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US 9,316,250 B2Granted
Ball joint with improved upper bearing and method of construction thereof
AssigneeFederal-Mogul Products, Inc.
InventorsJames Elterman, Thomas J. Byrnes, Jr., Timmy L. Henson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The ball joint includes a housing and a stud with a spherical bearing surface disposed in the housing. The bearing has a concave spherical bearing surface which is brought into sliding abutment with the spherical bearing surface of the stud. The bearing is of a monolithic piece of fiber-reinforced polyamide material and includes carbon fibers which extend circumferentially about the concave spherical bearing surface.
Claims15
A ball joint, comprising:
- a housing;
- a stud having a spherical bearing surface disposed in said housing;
- a bearing having a concave spherical bearing surface brought into sliding abutment with said spherical bearing surface of said stud;
- and
- said bearing being a monolithic piece of fiber-reinforced polyamide material including a plurality of individual carbon fibers, substantially all of said individual carbon fibers being substantially oriented in a circumferential direction.
2 more elements
A method of constructing a ball joint, comprising:
- injection molding a polyamide material with carbon fibers into a bearing with a concave spherical bearing surface wherein during the injection molding process the polyamide material flows circumferentially to substantially orient the carbon fibers within the polyamide material in a circumferential direction throughout the bearing;
- and
- inserting the fiber-reinforced polyamide bearing with the substantially circumferentially aligned carbon fibers into a metal housing and bringing the concave spherical bearing surface into sliding abutment with a metal spherical bearing surface of a stud.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.