Patent ID: 7146950

Claim:
A connecting element for retaining a lever-type cam follower, that serves to activate a gas exchange valve of an internal combustion engine, inseparably on a support element comprising a spherical end on which the cam follower is pivotally mounted through a concave depression, said connecting element engaging into an annular groove under the spherical end, wherein a central portion of the connecting element bears against an underside of the cam follower oriented toward the support element and forms, through two legs and a crossbar connecting these legs to each other, a U-shaped recess in longitudinal direction of the cam follower, said recess engages around the groove after the manner of a fork and orthogonally to a pivoting direction of the cam follower, substantially without lash, angled retaining claws bent from the legs extend in transverse direction of the cam follower and engage after the manner of pincers over side walls of the cam follower, so that by a clamping of the retaining claws through shaped sections directed toward inner surfaces of the side walls, the U-shaped recess is substantially fixed in respect of position in transverse direction of the cam follower and in respect of shape.