Background Art The conventional apparatus for feeding lubricant, which is connected to a catapult, periodically supplies the lubricant into a driving part of the catapult. However, since the lubricant supplied to the driving part of the catapult is collected to a lubricant collector, which is externally placed out of the catapult, the lubricant cannot be recycled, so that the lubricant consumption is increased.

Therefore, there is a problem that a production cost is increased.

Also, since the lubricant cannot be recycled in the conventional apparatus for feeding lubricant, the lubricant should be iteratively supplied by an operator, so that a working efficiency is lowered. Also, if the lubricant is not supplied due to an operator's mistake or the like, a damage of the driving part is caused. Therefore, there is a problem that a life of the catapult is shortened.

And, as the lubricant collector is externally placed out of the conventional catapult, there is an environmental problem due to the lubricant continuously exhausted from the catapult.

In order to solve the above problems, applicant of the present invention has filed a utility model of an apparatus

for recycling and feeding lubricant of a catapult (Utility model registration No. 20-257737) and received a decision to maintain a utility model registration. Thereafter, a patent application entitled"an apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant of a catapult"and assigned as Korean Patent Application No. 10-2002-76613, has been filed on December 4,2002.

However, since a conventional apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant supplies the lubricant by employing a motor and a pump, an expensive pump is required to regularly supply the lubricant, so that a manufacturing cost is increased. More particularly, when the motor is malfunctioned during an operation, since the whole of the apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant should be repaired, there are problems that a repair expense is increased and reliability of the product for the customer is lowered.

In case that the lubricant is supplied to a g s driving part of the catapult according to a catapult manufacturer, when a metering valve, which is universally used in an oil-hydraulic device in an inside of the flow distributor, exists (the metering valve is placed to supply a constant lubricant to a necessary part), the metering valve supplies only a predetermined amount of lubricant, but the lubricant is successively supplied during a lubricant supplying time (tl). Therefore, when amount of the supplied lubricant is greater than a predetermined amount, the lubricant supply is stopped in the metering valve. Therefore, there is a problem that the metering valve cannot be used because a pressure is increased.

Accordingly, if the metering valve is installed, since the metering valve should be separated from the flow distributor, there are problems that a working process becomes complicated and a long time is required.

Disclosure of Invention It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant, capable of not only reducing a production cost but also preventing an environmental pollution by recycling a lubricant supplied to a driving part of the catapult after the lubricant is filtered.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant, capable of improving a working efficiency due to unnecessary lubricant supply by a frequent check of an operator because the lubricant is recycled after being filtered, and lengthening a life of the catapult because the lubricant is successively supplied.

Further another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant, capable of maintaining in a delightful condition because the additional lubricant collector is not required as the lubricant is recycled through a filtering process.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant, capable of reducing a production cost and improving a quality by preventing causes of malfunction by supplying the lubricant by sliding the operating member using an eccentric cam instead of using a motor and a pump.

And, still another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant, capable of improving productivity by easily installing the metering valve without a separation process thereof even if the metering valve is placed according to kinds of the catapult.

Brief Description of Drawings

The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention ; Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view exploding a portion of the apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant in accordance with the present invention ; Fig. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a recycled lubricant supplying unit in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 5 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a recycled lubricant supplying unit in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A in Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B in Fig. 5; Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line C-C in Fig. 5 ; Fig. 9 is a plane view showing a lubrication path according to the apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 10 is an exterior perspective view in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 11 is a sectional perspective view illustrating an important part in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 12 is a perspective view illustrating a recycled lubricant supplying unit in accordance with another

embodiment of the present invention ; Fig. 13 is a schematic perspective view showing that an embodiment of the present invention is connected to the catapult ; Figs. 14 and 15 are perspective views illustrating a guiding unit in accordance with the present invention ; Fig. 16 is a perspective view illustrating a flow distributor in accordance with the present invention ; Fig. 17 is a perspective view showing a connection by using an additional supplementary part when a size of the flow distributor is different ; Fig. 18 is a cross-sectional view taken along line D-D in Fig. 17; Fig. 19 is an exploded perspective view illustrating further another embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 20 is a cross-sectional view taken along line E-E in Fig. 19; Fig. 21 is an exploded perspective view in accordance with still another embodiment of the present invention ; Fig. 22 is a cross-sectional view taken along line F-F in Fig. 21 ; Fig. 23 is a cross-sectional view taken along line G-G in Fig. 12; Fig. 24 is a cross-sectional view taken along line H-H in Fig. 12 ; Fig. 25 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a typical metering valve; Fig. 26 is a cross-sectional view taken along line I-I in Fig. 25 ; Fig. 27 is a cross-sectional view showing an operation of a metering valve when a pressure is increased by supplying a lubricant; and Fig. 28 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a procedure that the lubricant exhausted through the metering valve to another flow distributor when a pressure is

