JPH0835516A - Ball joint - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance the assemblability of a ball joint and at the same time make it disassemblable when necessary and to surely hold a spherical body by a bearing at the time of usual application. CONSTITUTION:This ball joint has two symmetrical bearings 21, 21, and the inner circumferential surface of the bearing 21 has an identical surface of curvature to the peripheral surface of a spherical body and continues in the circumferential direction, and its width has a width of covering by half from the center of the spherical body, and a claw 23 and a notch part 24 are alternately disposed with an equal circumferential width in the circumferential direction in the peripheral surface of the bearing 21, and the assembling of the two bearings 21, 21 is performed by facing the claw 23 and the notch part 24 to each other and making the flanges 27, 28 of the claw 23 hold a mounting bracket therebetween from both sides.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ball joint suitable for use as a mounting portion for shock absorbers, a mounting portion for links, etc. in automobiles, office equipment and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in the mounting portion of a shock absorber, the mounting portion of a link, etc., Japanese Patent Publication No. 49-39103 or Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 53-2.
A ball joint as described in Japanese Patent No. 6531 is adopted. This ball joint is composed of a sphere and a bearing arranged on the outer side of the sphere. The ball joint holds the sphere in the opening hole of the mounting bracket via the bearing and connects the mounting portion to the sphere.

In the prior art disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 49-39103, two bearings that cover the outer peripheral surface of the sphere half by half in the width direction are made of resin so that the sphere is sandwiched from both sides within the opening of the mounting bracket. The contact surfaces of the two bearings are welded and integrated by resistance welding. This ensures that the bearing can hold the sphere. Mitsuko Sho53
In the conventional technique described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 26531, a gap is provided between the inner peripheral surface of the bearing and the outer peripheral surface of the sphere, and the claws of the bearing are deformed toward the sphere to hold the sphere. The deformation of the claws of this bearing is that this bearing is inserted into the mounting hole of the outer bush that is attached to the mounting bracket from one direction, and the inner claw of the outer bush elastically pushes the claw of the bearing toward the inner diameter direction to reduce the diameter. It is made by transforming. The reduced diameter deformed state of the claws of the bearing is maintained by engaging the outer peripheral engaging portion of the bearing, which is inserted into the mounting hole of the outer bush from one direction, with the inner peripheral engaging portion of the outer bush. It

[0004]

The prior art disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 49-39103 has the following problems. The need to weld the two bearings complicates the assembly process. Since the two bearings cannot be disassembled after assembling, it is difficult to remove the shock absorber or link using this ball joint.

The prior art disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 53-26531 has the following problems. Since the sphere is held by elastic deformation of the claws of the bearing, it is difficult to secure a large amount of diameter reduction deformation of the claws, and it is difficult to reliably hold the sphere by the bearing.

It is an object of the present invention to improve the assemblability of a ball joint, to disassemble it when necessary, and to surely hold a sphere by a bearing during normal use.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a ball joint which comprises a sphere and a bearing arranged outside the sphere, and which holds the sphere in the opening of the mounting bracket through the bearing, the bearing having a symmetrical shape. It consists of two members, the inner peripheral surface of each bearing is continuous in the circumferential direction with the same curvature surface as the outer peripheral surface of the sphere, and its width has a width covering half from the center of the sphere. The surface has circumferentially alternating claws and notches, arranged with the same circumferential width, a flange that engages around the opening hole of the mounting bracket is formed on the outside of the claw, and the thickness of the claw is
In order to allow the pawl to elastically deform toward the sphere and at this time the flange can be disengaged from the opening hole, the pawl and the outer circumference of the sphere are formed to have a thickness allowing a deformation, and the two bearings are assembled. Are those in which the claws and the notches face each other, the respective bearings are pushed into the opening holes of the mounting bracket, and the flanges of the claws sandwich the mounting bracket from the left and right.

[0008]

The two bearings are assembled by pushing each bearing into the opening of the mounting bracket and the flanges of the claws sandwiching the mounting bracket from the left and right. Therefore, welding is not required for assembling and the assembling property can be improved.

Each bearing can be disassembled by elastically deforming the claw toward the sphere and removing the flange of the claw from the opening of the mounting bracket. That is, the ball joint can be easily disassembled when removing the shock absorber or the link using the ball joint.

The two bearings engage the flanges of the claws around the opening holes of the mounting bracket in the assembled state in which the flanges of the claws sandwich the mounting bracket from the left and right as described above. Therefore, during normal use, the sphere holding state by the two bearings can be firmly maintained, and the sphere can be reliably held by the bearing.

[0011]

1 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG.
Is a schematic view showing a bearing, (A) is a front view, (B)
Is a cross-sectional view of BB in (A), and (C) is a cross-sectional view of CC in (A).
The ball joint 10 is composed of a sphere 11 and two bearings 21 and 21, and the sphere 11 is inserted through the bearings 21 and 21 into the opening hole 2 of the mounting bracket 1 which constitutes a shock absorber mounting portion, a link mounting portion, and the like. Hold. The sphere 11 has a mounting pin engagement hole 12.

The sphere 11 can be made of plastic, metal or the like, and the bearing 21 can also be made of plastic, metal or the like.

Therefore, the two bearings 21, 21 are symmetrical. The thin annular body 22 of each bearing 21 is attached to the center of the spherical body 11 in half, and the inner peripheral surface 22A of the annular body 22 has the same curvature surface as the outer peripheral surface 11A of the spherical body 11 and is continuous in the circumferential direction. However, the width A has a width that covers half of the sphere 11 from the center.

