JPS622076A - Wear indication ball joint - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To achieve the integration of a backup means and a projection tripping means by fitting compressedly a disk spring of mearly headless conical shape between a lower bearing and a closing plate. CONSTITUTION:A disk spring 9 which functions as a backup means for a lower bearing 7 when a ball joint 1 is being used pushes up the lower bearing 7 in the direction toward the opening 19 of a socket by the repulsive force acting so as to return to its free state as the wear of the ball joint 1 proceeds. When wear reaches a predetermined limit, the small diameter side end part 10 of the disk spring 9 is disengaged from the engagedly fitted outer circumferential part 13 of a wear indication cap 12. Thus, the wear limit of the ball joint can be confirming visually.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a ball joint with a wear indicator used in front suspensions of automobiles, etc.

Conventional technology This type of ball joint was developed in a patent application filed in 1983-150.
There is issue 087.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention As shown in FIG. 6, the conventional wear-indicating ball joint 1
When the ball joint wears down to the set wear limit, the lower bearing 7b is removed by the repulsive force of the elastic body 20 that is pressed between the lower bearing 7b and the closing plate 16b.
The guide protrusion 21 formed integrally with the cap 5b is pulled into the cap 5b, thereby causing the wear indicator cap 12b to spring.

There is one that protrudes due to the repulsive force of the ball joint 14b and indicates the wear limit of the ball joint. However, this method requires an elastic body 20 as a means for backing up the lower bearing 7b and a guide protrusion 21 as a trigger component for protruding the wear indicator cap 12b, and the structure of the ball joint is also complicated. There is a problem that assembly is not easy.

A solution to the problem is to compress and attach a substantially truncated conical disc spring between the lower bearing and the closing plate, which also serves as a trigger means and a lower bearing back-up means, until the wear of the ball joint has progressed by a predetermined amount. , the small-diameter end of the disc spring engages with the wear indicator cap to prevent its protrusion.

Operation When the disc spring is compressed and installed, the inner diameter of the inner periphery of the disc spring becomes small to prevent the wear indicator cap from protruding, and when the disc spring is relaxed from compression, the inner diameter becomes large and allows the wear indicator cap to protrude.

Example The configuration of an embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the condition before wear of the Larel tensicon type ballgecoin 1-1 used for the front suspension.

This ball joint 1 includes a ball stud 2, a socket 5, an upper bearing 6, a lower bearing 7 made of composite Jilt resin, a disc spring 9 that serves as both a means for backing up the lower bearing 7 and a trigger means, a closing plate 16, and a wear indicator. It includes a cap 12 and a spring 14.

The socket 5 has a substantially cylindrical shape and has openings at both ends, one of which is closed by a closing plate 16, and the other opening 19 allows the handle 3 of the pole stud to protrude swingably. The pole stud 2 has a spherical head 4 at one end of the handle 3. The head 4 of the pole stud is placed in the socket 5 with the upper half on the handle side supported by the upper bearing 6 and the lower half on the side opposite to the handle supported by the lower bearing 7,
and is disposed in the socket 5 while being supported by the closing plate 16 and the lower bearing 7, and is placed between the closing plate 16 and the lower bearing 7, with the small diameter side end 10 facing the bottom surface 8 of the lower bearing 7. It is constantly pressed toward the socket opening 19 by the disc spring 9 which is mounted in a compressed state.

The second disc spring 9 serves as a backup means and a trigger means.
As shown in the figure, a tongue piece portion 11 having a plurality of radial notches extending from the inner periphery to the outer periphery and having a curved inner diameter end portion is formed between adjacent notches. When the disc spring 9 is compressed, the tongue portion 11 is deformed in the horizontal direction to generate an appropriate repulsive force.

In this embodiment, the disc spring 9 is provided with a plurality of radial notches extending from the inner circumference to the outer circumference. It is also possible to use a disc spring with an arc-shaped notch extending toward the outer periphery.

12 This is a wear indicator cap as a wear indicator and is located on the inner periphery of the disc spring 9. This wear indicator cap 12
has a cylindrical shape with a bottom, and its diameter gradually expands toward the open end of the upper portion to form an engaging outer circumferential portion 13.

The wear indicator cap 12 has an open end in contact with the center of the bottom surface 8 of the lower bearing 7, and the other end of the wear indicator cap 12 passes through a through hole 18 formed through the closing plate 16.
The bottom of the ball joint 1 slightly protrudes outside the ball joint 1.

A spring 14 is stored in a compressed state in the inner recessed hole of the droplet display camp 12, and a preload is applied in a direction to separate the cap 12 and the lower bearing 7 from each other.

