Patents Assigned to NHK Spring Co., Ltd.
  • Patent number: 9624950
    Abstract: Provided is a boot band that is configured for preventing the occurrence of buckling in the inner-layer portion of a band body. In the boot band, by applying a diameter-reducing tightening force on the band body when an engagement pawl of an inner-layer portion of the band body has entered a top-end engagement hole of an outer-layer portion of the band body, the top-end engagement hole rides over the engagement pawl. Buckling is prevented by providing, at the area of the top-end engagement hole opposite where the engagement pawl enters therein, a guide that faces the engagement pawl.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: NHK SPRING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takashi Ogino, Hiroshi Ikeda
  • Patent number: 9624565
    Abstract: An alloy having an ?? martensite which is a processing starting structure is hot worked. The alloy is heated at a temperature increase rate of 50 to 800° C./sec, and strain is given at not less than 0.5 by a processing strain rate of from 0.01 to 10/sec in a case of a temperature range of 700 to 800° C., or by a processing strain rate of 0.1 to 10/sec in a case of a temperature range of 800° C. to 1000° C. By generating equiaxial crystals having average crystal particle diameters of less than 1000 nm through the above processes, a titanium alloy having high strength and high fatigue resistant property can be obtained, in which hardness is less than 400 HV, tensile strength is not less than 1200 MPa, and static strength and dynamic strength are superior.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignees: NHK SPRING CO., LTD., TOHOKU UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Sang-Hak Lee, Yoshiki Ono, Hiroaki Matsumoto, Akihiko Chiba
  • Patent number: 9616725
    Abstract: A suspension arm member includes a connecting portion configured to connect plural members of a suspension, and a support bar extending and provided with the connecting portion at each end. The support bar is made of a resin material and includes plural lightening hole portions each formed in a shape of a recessed portion. The lightening hole portions include plural front upper lightening hole portions (11) formed in a front upper portion of the support bar, plural front lower lightening hole portions formed in a front lower portion of the support bar, plural rear upper lightening hole portions formed in a rear upper portion of the support bar, and plural rear lower lightening hole portions formed in a rear lower portion of the support bar.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: NHK SPRING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Shigeru Kuroda
  • Patent number: 9620158
    Abstract: A tolerance ring includes: a base formed of a strip-like member substantially wound around into a shape; a plurality of projections provided along a winding direction of the base so as to protrude from an outer peripheral surface of the base in a radial direction of the base orthogonal to the outer peripheral surface; at least one extended portion extending from at least one of edge end portions in a width direction of the base, the width direction extending orthogonally to the winding direction and the radial direction. The extended portion extends from a region that includes at least one of a plurality of straight lines passing through respective contact points disposed between a section of the base and a circumscribed circle that circumscribes the section and extend in parallel with the width direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: NHK Spring Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshimitsu Araki, Hidenori Nanke
  • Patent number: 9610871
    Abstract: A vehicle seat includes: a seatback frame of a resin-formed seatback, including a plate-shaped back face panel portion; a headrest; a seatback pad; a lattice-shaped spring member formed from wire arranged in a lattice shape, attached to the seatback frame at a front side of the back face panel portion, and that resiliently supports the seatback pad from a rear side, with a space formed between the back face panel portion and the lattice-shaped spring member; and a load transmission section provided at one of the lattice-shaped spring member or the back face panel portion and disposed inside the space so as to project out toward the side of the other one of the lattice-shaped spring member or the back face panel portion, such that a gap is formed between the load transmission section and the other one of the lattice-shaped spring member or the back face panel portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Assignee: NHK SPRING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kenzo Yasuda, Hiroshi Kushiku
  • Publication number: 20170076745
    Abstract: A suspension includes a load beam and a flexure. The flexure has a metal base and a conductive circuit portion. The conductive circuit portion has an insulating layer formed on the metal base, and a conductor formed on the insulating layer. The conductive circuit portion includes a first region which constitutes a part of the conductive circuit portion in the longitudinal direction, and a second region which constitutes another part of the same in the longitudinal direction. The conductor includes a thin conductor portion having a first thickness arranged in the first region, and a thick conductor portion having a second thickness arranged in the second region. The second thickness is greater than the first thickness.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2016
    Publication date: March 16, 2017
    Applicant: NHK SPRING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Sei KAWAO
  • Patent number: 9592755
