CN211759742U - Device for holding a nut and nut assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model discloses a device for keeping nut, it includes nut receiving part, nut locking portion and nut supporting part. The nut receiving portion has a radial width no greater than the nut bore and is configured to penetrate the nut bore. The nut stop has a radial width greater than the nut bore and is configured to contact an axial end face of the nut. The nut support portion includes two or more elastic protrusions. The resilient projection is configured to contact the nut bore and the nut support has a radial width greater than the nut bore when the resilient projection does not contact the nut. Wherein, the elastic bulge extends out from the nut receiving part along the axial side surface. A nut assembly is also disclosed. The apparatus may be used in conjunction with a robotic arm or other mechanical device to enable a fully automated process of extracting nuts, securing nuts, and removing nuts from the apparatus and installing nuts to a desired location.

Description

Device for holding a nut and nut assembly

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a device for holding a nut in a particular position.

Background

A nut, a fastener, is a component designed to engage with the external threads of a component or device to perform a locking function. In industrial production, in particular in the manufacture of housings or parts with protruding nuts, for example in injection moulding, it is necessary to pre-place or hold the nut in a specific position on the mould set.

In production, it is sometimes necessary to repeatedly place one or more nuts in the same location on the die set. Meanwhile, production plants often have high temperatures and are filled with harmful gases. For the above reasons, the highly repetitive work of placing/holding the nut is not suitable to be operated manually.

Some devices exist in the prior art for holding the nut in a specific position, but they tend to have a complicated mechanical structure and high manufacturing costs, and are difficult to use or maintain in batches.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

The present invention seeks to improve upon the deficiencies of the prior art by providing a device for retaining a nut that has a relatively simple and durable mechanical structure.

In some embodiments, a device for retaining a nut includes a nut receiving portion, a nut stop portion, and a nut support portion. The nut receiving portion has a radial width no greater than the nut bore and is configured to penetrate the nut bore. The nut stop has a radial width greater than the nut bore and is configured to contact an axial end face of the nut. The nut support portion includes two or more elastic protrusions. The resilient projection is configured to contact the nut bore and the nut support has a radial width greater than the nut bore when the resilient projection does not contact the nut. Wherein, the elastic bulge extends out from the nut receiving part along the axial side surface.

Preferably, when the nut is received in the nut receiving portion, the elastic protrusion is in contact with the nut inner bore and is pressed by the nut inner bore to be elastically deformed, thereby generating a frictional force to the nut inner bore.

More preferably, the nut support portion returns to a shape before receiving the nut after the nut is separated from the nut receiving portion.

Preferably, the resilient protrusions are symmetrically arranged on the axial sides of the nut receiving portion.

Preferably, the elastic lug has a shape that protrudes along a middle portion of the axial side, and ends that taper.

More preferably, the elastic lug is arc-shaped.

Preferably, the radial width of the nut support portion is smaller than the radial width of the nut stopper portion.

Preferably, the first end surface of the nut receiving portion is connected with the first end surface of the nut stopper portion.

Preferably, the nut stop has a radial width less than the outer diameter of the nut.

Preferably, one or more of the nut receiving portion, the nut stop portion, and the nut support portion are made of a wear resistant material.

In other embodiments, the present invention discloses a nut assembly comprising the above-described device for retaining a nut, and a nut that can be retained on the device.

Preferably, the nut includes a body having a first end, a middle portion, a second end, and an internal bore, wherein the internal bore is disposed along a central body axis, and the body and the internal bore are symmetrical along the central body axis.

More preferably, the first and second ends of the nut body protrude from the middle of the nut body.

Additionally, the middle of the nut body protrudes beyond the first and second ends of the nut body

Preferably, the nut body has a circumferential grain in the middle.

Preferably, the nut body first and second ends have smooth circumferential surfaces.

Preferably, the inner hole is provided with guide rings arranged at the upper end and the lower end of the inner hole, and the inner diameter of each guide ring is gradually increased along the direction far away from the body.

More preferably, the guide ring has a smooth inner circumferential surface.

