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:
Mar. 25, 2003
Filed:
Dec. 22, 1999
Garth Maughan, Delta, OH (US);
Greg Fleniken, Toledo, OH (US);
Dana Corporation, Toledo, OH (US);
Abstract
The invention relates to an improved dust cover a ball and socket joint. The dust cover includes an elongated sleeved body portion and a hinged portion. The sleeved body portion is constructed of a flexible, elastomeric material and is sized such that the sleeved body portion must be stretched over a joint housing to frictionally engage an exterior side wall of the joint housing without requiring any additional fasteners. The hinged portion includes a sealing lip that seals around a shank of a ball stud and a plurality of hinges that provide additional surface material for the dust cover for increased flexibility. The dust cover includes at least three hinges, a first upper hinge, a second upper hinge and a lower hinge positioned therebetween. The first upper hinge is offset from the second upper hinge such that the first upper hinge is positioned higher than the second upper hinge. The offset serves to distribute planar and torsional twisting along the hinged portion for increased flexibility of the dust cover.