Patent ID: 8764336
Filing Date: 2014-07-01
Classification: F16C,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A spherical automotive joint comprising: a housing comprising a housing body having a hollow interior extending thereinto along a housing axis from an open, internally threaded, upper end of said housing body toward an opposing lower end of said housing body; an externally threaded retaining member arranged to threadingly engage the internal threading at the upper end of the housing body; a ball member sized to fit within the hollow interior of the housing body and defining a spherically contoured concave outer surface extending around a ball axis of said ball member; a lower race sized to seat within the hollow interior of the housing body adjacent the lower end thereof and having a spherically contoured upward facing concave surface for conforming receipt of the concave outer periphery of the ball member therein to seat the ball member atop the lower race in a manner allowing tilting of the ball axis and rotation of the ball member thereabout; a steel upper race sized to fit within the hollow interior of the housing body over the ball member and having a spherically contoured downward facing concave surface for surmounting the ball member when tiltably and rotatably seated on the lower race; an annular groove in a peripheral wall of the hollow interior of the housing body at a position that is adjacent to an upper portion of the upper race when said upper race is surmounted on the ball member, an inner diameter of the housing being greater at said annular groove than at the internal threading of the open upper end of the housing; and a retaining ring engaged in the annular groove around the boundary wall of the hollow interior of the housing body in a position residing between upper and lower walls of the annular groove and exposed to direct contact with both the upper portion of the upper race and the upper wall of the annular groove, which is located between the retaining ring and the open, internally threaded, upper end of the housing and blocks movement of the retaining ring toward the open, internally threaded, upper end of the housing; wherein the interior space of the housing is free of any other components between the annular groove and the internally threaded upper end of the housing such that the retaining member, the retaining ring and the annular groove alone define an only mechanism of the spherical automotive joint for blocking movement of the upper race toward and through the open, internally threaded, upper end of the housing.