GB777002A - Improvements relating to ball and socket joints - Google Patents

Abstract

777,002. Ball joints. EHRENREICH & CIE., A. April 28, 1955 [May 21, 1954], No. 12294/55. Class 65 (2). A ball joint of the kind in which a ball stud enters a socket with a cylindrical inner surface and has a coinpressed lining of deformable material round its middle zone is assembled by inserting the lining in the form of a cylinder (which may be formed by a wound strip of material) and then compressing it into close contact with the ball. In the forms shown in Fig. 2, the lining 3 rests on a shoulder at the lower end of a sleeve 4 and after insertion of the ball 1 the upper edge of the sleeve is turned over to compress and retain the lining. In these forms an additional lining 9, which may extend around the neck of the ball stud as at 10, is provided between the sleeve 4 and the socket 5. The parts of the joint are secured by a cover 7 or a screwed cap 8, whether or not the lining 9 is provided; in a modification the lining 3 may be compressed by a spring placed between the cover and an annular plate resting on the lining, the upper edge of the sleeve 4 not being turned over. In a further form, Fig. 8 (not shown), the lining has an internal diameter smaller than the size of the ball, which is forced into'it after it has been placed directly in the socket, the sleeve 4 being omitted; a disc of rubber-elastic synthetic resin, which may be perforated and may have radial slits, is pressed against the top of the ball by a spring under the cover, and a flanged collar of similar material fits round the ball stud with its flange between the lining and the socket. Spaces may be provided for flow of the lining in compression, such as apertures 12 in the lining 9 in Fig. 2, or a notch or groove in the lining 3, or apertures in the sleeve 4. The lining 3 may be formed by wrapping a strip of material round the ball, the strip having notched edges to facilitate its compression round the ball, but is preferably cut from a length of tube; it may comprise two layers of different material and thickness, for example to provide a more suitable bearing surface for the ball of a rubber-elastic synthetic resin of the group of poly-addition products with a cross-linked structure, while the outer layer may be of rubber or some other more or less elastic synthetic resin.