decreased by stopping supply of the lubricant.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention In order to achieve the above objects, an apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant having a body for separating water contained in a lubricant after filtering the lubricant exhausted from a catapult through a plurality of filtering processes and a recycled lubricant supplying unit for supplying the lubricant exhausted from the body into a flow distributor of the catapult through exhausting pipes, the apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant including, a driving motor positioned at a central spacing part and driven when a power is applied, a eccentricity rotating unit whose centroid is eccentric and which is connected to a driving shaft of the driving motor, a pumping unit positioned at a central spacing part away from the driving motor for temporarily storing a filtered lubricant and supplying the filtered lubricant to the catapult, and an operating member disposed in the pumping unit passing through one side of the pumping unit for compulsorily exhausting the lubricant to the flow distributor of the catapult by being sprung to be slid with an elastic member.

Other objects and aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, which is set forth hereinafter.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a catapult placing an apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in Fig. 1, a control panel 101 for controlling an operation of the catapult 100 and a solenoid valve 103 for controlling a driving part built in the

catapult 100 through a signal line 102 are placed on an outside of the catapult 100.

Also, the apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant 200 in accordance with the present invention is structured to one side of the catapult 100 for receiving and filtering the lubricant exhausted from the catapult 100 and transferring the filtered lubricant into a driving part of the catapult 100.

As illustrated in Fig. 2, the apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant 200 in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a body 210 for storing and filtering the lubricant inflowing from the catapult 100 through its opened top portion and separating water contained in the lubricant, and a lid 260 for shielding the top portion of the body 210.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the body 210 includes: first and second storages 211 and 212, first and second filtering members 216 and 217 for dividing the first and second storages into a plurality of spaces and filtering the lubricant; a water separator 224 disposed of a portion of the divided space for separating the water contained in the lubricant; a third filtering member 225 placed in the same space with the water separator 224 for transferring the lubricant, which the water has been separated, to one spacing part divided by the second filtering member 217 ; a fourth filtering member 227 arrayed to the other spacing part divided by the second filtering member 217 for finally filtering the lubricant to be exhausted ; a detecting sensor 228 disposed of the top side of the other spacing part divided by the second filtering members 217 for detecting deficiency of the lubricant; and a recycled lubricant supplying unit 240 for re-supplying the lubricant outputted from the fourth filtering member 227 to the catapult 100.

The mentioned first and second storages 211 and 212 are separately manufactured and then the first and second

storages 211 and 212 are connected by using a typical connection means such a bolt or the like, so that there is a merit that it is easy to carry them. At this time, it is preferable that the first and second storages 211 and 212 are separately manufactured in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention. Also, the storages can be manufactured in one body.

And, the first and the second storages 211 and 212 are formed with a opened type and bolt holes 213 are formed at four corners of an opened top portion for locking the lid 260 by using typical bolts.

Also, a central spacing unit 214 in which a recycled lubricant supplying unit 240 is positioned is formed at a bottom portion of a contact plane which the first and second storages 211 and 212 contact each other, and an opened inlet of the central spacing unit 214 is shielded with a shielding plate 215. Bolt holes 2151 are formed at four corners of the shielding plate 215 to be connected to the inlet of the central spacing unit 240, and the shielding plate 215 has a plurality of air holes 2152 for passing the air into the central spacing unit 214 in order that a heat generated when the recycled lubricant supplying unit 240 is operated is to be cooled.

The first and second filtering members 216 and 217 are attachably connected in the first and second storages 211 and 212 by guiding members 218 and 219 formed to be faced to both sidewalls of the first and second storages 211 and 212 to thereby divide the first storage 211 into the first and second spacing units 220 and 221 and the second storage 212 into the third and fourth spacing unit 222 and 223.

