GB2159443A - Method of making a ball joint - Google Patents
Method of making a ball joint Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- GB2159443A GB2159443A GB08513359A GB8513359A GB2159443A GB 2159443 A GB2159443 A GB 2159443A GB 08513359 A GB08513359 A GB 08513359A GB 8513359 A GB8513359 A GB 8513359A GB 2159443 A GB2159443 A GB 2159443A
- Authority
- GB
- United Kingdom
- Prior art keywords
- housing
- ball joint
- bearing element
- aperture
- making
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Withdrawn
Links
- 238000004519 manufacturing process Methods 0.000 title claims description 13
- 238000010438 heat treatment Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 11
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 claims description 11
- 229910000831 Steel Inorganic materials 0.000 claims description 8
- 239000010959 steel Substances 0.000 claims description 8
- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 claims description 7
- 230000001681 protective effect Effects 0.000 claims description 6
- OKTJSMMVPCPJKN-UHFFFAOYSA-N Carbon Chemical compound [C] OKTJSMMVPCPJKN-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 claims description 4
- 229910052799 carbon Inorganic materials 0.000 claims description 4
- 238000010791 quenching Methods 0.000 claims description 2
- 230000000171 quenching effect Effects 0.000 claims description 2
- 238000005496 tempering Methods 0.000 claims description 2
- 239000007789 gas Substances 0.000 description 5
- 238000003466 welding Methods 0.000 description 3
- CURLTUGMZLYLDI-UHFFFAOYSA-N Carbon dioxide Chemical compound O=C=O CURLTUGMZLYLDI-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 2
- 238000003780 insertion Methods 0.000 description 2
- 230000037431 insertion Effects 0.000 description 2
- VNWKTOKETHGBQD-UHFFFAOYSA-N methane Chemical compound C VNWKTOKETHGBQD-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 2
- 238000003825 pressing Methods 0.000 description 2
- 229910000712 Boron steel Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 229910002092 carbon dioxide Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 239000001569 carbon dioxide Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000005260 corrosion Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000007797 corrosion Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000003345 natural gas Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000000717 retained effect Effects 0.000 description 1
Classifications
-
- F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
- F16—ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL
- F16C—SHAFTS; FLEXIBLE SHAFTS; ELEMENTS OR CRANKSHAFT MECHANISMS; ROTARY BODIES OTHER THAN GEARING ELEMENTS; BEARINGS
- F16C11/00—Pivots; Pivotal connections
- F16C11/04—Pivotal connections
- F16C11/06—Ball-joints; Other joints having more than one degree of angular freedom, i.e. universal joints
- F16C11/0614—Ball-joints; Other joints having more than one degree of angular freedom, i.e. universal joints the female part of the joint being open on two sides
Abstract
A ball joint is made by providing a support ring having an aperture 12 portions of which are bounded by part-cylindrical 16 and part spherical walls 14 and a lip 18 at the periphery of the aperture pointing generally away from the part spherical wall, inserting a part-spherical bearing element 22 Figs. 2, 4 (Not shown) through the cylindrical portion to lie against the part spherical portion, deforming the lip on to the bearing element and finally heat treating the ball joint. The ball joint may be welded to other parts 26 Figs 3, 4 (Not shown) before heat treatment to provide for example tractor steering arms or links for three-point linkages. <IMAGE>
Description
SPECIFICATION
Improvements in or relating to a method of making a ball joint
The invention relates to a method of making a ball joint comprising a housing having an internal partspherical surface wherein there is received a bearing element having a co-operating external partspherical bearing surface. Hereinafter this kind of ball joint will be referred to as "of the kind hereinbefore defined".
In one known method of making a ball joint of the kind hereinbefore defined, the housing is in the form of a bearing support ring part of which is produced from a thin-walled cylindrical tube. The bearing element is received in the tube, which is then deformed at both ends towards the bearing element and a central region of the tube is simultaneously pressed into an annular groove provided at an inside surface of another, outer part of the support ring. This secures the outer part of the support ring to the deformed tube.
A disadvantage of this method is that the relatively thin-walled tube may not be strong enough to accommodate high axial forces acting on the bearing element. A further disadvantage is the fact that the tube must be deformable, and so must be of low strength.