    Abstract: The time until a headrest contacts the head of an occupant in the event of a rear collision is shortened with a simple configuration. In a seat device, a stay (46) (including grommets (22)) is set with bending rigidity towards the vehicle front lower than the bending rigidity towards the vehicle rear. Accordingly, when the headrest oscillates in the event of a vehicle rear collision, the headrest is initially displaced towards the vehicle rear, however the headrest changes direction in a short time and begins to be displaced towards the vehicle front. Moreover, there is a large displacement of the headrest towards the vehicle front since the stay (46) (including the grommets (22)) has a lower bending rigidity towards the vehicle front than the bending rigidity towards the vehicle rear. The time until the headrest contacts the head (H) of the occupant can accordingly be shortened.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: NHK SPRING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masami Takayama, Atsushi Kageyama, Ken Okura, Junichi Nakano, Nozomu Munemura, Kensuke Nagai, Tadanori Hisamoto
  • Patent number: 9593731
    Abstract: An inexpensive ring spring having high strength and a method for producing the same, are provided. The ring spring can be obtained, for example, by raw material preparation, bending formation, welding, and disk formation performed in this order. The ring spring is formed to have no edge by welding two edge parts of the raw material, and has a welded metal part that is formed at the interface of the two edge parts of the raw material, and a welded heat-affected zone that is formed around the welded metal part and heated by welding, and exhibits tensile strength of 1000 MPa or more. Since the ring spring has sufficient tensile strength as a disk spring and a wave spring, quenching and tempering are not necessary. Furthermore, since the product can be prevented from being deformed due to quenching and tempering, dimensional accuracy of the product can be improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: NHK SPRING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Noritoshi Takamura, Fumio Takahashi
  • Patent number: 9586508
    Abstract: There is provided a vehicle seat including: a seatback frame that includes a plate-shaped back face panel portion; a headrest; a seatback pad that is provided at a front face side of the seatback frame, with a space formed between the seatback pad and the back face panel portion; a back spring that is formed from wire and includes left and right side portions extending in an up-down direction of the seatback, at both seat width direction sides inside the space, and includes a lower portion coupling together lower end portions of the left and right side portions in the seat width direction, wherein the left and right side portions are supported so as to be capable of undergoing displacement toward a seat width direction outer side with respect to the seatback frame, and support the seatback pad from a seat rear side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: NHK SPRING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kenzo Yasuda, Hiroshi Kushiku
  • Publication number: 20170050488
    Abstract: A semi-finished product (31) includes a first curved portion on one end of a plate-shaped bridge portion (33), and a second curved portion (37) on the other end of the bridge portion (33). The second curved portion (37) includes at the end a second lock portion (51) to lock with a first lock portion (41). The bridge portion (33) and the inner circumferential surfaces of the first and second curved portions (35, 37) are pressure-contacted and caulked on the outer circumferential surface of the stabilizer bar (11) by first and second dies (61, 62). At least one of the inner circumferential surfaces (31c) of the first and second curved portions (35, 37) and the outer circumferential surface of the stabilizer bar opposed to the inner surfaces (31c) is formed with an anti-slippage portion (38). The inner circumferential surfaces (31c) of the first and second curved portions (35, 37) and the outer circumferential surface of the stabilizer bar (11) have an anti-slippage material (Co) therebetween.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 8, 2014
    Publication date: February 23, 2017
    Applicants: NHK Spring CO., LTD., NHK Spring Production Company
    Inventor: Kenji KATSUNO
  • Patent number: 9576602
    Abstract: A flexure for mounting a plurality of reproduction elements thereon includes a metal base and an interconnection part. The metal base includes a first area, and a second area in which a window portion is formed. The interconnection part includes an insulating layer including a first lane which covers the first area and a second lane which covers the second area, a write trace pair connected to a recording element, read trace pairs provided on the second lane to face the window portion and connected to reproduction elements, respectively, and a ground trace arranged between two adjacent read trace pairs and provided with grounding points at two end portions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: NHK SPRING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hajime Arai, Futa Sasaki
  • Patent number: 9576600
    Abstract: A tail pad portion is provided in a flexure tail including a metal base and a conductive circuit portion. Tail terminals are arranged in the tail pad portion. The metal base is made of stainless steel, and includes a frame structure having a first frame and a second frame. An opening is formed between the first and second frames. The tail terminals are arranged parallel to each other between the first and second frames. A bridge portion is provided between the first and second frames. The bridge portion is constituted of at least one conductive bridge member, and arranged at a position which does not overlap the tail terminals. One end of the bridge member is connected to the first frame, and the other end of the bridge member is connected to the second frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: NHK SPRING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hajime Arai, Futa Sasaki
  • Patent number: 9576601
    Abstract: A flexure of a disk drive suspension with a magnetic head having first and second elements. The flexure includes a metal base, a conductive circuit along the metal base, and a tail pad in a flexure tail of the flexure. The tail pad includes first and second frames with an opening therebetween; a first pair of tail terminals arranged between and insulated from the first and second frames, connected to the first element; a second pair of tail terminals arranged between and insulated from the first and second frames, connected to the second element; and a third pair of tail terminals arranged between and insulated from the first and second frames, connected to a third element. First, second and third bridge elements of the metal base are arranged between first tail terminals, second tail terminals, and third tail terminals, respectively. A first bridge-free opening portion is between the first and second tail terminals, and a second bridge-free opening portion is between the first and third tail terminals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: NHK SPRING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hajime Arai, Futa Sasaki
