Improvements in or relating to tie rods and tie rod ends

Abstract

Abstract 423,716. Ball joints. ALFORD & ALDER (ENGINEERS), Ltd., Winch Place, Deacon Street, Walworth, London, and GLOVER, V. A., Standish, Grange Road, Sutton, Surrey. Aug. 18, 1934, No. 23857. [Class 65 (ii)] In a ball joint of the kind in which the ball is mounted between a pair of bearing members in a housing with an integral spigot or other means for attachment to a rod, one of the bearing members being adjustable and spring- pressed towards the other in a direction transverse to the spigot or rod, the adjustable bearing member has an internal recess to house and locate the spring or other resilient member. In the form shown, a ball stud 12, fixed to a member 25, passes through one end of a cylindrical housing 1 having an integral spigot 29 screwed and clamped into the end of a hollow rod 30, and the head 11 of the stud is supported between two bearing cups 8, 14 fitting in the housing 1. The lower cup 8 rests on a flange at the end of the housing and has an aperture through which the ball stud 12 passes. The upper bearing member 14 is slidable in the housing, and is pressed towards the ball by a spring 19 contained in a recess in the member 14 and bearing at the other end against a plate 20 which closes the end of the housing ; the provision of the recess for the spring allows the member 14 to have a larger external surface for sliding in the housing without a correspondingly longer housing. The recess may be in the form of an annular groove. The spring may be replaced or supplemented by a tubular rubber member. Dirt and wet are excluded from the joint by a moulded rubber washer 22, with dust plate 26, fitting between the member 25 and a partspherical portion of the housing 1. The closure plate 20, which rests on a shoulder in the housing 1 and is fixed by spinning over the edge of the latter, has a central aperture for the introduction of lubricant, which passes to the space between the bearing members 8, 14 by a passage 36 in the ball 11 ; in a modification, the passage 36 is replaced by a groove cut in the surface of the ball 11.

Inventors

No inventors recorded.

Bibliographic Details