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:
Nov. 11, 2003
Filed:
Sep. 15, 1999
Mark Davis, Portage, MI (US);
Dana Corporation, Toledo, OH (US);
Abstract
A pivotal ball joint assembly includes a ball joint, an input/output member, and a secondary seal element to prevent contamination of the boot seal during movement and articulation of the input/output member relative to the ball joint. The ball joint has a socket body and a ball stud pivotally mounted to the socket body. The ball stud has a shank portion which extends therefrom and is aligned along a shank axis. An elastic boot seal which extends between the ball stud and socket body is also included. The pivotal ball joint assembly also includes an input/output member affixed to the ball stud shank portion so that the socket body is able to freely rotate relative to the input/output shaft about the shank axis. The pivotal ball joint assembly is further rotatable through a limited range about a transverse axis perpendicular to the shank axis. The secondary seal element extends between the boot seal and the input/output member to guard the boot seal to shank portion interface against contamination during movement and articulation of the input/output member relative to the ball joint.