Ball joint cover

For a ball joint arrangement comprising a ball member, having an end portion that has a spherical curvature facing along the member from the end portion, and a housing member, comprising a container for at least part of the end portion of the ball member and an aperture surrounding a longitudinal axis thereof to permit passage of the uncontained part of the ball member and provide a seat for the spherical surface thereof, a ball joint cover, operable to prevent ingress of contaminants to the seat, comprising:

• a ball seal arranged to extend around the longitudinal axis of the housing member as a ball sealing ring;
• a carrier adapted to be attached to the housing member operable to support the ball sealing ring biased against the spherical surface of the ball member without the housing, such that said surface can slide relative to the sealing ring, and to define a cover region between said carrier and said housing member, said carrier including,
• (a) a supporting end arranged to support said ball sealing ring displaced from the housing member;
• (b) a housing attachment end, adapted to attach the carrier member to the housing member;
• and
• (c) at least one carrier member spoke region extending between said supporting end and said housing attachment end;
• a barrier operable to inhibit ingress of contaminants to the seat from the cover region;
• wherein said carrier has the shape of a tube generated about a tube axis and everted for part of its tubular length such that said supporting end extends inclined with respect to the tube axis and forms the locus of a ball member opening and said housing attachment end extends substantially parallel to said tube axis, the supporting end and said housing attachment end of said everted tubular shape are connected by a region of longitudinal curvature of substantially constant radius of curvature having at each of a plurality of positions arrayed about said tubular axis, through-aperture elements operable to define the resilience of said carrier member between said supporting end and said housing attachment end, and
• wherein said carrier is adapted for attachment to said housing member such that said tube axis extends substantially coincidentally with said longitudinal axis and said supporting end extends substantially orthogonally with respect to said spherical surface of said ball member.

A ball joint cover for a ball joint arrangement including a ball member, having an end portion that has a spherical curvature facing along the member from the end portion, and a housing member having a container for at least part of the end portion of the ball member and an aperture surrounding a longitudinal axis thereof to permit passage of the uncontained part of the ball member and provide a seat for the spherical surface thereof, comprising:

• a ball seal arranged to extend around the longitudinal axis of the housing member as a ball sealing ring;
• a carrier adapted to be attached to the housing member operable to support the ball sealing ring biased against the spherical surface of the ball member without the housing, such that said surface can slide relative to the sealing ring, and to define a cover region between said carrier and said housing member, said carrier including a plurality of through-aperture elements operable to define the resilience of said carrier;
• and
• a barrier operable to inhibit ingress of contaminants to the seat from the cover region.