| 摘要 |
<p>A self-locking fastener assembly includes a male screw fastener and a related female component (such as a plastic workpiece) for receiving the male screw fastener; a locking element is mounted on, or integrally formed with, the male screw fastener and provides at least one or more flexible fingers extending radially outwardly. The flexible fingers engage the walls of a cavity in the female component. The cavity walls are provided with a plurality of teeth which reliably engage the flexible fingers to prevent counter-rotation of the male screw fastener out of engagement with the female member. In a preferred embodiment, the male screw fastener is a double ended screw having a lower screw end for screwing into a plastic workpiece, and an upper stud end onto which can be mounted a second workpiece, which is secured by a nut. The lower screw end is preferably left hand threaded, while the upper end is preferably right hand threaded, whereby overtorquing force applied to the male screw fastener when the second workpiece is mounted (by cross-threading of the nut or otherwise) causes the male screw fastener to overcome the locking element and the lower screw end to unscrew from the first workpiece, thus preventing wasteful damage to the first workpiece. In another embodiment, the system can prevent counter-rotation of a nut in a cast or molded boss.</p> |