On the outer peripheral surface 22B of the annular body 22 of the bearing 21, the claws 23 and the notches 24 are alternately arranged in the circumferential direction with the same circumferential width (for example, 45 degrees). The claw 23 has a protruding piece portion 23B protruding from a base portion 23A around the annular body 22 attached to one half of the spherical body 11 toward the other half side of the spherical body 11.

A mounting recess 26 that is fitted into the opening 2 of the mounting bracket 1 is formed on the outer surface of the claw 23, and both sides of the mounting recess 26 (on the side of the base portion 23A and on the side of the protruding piece portion 23B) are formed. Flanges 27, 28 that engage around the opening 2 of the mounting bracket 1 are formed. A paper-like guide surface 29 that is guided by the inner surface of the opening hole 2 is provided on the flange 28 of the claw 23 on the protruding piece portion 23B side.

Further, the thickness of the projecting piece 23B of the claw 23 is such that the projecting piece 23B can be elastically deformed toward the sphere 11 and the flange 28 can be removed from the opening 2 at this time.
It is formed in a thickness having a clearance allowing deformation between the projecting piece portion 23B and the outer circumference of the spherical body 11.

In the ball joint 10, the two bearings 21, 21 are assembled in the following manner. (1) The two bearings 21, 21 are arranged on both sides of the sphere 11 arranged in the opening 2 of the mounting bracket 1, and the claw 23 of one bearing 21 and the notch 24 of the other bearing 21 are arranged. Face each other.

(2) The two bearings 21 and 2 of the above (1)
Each 1 is pushed into the opening 2 of the mounting bracket 1. Then, in each bearing 21, the projecting piece portion 23B of the claw 23 is elastically reduced in diameter to pass through the opening hole 2, and after passing through the opening 28, a flange 28 on the side of the projecting piece portion 23B that expands due to elastic restoring behavior, and a base portion. The mounting bracket 1 is sandwiched from the left and right with the flange 27 on the 23A side. At this time, the nail 23
The flange 27 on the base 23A side of the mounting bracket 1 engages with one side surface around the opening hole 2 of the mounting bracket 1, and the flange 28 on the protruding piece portion 23B side engages with the other side surface around the opening hole 2 of the mounting bracket 1. , These two bearings 21, 21
Firmly maintains the sphere holding state in which the sphere 11 is sandwiched from both sides.

If the ball joint 10 is disassembled as required, the two bearings 21, 2
The protrusion piece 23B of the claw 23 in one of the bearings 21 of No. 1 is pressed toward the sphere 11 to elastically reduce its diameter, and the flange 28 of the reduced diameter protrusion piece 23B is opened in the mounting bracket 1. If it is removed to the outside of 2, the bearing 21 on one side can be removed from the mounting bracket 1 and, by extension, the sphere 11 can be removed.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below. The two bearings 21 are assembled by pushing each bearing 21 into the opening 2 of the mounting bracket 1 so that the flanges 27 and 28 of the claws 23 sandwich the mounting bracket 1 from the left and right. Therefore, welding is not required for assembling and the assembling property can be improved.

Each bearing 21 has a claw 23 and a sphere 11.
It is elastically deformed to the side and can be disassembled by removing the flange 28 of the claw 23 from the opening hole 2 of the mounting bracket 1.
That is, when removing the shock absorber or the link using the ball joint 10, the ball joint 10 can be easily disassembled.

As described above, the two bearings 21 are in the assembled state in which the flanges 27 and 28 of the claws 23 sandwich the mounting bracket 1 from the left and right, and the flanges 27 and 28 of the claws 23 are opened into the opening holes 2 of the mounting bracket 1. It will be able to engage around. Therefore, during normal use, the sphere holding state by the two bearings 21 can be firmly maintained, and the sphere 11 can be reliably held by the bearing 21.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration of the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and changes in design within the scope not departing from the gist of the present invention can be made. Even if it exists, it is included in the present invention.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, the assemblability of the ball joint can be improved, the ball joint can be disassembled when necessary, and the sphere can be reliably held by the bearing during normal use. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a bearing, (A) is a front view, (B) is a BB sectional view of (A), and (C) is a CC sectional view of (A).

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Mounting Bracket 2 Opening Hole 10 Ball Joint 11 Sphere 11A Outer Surface 21 Bearing 22A Inner Surface 22B Outer Surface 23 Claw 24 Notch 27, 28 Flange

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A ball joint comprising a sphere and a bearing arranged outside the sphere, wherein the sphere is held in the opening hole of the mounting bracket via the bearing, the bearing is composed of two symmetrical members, The inner peripheral surface of the bearing is continuous in the circumferential direction with the same curvature surface as the outer peripheral surface of the sphere, and its width has a width covering half from the center of the sphere. The parts are alternately arranged with the same circumferential width, a flange that engages around the opening hole of the mounting bracket is formed on the outer side of the claw, and the claw thickness is such that the claw can elastically deform toward the sphere, At this time, so that the flange can be removed from the opening,
It is formed to have a thickness that allows deformation between the claws and the outer circumference of the sphere. When assembling the two bearings, the claws and the notches face each other, and push each bearing into the opening hole of the mounting bracket. A ball joint characterized in that the flanges of those claws sandwich the mounting bracket from the left and right.