The disclosed device for retaining a nut is advantageous over the prior art in that, but not limited to, 1) the device can be used in contract with a mechanical arm or other mechanical device to achieve a fully automated process of extracting a nut, securing the nut, and removing the nut from the device and installing the nut to a desired location. Therefore, compared with manual nut installation, the device can greatly improve the efficiency and the assembly precision. Similarly, because the installation process does not need manual operation, the use of the device can lead the operator to be far away from a production workshop with high temperature and harmful gas filling so as to protect the health of the operator. 2) The device has a simple mechanical structure and assembly mode, and the components forming the device are common mechanical parts. Therefore, the device has the characteristics of low manufacturing and using cost, simple maintenance mode and mass use in industrial production. 3) During use of the device, the nut may be received/removed from the device without excessive force, either by human hand or by mechanical means such as on a robotic arm having a pusher plate. Thus, the device also has the property that the nut can be easily received/removed without excessive external force.

Drawings

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification and the drawings; the same components are numbered the same throughout the several views. In some cases, a sublabel is placed after a reference numeral and hyphen to denote one of many similar components. When a reference numeral is used to refer to a particular feature, but not necessarily any particular element, it is intended to refer to that feature.

Fig. 1 shows a device for holding a nut according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2A shows the device for holding a nut shown in fig. 1 in a separated state from a nut that can be held on the device.

Fig. 2B shows the combination of the device for holding a nut shown in fig. 1 and a nut that can be held on the device.

Fig. 3 shows components constituting the device for holding a nut shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 4 shows an axial cross-section of the device for holding a nut shown in fig. 1 in a separated state from a nut which can be held on the device.

Fig. 5A shows a partial axial cross-sectional view of the device for holding a nut shown in fig. 1 in a separated state from a nut that can be held on the device.

Fig. 5B shows a partial axial cross-sectional view of the device for holding a nut shown in fig. 1 in combination with a nut that can be held on the device.

Fig. 6A-6C show a schematic view of one method of assembling a nut using a plurality of means for retaining the nut.

Fig. 7A illustrates a nut that may be retained on a device for retaining a nut in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7B shows an axial cross-sectional view of the nut shown in fig. 7A.

Fig. 8 shows another nut that may be held on a device for holding a nut according to an embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

Before any embodiments of the invention are explained in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the following drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of "including," "comprising," or "having" and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. The terms "mounted," "connected," and "coupled" are used broadly and encompass both direct and indirect mountings, connections, and couplings. Further, "connected" and "coupled" are not restricted to physical or mechanical connections or couplings, and may include electrical connections or couplings, whether direct or indirect. The expressions "first" and "second" herein do not denote any order or importance therebetween. Although the terms "first" and "second" may be used herein to describe various components, these components should not be limited by these terms. These terms may be used only to distinguish one element from another. Thus, a first end, first location, first side, etc. described below may be referred to as a second end, second location, or second side without departing from the teachings of the example embodiments.

Fig. 1 shows a device 100 for retaining a nut according to an embodiment of the invention. Fig. 2A and 2B are schematic views showing a discrete state and a combined state of the device 100 for holding a nut shown in fig. 1 and a nut 200 that can be held on the device, respectively. As shown, the device 100 is used to receive and hold a nut 200 in a particular position. The device 100 includes a nut receiving portion 102, a nut stop portion 104, and a nut support portion 105. The nut receiving portion 102 has a radial width no greater than the inner bore 202 of the nut 200. The nut stop 104 has a radial width greater than the inner bore 202 of the nut 200. The nut support portion 105 includes two elastic bosses 106a and 106 b. In use, as shown in fig. 2A and 2B, the nut 200 is threaded into the nut receptacle 102 along the axial central axis of symmetry 108 of the device 100 until one side end 204 of the nut 200 contacts the end 112 of the nut stop 104. Thereby, the nut 200 is received on the nut receiving portion 102 of the device 100 and contacts and stops at the end 112 of the nut stop 104, and cannot move further in a direction approaching the device 100. In this embodiment, "axial" refers to a direction along the central axis of symmetry 108 of the device 100 and toward or away from the device 100, or the direction of insertion of the nut 200 into the device 100.

As shown in fig. 1, the device 100 also includes a tail 140. The tail portion 140 includes an opening 144, a first plane 142 parallel to the central axis of symmetry 108 on one side of the tail portion 140, and a second plane (not shown) symmetrical to the first plane 142 along the axial central axis of symmetry 108 of the device 100 and parallel to the first plane 142. The first and second planes 142, 142 are each formed at a distance from the central axis of symmetry 108 that is less than the radius of the nut stop 104, and the first and second planes 142, 142 have a bullet shape. The parallel arrangement of the first and second planes 142, 142 allows a human hand or a mechanical gripping device to more securely grip the device 100 for manipulation of the device 100 to receive, or remove, the nut 200 held on the device 100. The opening 144 may be configured to receive an insert member (e.g., an insert pin) in the mechanism and form a more secure mechanical grip with the first and second planes 142, 142.

