher to warp or bend.

Abstract: A lubricating member is composed of a lubricant reservoir plate of a porous compact and a lubricant-containing member of fibrous material. The lubricating member is packed in an empty space in the end cap to make sure of maintenance-free operation for lubrication over a prolonged period of time. The lubricant reservoir plate is stowed in a recess formed on an outward end surface of the end cap major body and the lubricant-containing member is placed in the space lying deeper than the recess. A packing plate is placed between the lubricant reservoir plate and the lubricant-containing member with making close engagement with an edge defining the recess on the end cap to cover entirely a whole area of the lubricant reservoir plate to seal the lubricant impregnated in the lubricant reservoir plate inside the end cap.

Abstract: An effective contact length in race surfaces formed on grooved races cut in an outer ring and an inner ring is made as greater as permitted to improve the load-carrying capacity, and correspondingly guide parts born against axially opposite ends of a roller are made as less as possible in width to reduce frictional contact resistance applied to the axially opposite ends of the roller, thereby preventing a skew of the roller. An inside circular surface on the outer ring is staggered or different in level on opposite sides of a outside grooved race to make greater the race surface than an effective contact length of circular rolling surfaces of the rollers and correspondingly less the guide part in width than the race surface.

Abstract: A buried plug has interference which is made to exert a load or stress less in a widthwise direction of the guide rail than in a lengthwise direction of the guide rail, thereby protect raceways on the guide rail against any deformation such as bulge. The buried plug has a mating zone to press fit into a counterbore of a bolt hole and a leading zone to guide the mating zone into the counterbore. Let assuming a definition that a direction perpendicular to a lengthwise direction of the guide rail is referred to a direction opposed to the raceway surface or the widthwise direction of the guide rail, the interference exerting a force on the counterbore in the widthwise direction is determined less than the interference exerting the force on the counterbore in the lengthwise direction of the guide rail.

Abstract: A clean environmental actuator is less in weight, height in transverse section and compact in construction, even with ensuring accurate position control and conformable to high speed operation and high acceleration/deceleration. Both a bed and a slider are stowed in an enclosure and packings are in T-slots in side walls of the bed to seal clearances between the bed and the enclosure. The enclosure is composed of an end bracket to cover one end of the bed, a motor bracket to cover another end of the bed, a pair of side coverings to enclose the side surfaces and tops of the side walls of the bed, a sealing panel to cover an upward opening between the side coverings, and a table covering to overlay an area of the sealing panel lying on the slider and side areas of the table bulging out from side edges of the sealing panel.

Abstract: Lubrication for rolling elements is carried out within the turnaround passages. For resupply of lubricant, the end seals and end caps have lubricating holes lying in alignment with each other to allow any lubricant injection needle piercing through there. A porous compact impregnated with lubricant fits in a concavity in the end cap. The concavity has an opening to communicate the concavity with the turnaround passage. The porous compact is composed of reservoirs, conjunctive parts, and applicator noses extending through openings to expose their tips into the turnaround passages. The lubricating hole in the end cap has a slit through which the porous compact is exposed to the lubricating hole to allow the lubricant flowing into the porous compact.

Abstract: A porous compact impregnated with lubricant fits into an end cap in a fashion exposed in part to a turnaround passage to apply the lubricant around balls while the balls roll through the turnaround passage. The porous compact is placed in a concavity in an end cap major part and a slot rounded at opposite ends thereof is formed in an outside curved portion of the turnaround passage to communicate the concavity with the turnaround passage. An applicator nose of the porous compact is exposed to the turnaround passage through the slot. The balls while being guided along edges of the slot come into rolling-contact with the exposed surface of the porous compact to be coated with the lubricant.

