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:
Apr. 15, 2008
Filed:
Jan. 09, 2003
Klaus Bröker, Bohmte-Hunteburg, DE;
Helmut Noe, Hörstel, DE;
Klaus Bröker, Bohmte-Hunteburg, DE;
Helmut Noe, Hörstel, DE;
ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG, Stemwede-Dielingen, DE;
Abstract
A ball-and-socket joint has a pivot pin accommodated rotatably and tiltably with a spherical joint area in a bearing shell. The bearing shell is in turn arranged in the recess of a joint housing. A closing ring fixes the bearing shell in the joint housing in the axial longitudinal direction of the pivot pin by at least one surface pair. Corresponding to a first solution variant, an intermediate element made of an elastic material may be arranged between the corresponding contact surfaces of the surface pair on the bearing shell and the closing ring. As an alternative an insert element may be arranged between the outer contour of the bearing shell and the bottom area of the recess, wherein at least one intermediate element made of an elastic material is arranged between the outer surface of the insert element and the corresponding inner surface of the recess. The requirement imposed on the dimensional accuracy of the ball-and-socket joint components can be substantially reduced due to these solution variants, which contributes to a reduction of the manufacturing costs.