It is noted that although the nut 200 is shown in both fig. 2A and 2B, the nut 200 is shown in this embodiment for better illustration of how the device 100 is used, and the nut 200 should not be limited to a part of the device 100 or a component that must be used simultaneously with the device 100. Additionally, the shape of the nut 200 shown in fig. 2A,2B is also only a schematic shape and should not be considered as a limitation on the shape of the nut 200. The shape of the nut 200 may be selected from all nut shapes known in the art to those skilled in the art.

As shown in fig. 1, the resilient projections 106a and 106b extend from the nut receiving portion 102 along the axial sides 110. When not contacting the nut, i.e., in the state shown by fig. 1 and 2A, the nut support 105 has a radial width greater than the nut bore 202. When the nut 200 is received in the nut receiving portion 102 of the device 100, i.e., in the state shown by fig. 2B, the elastic protrusions 106a and 106B are in contact with the nut inner hole 202, because the nut support 105 has a radial width larger than the nut inner hole 202 when not in contact, and the elastic protrusions 106a and 106B are pressed by the nut inner hole 202 at this time. The nut support portion 105 is thereby compressed to be elastically deformed, so that radial pressure is generated on the inner hole of the nut 200 by the elastic bosses 106a and 106b, thereby generating axial frictional force between the elastic bosses 106a and 106b and the wall of the inner hole of the nut 200. After the nut 200 is received in the nut receiving portion 102, the relative movement of the nut 200 and the nut 102 is limited by friction, so that the nut 200 is held and fixed on the nut receiving portion 102 of the device 100.

The nut stop 104 of the device 100 is designed to have a radial width smaller than the body outer diameter, or end outer diameter, of the nut 200, considering that the nut 200 is repeatedly received and removed on the nut receiving portion 102 of the device 100 in industrial production. Thus, the nut 200, held on the nut receiving portion 102 of the device 100, may be pushed out of the nut receiving portion 102 by a pushing force applied to the end 204 thereof, and thus removed from the device 100. The source of the pushing force may be a human hand or may be a mechanical device such as a mechanical arm having a pusher plate. The pushing force exerted on the nut end 204 overcomes the friction between the nut bore 202 and the resilient projections 106a and 106b of the device 100, thereby pushing the nut 200 out of the nut receiving portion 102. When the nut 200 is removed from the nut receiving portion 102, the resilient protrusions 106 will return to the shape before receiving the nut 200, as shown in fig. 2A.

As shown in fig. 2A, the resilient projections 106a and 106b are symmetrically disposed on axial sides 110 and 112 of the nut receiving portion 102 along an axial central axis of symmetry 108 of the device 100. By the symmetrically arranged elastic protrusions 106a and 106b, the nut 200 can be uniformly stressed in the process of receiving and removing the device 100, so that the nut is received and removed along the direction approximately parallel to the axial central symmetry axis 108 of the device 100, and the situation that the nut 200 is clamped on one side of the nut receiving part 102 and cannot be pushed in or pushed out due to overlarge stress on one side can not occur.

As shown in fig. 1, the elastic protrusions 106a and 106b are circular arc-shaped. This shape allows the frictional force to be gradually increased as the nut 200 contacts the elastic protrusions 106a and 106b until the nut 200 is completely received in the nut receiving portion 102, thereby preventing the nut 200 from being received in the nut receiving portion 102 due to an initially excessive frictional force. Conversely, the circular arc structure can also achieve the same effect when the nut 200 is pushed to remove the nut receiving portion 102.

In some embodiments, the resilient protrusions 106 have a smooth outer surface to prevent damage to the internal threads in the internal bore 202 of the nut 200 when rubbed against them.

Likewise, to avoid excessive friction or excessive radial width of the nut support 105 such that the nut 200 cannot be received on the nut receiving portion 102 of the device 100, the radial width of the nut support 105 is configured to be smaller than the radial width of the nut stopper 104, or the outer diameter of the nut 200.

As shown in fig. 2A, the end surface 114 of the nut receiving portion 102 is connected to the end surface 116 of the nut stopping portion 104, so that the debris or oil generated during the production process cannot be stored on the connecting surface of the nut receiving portion 102 and the nut stopping portion 104, and the nut 200 can be pushed away from the nut receiving portion 102 of the device 100 by the pushing force more easily.