At this time, the first spacing unit 220 divided by the first filtering member 216 firstly stores the lubricant exhausted from the catapult 100, and the first filtering member 216 has a plurality of filtering holes 2161 for filtering and carrying the lubricant stored in the first

spacing unit 220 to the second spacing unit 221 and a filtering member 2162 locked to the filtering hole 2161 for filtering impurities. The second filtering member 217 includes filtering holes (not denoted) having an identical function with the filtering holes 2161 formed in the first filtering member 216.

The water separator 224 is placed in the second spacing'unit 221 and separates water from the firstly filtered lubricant through the first filtering member 216.

Since the specific gravity of the water is greater than that of the lubricant, the water is sunk to a bottom.

Subsequently, the water separator is moved upward as much as a height of the water sunk in the bottom, so that the water is separated and is exhausted to exterior. The water separator 224 includes a up and down moving member 2241 formed to have a lower specific gravity than that of the water to be moved up and down, and a. water exhausting member attachably inserted in a center portion of the up and down moving member 2241.

The third filtering member 225 is placed in a top side of the second spacing unit 221 by a fixing plate 226 and filters the lubricant which the water has been separated by the water separator 224 and carries the filtered lubricant to the third spacing unit 222. At this time, the fixing plate 226 is positioned at a top side of the second spacing unit 221 with a typical locking means such a bolt, a screw or the like.

The fourth filtering member 227 is placed in a bottom side of the fourth spacing unit 223 and finally filters the lubricant stored in the fourth spacing unit 223 after being filtered by the second filtering member 217 before the lubricant is carried to the recycled lubricant supplying unit 240.

The detecting sensor 228 is placed in a top side of the fourth spacing unit 223 and detects when amount of the

lubricant inflowing to the fourth spacing unit 223 is insufficient, and then transfers. a detecting signal to a controlling unit 263 to be described through a signal line 229, so that a buzzer sound is generated. At this time, the signal line 229 is guided by the guide panel 230. And, the detecting sensor 228 can be placed not only in the fourth spacing unit 223 but also another spacing unit.

As described in Figs. 4 to 8, the recycled lubricant supplying unit 240 includes: a supporting plate 241 positioned in an inside of the central spacing unit 214 by using bolts 241 for supporting the recycled lubricant supplying unit 240 ; a driving motor driving fixed on the supporting plate 241 by a supporting unit 242, which is driven when a power is applied; an eccentricity rotating unit 244 whose centroid is eccentric and which is connected to a driving shaft 2431; a pumping unit placed on the supporting plate 241 away from the diving motor 243 for temporarily storing the lubricant exhausted from the fourth filtering member 227 and then supplying the lubricant to the catapult 100 ; and an operating member 254 for inflowing the lubricant from fourth spacing unit 223 to the pumping unit 245 and compulsorily outputting the lubricant to the catapult by being operated according to a rotation of the eccentricity rotating unit 244.

At this time, the supporting unit 241 includes a fixing plating unit 2421 fixed on a top plane of the supporting plate 241 and a supporting plating unit 2422 connected to the fixing plating unit 2421 in a top direction for supporting the driving motor 243 with typical bolts. A driving shaft passing hole 2423 is formed in a center portion of the supporting plating unit 2422 which the driving shaft of the driving motor 243 is passed and bolt holes 2424 are formed at four corners of the supporting plating unit 2422 which bolts are passed.

And, the eccentricity rotating unit 244 includes a cam

whose centroid is eccentric and which is axially connected to the driving shaft ; a bearing 2442 fixed to one side of the cam 2441 for pressing the operating member 2443 by its outer race 1442a with rotating together with the cam 2441 when the driving motor 243 is driven ; and a fixing unit 2443 for fixing the bearing the cam 2441. A driving shaft inserting hole 2441a is formed at a center portion of the cam for inserting the driving shaft 2431 and a bolt inserting hole 2441b for inserting bolts for fixing the cam on the driving shaft 2431 is formed at the other side.

Meanwhile, since the inside of the fixing unit 2443 is inserted to the internal side of the cam 2441, the bearing is strictly fixed to one side of the cam 2441.

Also, the pumping unit 245 for temporarily storing the lubricant inflowing from the fourth spacing unit 223 and then outputting the stored lubricant to the catapult 100, includes: plate planes 2451 and 2451'formed at top and bottom sides thereof ; a sliding hole 2452 formed at a center portion of the pumping unit 245 which the operating member 254 is slide by passing through and the lubricant inflowing from the fourth spacing unit 223 is temporarily stored, a lubricant inlet connected to the sliding hole 2452 at the other side of the pumping unit 245 for inflowing the lubricant from the fourth spacing unit 223; and a lubricant outlet 2454 opposite to the lubricant inlet 2453 for outputting the lubricant temporarily stored in the sliding hole 2452 to the catapult 100.

