JP2519257Y2 - Ball joint bearing - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ball joint bearing used in a vehicle suspension system, a steering system and the like.

Conventionally, a ball joint is formed by holding a ball head at one end of a ball stud in a housing through a bearing.

This bearing is made of an elastic material such as resin for cushioning the ball stud and the housing. And, since it is desirable to make the operating torque of the ball stud uniform, this requires that the bearings evenly hold the ball head of the ball stud in a slidable and rotatable manner. For this reason, in order to make the elastic force of the bearing uniform in the tightening force in the inner diameter direction, the bearing has a cup shape surrounding the ball head of the ball stud with a substantially constant thickness.

[0004] above-mentioned bearings, since the diameter toward the bottom, swinging easily the bottom shaft, difficult to be held in place in the housing, a so-called sitting is bad. In order to solve this problem, as shown in FIG. 2, it is effective to provide a convex portion 108 on the outer circumference near the bottom 112 in the outer diameter direction so as to widen the outer diameter near the bottom 112 of the bearing 105. As a bearing for such a ball joint, there is an actual exploitation 64-41720.
There are many such as those shown in the issue.

[0005]

In the ball joint 101 as described above, the bearing 105 for holding the ball head 104 of the ball stud 102 is attached to the housing 1.
Since it is installed in the housing 106, the closing plate 110 is caulked and fixed to the large opening 113 at one end of the housing 106 to form the substantially cup-shaped housing 106.

However, after the caulking and fixing, the lower end surface 115 of the convex portion 108 of the bearing 105 is closed by the closing plate 110.
Then, the convex portion 108 pushes the shell portion 116 of the bearing 105 at the position where the convex portion 108 is projected.

As described above, since the bearing 105 is made of an elastic member, it is easily deformed by an external force, and the portion facing the convex portion 108 of the inner spherical surface 111 of the bearing 105 in the above state is the ball head of the ball stud 102. It is biased in the direction of 104 and tends to press the outer peripheral surface 117 of the ball head 104.

As a result, there arises a problem that the operating torque of the ball stud 102 rises above a desired value.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and provide a ball joint bearing which enables the ball joint to be used for a long period of time.

[0010]

The present invention has the following configuration.

A convex portion is provided on the outer circumference of the bearing, and a concave portion is provided at a position facing the convex portion on the inner spherical surface of the bearing.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1A shows a ball joint,
(B) shows the cross section by the XX line of (a), respectively.

1 is a ball joint, and a bearing 5
Is installed in the housing 6 and holds the ball head 4 at one end of the ball stud 2. The inner spherical surface 11 of the bearing 5 and the outer peripheral surface 17 of the ball head 4 of the ball stud 2 have a spherical surface of substantially the same curvature and are slidable. Also,
The housing 6 is fixed to the large opening 13 at one end by caulking and fixing the closing plate 10, and has a substantially cup shape, and the shank 3 of the ball stud 2 is swingably protruded from the other small opening 7.

The bearing 5 is made of an elastic material such as resin for cushioning the ball stud 2 and the housing 6,
In order to make uniform the tightening force in the inner diameter direction due to the elastic repulsive force, it has a cup shape having a substantially constant thickness and surrounding the ball head 4 of the ball stud 2. Moreover, in order to prevent the bearing 5 from swinging around the bottom portion 12 of the bearing 5 having a relatively small diameter, the outer diameter of the vicinity of the bottom portion 12 should be increased.
The convex portion 8 is provided on the outer periphery near the bottom portion 12 so as to project in the outer diameter direction.

The projections 8 are thin plate-like and are provided with five projections at equal intervals in the radial direction. Further, five groove-shaped concave portions 9 are provided at positions facing the convex portions 8 of the inner spherical surface 11 of the bearing 5.

Hereinafter, the convex portion 8 and the concave portion 9 of the bearing 5 will be described.
The operation of will be described.

As described above, the housing 6 has the large opening 1
3, the closing plate 10 is caulked and fixed, and the bearing 5
The lower end surface 15 of the convex portion 8 is pressed against the closing plate 10.

Therefore, the convex portion 8 of the bearing 5 presses the shell portion 16 of the bearing 5 at the position where the convex portion 8 is provided in a protruding manner. Since the bearing 5 made of an elastic member is easily deformed by an external force, the portion of the shell portion 16 pressed by the convex portion 8 is urged toward the ball head 4 of the ball stud 2.

However, since the concave portion 9 is provided at a position facing the convex portion 8 of the inner spherical surface 11 of the bearing 5, the shell portion 16 is urged toward the ball head 4 of the ball stud 2. The bottom 18 of the recess 9 of the bearing 5 facing the outer peripheral surface 17 of the ball head 4 of the ball stud 2 is projected toward the ball head 4.

Therefore, the convex portion 8 of the bearing 5 is replaced by the shell portion 1.
Even if 6 is pressed and urged in the inner diameter direction, a part of the inner spherical surface 11 of the bearing 5 projects toward the ball head 4 of the ball stud 2 and the outer circumference of the ball head 4 of the ball stud 2. Surface 1
Never press 7. As a result, ball stud 2
The operating torque of is not higher than the desired value.

Further, the inner spherical surface 11 of the bearing 5 can maintain a spherical surface having a constant curvature. Therefore, the inner spherical surface 11 of the bearing 5 is not partially and strongly abutted against the outer peripheral surface 17 of the ball head 4 of the ball stud 2 to be worn. As a result, the ball joint 1 can be used without causing the inner spherical surface 11 of the bearing 5 to be extremely worn.

According to the present invention, the convex portion of the bearing,
The number and shape of the recesses are not limited to those in this embodiment, and other components of the ball joint may have other configurations as appropriate.

Further, the convex portion for preventing the swinging of the bearing is
The bearing may be replaced with a convex portion for preventing rotation, and the configuration of the present invention may be adopted for a pillow ball joint, a slide bush, or the like.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, the convex portion is provided on the outer periphery of the bearing and the concave portion is provided at a position facing the convex portion of the inner spherical surface of the bearing, so that it is pressed by the closing plate. Even if the convex part of the bearing presses the shell of the bearing and urges it toward the ball head of the ball stud, part of the inner spherical surface of the bearing projects and the outer circumference of the ball head of the ball stud. Since the surface is not pressed, the operating torque of the ball stud does not rise above the desired value, and the inner spherical surface of the bearing maintains a spherical surface of constant curvature and is partially strong, Since the ball stud does not contact the outer peripheral surface of the ball head, the inner spherical surface of the bearing is not locally worn, and as a result, the ball joint can be used for a long period of time.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A is a partial cross-sectional plan view showing a ball joint in which a bearing of a ball joint according to an embodiment of the present invention is installed, and FIG. 1B is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. 1A. FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a bearing and a ball stud.

2A is a partial cross-sectional plan view showing a ball joint in which a bearing of a conventional ball joint is installed, and FIG. 2B is a bearing and a ball taken along line YY of FIG. 2A. It is sectional drawing of a stud.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ball joint 2 ball stud 4 ball head 5 bearing 6 housing 8 convex part 9 concave part

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A bearing (1) for the ball joint (1) which is installed in a housing (6) of the ball joint (1) and slidably holds a ball head (4) at one end of the ball stud (2). 5), a convex portion (8) is provided on the outer periphery of the bearing (5), and a concave portion is provided at a position facing the convex portion (8) of the inner spherical surface (11) of the bearing (5). (9) A ball joint bearing, wherein the bearing is provided.