A spiral wound retaining ring with angled ends is described. The ring is crimped at the same angle as the ring ends to maintain a constant thickness dimension. The angling of the ends of the ring and crimp allow the ends to be positioned closer together while maintaining enough clearance to enable insertion and removal of the ring. By reducing the separation distance between the ends a stronger ring results since the double layer area of the ring is maximized

Lawson, A. G.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

United States Patent 
Lawson 
[54] MODIFIED SPIRAL WOUND RETAINING 
[75] Inventor: Ashby G. Lawson, Tabb, Va. 
[73] Assignee: The United States of America as 
RING 
represented by the Administrator of 
the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration, Washington, D.C. 
[21] Appl. No.: 182,880 
[22] Filed: Aug. 29,1980 
[51] Int. Cl.3 .............................................. F16B 21/18 
[52] U.S. Cl. ..................................... 411/517; 411/353 
[58] Field of Search ............... 411/517, 518, 516, 353, 
411/352, 153, 543 
~561 References Cited 
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 
397,935 2/1889 Powell ............................ 411/153 X 
4,371,301 
[451 Feb. 1,1983 
FOREXGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 
279991 4/1952 Switzerland ........................ 41 1/517 
Primary Examiner-Ramon S. Britts 
Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Howard J. Osborn; John R. 
Manning 
1571 ABSTRAm 
A spiral wound retaining ring 110 with angled ends 214 
and 216 is disclosed. The ring is crimped 220 at the same 
angle as the ring ends to maintain a constant thickness 
dimension. The angling of the ends of the ring and 
crimp allow the ends to be positioned closer together 
while maintaining enough clearance to enable insertion 
and removal of the ring. By reducing the separation 
distance between the ends a stronger ring results since 
the double layer area of the ring is maximized. 
5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures 
214 
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19830010820 2020-03-22T00:29:07+00:00Z
U.S. Patent Feb. 1, 1983 4,371,301 
18 IO 
I2J 
FIG. 1 
FIG. 2 
FIG.  4 
FIG. 3 
214 
[ 228 
4.37 1,30 1 
1 
MODIFIED SPIRAL WOUND RETAINING RING 
ORIGIN OF THE INVENTION 
The invention described herein was made by an em- 
ployee of the United States Government and may be 
manufactured and used by or for the Government for 
governmental purposes without the payment of any 
royalties thereon or therefor. 
TECHNICAL FIELD 
This invention relates to retaining rings and in partic- 
ular to spiral wound retaining rings. 
A retaining ring is used in a groove inside a retaining 
cylinder (interior ring) or outside a retaining cylinder 
(exterior ring). The ring protrudes from the groove so 
as to block a slightly smaller retained cylinder shaped 
within the retaining cylinder (in the case of an interior 
ring) or slightly larger retained cylinder within which 
the retaining cylinder is slipped (in the case of an exte- 
rior ring). In either case, the ring provides an abuttment 
for the retained cylinder strong enough to withstand the 
load applied to the retained cylinder. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Spiral wound retaining rings are well known in the 
art. These rings consist of two or more turns of a flat 
material wound to provide a continuous coil. The typi- 
cal ring is wound two times, the end of the material not 
quite reaching the beginning. Thus, about 80-90 percent 
of the ring is comprised of a double layer, the remaining 
20 percent is a single layer, This single layer area is 
necessary to facilitate insertion and removal of the ring. 
To insert an interior ring the ends are pulled together to 
temporarily decrease the diameter of the ring, this ena- 
bles the ring to fit into the cylinder. Once the ring is 
placed into the groove and the ends released the ring 
springs back to its larger diameter to stay securely in 
position. The single layer area provides enough clear- 
ance to pull the ends closer together without any over- 
lap since a three layer section would not fit into the 
groove. 
Since the standard retaining ring is comprised of a 
single layer over from 10-20 percent of its surface the 
load that is applied to the ring and therethrough to the 
groove in the retaining cylinder is distributed over from 
80-90 percent of the surface of the ring and groove. For 
most applications this poses no difficulty since the ring 
and groove can be designed to withstand the entire load 
over less than their entire surface. However, in critical 
situations it may be impossible to make the groove so 
strong and consequently, the grooves may deform 
when a load is applied. For example, in a particular 
rocket engine a groove constructed of fiberglass could 
not withstand a load distributed over only 80-90 per- 
cent of the groove. However, the groove could and did 
