D I S C L O S U R E

Technical Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a cover for a bearing housing, in particular intended to be mounted on machines for the food industry, as well as to a support assembly for movable shafts, for example rotating, including the cover, a bearing housing and a bearing, for example a rolling bearing.

Known Art

As it is known, the machines used in the food industry have many moving parts supported by sliding or rotating shafts, think for example conveyor belts, kneading machines, machines for washing of fresh food.

All these machines must be cleaned frequently, usually with water added with detergent and / or disinfectants, in order to check the possible occurrence of bacterial colonies which may pollute foods. It is in particular necessary that each of these machines not present in the interstices or other parts where dirt or even only the washing water can penetrate and stagnate. The stagnation of liquids or moisture favors in fact a possible proliferation of bacteria.

This problem is particularly felt with respect to the complex support of mobile trees, which may be either type of terminal, that is, where is housed a shaft terminal end, or feedthrough type. These support complexes, are formed by a housing element, generally annular, provided with a base or mounting flange to the machine, by a bearing, typically a rolling bearing (but could also be a sliding bearing), mounted to Of the inner housing and which is coupled with the movable shaft, and a cover, normally cup-shaped, which is coupled in a forced manner on the element housing and that in the case of through-shaft is provided with a hole central through with gasket for the passage of the shaft.

Currently using two different types of forced assembly, in which the seal towards the external contaminants is effected by means of an O- ring interposed radially or frontally between the cover and the housing element and in both of which the seal towards the external contaminants and , above, the jets of washing fluid under pressure, is not satisfactory, so much so that after the washings is found in the washing fluid entering the inside of the lid. In addition, the O-ring presence inevitably involves the creation of interstices between the housing element and cover, the interstices in which water and dirt can stagnate.

Summary of the Invention

The object of the present invention is to provide a lid for a bearing housing, in particular intended to be mounted on machines for the food industry, as well as a support assembly for furniture including trees that cover, devoid of the drawbacks of the art known and in particular in which it ensures a good sealing action between the lid and housing element and above are avoided stagnation of liquids and dirt.

According to the invention are thus provided a lid for a bearing housing and a support assembly for furniture including trees that cover, having the characteristics set forth in the appended claims. Brief Description of Drawings

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate a non-limiting example of embodiment thereof, wherein :

- Figure 1 shows a front elevational view of a non-limiting embodiment of a support assembly for shafts according to the invention;

- Figure 2 shows a view sectioned along a support assembly of the Figure 1 plane II-II with the cover and where a bearing is illustrated only schematically by a dashed line block; is

- Figure 3 illustrates in enlarged scale and in section a detail III of the coupling between the cover and forming part of a housing element of the support assembly of Figure 1

Detailed Description

With reference to Figures 1 to 3, number 1 indicates as a whole a support assembly for furniture shafts, rotating or sliding, not illustrated for simplicity.

The support assembly 1 comprises a bearing 2 (Figure 2), for example a rolling bearing, known and illustrated schematically in broken lines for simplicity, adapted to receive in a movable shaft known manner, for example rotating, to support it, and a housing of buffer 3 having a through seat 4 within which is received the bearing 2 in a stable and known manner, therefore not illustrated for simplicity.

The bearing housing 3, in particular intended to be mounted on machines for the food industry, it is illustrated in radial section and in more detail in Figure 2. The bearing housing 3 is of the type intended to be rigidly mounted on a frame 5 of a known type of machine, only partially shown in phantom in figure 2, in particular against a flat surface 6 of a machine frame 5 for the food industry.

The bearing housing 3 comprises a housing element 7, in the annular complex, designed so as to be adapted to receive in a known manner, to its interior, in particular in the seat 4, the bearing 2, and a base or flange 8 of fastening to the machine frame 5; the seat 4 in general presents an axis of symmetry A and the bearing 2 is generally mounted in the seat 4 coaxial with the axis A; in the case illustrated the seat 4 has a curved lateral surface to allow the possible oscillations of the bearing 2 in order to compensate for any misalignment.

The base or flange 8 is provided with through holes 9 for screws or bolts (known and not illustrated for simplicity) through / which the base or flange 8 and with it the whole support assembly 1 are fixed rigidly to the flat surface 6 of the frame 5.

Obviously, the shape of the bearing housing 3 illustrated is only one possible; for example, the base or flange 8, which in the illustrated example is square and perpendicular to the axis A, can assume other symmetrical or asymmetrical shapes and / or be formed offset (ie eccentric axis with respect to axis A) and the side relative to the housing 7.

