GB813044A - Improvements relating to ball and socket joints - Google Patents

Abstract

813,044. Ball joints. COSSEL, H. VON and LANGEN, V., [trading as EHRENREICH & CIE A]. April 29, 1955 [April 30, 1954], No. 12487/54. Class 65(2) In a ball-and-socket, joint arranged for use in vehicle suspensicins with the load resting on the top of the ball stud 2, Fig. 9, which is secured in a lower member 3, the ball 1 is embraced by upper and lower sockets 15, 38 and the lower socket is resilient or is urged resiliently towards the lower part of the ball so that shocks in the opposite direction to the load are absorbed and the ball is allowed slight movement away from the upper socket to permit lubricant to flow into the sockets from a space 7 above the ball. In the form shown, the lower socket 38 is supported on resilient inserts 39 in a cup 40, with locating stop 60, inserted into the housing member 37; the upper socket 41 is screwed into the cup 40, and a cover 42, provided with a grease nipple 44, is screwed on the outside of the cup, to clamp the latter, and is secured by a ring 43. Dirt is excluded from the joint by a flexible member 45. In a modification, Fig. 13 (not shown), the cup 40 is integral with the member 37 and the cover 42 is screwed into it, the upper socket 41 being free inside the cover and the lower socket being located by a flange in the lower end of the housing. In a further modification, Fig. 11 (not shown), the socket 41 is screwed into the member 37, the cover being flat and being secured in the recessed top of the socket by spinning or flanging over the edge of the latter and in a further form, Fig. 12 (not shown), the socket is slid into the member 37 and held by the cover being secured over it; the cover may be dished instead of flat to avoid the need for recessing the top of the socket to provide the lubricant space, and the nipple may be dispensed with. In other forms, illustrated in the drawings accompanying the Specification, the upper socket may have a part-spherical outer periphery, may be inserted from below against a shoulder in the housing, with or without the interposition of ball-bearings, or may be integral with the housing; the lower socket may be backed by a spring resting on a flange in the lower end of the housing or in an apertured cup secured in the housing, or it may be of resilient synthetic material with rubber or radially-contracting steel springs or with a compression spring bearing on a metal reinforcing member round the elastic socket; either socket may have a lining of resilient synthetic material; which may be secured by entering, recesses in the socket; lubricantdistributing grooves may be formed in the ball. In a further form, Fig. 4, in which the upper, socket 23 is screwed into the housing 6 against a stop ring 20 and the cover 24 is secured in the socket, the ball is formed in two parts 25, 26 separated by ball bearings; in this form, as in some others, lubricant is supplied through a bore in the lower member 3 and the stud 2.