However, the inner diameter of the small-diameter end 10 of the disc spring 9 is smaller than the outer diameter of the engagement outer circumference 13 of the wear indicator cap 12 during compression mounting, and the engagement outer circumference 13 of the built-in gear sob 12 is tightened in the inner diameter direction. 12 is prevented from protruding away from the ball stud head 4 by the repulsive force of the spring 14-. When the ball joint 1 wears down to the set wear limit, the small diameter end 10 of the disc spring 9
Since it returns to its free state, its inner diameter becomes larger than the outer diameter of the engaging outer circumferential portion 13 of the cap 12, and the engaging outer circumferential portion 13 of the cap 12 is no longer tightened, allowing the cap 12 to protrude.

In this embodiment, the engaging outer circumferential portion 1 of the cap 12 that engages with the small diameter end portion 10 of the disc spring 9 and constitutes the trigger means.
Reference numeral 3 denotes an outer circumferential surface whose diameter is expanded in the outer radial direction, but the large diameter portion of the cap 120 may be a protrusion that projects annularly from the outer circumference.

Next, the operation of the wear indicating ball joint 1 will be explained.

The disc spring 9, which acts as a bank-up means for the lower bearing 7 while the ball joint 1 is in use, changes from the state shown by the solid line in FIG.
The lower bearing 7 is pushed up in the direction approaching the socket opening 19 by the repulsive force that tries to return to the free state shown by the dotted chain line. When the wear of the cathepole joint reaches a preset limit, the small-diameter end 10 of the disc spring 9 is disengaged from the engagement outer circumference 13 of the wear indicator cap 12, as shown in FIG. That is, the disc spring 9 now functions as a triggering means, and the cap 12 projects in a direction away from the ball stud head 4 due to the repulsive force of the spring 14.

The protruding cap 12 is locked in the through hole 18 of the closing plate 16 by an engaging outer circumferential portion 13 whose outer diameter is smaller than the inner diameter of the through hole 18 of the closing plate 16 . This allows visual confirmation of the wear limit of the ball joint.

In the above embodiment, the engaging outer peripheral part 13 functions as a trigger means and also functions as a means for preventing removal from the closing plate 16, but the engaging outer peripheral part 13 serves as a means for preventing removal from the closing plate 16. Separately, an annular protrusion (not shown) having a diameter larger than the inner diameter of the through hole 18 or a shoulder (not shown) due to the difference in outer diameter may be provided on the bottom side of the cap 12.

In the first embodiment, the small-diameter end 10 of the disc spring 9, which serves both as a lower bearing backup means and a trigger means, is mounted so as to face the bottom surface 8 of the lower bearing 7.
The mounting direction of the disc spring is not limited to the above embodiment, and for example, the disc spring may be mounted in the opposite direction as shown in FIG. 5 as a second embodiment.

Except for the mounting direction of the disc spring in this second embodiment.

The structure of the part is the same as ball joint 1 of the first embodiment.
Since it is almost the same as the first example, an alpha bent a is added to the right of the same number for the same part as the first example.
A description of those parts will be omitted. The biggest difference between the second embodiment and the first embodiment is that the mounting direction of the disc spring 9a is opposite to that of the first embodiment. The second point is that the small-diameter side end portion faces the closing plate 9a.

Note that in the first and second embodiments, one disc spring is used each, but two disc springs (not shown) are used.
The tongue portions 11 of the above are brought into contact with each other, and the engaging outer peripheral portion 13 of the tongue portion 11 and the wear indicating cap 12 that are brought into contact with each other is brought into contact with each other.
It may also be installed so as to constitute a trigger means.

Effects As described above, according to the present invention, the backup means and the protrusion trigger means can be integrated by using a disc spring, and the structure is simple and assembly is easy.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 4 show embodiments of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is an explanatory sectional view of a wear-indicating ball joint showing a state before the pole joint wears out. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the disc spring shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing the state of the dog after the ball joint in FIG. 1 has worn out. Fourth
The figure is an enlarged explanatory sectional view of a main part showing the state of the ball joint in FIG. 1 before and after wear. FIG. 5 is an explanatory sectional view of a conventional wear indicating ball joint. (Explanation of symbols) 1.--Ball cylinder. 7...Lower bearing. 8... Bottom of lower bearing. 9...Plate. 10... Small diameter side end. 12...Wear indicator cap (wear indicator). 13... Engagement outer periphery.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A generally frustoconical disc spring 9 is compressed and mounted in the socket 5 of the ball joint 1 so as to push up the lower bearing 7, and a disc spring 9 is located on the inner periphery of the disc spring 9 and is biased in a direction opposite to the lower bearing 7. At the same time, the protrusion caused by the biasing force is prevented by engagement with the small diameter side end 10 of the disc spring 9.The small diameter side of the disc spring 9 is smaller than the inner diameter when it is free and larger than the inner diameter when the disc spring 9 is compressed and mounted on the small diameter side. Diameter engagement outer periphery 1
A wear indicating ball joint characterized in that a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 having a wear indicating device 12 is provided.