In any case, the support assembly 1 also comprises a cover 10 to close in a fluid-sealing a mouth 11 of the inner housing 4 of the housing 7 within which the bearing 2 is mounted.

The lid 10 for the bearing housing 3 is generally cup-shaped and includes a bottom wall 12, an annular side wall 13 which extends transversely to the bottom wall 12 and a coupling portion 14 toward the bearing housing 3 .

The coupling portion 14 is annular, is formed integrally in one piece on one end 15 of the side wall 13 opposite to the bottom wall 12 and is designed to be coupled in use with the bearing housing 3 laterally on the outside of the bearing housing 3, in the present case is shaped as a cup joint and is coupled laterally and radially on the outside on a lateral surface 16 radially outside of the annular housing 7, always present in any embodiment of the same.

The side surface 16 and the coupling portion 14 are defined by a solid of revolution and have a common axis of symmetry, which coincides with the axis A when the lid 10 is mounted on the housing 7.

According to a feature of the invention, the cover 10 is made in one piece in a polymeric material, preferably but not necessarily of synthetic plastic material and the coupling portion 14 is provided on the side opposite to the bottom wall 12 of an annular lip of seal 18, which extends frontally projecting from a front edge 19 of the coupling portion 14 and which is made of the same polymeric material of the lid 10.

In particular, the annular sealing lip 18 is formed integrally in one piece with the coupling portion 14 and is constrained to the front edge 19 by a root portion 20 (Figure 3) forming part of the lip 18 and having a reduced radial thickness compared to the rest of the lip 18, so that the lip 18 is to be elastically deformable in the radial direction, at least in a direction from the inside towards the outside and, preferably, vice versa. The annular lip seal 18 is, according to a further aspect of the invention, delimited radially on the inside by a lateral surface 21 substantially cylindrical while it is delimited radially outwards by a side surface 22 oblique (with respect to axis A) or curve shaped so that the lip seal 18 preferably has its maximum radial thickness in the vicinity of a free end 23 and its minimum radial thickness in correspondence of the root portion 20. the shape of the lip 18 described here is purely exemplary and not limiting. In essence, the sealing lip 18 is formed so as to possess the necessary flexibility such as to mate with the surface 16, as better explained in the following.

According to the invention, the bottom wall 12, the side wall 13, the coupling portion 14 and the sealing lip 18 are all made in a polymeric material, preferably but not necessarily polyurethane, by injection molding in a single piece. Surprisingly, such specifically selected material is one that has shown itself capable of imparting sufficient rigidity to the lid 10, such as to allow it to be coupled stably in any way, for example planted to interference or snap or bayonet, externally on the housing of the bearing 3, and at the same time to impart to the lid 10 a sufficient elasticity / flexibility as to allow the sealing lip 18 to effectively perform its task in contact cooperating in fluidtight manner and in a self-draining with the lateral surface 16.

The annular sealing lip 18 is formed on a radially outer annular portion 24 of the front edge 19 of the coupling portion 14 to which it is bound through its root portion 20, so that between the sealing lip 18 and the front edge 19 it is defined radially on the inside an annular step 25 (figure 3).

In particular, according to a further and not secondary aspect of the invention, the annular sealing lip 18 mates in fluidtight manner and with radial interference with a portion 26 of the side surface 16 of the radially outer annular housing element 7, portion 26 which it is constituted by a portion of a conical surface having taper facing towards the cover 10 and axis of symmetry coinciding with the axis A.

Here and hereinafter, the term "taper" of a conical or frusto-conical surface means the side toward which the vertex of the geometric cone facing bounding this surface. Then the housing 7 annular element tapers in correspondence with the conical surface portion 26 so as to progressively decrease its radial thickness toward the lid 10.

The section of the conical surface 26 defining the tract of the radially outer lateral surface 16 of housing annular element 7 which is coupled with interference with the annular lip 18 has, according to a further aspect of the invention, an inclination with respect to its axis of symmetry a which is indicated as angle "a" in figure 3. the angle "a" is an acute angle, preferably less than 10 ° and, as experimentally determined, ranging between 3 ° and 7 °, inclination and which proved to be after much experimental work, the optimal one to get a good hydraulic seal and make the lip 18 self-draining.

Furthermore, the combination of an elastically deformable lip 18 made of a polymeric material, preferably but not necessarily polyurethane, with a surface of conical coupling 26 having suitable angle not only allows to avoid the formation of any unwanted gap between lip 18 and housing element 7, resulting in the absence of danger of unwanted accumulation of dirt or moisture accumulation, but also allows you to compensate for any dimensional inaccuracies in the housing of the bearing 3.

All the objects of the invention are therefore achieved.