Abstract: An inside seal is installed to make close contact with a lower surface of a slider to exclude foreign material from circulating circuits, ensuring smooth sliding movement of the slider relative to a guide rail. The inside seal is composed of a major portion made of an elastic member and a metallic core, an elastic lip extending sidewise from a lengthwise side of the major portion across the overall length of the major portion to come into sliding contact with a guide rail, and hooked portions upright at lengthwise ends of the major portion at right angles to the major portion so as to fit into slots on end caps to keep in place the inside seal. Another longitudinal side opposite to the longitudinal side joining with the lip across the flat major portion has elastic edges to come into elastic abutment against the inside wall surface of the end cap, thereby urging the hooked portion towards one side of the slot to keep in place the inside seal.

Abstract: A linear motion guide unit is provided which is downsized in size, maintenance-free for lubrication, and makes it possible to assemble easily and quickly the slider with accuracy. The end cap has outward end surfaces each of which is concaved to provide a first recess to fit over a lubricant applicator of porous compact to apply the rollers while running through the turnaround passages, and a second recess to fit over a retainer plate. The retainer plate is surrounded with a peripheral edge of the end cap and held in place with a snap-fit engagement with the end cap to squeeze the lubricant applicator inside the first recess in the end cap.

Abstract: A circular sleeve is disclosed which fits into a lengthwise bore in a slider to provide a return passage to make sure of smooth rolling in a slider downsized or compact in length. The sleeve is inserted with leaving circular clearances inside the lengthwise bore in the slider. The sleeve has a bridged beam portion and cantilevered beam portions all of which may undergo elastic deformation under urging or impact force caused by rollers while rolling through the return passage. The bridged beam portion is flanked by support beam portions forming the outside circular surface of the sleeve and the cantilevered beam portions are fastened at their inward ends to a middle support beam portion and freed at their outside ends to bend or warp.

Abstract: A miniature linear motion guide unit is described in which a tubular member for a return passage is installed in an outward open recess cut in the carriage and a covering to bear the tubular member is integral with an end cap major part. This construction helps make the slider compact with cost saving in production. The slider is composed of a carriage made up of an upper portion and side bulges extending downward and having the outward open recesses, end caps having turnaround passages, the tubular members lying on outsides of the side bulges of the carriage, and coverings connected integrally with the end cap major parts to embrace the tubular members in combination with the outsides of the carriage.

Abstract: A buried plug has interference which is made to exert a load or stress less in a widthwise direction of the guide rail than in a lengthwise direction of the guide rail, thereby protect raceways on the guide rail against any deformation such as bulge. The buried plug has a mating zone to press fit into a counterbore of a bolt hole and a leading zone to guide the mating zone into the counterbore. Let assuming a definition that a direction perpendicular to a lengthwise direction of the guide rail is referred to a direction opposed to the raceway surface or the widthwise direction of the guide rail, the interference exerting a force on the counterbore in the widthwise direction is determined less than the interference exerting the force on the counterbore in the lengthwise direction of the guide rail.

Abstract: A three-dimensional sliding system has an X-table and a Z-table, which are actuated to travel independently of each other. The sliding system is simple in construction and adapted to actuate a movable table with less takt time. A bed has a first flat zone extending in a horizontal direction to carry the X-table thereon, a second flat zone extending in a vertical direction to carry the Z-table thereon, and a third flat zone where the first flat zone merges with the second flat zone. The movable table is laid over the third flat zone and linked with the X-table and the Z-table through linear motion guide units, respectively. Actuations of an X-linear motor in an X-direction and actuation of a Z-linear motor in a Z-direction cause the movable table to move into a targeted position with high precision in the X-direction and in the Z-direction.

Abstract: The turning bearing has a separator whose leading and trailing sides are concaved to fit over circular rolling surfaces of the rollers to provide concavities where concaved surfaces lying either in parallel with and in perpendicular to the axis of the roller. The rollers fit in the separator in either of two different directions. The separator can be easier installed into the raceway through a loading hole without the posture of the separator in mind. The separator has a quadrilateral in a transverse cross-section perpendicular to a traveling direction of the separator of which a peripheral surface is in opposition to the outer ring and the inner ring. The separator has a center through-hole. The concaved surfaces in the separator are contoured in arced or curved profiles and bulge gradually closer to a circular edge of the through-hole to form arcing bulges at bottoms of the curved surfaces.