At this time, one side of the sliding hole 2452 placed to the other side of the pumping unit 245 is shielded by a lid 2455 and a plurality of 0-rings 2456 are placed to the other side of the sliding hole 2452 in order to present that the lubricant is leaked through the space formed between the insides of the operating member 254 and the sliding hole 2452 when the operating member 254 is slid.

And, a lubricant injecting hole 2467 placed in the

pumping unit 245 and coupled to the sliding hole 2452 for injecting the lubricant to make the operating member to be smoothly slid in the in the sliding hole 2452, and an air exhausting hole 2458 coupled to the sliding hole 2452 at a top plane of the pumping unit 245 for exhausting the air filled in the sliding hole 2452 to the outside.

Meanwhile, a lubricant tank 247 is locked to the pumping unit 245 by a screw unit 2473 for supplying the lubricant to an outside of the operating member 254 in order to preventing the damage from friction in an initial operation, and a lid 2471 is formed at a top side of the lubricant tank 247.

And, after a little of air filled in the inflow pipe 3481 is exhausted through the adjusting unit 3461, the adjusting unit 3461 should be shut to thereby prevent that the lubricant is leaked. That is to say, the air exhausting member 364 opens the air hole 3462 to exhaust the air by adjusting the adjusting unit 3461 only in the first stage.

And, the plating plane 2451'placed at the bottom plane of the pumping unit 245 is formed with a bolt insert groove 2459 fixing pumping unit 245 to the supporting plate 241 by connecting the bolts 2411 and washer 2413.

Meanwhile, an end of the lubricant inflowing pipe 2481 connected to the lubricant inflowing inlet 2453 of the pumping unit 245 and an end of the exhausting pipe 2487 connected to a lubricant exhausting outlet 2454 are coupled to the lubricant inflowing inlet 2453 and the lubricant exhausting outlet 2454 by screws, respectively, and check valves are placed on the lubricant inflowing pipe 2481 and the lubricant exhausting pipe 2487 in order that the lubricant flows only one direction. Namely, the check valve 2483 placed in the lubricant inflowing pipe 2481 controls that the lubricant flows only from the fourth spacing unit 223 to the pumping unit 245, and the check

valves 2486 placed in the lubricant exhausting outlet 2454 controls that the lubricant flows only from the pumping unit 245 to catapult 100. Accordingly, when the operating member 254 is inserted to the pumping unit 245, the lubricant temporarily stored in the pumping unit 245 is outputted only to the catapult 100 but is not flown backward to the fourth spacing unit 223, and when the operating member 254 is slid to a separation direction from the pumping unit 245, the lubricant flown to the catapult is not flown backward to the plumping unit 245. And, a pressure meter 2488 identifying a pressure of the lubricant inputted to the catapult is placed in the exhausting pipe 2487.

The operating member 254 is to exhaust the lubricant temporarily stored in the pumping unit 245 to the catapult 100 by being slid to an inside of the pumping unit by receiving a pressure by an eccentric side of the eccentricity rotating unit 244. An elastic member accepting groove 2541 formed in a portion of the operating member 254 positioned in an inside of the pumping unit 245 accepts an elastic member 2542 for enforcing an elastic strength in order that the operating member 254 is always slide to the outside of the pumping unit 245.

As illustrated in Fig. 2, the lid 260 is attachably coupled to the top side of the body 210 with a typical connecting means such a bolt and shields the opened top portion of the body 210. A fifth filtering member 261 receiving and filtering the lubricant supplied from the catapult 100 and supplying the filtered lubricant to the first spacing unit 220 of the body 210 a guiding unit 262, which is connected to the fifth filtering member 261, for guiding the lubricant supplied from the catapult 100 to the fifth filtering member 261 ; a controlling unit 263 controlling an operation of the apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant; and a new lubricant supplying unit 264

placed to be rotated for supplying a new lubricant to the body 210 are placed at a top plane of the lid 260.

At this time, when the detecting sensor 228 positioned in the fourth spacing unit 223 of the body 210 detects a deficiency of amount of the lubricant, the controlling unit 263 generates a buzzer sound by receiving a signal from the detecting sensor 228 and the controlling unit 263 has a cancellation switch 265 for canceling the buzzer sound.

