Ball-and-socket joint

US4764048A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Robert Bosch GmbH · DE

Inventors

• Georg Kehl · Stuttgart, DE
• Ernst-Dieter Schafer · Neckartenzlingen, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Dec 29, 1986
• Grant date: Aug 16, 1988
• Expiry date: Dec 29, 2006

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10T403/60
• WIPO field: Mechanical elements
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

A lightweight ball-and-socket joint that is for instance capable of being assembled by a robot. The ball-and-socket joint has a ball head, a CIRCLIP and an outer structural part forming a socket, in which there is a circumferential groove the bottom of which forms a support face for the circlip. The support face is substantially defined by a hollow cone and surrounds the CIRCLIP like a jacket, and a flare angle of the support face opens toward the center of the ball head. The CIRCLIP presses with radial bias against the support face and therefore migrates in the direction of its largest diameter and hence toward the center of the ball head until it rests thereon.