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US 11,041,524 B2Granted
Ball joint
AssigneeNHK Spring Co., Ltd.
InventorShigeru Kuroda
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A ball joint has a ball stud, a housing and a ball seat. The seat is an elastic body in a tubular shape with the top and the bottom being open, and has a spherical space to accommodate a ball portion. The housing has a spherical inner face that is close to an outer periphery of the ball portion, to accommodate the ball portion in the inner face via the seat so as to support the ball stud. A clamped portion arranged at a peripheral end of the housing is clamped to press the seat so that the ball stud can be swung and rotated.
Claims12
A ball joint comprising:
- a ball stud that has a stud portion with one end being coupled to a structure body and the other end being joined in one piece with a spherical body portion;
- a housing that includes a space in which the spherical body portion of the ball stud is supported swingably and rotatably;
- and
- a support member that is arranged between the housing and the spherical body portion,
- wherein the support member is an elastic body having a given thickness, and has a first opening for the stud portion to protrude therethrough and a spherical space inside to accommodate the spherical body portion therein,
- wherein a thickness of the support member at a lower portion closer to an opening at a lower side is in a tapered shape that is gradually thinner toward the opening at the lower side from a portion of the support member at a level of a center position of the spherical body portion that is accommodated in a spherical space of the support member, and
- wherein the housing has a spherical inner face along an outer periphery of the spherical body portion, and the support member that is displaceably pressed by a pressure regulating member is arranged between the outer periphery of the spherical body portion that is inserted toward the spherical inner face.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.