Fig. 10 is perspective view illustrating the apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant in accordance with another embodiment of the present. Differences between the preferred embodiment and another embodiment are followed.

The apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention includes an overflow pipe 281, which is formed at one side of the body 210, for easily exhausting the lubricant when the lubricant in the body is over flown due to some causes such a damage of sealing packing and the like, a supply guiding line 283, which is formed at a bottom portion of the overflow pipe 281, controlling supplementary amount of lubricant when an operator fills the lubricant; an exhausting adjusting unit 292, which is locked by a plurality of screw locking units formed at a bottom portion of the apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant 200, for controlling that the lubricant is exhausted in the apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant 200 to the exterior.

The exhausting adjusting unit 292 normally closes an exhausting path by being screw-locked to the screw locking unit 291. However, when the lubricant should be exhausted to the exterior for cleaning the apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant 200, the exhausting adjusting unit 292 is easily separated and the lubricant is exhausted to the exterior through the holes formed in the screw locking unit 291.

A fuse unit 268 in which fuses are formed, a lubricant adjusting unit 267 for adjusting amount of the lubricant for supplying proper amount of lubricant according to a size and a structure of the catapult by an operator, and a power terminal receiving an external power of 220V are formed.

Fig. 12 is an exploded perspective view illustrating important parts in Fig. 10. Differences from the embodiment described in Figs. 3 and 4 are that a portion of the recycled lubricant supplying unit 240 is changed. The differences are followed.

As illustrated in Figs. 11,12 and 23, the difference is that a pressure adjustment controlling unit 246 is formed. The pressure adjustment controlling unit 246 includes: a pressure adjusting unit 2462 screw-connected to an air exhausting hole 2458 formed on a top portion of the pumping unit 245; an adjusting valve 2464 inserted and locked in an inside of the pressure adjusting unit 2462 for opening and closing an exhausting hole by moving up and down; and a feedback hose 2467 whose one side is locked to the exhausting hole 2465 and the other side is connected to an input stage of the check valve with a locking member, for feeding back the lubricant when the pressure is increased.

When a pressure is increased because the lubricant exhausted from the exhausting pipe is not regularly supplied due to various causes, for example, 1) when a pressure is increased by which the exhausting pipe 2487 is clogged by impurities or dregs of the lubricant, or 2) when a pressure is increased by which the lubricant is not regularly supply because of the metering valve typically used in the flow distributor 120 connected to the exhausting pipe 2487, if the exhausting hole 2465 is opened by adjusting the adjusting valve 2464 coupled to the pumping unit 245, since the lubricant exhausted from the

pumping unit 245 is partially supplied through the check valve 2486 and partially supplied by feeding back to the feed back 2457 through the exhausting hole 2465, a sharply increased pressure can be prevented because the lubricant is fed back to the feed back hose 2457 even if the pressure is increased due to caused described above.

After the product is installed, if a pressure is directly increased because the hose is clogged or the hose is clogged by the dregs of the lubricant, the causes should be solved. However, if the pressure is increased due to the metering valve 121, a normal operation will be carried out without any management. The reason which the normal operation is carried out will be described. Herein, since the metering valve 121 has a slightly different structure according to manufacturers, an arbitrary product will be described as a reference.

As described in Figs. 25 to 28, if the lubricant is supplied to the lubricant path 1281 through the exhausting pipe 2487, a pressure is applied to a first packing unit 1232 placed in the lubricant path 1281.

If the pressure is applied to the first packing unit 1232, a spring connected to the first packing unit 1232 is expanded, so that the pressure is also applied to a second packing unit 1241. Therefore, the second packing unit 1241 is moved to a right side by compressing a spring 1260 moving together with the second packing unit 124-1.

At this time, since the first packing unit 1232 is moved to a right side due to a pressure by lubricant supply, a piercing hole 1245 contacted with the first packing unit 1232 is clogged, so that the lubricant cannot be moved to a next stage.

The lubricant inflowing in the lubricant path 1281 is filled up a left space as much as a space which the second packing unit 1241 is moved to a right side and when the second packing unit 1241 cannot be moved to a right side

any more, a pressure is sharply increased. Namely, a space filled with the lubricant is increased as the second packing unit 1241 is moved to a right side, however, if the second packing unit 1241 cannot be moved any more, since the lubricant is successively supplied, a pressure is increased due to a limited space. At this case, the lubricant supplied according to reciprocation of the operating member 254 is partially fed back through the exhausting hole 2465 and the feed back hose 2457 by adjusting the adjusting valve 2464.

