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. 09, 2004
Filed:
Apr. 11, 2001
Jürgen Gräber, Dielingen, DE;
Werner Stehr, Ahldorf, DE;
ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG, Lemförde, DE;
Abstract
A ball-and-socket joint, preferably for motor vehicles, in which a joint ball formed on a pivot pin is mounted movably in a bearing shell consisting of a plastic, is presented. The bearing shell has recesses accommodating lubricant on its inner jacket surface facing the joint ball and is itself inserted into a housing. According to the present invention, the recesses may be grooves as a structural system with groove sections or depressions of microscopic size extending obliquely in relation to the central longitudinal axis of the ball-and-socket joint. Due to this novel design, a pumping effect is achieved during movements of the joint ball over the groove sections, and this pumping effect draws the lubricant present in the groove sections into the gap between the joint ball and the bearing shell, so that improved lubrication of the ball-and-socket joint compared with the state of the art is guaranteed under all operating conditions.