The movable joint assembly includes a housing which extends along an axis and has an outer surface and an open interior. A ball stud is partially disposed in the open interior and projects out of the housing. A flexible and elastic boot is sealed against the outer surface of the housing and against the ball stud. A metal insert is at least partially embedded within the boot adjacent an end of the boot for resisting pull out of the boot from the housing. The boot includes a lip which is at least partially spaced axially from the insert and extends radially inwardly and is in an interference fit engagement with the outer surface of the housing for establishing a fluid tight seal of the housing and for maintaining the fluid tight seal in response to injection of a lubricant into the open interior of the housing.

A dust cover for a ball joint has a spherical head portion, a shaft, a one end large-diameter opening portion, and the other end small-diameter opening portion. An annular groove portion is formed between an inner peripheral surface of a reinforcing ring in the other end small-diameter portion and an outer peripheral side of a seal lip, a metal spring ring is arranged within the annular groove portion and is constructed by a cylinder portion which is fixed and retained to an inner peripheral surface of the reinforcing ring, and a spring portion exists in an inner peripheral surface side of the cylinder portion in such a manner as to be folded back from one end in an axial direction of the cylinder portion and forms slits pressing the seal lip to an outer peripheral surface side of the shaft and uniformly arranged circumferentially.

The socket assembly includes a housing with an inner bore which extends along an axis from a first end to an second end. A ball portion of a ball stud is received in the inner bore, and with a shank portion of the ball stud projects through the second end. A backing bearing is disposed in the inner bore and has a bearing surface which is in surface-to-surface contact with an outer surface of the ball portion for enabling relative rotation between the housing and the ball stud. The backing bearing also has a lubricant opening which extends therethrough and a plurality of lubricant wells which are spaced around the bearing surface from one another for holding a lubricant. The backing bearing lubricant grooves which are formed into the bearing surface and extend from the lubricant opening to the lubricant wells for filling the lubricant wells with lubricant.

A spheroidal joint for a tuned mass damper system includes a base having a concave seat and a lubricious liner secured thereto. The base defines a first mounting portion under the concave seat and a circumferential rim opposite the first mounting portion. The concave seat tapers radially outward to define a chamfer which terminates at a radially inner edge of the rim. The spheroidal joint includes an inner member that has a convex seat. The inner member has a second mounting portion extending from the convex seat and an indentation circumferentially extending around the inner member between the convex seat and the second mounting portion. The indentation cooperates with the chamfer for misalignment of the inner member relative to the base. The convex seat slidingly engages the lubricious liner.

A connector for connecting first and second members includes a body formed of a composite material including reinforcing fibers embedded in a plastic matrix made of resin, and having a fastening zone for the first member and a housing. A ball joint is swivelable within the housing of the body and has a bore for the fastening of the second member. A first fibrous strip, or a coating, has a coefficient of friction less than or equal to 0.1 and is positioned between the housing and the ball joint in contact with the ball joint. A second fibrous strip having a coefficient of friction greater than or equal to 0.2 is positioned between the housing and the ball joint in contact with the housing.

An adjustable support arm device includes a plurality of segments. Ball-and-socket joints each connect two adjacent segments. Each joint includes a plurality of interleaved friction layers between a ball and a socket of that joint. A locking mechanism applies a normal force to the friction layers to lock the joints, the mechanism being releasable to enable bending of the joints.

A dust cover for a ball joint has a spherical head portion, a shaft, a cylindrical one-end large-diameter opening portion, a large-diameter opening portion side reinforcing ring fixed to a socket, the other end small-diameter opening portion retained onto the shaft, a flange portion extending from an end portion in the other-end small-diameter opening portion of the one-end large-diameter opening portion toward a ball stud side, and a rubber-like elastic film portion coupling an inward end portion of the flange portion and the other-end small-diameter opening portion. The dust cover has an outside projection provided on an outer peripheral surface of the film portion, and an inside projection provided on an inner peripheral surface of a joint portion between the flange portion and the film portion, and the outside projection and the inside projection come into contact with each other when the dust covers for the ball joint are laminated.

This invention relates to a joint housing (10) of a ball joint (12), comprising a sheet-metal part (14) for accommodating a ball head (16), which is substantially rotationally symmetrical with respect to a joint axis (A) and includes a circumferential wall portion (18), wherein the circumferential wall portion (18) includes a housing opening (26) at an axial end (24), through which a joint pin (28) can extend, wherein the sheet-metal part (14) is formed with two layers at this axial end (24) of the circumferential wall portion (18).

Furthermore, the invention also relates to a method for mounting such joint housing (10) on a carrier element (34).

Adjustable and rebuildable ball joint assemblies are disclosed. Methods for installation, adjustment, and rebuilding ball joint assemblies are described. In some embodiments, the ball joint assembly includes a washer with tabs to restrain rotation of the cap relative to the housing. In some embodiments, the ball joint assembly includes a locking mechanism to restrain rotation of the bearing relative to the housing.

A bearing shell (2) for a ball joint (1) includes a shell component (11) made from a first material, such that the shell component (11) has a ball segment shaped receiving space (6) into which a joint ball (4) is fitted and can swivel. An inner side (12) of the shell component (11) is coated with a second material to form a low-friction layer (13). To improve the sliding friction properties between the joint ball (4) and the bearing shell (2) and to reduce the friction between them, the bearing shell (2) is characterized in that the second material is parylene.