Eventually, the pressure of the lubricant is not increased over a predetermined pressure. Therefore, even if the metering valve 121 is placed, the normal operation can be carried out without a disassembling operation.

Thereafter, if the power supply is shut down when the lubricant supply time (tl) is completed, the driving motor is stopped, so that the lubricant supply is completely halted. Therefore, the pressure is sharply decreased and then, because the pressure of the lubricant pressing the second packing unit 1241, the second packing unit 1241 and an outside supporting unit 1251 of which a penetrating hole is formed in a center portion are moved to a left side by an elastic strength of the spring.

As mentioned above, as the pressure is decreased by halting the lubricant supply, if the second packing unit 1241 is moved to the left side by the elastic strength of the spring, the lubricant filled in a left space of the second packing unit 1241 is supplied to a next stage through the first and second piercing holes 1245 and 1277.

The present apparatus is set repeatedly to supply the lubricant for a predetermined time tl, typically 1 minute 30 seconds, and to stop the lubricant supply for a predetermined time t2, typically 20 minutes according to working time and condition. Typically, as a size of the catapult is increase, the lubricant supply time tl is

increased and the lubricant supply stop time t2 is decreased.

In the technical way described in the above, when the pressures of the pressure adjusting unit 2462 and the adjusting valve 2464 are simultaneously increased, the operator recognizes the above situation and then the adjusting valve is adjusted with a passive process to thereby feed back the lubricant. Also, the other technical way different from the above technique can be used. That is to say, an orifice unit is placed to the exhausting hole 2465 connected to the pressure adjusting unit 2462, so that when the pressure is higher than a predetermined pressure, the pressure is automatically fed back through an orifice operation.

In order to operate the orifice, it is required to always open the exhausting hole 2465 by adjusting the adjusting valve 2464. Namely, when the pressure is lower than a reference value, the lubricant is normally exhausted to the check valve 2486 placed in an outlet, and when the pressure is pressure is higher than the reference value, the pressure is applied to the orifice, the lubricant is fed back to the feedback hose 2467, so that the pressure is automatically decreased.

Namely, this orifice is a way employed in a typical oil pressure machine in changing the pressure. The way includes a nozzle way or an orifice way.

Fig. 13 is a schematic diagram showing a detailed apparatus mounted to the catapult.

A plurality of devices for distributing the lubricant inflowing into one place to various connection pipes (hereinafter, referred to as a flow distributor), normally over 10 flow distributors, are typically formed in the catapult as illustrated in Figs. 13,16 and 17 according to a catapult manufacturer and kinds. In this case, a metering valve is not placed in an inside of the flow

distributor 120. On the other hand, some catapults include the metering valve 121 which is generally used as illustrated in Figs. 25 to 28.

In accordance with the present invention, the pressure adjustment controlling unit 246 is formed in order that the lubricant is fed back to the feedback hose 2467 by 1) manually adjusting the adjusting valve 2464 even if the pressure is increased due to placing the metering valve 121 in the inside of the flow distributor 120, or 2) downing the pressure according to the orifice principle when the pressure is greater than a predetermined pressure in an automatic way. Therefore, even if the metering valve 121 is placed in the inside of the flow distributor 120, since the pressure is decreased again, the flow distributor is easily operated without disassembling the metering valve 121.

After the lubricant supplied from the flow distributor 120 is supplied to a catapult Elg driving part, the lubricant inflows to the guiding unit 262, and the guiding unit 262 is connected to the lubricant exhausting pipe 179 by using a locking joint 172, and if diameters of the lubricant exhausting pipe 179 and the locking joint 172 are different according to their usages, a coupling member 177 can be used or a different lubricant exhausting pipe 174 can be used as illustrated in Fig. 15.

Figs. 16,17 and 18 show that different products can be conveniently connected according to the flow distributor 120. A plurality of screw connecting units 122 are formed in the flow distributor 120 for supplying the lubricant to various parts. Since diameters and screw types of these screw connection units 122 are differently manufactured according to manufacturers, there are inconvenient when the operate installs them. Therefore, in order to improve the above inconvenience, a first pipe connecting member 140 is used.