As previously described, the nut 200 may be repeatedly received and removed from the device during actual manufacturing, and thus one or more of the nut receiving portion 102, the nut stop 104, and the resilient tab 106 may be made of a wear-resistant material. Preferably, it may be made of wear resistant stainless steel, or other alloy materials.

Fig. 3 and 4 show a component housing 120 and a spring plate 122 constituting the device 100 for retaining a nut. The housing 120 includes the above-described nut receiving portion 102, the nut stopper portion 104, and a first opening 126 on a circumferential side surface of the nut receiving portion 102, and a second opening (not shown) symmetrical along the axial center symmetry axis 108. The interior of the housing 120 also includes a cavity 124 (shown in fig. 4). The resilient tab 122 includes a connecting arm 130, a first resilient arm 132, and a second resilient arm 134. The first elastic arm 132 and the second elastic arm 134 are respectively disposed on both sides of one end portion of the connecting arm 130 along the axial central symmetry axis 108. The first and second resilient arms 132 and 134 also include resilient bosses 106a and 106b, respectively. The resilient projections 106a and 106b are disposed on sides of the first resilient arm 132 and the second resilient arm 134, respectively, in a direction away from the axial central axis of symmetry 108.

As shown in fig. 3 and 4 showing an axial cross-sectional view, the cavity 124 of the housing 120 is configured to accommodate the connecting arm 130 of the spring 122 and most of the first and second resilient arms 132 and 134. The resilient tabs 106a and 106b extend from the first opening 126 and the second opening in the housing 120.

The internal structure and components of the device 100 for retaining a nut are described and discussed above. The process of receiving and releasing the nut 200 using the device 100 will be described below.

Fig. 5A shows an axial cross-sectional view of a portion 136 (see fig. 4) of the device 100 and the nut 200 in a separated state. Fig. 5B shows an axial cross-sectional view of the above-mentioned part of the device 100 in an assembled state with the nut 200. As shown in fig. 5A, when the device 100 and the nut 200 are in a separated state, if they are to be assembled together, the nut 200 is first forced to move along the axial central symmetry axis 108 in a direction approaching the nut receiving portion 102 on the device 100. At this time, the device 100 has not yet contacted the inner hole 202 of the nut 200, so the first elastic arm 132 and the second elastic arm 134 in the device 100 are not subjected to the elastic force generated by the inner hole 202 pressing the elastic protrusions 106a and 106b, and are in a state of not receiving the pressing of the inner hole 202. The nut 200 is forced to continue moving toward the nut receiving portion 102 and first contacts the end 138 of the nut receiving portion 102 and continues to move and thus contact the resilient projections 106a and 106 b. The elastic protrusions 106a and 106b contact the inner hole 202 of the nut 200 and are pressed by the inner hole 202, so that the first elastic arm 132 and the second elastic arm 134 are compressed in a direction close to the axial central symmetry axis 108, and are elastically deformed, thereby generating a frictional force on the inner hole of the nut 200. The nut bore 202 continues to be forced toward the nut stop 104 after contacting the resilient projections 106a and 106B until the end 204 of the nut 200 contacts the end face 116 of the nut stop 104, as shown in FIG. 5B. The nut is thereby retained on the device 100 by the combination of the frictional forces generated by the resilient projections 106a and 106b and the internal bore 202 of the nut 200 and the holding force of the end face 116 of the nut stop 104 against the end 204 of the nut 200.

While the process of receiving and releasing the nut 200 by the single device 100 has been described and discussed above, one embodiment of receiving, and releasing the nut by the plurality of devices for holding the nut during the actual manufacturing process will be further described. In this embodiment, the nut 500 can be transferred from one device 400 for holding nuts to another device 402 for holding nuts using mechanical force through an automated process.