withstand the same load when a retaining ring with 
decreased single layer area was used to distribute the 
load over approximately 98 percent of the ring and 
groove surfaces. 
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a 
retaining ring with decreased single layer area. 
Another obiect of the invention is to Drovide a retain- 
, .  
2 
derstood when the specification is taken in conjunction 
with the attached drawings to which it relates. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention provides a superior interior 
retaining ring by reducing the area of single thickness 
present in prior art retaining rings. This is accomplished 
by cutting the ends of the ring at an angle with respect 
to a radial line merging from the center of the ring. Both 
10 ends are cut at the same angle, this allows the ends to be 
positioned closer together and still provide the clear- 
ance necessary to contract the ring during insertion and 
removal. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
5 
15 
FIG. 1 is a partial view of a standard spiral wound 
retaining ring; 
FIG. 2 is a partial plan view of a standard retaining 
ring displaying a contracted ring for insertion or re- 
FIG. 3 is a partial plan view of the invention, display- 
FIG. 4 is a partial plan view of; and 
FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the invention. 
20 moval; 
ing the angled ends of the ring; 
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE 
INVENTION 
FIG. 1 displays a standard retaining ring 10 in which 
ends 14 and 16 are cut at an angle 0" as measured from 
30 the center 12 of the ring. A separation 18 of ends 14 and 
16 allows the ends to be pulled closer together thereby 
reducing the diameter of the ring 10 during insertion 
and removal. The portion of the ring between ends 14 
and 16 is comprised of a single layer. End 14 can be 
35 pulled toward the clamp 20 thereby allowing a certain 
reduction in the diameter of ring 10 that depends upon 
the size of the ring and the length of separation 18. Note 
that end 14 or 16 cannot be pulled beyond crimp 20 
since that would produce an effective three layer sec- 
40 tion of the ring. Crimp 20 is necessary to enable the 
entire ring to lie in the same plane and therefore fit into 
a cylindrical groove of constant width. 
Referring now to FIG. 3, it will be seen that the 
present invention allows reduction of the separation 
45 distance between the ends of the ring without a corre- 
sponding decrease in the diameter reduction capability 
of the ring. 
Retaining ring 210 has ends 214 and 216 cut at an 
angle 8 as measured from center 212 of the ring. An 
50 angle 8 of 52" was found to be best suited for this pur- 
pose. Crimp 220 is placed at the same angle 8 that is 
used for the ends 214 and 216. Separation distance 218 
between ends 214 and 216 is substantially less than sepa- 
ration distance 18 depicted in FIG. l. In order to reduce 
55 the diameter of ring 210 for insertion or removal point 
222 of end 216 can be pulled to point 224 of crimp 220. 
Arrow 226 in FIG. 4 displays the distance traveled by 
end 216. The diameter of the ring can be decreased 
further by continuing to pull end 216 until point 228 of 
60 end 214 approaches point 230 of crimp 220. This can be 
compared with FIG. 2 wherein arrow 26 shows the 
distance traveled by end 16 in a standard retaining ring 
to see easily why separation distance 218 in FIG. 3 can 
be made considerably smaller than separation distance 
25 
ing ring that &tributes a load over a grkater proportion 65 18 in FIG. 1. By reiucing the separat-ion distance 218, 
of its surface than standard retaining rings. the double layer area of the ring is increased whereby 
These and othe objects of the present invention and the advantages identified above are realized. 
the advantages attendant therewith will be readily un- What is claimed: 
4,37 1,30 1 
3 4 
1. A spiral wound retaining ring comprising: 
a spiral wound ring; 
said ring having ends thereof angled within a plane 
with respect to a radial line emerging from the 5 said ends and said crimp is 520. 
center of said ring, both of said ends being angled 
to the Same degree and in the Same direction; and 
said ring having a crimp oriented on the ring between least two layers over most of the area of the ring. 
said angled ends. 
2. A retaining ring as in claim 1 wherein said crimp is 10 the area of the ring comprises at least two layers. 
a plane parallel to the upper and lower surfaces of the 
ring with respeat to a radial line emerging from the 
center of said ring. 
parallel to the and lower surfaces Of the ring 3. A retaining ring as in claim 2 wherein the angle of 
4. A retaining ring as in claim 3 spirally wound into at 
5. A retaining ring as in claim 4 wherein 98 percent of 
* * * * *  angled at the same angle as said ends are angled within 
15 
20 
25 
30 
35 
40 
45 
50 
55 
60 
65 


Modified spiral wound retaining ring

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