Namely, a first pipe connecting member 140 includes: a screw connecting unit 145 screw-connected to a screw connecting unit 122; a projection connecting unit to be projected at a center portion of the other side of the screw connecting unit 145; a compressing connection unit settled to an outside of the projection connecting unit 144; and an outside connecting unit 147 settled to an outside of the press connecting unit and to a screw unit of the screw connecting unit 145.

The projection connecting unit 144 is formed to be projected from the center portion of the screw connecting unit 145 to the outside, so that the exhausting pipe 2487 is inserted and locked to an outside of the projection connecting unit 144 as described in Fig. 18. Also, as the outside of the exhausting pipe 2487 is locked again to the press connecting unit 143, when the exhausting pipe 2487 is completely locked, a press projecting unit 1431 projected at one side of the press connecting unit 143 formed with the plastic material is pressed as illustrated in Fig. 18 to thereby press the outside of the projection connecting unit 144, so that the exhausting pipe 2487 formed between the press projecting unit 1431 and the projection connecting unit 144 is conveniently locked to be not separated.

Since a piercing hole 141 is formed at one side of the outside connecting unit 147, the exhausting pipe 2487 is passed through the piercing hole 141, and a inside screw unit 1401 is formed at an inside of the outside connecting unit 147 to be locked with a screw unit of the screw connecting unit 145.

Fig. 17 shows that a supplementary connecting unit 150 is used when a size of the screw connecting unit 122 is different each other according to products. An outside screw unit 152 formed at one end of the supplementary connecting unit 150 is formed with a different size from a

diameter of one end of the screw connecting unit 145 and an inside screw unit 151 formed at the other end of the supplementary connecting unit 150 is formed to be locked with the screw connecting unit 145.

Figs. 19 and 20 illustrate another embodiment of the present invention. Another embodiment, which is similar to the above embodiment, has a different way connecting different two exhausting pipes 252 and 2487 each other.

That is to say, in accordance with another embodiment, an intermediate connecting unit 155 is used to connect the first connecting member 140 and the second connecting member 130. The intermediate connecting unit 155 includes an inside screw unit 1551 in which a screw is formed at a center portion and a connecting unit 1553 pierced to both sides for supplying the lubricant.

As illustrated in Fig. 20, a piercing hole 134 is formed at one side of a screw joint unit 131 and the exhausting pipe 251 is locked and inserted in an inside of the screw joint unit 131. Accordingly, when the operator locks the screw joint unit 131 by rotating the screw, the press connecting unit 132 locked to an outside of the exhausting pipe 251 is contacted to a front end of the screw joint unit 131, so that the press connecting unit 132 is pressed. Therefore, the exhausting pipe 251 is locked without separation.

Figs. 21 and 22 show further another embodiment of the present invention which is similar to the above embodiment.

A difference is that two exhausting pipes 251 and 2487 are connected by using an intermediate connection joint unit 160. A screw thread is formed at an outside of the intermediate connection joint unit 160 and a plurality of projection connecting units 163 are formed at an center portion of an inside of the intermediate connection joint unit 160 to be projected toward an outside.

As illustrated in Fig. 24, the air exhausting hole

3461 is locked to a screw unit 3465. In case that the product according to the present invention is initially installed, after the lubricant is filled in each spacing unit of the apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant 200, the inflowing pipe 2481 is filled not the lubricant but a air when the driving motor is operated, so that the inflowing pipe 2481 is not pressed. Therefore, even if the pumping unit is operated, the lubricant does not inflow.

Accordingly, the air exhausting hole 3461 is to exhaust the air filled in the pumping unit 245 to thereby smoothly inflow the lubricant. If the operator injects the lubricant by separating the screw unit 3465, the air filled in the pumping unit 245 is exhausted to an exterior.

The numeral reference 255, which is not described, represents a supporting plate for supporting the first and second storages 211 and 212 and the numeral reference 256 represents a bucket detachably placed to a concave hanging unit 257 away from the bottom plane of the first and second storages 211 and 212 for receiving and exhausting the water separated in the water separator 224.

Hereinafter, an operation of the lubricant recycling supply apparatus in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described.

A waste lubricant exhausted from the catapult 100 is inputted to the fifth filtering member 261 through the guiding unit 262, and then the lubricant is filtered. The filtered lubricant is stored in the body 210.

The lubricant stored in the first spacing unit 220 of the body 210 is filtered by passing the first filtering unit 216 and transferred to the second spacing unit 221.