Fig. 6A-6C show a schematic view of one method of assembling a nut using a plurality of means for retaining the nut. The two devices 400 and 402 are arranged with their nut receiving portions facing each other. As shown, the apparatus 400 is disposed on the robot arm 300 and the apparatus 402 is disposed in a cavity of an injection molding apparatus. As shown in fig. 6A, initially the nut 200 is held on the device 400 and the end 304 of the robotic arm contacts the first end 212 of the nut 200 and applies a pushing force to the nut 200 in a direction away from the device 400 through the contact. This pushing force gradually disengages the nut 200 from the nut receiving portion of the device 400. As shown in fig. 6B, after the nut 200 is removed from the nut receiving portion of the device 400, the resilient protrusions of the device 400 return to the shape before receiving the nut 200. At the same time, nut 200 is received by the nut receiving portion of device 402, and as nut 200 moves toward device 402, the resilient projections of device 402 contact the inner bore of nut 200 and are further compressed by the bore to elastically deform, thereby creating a frictional force against the inner bore of nut 200 and retaining nut 200 on device 402. As shown in fig. 6C, the robotic arm 300 continues to push the nut 200 into the nut-receiving portion of the device 402 until the second end 216 of the nut 200 contacts the nut stop 104 of the device 402. The nut 200 is thereby received on the nut receiving portion of the device 402 and contacts the end 416 of the nut stop 104, and cannot move further in a direction closer to the device 402. The transfer process of the nut 200 is ended and the subsequent production process can be started accordingly. It is noted that at the beginning of the process, the nut 200 may be received and retained on the nut receiving portion of the device 400 in accordance with the method described in fig. 5A and 5B, or other prior art methods may be used, such as using a robotic arm with the device 400 or 402 to pick up the nut 200, without departing from the scope of the present invention.

The utility model also discloses a nut component, wherein, nut component includes the device that is used for keeping the nut that the above-mentioned describes, and can be kept in nut on the device. The nut assembly may be as shown in fig. 2B. Fig. 7A, as well as fig. 8, illustrate the shape of the nut 200 in some embodiments.

Specifically, fig. 7A and 8 show the shapes of two nuts 200 and 500, respectively, according to embodiments of the present invention, and fig. 7B shows an axial cross-sectional view of the nut 200 in fig. 7A. As shown in fig. 7A and 7B, the nut 200 includes a body 210 having a first end 212, a middle portion 214, a second end 216, and a bore 202, wherein the bore 202 is disposed along a body 210 central axis 220, and the body 210 and the bore 202 are symmetrical along the body central axis 220. The central portion 214 of the body 210 has circumferentially extending ridges that are intended to increase the friction of the surface of the nut 200 that contacts the outer surface of the central portion 214 thereof so that the nut 200 is secured in a desired position without relative movement with respect to the surface it contacts.

Likewise, as shown in fig. 8, nut 500 includes a body 510 having a first end 512, a middle 514, a second end 516, and a bore 502, wherein bore 502 is disposed along a central body axis 520 of body 510, and body 510 and bore 502 are symmetrical along central body axis 520. The central portion 514 of the body 510 has a circumferential texture that is intended to increase the friction of the surface of the nut 500 that contacts the outer surface of the central portion 514 so that the nut 500 is secured in a desired position without relative movement with respect to the surface it contacts.

As shown, the first end 212 and the second end 216 of the body 210 of the nut 200, and the first end 512 and the second end 516 of the body 510 of the nut 500 each have a smooth circumferential surface. This smooth circumferential surface is intended to achieve a better seal with the workpiece housing after the nuts 200 and 500 are externally sealed to the plasticized workpiece housing.

As shown in fig. 7A, the nut 200 has a first end 212 and a second end 216 projecting from a central body portion 214. As shown in fig. 8, nut 500 has a central body portion 514 projecting from one end 512 and a second end 516. The design is intended to allow nuts 200 and 500 of different profiles to be mounted on different workpiece housings.

As shown in fig. 7B, the inner bore 202 of the nut 200 further includes guide rings 222 and 224 disposed at upper and lower ends of the inner bore 202. The inner diameters of the guide rings 222 and 224 gradually increase in a direction away from the body 210. Preferably, the guide rings 222 and 224 each have a smooth inner circumferential surface. The design of the guide rings 222 and 224 and their smooth surfaces are intended to guide the nut 200 during receipt in the nut receiving portion 102 on the device 100 so that the nut 200 is more easily received in the nut receiving portion 102 on the device 100. Likewise, nut 500 also has a similar guide ring structure (not shown) to achieve a similar technical effect.

As used herein, "the radial width of the nut support portion" refers to the distance between the two convex portions of the elastic lug 106a and the elastic lug 106b at the farthest end and in the direction perpendicular to the central symmetry axis 108. Specifically, the "radial width of the nut support portion" may be illustrated by the embodiments in fig. 3, 5A, and 5B.

