Abstract: A sealed, precision screw feed device for equipment of the type having a stationary base and a reciprocating carriage member. The device has an elongate tubular housing carrying a shaft with a precision thread, one end of the shaft projecting from one end of the housing and being adapted for connection to a suitable drive motor carried on the base. A nut is disposed completely within the housing, carried by the shaft and connected with a hollow thrust rod that projects from the opposite end of the housing. The housing contains a quantity of lubricant; shaft seals at its opposite ends prevent the lubricant from leaking out past the threaded shaft and thrust rod. The exposed end of the thrust rod has a universal joint which is connected to the carriage member. Also, the bore of the thrust rod is sealed off, to prevent lubricant from escaping through this avenue. The disclosed arrangements provide precision movement of the carriage member, even over extended periods of use.

Abstract: An anti-backlash nut construction wherein a base portion that is adapted to be carried by a machine part, has a bore through which a lead screw can pass. The nut has a threaded portion which is connected to said base portion and which has a bore matching with the bore of the base portion, said threaded portion having a slot or slots by which it is divided into elements formed with thread formations engageable with the external threads of the screw extending through said bores. The base portion has cut-out walls forming pairs of slot ends which are located adjacent the ends of the slots of the threaded portion, so as to facilitate limited movement of the said divided elements toward and away from each other, whereby the thread formations can engage the screw with no clearance and looseness. The pairs of slot ends, together with the ends of the slots that are disposed in the threaded portion form triangles, with the slot ends being separated from each other by solid walls of the base portion.

Abstract: An anti-backlash, self-aligning nut construction comprising specially constructed tubular nut bodies coacting with concentric spring sleeves of unique configuration to effect precise, self-aligning, anti-backlash assemblages. The nut bodies in general each have a pair of spring-biased elements provided with internal thread formations adapted for engagement with the external threads of a screw. In one embodiment of the invention a self-aligning spring sleeve is provided having solely three pairs of oppositely-disposed transverse slots to obtain the desired aligning feature. The nut body has a base portion which is separated from the spring-biased elements by means of two transverse slots which, together with an adjacent pair of slots in the spring sleeve, form in effect a universal joint. One of the remaining slot pairs in the sleeve is oriented circumferentially with respect to the first pair by an angle of 90.degree., with the third pair of slots being circumferentially aligned with the first pair.