The ball socket assembly includes a housing with an open interior which extends along an axis. A bearing is disposed in the open interior of the housing and has a curved primary contact surface which surrounds the axis and surrounds a stud ball opening. A stud ball is disposed in the opening and is in sliding contact with the primary contact surface for allowing rotation of the stud ball relative to the bearing. The stud ball has an equator and is in sliding contact with the bearing on both sides of the equator. A stud is operably connected with the stud ball. A shoe is further provided and has a pair of supplemental contact surfaces that are biased against the stud ball. The shoe provides the stud with a predetermined rotational torque and also adjusts for wear in the assembly to maintain the performance of the socket assembly.

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 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.

The assembly includes a housing that has an inner bore and a ball stud that has a ball portion with opposing first and second hemispheres. A bearing assembly is disposed in the inner bore of the housing and presents a curved first bearing surface that is in slidable contact with only the first hemisphere of the ball portion. The ball socket assembly also includes a curved second bearing surface that is presented on a different component from the bearing assembly and is in slidable contact with the second hemisphere of the ball portion. The bearing assembly has a plastic portion and a plurality of metal segments. The metal segments collectively define the first bearing surface and are fixedly attached with the plastic portion. The plastic portion allows the metal segments to individually move relative to one another to seat against the ball portion of the ball stud.

A universal joint is provided, including: a seat, including a receiving room extending in an axial direction and at least one through hole in communication with the receiving room; a connecting member, including a ball head rotatably received within the receiving room; and an assembling mechanism, including at least one blocking member and a sleeve member sleeved around the seat, the at least one blocking member being received within the at least one through hole and blockable with the ball head in the axial direction, the sleeve member covering the at least one through hole; wherein the seat has a first hardness, the sleeve member has a second hardness smaller than the first hardness, an outer circumferential wall of the seat is partially embedded within an inner circumferential wall of the sleeve member.

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 floor cleaning machine with a base, a control handle and a joint that permits that permits the handle to be pivoted in arbitrary directions relative to the base. The joint has first and second joint elements that are each attached to a corresponding of the base and the control handle. The first joint element has an envelope in the shape of a ball socket and is received into the second joint element. The first joint element is pivotable relative to the second joint element about a stationary fulcrum. The center of the envelope is non-displaceable relative to the second joint element. Grooves, which run in an arcuate manner, are provided on one of the first and the second joint elements, while corresponding engagement parts are provided on the other one of the first and the second joint elements and extend into corresponding ones of the grooves.

The socket assembly has a housing with an inner bore which extends from a first end to a second end. A ball portion of a ball stud is received in the inner bore. A backing bearing is disposed in the inner bore and presents a curved bearing surface in surface-to-surface contact with the ball portion. A first spring biases the backing bearing against the ball portion. The socket assembly also includes an exit bearing with a cylindrical portion that is in contact with an equator of the ball portion and a semi-spherical portion that is in surface-to-surface contact with an opposite hemisphere from the first bearing surface. A second spring biases the exit bearing into a predetermined location established by the housing. The exit bearing is movable from the predetermined location in a direction towards the second end of the housing against a biasing force of the second spring.

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 ball joint has a bushing with a defined housing space sized to receive ball joint components. The ball joint further has a cage member having an exterior surface that fits within the housing recess and an interior surface with a pattern of raised and recessed portions, and a cup member over-molded on the cage member component. The cup member complements the interior surface pattern of the cage member and includes an interior surface having a circular configuration. The ball joint also has a stem having a ball portion dimensioned to fit within and complement the interior surface of the cup member.