Patent ID: 7534965

Claim:
A grommet for use in connection with a panel and an elongated member, the panel having a hole therethrough, the elongated member passing through the panel hole, the grommet comprising: a ball having a pair of opposed hemispherical members, the ball having a ball central axis, the ball having a horizontal plane aligned with the ball central axis, the hemispherical members being juxtaposed along the horizontal plane, the ball having at least one ball hole therethrough aligned with the ball central axis, the ball hole being adapted to receive the elongated member; and a socket having a pair of opposed cup members, the socket having a socket central axis, the cup members each having a hemispherical cavity therein centered on the socket central axis, each cavity having inner and outer surfaces, the socket having a vertical plane aligned with the socket central axis, the cup members being juxtaposed along the vertical plane, the socket having a cylindrical pilot extending outward along the socket central axis, the pilot being adapted to be received in the panel hole, so as to align the socket with the panel hole, the cup members each having an outer periphery, the cup members each having a semicircular flange extending around the outer periphery from a flange upper end at the vertical plane to a flange lower end at the vertical plane, each flange lying in a plane perpendicular to the socket central axis, each flange having a predetermined thickness, each cup member having an upper tab and a lower tab projecting transversely through the vertical plane from the flange upper and lower ends respectively, each tab having a thickness of generally half the flange predetermined thickness, the upper and lower tabs of each cup member being adapted to overlap the upper and lower tabs of the opposed cup member respectively, so as to link together the opposed cup members, each cup member having a plurality of mounting holes through the flanges and tabs for mounting the socket on the panel; so that the hemispherical members will be brought together at the horizontal plane, the elongated member will be received in the ball hole, the cup members will be brought together at the vertical plane, the ball will be received in each cavity, the tabs will overlap, the grommet will be disposed against the panel with the pilot received in the panel hole, and the ball will be free to rotate within the socket so as to allow angular movement of the elongated member.