A number of other methods of making a ball joint are known. In all these the bearing support ring is in two parts, to receive the bearing element therebetween. The disadvantage of a ball joint made by these methods is that the strength of the bearing support ring is determined by the fixing means securing the parts together. Furthermore, the two parts of the support ring require care in their alignment.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple and economical method of making a ball joint of the kind hereinbefore defined and which is capable of accommodating heavy loads in both the axial and radial directions and in which there is a large contact face between the bearing element and the bearing support ring.
The invention provides therefore a method of making a ball joint of the kind hereinbefore defined, comprising the steps of; a. providing a housing having an aperture therein, one portion of the aperture being bounded by a substantially cylindrical wall of the housing, and another portion of the aperture being bounded by a part-spherical wall of the housing.
b. inserting a part-spherical bearing element into the aperture in the housing through said one portion of the aperture to rest against said part-spherical wall, c. deforming at least part of the free end of the cylindrical wall of the housing towards the surface of the bearing element to retain the bearing element in the housing and d. heat treating the completed ball joint.
The aperture in the housing may be a throughaperture and the bearing element may also have a through aperture. A deformable lip may be provided at the periphery of the cylindrical wall for deformation to retain the bearing element in the housing.
It will be realised that the materials of the bearing element and the housing will be chosen such that after heat treatment the bearing element at least in a surface region adjacent to a surface region of the bearing support ring is harder than at least the material of said surface region of the bearing support ring.
The individual components making up the ball joint, are preferably of different steels. Preferably the bearing element is of steel having, at least in a surface region adjacent the housing, a proportion of carbon greater than that of the material of the housing at least in a region adjacent the bearing element. Contrary to expectation, the bearing element is sufficiently hardened, even in an area thereof covered by the housing during the heattreatment. This results in production cost savings both in respect of time and of energy.
Also, it will be seen that the housing initially has low strength enabling ease of deforming the lip in the cold. After the heat treatment, the housing has a homogeneous structure with increased strength.
Any jamming of free movement of the bearing element in the bearing support ring occuring after deformation of the lip against the bearing elements is relieved by the heat treatment, so that the bearing element is free to move relative to the bearing support ring.
The method may be applied to the production of a component, for example a steering arm for a vehichle such as a tractor or a lifting arm for a threepoint linkage for connecting a tractor to an agricultural implement, the arms having at least one ball joint, and further provides a method of making a component having at least one ball joint made according to the method of claim 1, in which before heat treating the or each ball joint the or each housing is welded to the component which together with the or each joint is then heat-treated.
The housing may be produced of boron steel or another similar steel of the same strength and preferably has a stub for welding of the ball joint to the component which is also made of the same material as, or a material compatible with. The component is then heated and quenched in a suitable, known protective gas atmosphere and, fol iowing a subsequent tempering process, the bearing element (preferably made of a suitable ball-bearing steel) achieves a hardness of at least 50 HRc (Rockwell 'C' hardness) the arm achieving a strength 1000 - 1600 N/mm2.
Surprisingly, in applying the same heat-treatment to the different steels of the bearing element and housing, the former acquires a hardness necessary for low wear and at the same time, the latter achieves a strength such that it can withstand typical loads occurring in service.
Also, stresses and differences in strength occurring in the region of the welds are evened-out during the heat-treatment. Thus the entire component, including the deformed lips of the bearing support rings has a homogeneous structure.
Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through a housing prior to insertion of the bearing ball,
Figure 2 is a lateral view of the housing of Figure 1, with element received therein
Figure 3 shows a lower steering arm for a tractor with housing welded thereto before insertion of the bearing elements.
Figure 4 shows the lower steering arm of Figure 3 with bearing elements received in the housing.
