A boot seal is detachably attached to a joint including: a drive link and link members; and a ball joint for linking them to be relatively rotatable or swivelable. The ball joint includes a ball shank having a shaft section fixed to the drive link and a ball section provided on one end of the shaft section and a holder that is fixed to an end section of each of the link members and that has a ball-receiving section for supporting the ball section in a state where the ball section is surrounded. A cover main body that covers the gap between the ball shank and the holder and that is formed of a flexible material includes through-holes through which the shaft section is made to pass, a slit that continuously extends between the through-holes, and a fastener opening and hermetically closing the slit along the entire length thereof.

A ball joint reducing influence on a characteristic by fixing a plug by swaging while preventing corotation of a bearing sheet. The ball joint includes a housing-including a housing body part and the plug fixed to the housing body part at one end portion thereof by swaging and closing the housing body part at the one end portion. The ball joint includes the cylindrical bearing sheet rotatably holding a ball part and housed and held in the housing. The bearing sheet includes a groove formed at an end facing the plug. The plug includes a projection inserted into the groove. The height of the projection is less than the depth of the groove, the width of the projection is greater than the width of the groove, and the projection contacts the bearing sheet at a width smaller on an inner side than on an outer side relative to the groove.

A bush pin is provided for a V-stay presenting two arms adapted to structurally connect an axle casing for a vehicle wheel axle to a respective of a left and right vehicle frame member, including a central bush portion and a fastening portion on each side of the central bush portion, wherein each of the fastening portions is adapted to be connected to a bracket by a fastening arrangement, wherein the bush pin includes a first contact surface on each side of the central bush portion, and displaced from the fastening portions, for contacting a corresponding contact surface of the bracket in order to transfer loads.

A self-aligning mud pump apparatus is provided. In one embodiment, the mud pump includes a rotatable crankshaft, a crosshead, a crosshead guide, and a hub disposed in a housing. The hub is disposed on the crankshaft and is operable to convert rotating motion of the crankshaft to reciprocating motion of the crosshead within the crosshead guide. The hub is coupled to the crosshead via a connecting rod, which is connected the crosshead such that the connecting rod has five degrees of freedom with respect to the crosshead guide. The mud pump may also or instead include a piston coupled to the crosshead with five degrees of freedom between the piston and the crosshead. Additional systems, devices, and methods are also disclosed.

A hinge system and method for an Articulated Wave Energy Conversion System (AWECS) that provides for hinge and piston pump displacements due to multi-axis forces in allowing adjacent barges of the AWECS to pivot with respect to one another due to wave motion. The hinge system uses a plurality of parallel hinges, and axle segments, coupled between adjacent barges wherein the hinges are coupled to upright trusses positioned transversely along facing edges of each barge. Hinge bracing includes lower V-shaped struts that act as lower stops when the barges pitch up and also include upper struts that act as upper stops when the barges pitch down. The pumps are positioned in parallel. The pumps have special couplings such as ball joint couplings that permit motions other than longitudinal pump/ram motions due to multi-axis forces generated by the wave motion and thus provide omni-directional stress relief to the pumps.

A shackle for fastening an aircraft engine including a ball joint with a pin including a ring including a first bore and a sleeve assembled in the first bore and having a second bore configured to receive the pin and the diameter of which progressively increases to have a flared inner surface at each of its ends, the fastening shackle being arranged such that a spherical outer surface of the ring bears an anti-friction coating produced on a region extending beyond the contact region with the body of the shackle, this first region being bordered by rims forming a projection around the coating, and/or the second bore bears an anti-friction coating on a region extending beyond its contact region with the pin, this region being bordered by rims forming a projection around this anti-friction coating, at the ends of the flared inner surface.

A joint (10) with first and second joint components (12, 26; 19) are movably connected to one another. The first joint component (12, 26) has a spherical joint body (14, 28) and the second joint component (19) rotatably and pivotably holds the joint body (14, 28). A sensor device, for determining the position of the first and second joint components (12, 26; 19) relative to one another, is arranged on the joint (10). The sensor device has at least one sensor element (21, 31) which can be integrated in a housing (18) that is produced by an assembly overmolding process. The joint housing (18) forms the second joint component (19) in which the joint body (14, 28) is directly supported.

A spherical bearing having an outer ring and an inner ring respectively including an inner surface and an outer surface that are in contact with one another. Moreover, the material of the outer ring provides an alloy having the formula NiCr19Fe18Nb or an alloy having the formula X6NiCrTiMoVB25-15-2.

A ball joint having an outer ring and an inner ring respectively including an interior surface and an exterior surface in contact one against the other. The outer ring including two opposite radial front faces axially delimiting the interior surface and two diametrically opposite notches formed on the interior surface and opening onto one of the front faces. Furthermore, the material of the outer ring includes an alloy with the formula NiCr19Fe18Nb or an alloy with the formula X6NiCrTiMoVB25-15-2 and the material of the inner ring includes an alloy with the formula CoCr29W5.

A laminated elastomeric journal bearing has an outer sleeve having an inner surface, at least a portion of each end of the inner surface being a concave surface of revolution, and an inner sleeve having an outer surface, at least a portion of each end of the outer surface being a convex surface of revolution. Alternating layers of elastomer and metal are located between the sleeves, with adjacent surfaces of the layers and the sleeves being adhered to each other.