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:
Sep. 13, 2011
Filed:
Feb. 25, 2008
Danton Gutierrez-lemini, Grand Prairie, TX (US);
Todd M. Pottorff, Crowley, TX (US);
George W. Peppel, Corsicana, TX (US);
James G. Patrick, Azel, TX (US);
Carl C. Spicer, Grand Prairie, TX (US);
Jesner H. Pereira, Arlington, TX (US);
Gregory P. Cruse, Arlington, TX (US);
Danton Gutierrez-Lemini, Grand Prairie, TX (US);
Todd M. Pottorff, Crowley, TX (US);
George W. Peppel, Corsicana, TX (US);
James G. Patrick, Azel, TX (US);
Carl C. Spicer, Grand Prairie, TX (US);
Jesner H. Pereira, Arlington, TX (US);
Gregory P. Cruse, Arlington, TX (US);
Oil States Industries, Inc., Arlington, TX (US);
Abstract
A flexible joint has an extension mounted to a housing for relative angular displacement. Two or more annular elastomeric flex elements are stacked in a co-axial fashion and joined mechanically to mount the extension to the housing so that the flex elements react in parallel to angular and axial displacements of the extension with respect to the housing so that tensile load upon the extension places each of the flex elements in compression to split and share the tensile load among the flex elements in proportion to their relative axial stiffnesses. Therefore, for a given housing size or footprint, the overall load capacity is increased, and the lifetime of the flexible joint is increased for a given load capacity. The flex elements may have a common center of rotation, and the flex elements may be disposed either on the same side of the center of rotation or on opposite sides.