As used herein, "the shape of the nut support before receiving the nut" refers to the shape of the first elastic arm 132, the second elastic arm 134 and the elastic protrusions 106a and 106b thereon of the elastic sheet 130 constituting the nut support 104 when the first elastic arm 132, the second elastic arm 134 and the elastic protrusions 106a and 106b thereon do not contact the nut 200 and when the two protruding ends of the elastic protrusions 106a and 106b do not receive the pressure of the axial center symmetry axis 108 facing thereto. In particular, this shape may be illustrated by the embodiments in fig. 3, and 5A.

It should be noted that the application of the present invention is not limited to the injection molding process described herein, but may be applied to any other field where it is desired to retain a nut in a particular position.

The device for holding a nut and the nut assembly according to the present invention have been described in detail above. The structure of the present invention is explained in detail herein by using the specific embodiments and the implementation manners, and the above description of the embodiments is only used to help understand the method and the core idea of the present invention; meanwhile, for the general technical personnel in the field, according to the idea of the present invention, there are changes in the specific implementation and application scope, to sum up, the content of the present specification should not be understood as the limitation of the present invention. Although embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.

For example, in the above embodiment, the nut support portion 105 has two elastic bosses 106a and 106b provided on opposite sides. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the symmetrical arrangement of the elastic protrusions is not limited to only the elastic protrusions 106A and 106B extending from both sides of the nut receiving portion 102 and having 180 ° symmetry as shown in fig. 2A,2B, 3, 4, 5A, 5B, 6A and 6C. In other embodiments, the nut support portion may include two or more elastic protrusions, for example, the elastic protrusions extend from three sides of the nut receiving portion and are symmetrical at 120 °, or extend from four sides of the nut receiving portion and are symmetrical at 90 °, and so on.

Similarly, it is noted that the shape of the elastic lug is not limited to the circular arc shape shown in fig. 1. Conversely, those skilled in the art will recognize that in other embodiments the elastomeric projections may also have a shape that projects along a central portion of the axial side, as well as tapered ends, such as triangular, trapezoidal, cambered/spherical/ellipsoidal, etc.

Similarly, the resilient protrusions 106 are not limited to the first resilient arms 132 and the second resilient arms 134 shown in FIG. 3. It is also possible to use shapes or elements known to the person skilled in the art which are capable of elastic deformation and which recover in time, such as springs, with elastic bodies or elastic spheres, etc.

Claims (18)

1. An apparatus for retaining a nut, the apparatus comprising:

a nut receiving portion having a radial width no greater than a nut bore and configured to be penetrable into the nut bore;

a nut stop having a radial width greater than the nut bore and configured to be contactable with an axial end face of a nut; and

a nut support including two or more resilient lugs configured to be contactable with the nut bore and having a radial width greater than the nut bore when the resilient lugs are not in contact with the nut bore,

wherein, the elastic bulge extends out from the nut receiving part along the axial side surface.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the resilient projection contacts the nut bore and is resiliently deformed by compression of the nut bore when the nut is received in the nut receiving portion, thereby generating a frictional force against the nut bore.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the nut support returns to a shape prior to receiving the nut when the nut is removed from the nut receiving portion.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the resilient protrusions are symmetrically disposed on axial sides of the nut receiving portion.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the resilient protrusions have a shape that protrudes along a middle portion of the axial side, and a tapered end portion.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein the resilient projection is arcuate.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein a radial width of the nut support portion is less than a radial width of the nut stop portion.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the first end surface of the nut receiving portion is coupled to the first end surface of the nut stop portion.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the nut stop has a radial width less than an outer diameter of the nut.

10. The device of any one of claims 1-9, wherein one or more of the nut receiving portion, the nut stop portion, and the nut support portion are made of a wear resistant material.

11. A nut assembly comprising a device according to any one of claims 1 to 9 and a nut which can be retained on the device.

12. The nut assembly of claim 11 wherein said nut comprises a body having a first end, a middle portion, a second end, and an internal bore, wherein said internal bore is disposed along a body central axis, and said body and internal bore are symmetrical along said body central axis.

13. The nut assembly of claim 12 wherein said body first and second ends project from said body middle portion.

14. The nut assembly of claim 12 wherein said body middle portion protrudes from said body first and second ends.

15. The nut assembly of claim 12 wherein said body midsection is circumferentially textured.

16. The nut assembly of claim 12 wherein said body first and second ends have smooth circumferential surfaces.

17. The nut assembly of claim 12 wherein said bore has guide rings disposed at upper and lower ends of said bore, said guide rings having an inner diameter that increases in a direction away from said body.

18. The nut assembly of claim 17 wherein said guide ring has a smooth inner circumferential surface.

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