The water contained in the lubricant in the second spacing unit 221 is separated by using a difference of a specific gravity between the water and the lubricant. That is to say, since the specific gravity of the lubricant is less than that of the water, the lubricant is placed at a top

side and the water is placed at a bottom side. After separating the water from the lubricant, the lubricant is filtered by passing the third filtering member 225 and transferred to the third spacing unit 222.

The lubricant transferred to the third spacing unit 222 is filtered by passing the second filtering member 217 and transferred to the fourth spacing unit 223. The lubricant in the fourth spacing unit 223 is finally filtered by passing the fourth filtering unit 227 and then transferred to the recycled lubricant supplying unit 240.

At this time, when amount of the lubricant transferred to the fourth spacing unit 223 is deficient, the detecting sensor 228 detects the deficiency of the lubricant and transmits the detecting signal to the controlling unit 263, so that the controlling unit generates a buzzer sound.

In detail, if the driving motor 243 is rotated, the cam 2441 is eccentrically rotated by the inserting hole 2441a which is eccentric, so that the bearing 2442 locked at the outside of the cam 2441 is rotated to thereby push one side of the operating member 254.

As mentioned above, if the bearing 2442 pushes one side of the operating member 254 by being eccentrically rotated, the operating member 254 is moved to a right side as illustrated in Fig. 7. Thereafter, the elastic member 2542 inserted in the other side of the operating member 254 is pressed to thereby reduce a space of the sliding hole 2452, so that a pressure in the sliding hole 2452 is increased. Therefore, the lubricant in the sliding hole 2452 is supplied to the catapult 100 through the outlet 2454 illustrated in Fig. 6 and the exhausting pipe 2487.

When the operating member 254 is operated, the lubricant is not flown backward to the inlet by the operation of the check valve 2483 connected to the inflowing pipe 2481 but supplied to the check valve 2486 placed to the outlet.

On the other hand, if the bearing 2442 is positioned at an opposite side as the driving motor is rotated, one side of the operating member 254 is moved to a left side, so that the elastic member 2542 inserted in the other side of the operating member 254 is expanded. Therefore, since the space of the sliding hole 2452 is increased, the pressure in the sliding hole 2452 is decreased, so that the lubricant in the inflowing pipe 2481 inflows to the space of the sliding hole 2452.

At this time, the lubricant does not flow backward to the catapult 100 by the check valve 2486 connected to the exhausting pipe 2487, but the lubricant inflows only through the inflowing pipe 2481.

After the space of the sliding hole 2452 is filled with the lubricant, as the cam is rotated, an operation for sequentially sucking and exhausting the lubricant is successively carried out, so that the lubricant is supplied to the catapult 100.

Accordingly, in the process of lubricant inflowing and exhausting, when the lubricant is compulsorily exhausted from the catapult 100 by inserting the operating member 254 into the pumping unit 245, the exhausted lubricant does not flow backward to the fourth spacing unit 223 by the check valve 2483 placed in the lubricant inflowing pipe 2481, and when the lubricant compulsorily inflows to the pumping unit 245 by which the operating member 254 is slid to a outside direction of the pumping unit 245, the inflowing lubricant does not flow backward to the pumping unit 245 by the check valve 2486 placed in the exhausting pipe 2487.

In accordance with, as the lubricant is supplied by performing a plurality of filtering processes and a water separating process in the apparatus for recycling and feeding lubricant in accordance with the present invention, lubricant consumption is decreased, so that a manufacturing cost is reduced and an environmental pollution can be also

prevented. Also, since the lubricant is used after filtering for a long time, there is not needed that the operator frequently checks the lubricant for supplying the lubricant, so that a working efficiency is improved. And, since the supply of the lubricant is automatically performed, a damage of the catapult can be prevented by the lubricant supplied to the Elg driving unit of the catapult, so that a life time of the catapult is lengthened. Besides, a lubricant collector, which is conventionally installed, is not required, so that a working environment can be maintained in a delightful condition. Since the present product is manufactured with a plastic material for mass production, a weight of the product is reduced, so that it is easy to carry and install it. Specially, since the lubricant is supplied by sliding operating member by using the eccentric cam instead of using a motor and a pump causing a malfunction during an operation, it is expected that a quality be improved. Besides, even if the metering valve is placed according to kinds of the catapult, it can be easily installed by conveniently adjusting the pressure without a special operation, so that the productivity is improved.

While the present invention has been described with respect to certain preferred embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.