  • Publication number: 20170043641
    Abstract: A stabilizer bar with rubber bush includes a stabilizer bar (2), and at least one rubber bush (6) adhesively fixed to at least a portion of the stabilizer bar. The stabilizer bar (2) and the rubber bush (6) are adhesively fixed to each other with an adhesive agent layer (3). The adhesive agent layer (3) includes a primer agent layer (4) formed on a surface of the stabilizer bar (2) and having a dry film thickness of 3 ?m or more and 13 ?m or less; and a first top coat agent layer (5) formed on the primer agent layer (4) and having a dry film thickness of 5 ?m or more and less than 13 ?m.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 13, 2015
    Publication date: February 16, 2017
    Applicant: NHK SPRING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shigeru KURODA, Kenji KATSUNO
  • Publication number: 20170043642
    Abstract: A hollow stabilizer (1) according to the invention is formed in a hollow shape and includes a bent portion (1c1, 1c2, m1-m5). With a thickness of an inner side of the bent portion (1c1, 1c2, m1-m5) being larger than a thickness of an outer side of the bent portion (1c1, 1c2, m1-m5), a hardness of the outer side of the bent portion (1c1, 1c2, m1-m5) is higher than a hardness of the inner side of the bent portion (1c1, 1c2, m1-m5) through quenching by cooling down after heating by electrical heating.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 20, 2015
    Publication date: February 16, 2017
    Applicant: NHK SPRING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Shigeru KURODA
  • Patent number: 9570948
    Abstract: A magnet plate used for a rotor core of a motor, includes a magnetic pole portion being set between an outer peripheral edge of a body portion and a magnet slot and having a radial width being smaller than a radial sectional width of the permanent magnet, and a higher hardness portion being formed into a hook shape along an end corner of the magnet slot and have a smaller width than the radial sectional width of the permanent magnet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: NHK Spring Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yohei Kameda, Kazuo Iwata, Yuji Araoka, Yoshiki Ono
  • Patent number: 9564155
    Abstract: A tail pad portion is provided in a flexure tail including a metal base and a conductive circuit portion. Tail terminals are arranged in the tail pad portion. The metal base is made of stainless steel, and includes a frame structure having a first frame and a second frame. An opening is formed between the first frame and the second frame. The tail terminals are arranged parallel to each other between the first frame and the second frame. A bridge portion is formed between the first frame and the second frame. The bridge portion includes at least one bridge element which is a part of the metal base. The bridge element is arranged at a position which overlaps at least one of the tail terminals in the thickness direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: NHK SPRING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hajime Arai, Futa Sasaki
  • Publication number: 20170028808
    Abstract: A pipe-shaped member of the present invention is a pipe-shaped member (1) which includes a flat plate portion (1h1, 1h2) placed in at least one end portion (1a1) of two end portions of the pipe, formed in a flat plate shape, and including groove-shaped recessed portions (ta1, tb1, tb2) formed in one and another extended surfaces in the flat plate shape. The recessed portions (ta1, tb1, tb2) are formed such that the flat plate portion (1h1, 1h2) has at least a substantially W-shape, in a direction crossing a longitudinal direction of the flat plate portion (1h1, 1h2), and with a depth not reaching a boundary (1ha) between one plate (1h1) and the other plate (1h2) of the flat plate portion (1h1, 1h2).
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2015
    Publication date: February 2, 2017
    Applicant: NHK SPRING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Kenji KATSUNO
  • Patent number: 9556524
    Abstract: A temperature regulator or the like that can circulate a desired thermal medium and efficiently transfer the heat of the thermal medium is provided. The temperature regulator includes a pipe that is made of a metal or alloy with corrosion resistance to a predetermined thermal medium and that serves as a flow path for circulating the thermal medium; and a plate in which the pipe is buried, wherein the plate is formed by accelerating powder made of aluminum (Al) or alloy together with a gas and thereafter spraying the powder remaining in a solid phase toward the pipe so that the powder is deposited on the pipe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignee: NHK Spring Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takashi Kayamoto, Gou Takahara
  • Patent number: 9555724
    Abstract: A favorable appearance can be achieved using a simple configuration, even when the configuration is provided with a back shell that moves up and down relative to a back frame. In a vehicle seat 10, the back of a seated person is adapted to be supported by a movable back shell 42 that is supported so as to be capable of moving in an up-down direction relative to a back frame 30. A non-movable back shell 46 that is attached so as to be incapable of displacement relative to the back frame 30 is disposed on a back face side of the movable back shell 42, and the back frame 30 is covered by the non-movable back shell 46.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignee: NHK Spring Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shinji Uehara, Tadanori Hisamoto, Masumi Yoda, Tsunekazu Kanno