Figure 1 illustrates a housing in the form of a bearing support ring 10 provided with a through aperture 12 the left-hand half 14 (as viewed in Figure 1) of which is bounded by a part-spherical portion of a wall of the bearing support ring 10 and the right-hand half 16 of which is bounded by a cylindrical portion of the wall. The cylindrical wall portion is provided with an axially-projecting lip 18 on the righthand side as viewed in Figure 1 i.e.
away from the part-spherical portion 14. The bearing support ring 10 also has a stub 20 for connection by welding to other components. A partspherical bearing element 22 is inserted in the cylindrical portion 16 of the aperture to lie against the part-spherical wall portion 14, and using a suitable pressing tool (having a cone-shaped recess for example) the lip 18 is cold-deformed against the bearing element 22 so that the latter is retained in the bearing support ring 10 as shown in Figure 2.
The completed joint is then heat-treated by heating and quenching in known manner, in the course of which the bearing element, which is made of a steel with a higher proportion of carbon, acquires sufficient hardness to withstand the wear conditions occurring in service while simultaneously the strength of the stub 20 is increased. A protective gas atmosphere (such as a cracked natural gas with a carbon dioxide content adjusted to be compatible with the carbon content of the surface) prevents decarburisation of the surface of the joint and scaling.
Figure 3 shows a complete lower steering arm 26 which has, at both its ends, bearing support rings 10 connected thereto by welds 24. Either before or after welding the bearing elements 22 are inserted into the apertures 12 of the bearing support rings 10 and the lips 18 are deformed by cold pressing to produce a finished lower steering arm provided with ball joints at both ends (Figure 4).
The complete lower steering arm then undergoes heat treatment in the course which the bearing elements 22 acquire a hardness of up to 66 HRc.
Again, the steering arm, for the purpose of hardening is heated in a protective gas atmosphere which is such that any decarburisation or scaling of the surface zone of the parts to be hardened is prevented.
After hardening, the entire lower steering arm is, if necessary, tempered so that the surfaces of the bearing elements acquire an effective hardness of at least 50 HRc, and the steering arm 26 acquires a strength of 1,000 to 1,600 N/mm2.
Various modificafons may be made without departing from the scope of the invention, for exam ple the bearing element and bearing support ring could be made of material other than steel so long as they are compatible (for example in that they do not give rise to electrolytic corrosion). The protective gas atmosphere may provided by any suitable known protective gas.
Claims (8)
1. A method of making a ball joint of the kind hereinbefore defined, comprising the steps of; a. providing a housing having an aperture therein, one portion of the aperture being bounded by a substantially cylindrical wall of the housing, and another portion of the aperture being bounded by a part-spherical wall of the housing, b. inserting a part-spherical bearing element into the aperture in the housing through said one portion of the aperture to rest against said part-spherical wall, c. deforming at least part of the free end of the cylindrical wall of the housing towards the surface of the bearing element to retain the bearing element in the housing and d. heat treating the completed ball joint.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1 in which the aperture in the housing is a through-aperture and in which the bearing element also has a throughaperture.
3. A method as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 in which there is provided at the periphery of said cylindrical wall a lip deformable towards the surface of the bearing element to retain the latter in the housing.
4. A method of making a component having at least one ball joint made according to the method of any of claims 1 to 3, in which, before heat-treating the or each ball joint, the or each housing is welded to the component which, together with the or each ball joint, is then heat treated.
5. A method as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4 in which the bearing element is of steel having, at least in a surface region adjacent the housing, a proportion of carbon greater than that of the material of the housing in a region adjacent the bearing element.
6. A method as claimed in claim 4, or claims 5 or 6 as appended to claim 4, in which the heat treatment comprises heating and quenching the component or arm together with the ball joint(s) in a protective gas atmosphere and then tempering, such that the bearing element has an effective hardness of at least 50 HRc and the arm has a strength of 1000-1600 N/mm2.
