Keeper for retaining a pin or shaft

Claim 1

A keeper arrangement for an otherwise rotatably mounted pin or shaft or the like, said arrangement comprising a machine structure or like component having a countersunk recess in an outer face thereof intersecting a passage for said pin or shaft, said pin or shaft inserted into said bore or passage and having a transverse slot therein juxtaposed to said recess and extending contiguously therewith, said recess and said slot being displaced from an adjacent end of said pin or shaft, a keepeR plate seated in said recess and extending into said slot, and means inserted through an aperture in said keeper plate for retaining said keeper plate in said recess and slot, the difference in diameter between said keeper plate aperture and the means inserted therethrough being greater than the difference in diameter between the outer periphery of said keeper plate and said countersunk recess so that any substantial rotative movement of said pin or shaft causes the slotted portion thereof to engage said keeper plate and to displace said keeper plate into bearing engagement with a generally opposite wall of said recess such that substantially all torque forces applied to said pin or shaft must be translated through said keeper plate to said recess wall upon the displacement of said keeper plate without application of significant shear stresses to said retaining means.