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US 2003/0156896 A1Published application
Ball joint
AssigneeMusashi Seimitsu Industry Co., Ltd.
InventorsAkemitsu Suzuki, Tokuji Yokoyama, Yasuhiro Kondoh
Life of this patent
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AssigneeMusashi Seimitsu Industry Co., Ltd.
InventorsAkemitsu Suzuki, Tokuji Yokoyama, Yasuhiro Kondoh
Estimating the term…
A ball joint includes a retaining ring fitted to a shank of a ball stud, and a boot having first and second annular beads fitted to the retaining ring and a ball socket. The first mounting bead is formed with an end face seal portion and an inner periphery seal portion, which are adapted to come into close contact with a cylindrical portion and a large flange of the retaining ring, respectively. In such a ball joint, a clearance is provided between the first mounting bead and the small flange for permitting the movement of the first mounting bead toward the small flange. Thus, even when the ball stud and the ball socket are swung relative to each other in a state in which the boot has been hardened due to the freezing of snow deposited to the boot and the like, the generation of an excessive stress in the mounting bead of the boot can be avoided.
A ball joint comprising a ball stud, a ball socket for swingably retaining a ball-shaped head of said ball stud with a bearing interposed therebetween, a retaining ring having a cylindrical portion fitted to a shank of said ball stud and a pair of large and small flanges protruding from axially outer and inner ends of said cylindrical portion, and a boot having first and second annular beads fitted to said retaining ring and said ball socket, said first mounting bead being formed with an inner periphery seal portion and an end face seal portion which are adapted to come into close contact with said cylindrical portion and said large flange of said retaining ring, respectively,
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.