Patent ID: 8186657

Claim:
A modular piston assembly as used in an associated air spring assembly that includes an associated flexible wall, the modular piston assembly comprising: a first piston portion adapted to fasten to the associated flexible wall, the first piston portion having a longitudinally-extending central axis; a second piston portion, separate from the first portion, that is adapted to fasten to an associated mounting component; and, an alignment feature operative to position the first and second piston portions in a mating engagement and thereby at least partially define a continuous outer surface of the modular piston assembly such that the associated flexible wall can form an associated rolling lobe therealong, the alignment feature including: a first indexing feature included on a first one of the first and second piston portions, the first indexing feature including a profile with one or more occurrences of a geometric pattern; a second indexing feature included on a second one of the first and second piston portions, the second indexing feature including at least one wall portion dimensioned to cooperate with the profile of the first indexing feature such that upon displacement of the first and second piston portions toward one another in an axial direction during assembly, the first and second piston portions are capable being automatically rotationally indexed relative to one another about the axis.