Patent ID: 8439590

Claim:
A protection device for use with a knuckle joint of a steering or suspension system of a vehicle, the knuckle joint comprising a ball in rotatably mounted within a housing and a sealing boot extending between the housing and a shaft of the ball pin, said protection device comprising: an annular flange mountable to the knuckle joint; a heat screen extending in a height direction perpendicularly to said flange and in a width direction along an annular periphery of said flange, wherein said screen and said flange are integrally formed from a single planar piece of metal bent in a connecting zone between said screen and said flange, said screen further including a pair of side wings disposed on opposing sides of a central part of said screen and extending along said annular periphery of said flange, each of said side wings separated from said flange by a circumferential gap formed between a lower edge of each said side wing and a peripheral edge of said flange; and tabs formed on said flange for connecting each said side wing to said annular periphery of said flange, said tabs engaging opposite sides of said lower edge of each said side wing; said flange includes a central opening having an annular interior edge; said annular periphery of said flange comprises at least one mounting protuberance integrally formed with said flange and extending from said flange in the opposite direction of said screen; and wherein said flange is mountable on the housing such that the shaft of the ball pin extends through said flange in the direction of said heat screen and said screen at least partially surrounds the sealing boot, and wherein said protuberance is resiliently mountable on a mounting flange of the housing.