7. A method of making a ball joint substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
8. A method of making an arm for a tractor substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| DE19843419871 DE3419871A1 (en) | 1984-05-28 | 1984-05-28 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING A BALL JOINT BEARING |
Publications (3)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| GB8513359D0 GB8513359D0 (en) | 1985-07-03 |
| GB2159443A true GB2159443A (en) | 1985-12-04 |
| GB2159443A8 GB2159443A8 (en) | 2003-05-22 |
Family
ID=6237049
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB08513359A Withdrawn GB2159443A (en) | 1984-05-28 | 1985-05-28 | Method of making a ball joint |
Country Status (4)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| DE (1) | DE3419871A1 (en) |
| FR (1) | FR2564918A1 (en) |
| GB (1) | GB2159443A (en) |
| IT (3) | IT8506973V0 (en) |
Cited By (4)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB2190435A (en) * | 1986-05-08 | 1987-11-18 | Johnson Electric Ind Mfg | Sintered bearings |
| CN101936329A (en) * | 2010-08-12 | 2011-01-05 | 北泰汽车底盘系统(安徽)有限公司 | Method for assembling automobile spherical hinge assembly |
| CN102862019A (en) * | 2012-10-09 | 2013-01-09 | 苏州苏万万向节有限公司 | Ball and ball bowl assembling process |
| WO2023024362A1 (en) * | 2021-08-23 | 2023-03-02 | 航天精工股份有限公司 | Highly-unitized joint bearing for aerospace |
Families Citing this family (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE102006016060B4 (en) * | 2006-04-04 | 2012-10-25 | Zf Friedrichshafen Ag | Radial joint and method for producing such a radial joint for a motor vehicle |
| DE102008063813A1 (en) | 2008-12-19 | 2010-07-01 | Zf Friedrichshafen Ag | Ball joint and method for its production |
Family Cites Families (7)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE8221938U1 (en) * | 1982-11-18 | Helmut Elges Kg, 4800 Bielefeld | Flanged spherical bearings | |
| US1684984A (en) * | 1926-05-19 | 1928-09-18 | Bound Brook Oil Less Bearing | Self-aligning bearing structure and method of making same |
| US1990016A (en) * | 1932-10-29 | 1935-02-05 | Timken Axle Co Detroit | Resilient joint |
| DE873018C (en) * | 1944-05-20 | 1953-04-09 | Rudolf Dipl-Ing Floetgen | Process for the production of seamless sliding bearing components |
| FR1133794A (en) * | 1952-03-12 | 1957-04-02 | Spherical bearing improvements | |
| FR1488199A (en) * | 1966-08-03 | 1967-07-07 | Fafnir Bearing Co | Improvements to spherical bearings |
| EP0054592A1 (en) * | 1980-12-23 | 1982-06-30 | Incom International Inc. | Method of manufacturing spherical bearings |
-
1984
- 1984-05-28 DE DE19843419871 patent/DE3419871A1/en not_active Ceased
-
1985
- 1985-04-19 IT IT8506973U patent/IT8506973V0/en unknown
- 1985-04-19 IT IT1985A05150A patent/IT8505150A1/en unknown
- 1985-04-19 IT IT05150/85A patent/IT1186291B/en active
- 1985-05-28 FR FR8507981A patent/FR2564918A1/en not_active Withdrawn
- 1985-05-28 GB GB08513359A patent/GB2159443A/en not_active Withdrawn
Cited By (5)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB2190435A (en) * | 1986-05-08 | 1987-11-18 | Johnson Electric Ind Mfg | Sintered bearings |
| GB2190435B (en) * | 1986-05-08 | 1989-12-06 | Johnson Electric Ind Mfg | Sintered bearings |
| CN101936329A (en) * | 2010-08-12 | 2011-01-05 | 北泰汽车底盘系统(安徽)有限公司 | Method for assembling automobile spherical hinge assembly |
| CN102862019A (en) * | 2012-10-09 | 2013-01-09 | 苏州苏万万向节有限公司 | Ball and ball bowl assembling process |
| WO2023024362A1 (en) * | 2021-08-23 | 2023-03-02 | 航天精工股份有限公司 | Highly-unitized joint bearing for aerospace |
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| GB8513359D0 (en) | 1985-07-03 |
| IT8506973V0 (en) | 1985-04-19 |
| IT1186291B (en) | 1987-11-18 |
| FR2564918A1 (en) | 1985-11-29 |
| IT8505150A0 (en) | 1985-04-19 |
| GB2159443A8 (en) | 2003-05-22 |
| IT8505150A1 (en) | 1986-10-19 |
| DE3419871A1 (en) | 1985-11-28 |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| WAP | Application withdrawn, taken to be withdrawn or refused ** after publication under section 16(1) |