Preloaded ball joint

Claim 2

In a ball-joint provided with a ball-headed stud rotatable and tiltable in a housing member, the shank of said stud projecting through an end opening in said housing member, a sheath softer than said ball-head fixedly mounted on the latter to provide for wear caused by said rotational and tilting movement, and a rib encircling said head and projecting radially therebeyond to interlock with said sheath, said rib being formed by interlocking a ring circumferentially with said head to project radially outwardly from the latter, said ring lying in a plane that is parallel to the equatorial plane through said head.

Claim 3

A In a ball-joint as set forth in claim 1, further characterized in that the plane of said rib is parallel to and to one side of the equatorial plane of said head.

Claim 4

In a joint as set forth in claim 2, further characterized in that said plane in which said rib lies is closer to the top of said head than to said stud shank.

Claim 5

In a joint as set forth in claim 3, further characterized in that said rib is of a material that is harder than that of said sheath so that said rib will imbed into said sheath when the latter is forced radially inwardly onto said rib, after mounting said sheath on said ball-head.

Claim 6

In a ball-joint provided with a ball-headed stud rotatable and tiltable in a housing member through one end thereof and wherein the shank of said stud extends beyond said end, resilient means between said housing and head to yieldably preload said joint, said means having an inner concave surface to engage with and conform to the convex exterior of said head and with an initially beveled outer bottom corner, and a retaining cup encircling said means and provided with an intermediate portion projecting radially inwardly toward said beveled corner of said means there being an annular open space between said means and cup, said retaining cup provided with radially outwardly projecting portions extending to either side of said intermediate portion, whereby forcing said retaining cup axially deforms said means to fill said aforesaid space and preload saId joint.

Claim 7

In a ball-joint provided with a ball-headed stud rotatable and tiltable in a housing member through one end thereof and wherein the shank of said stud extends beyond said end, resilient means between said housing and head to yieldably preload said joint, said means having an inner concave surface to engage with and conform to the convex exterior of said head and with an initially beveled outer bottom corner, and a retaining cup encircling said means and provided with an intermediate portion projecting radially inwardly toward said beveled corner of said means there being an annular open space between said means and cup, said retaining cup provided with radially outwardly projecting portions extending to either side of said intermediate portion, whereby forcing said retaining cup axially deforms said means to fill said aforesaid space and preload saId joint.