The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 22, 2001
Filed:
Mar. 05, 1997
Applicant:
Inventors:
Jon W. Martin, Loudon, TN (US);
Xinhua He, West Lafayette, IN (US);
Assignee:
TRW Inc., Lyndhurst, OH (US);
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
F16J 1/552 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
F16J 1/552 ;
Abstract
An apparatus (,) includes a bearing (,) linking first and second vehicle parts (,) for movement relative to each other, and a boot seal (,) protecting the bearing (,). The boot seal (,) is a tube of heat shrinkable thermoplastic material. The tube (,) has a first end portion (,) shrunken against the first vehicle part (,), a second end portion (,) shrunken against the second vehicle part (,), and a flexible intermediate portion (,) which is deflectable between the opposite end portions (,) upon movement of the vehicle parts (,) relative to each other.