Ball joint

Abstract

Abstract PURPOSE: To perform automatically the detection of wear of a ball joint, by imbedding a conductive piece within an insulating sheet arranged around an outer circumferential surface of a bulb of the ball joint, and detecting the contact of the bulb with the conductive piece which will be occurred when the wear of the sheet comes to its limit. CONSTITUTION: An outer circumferential surface of a bulb 1A of a ball stud 1 is covered with a sheet 2 in the shape of a bulbous shell, and the sheet 2 is accommodated in a cylindrical metal socket 3. The sheet 2 is made from rigid insulating synthetic resin, and a conductive piece 4 of copper is imbedded therein. In this case the conductive piece 4 should not be exposed to the inner circumferential surface of the sheet 2, and the conductive piece 4 is electrically connected through the socket 3 and a conductor 9 with an annuciator 10. When this ball joint is applied to a steering apparatus of an automobile and has been used to the limit of wear of the sheet 2, the conductive piece 4 will be contacted with the bulb 1A and the annunciator 10 with be actuated by the electric source 11. COPYRIGHT: (C)1981,JPO&Japio

Inventors

• 👤 Kazuo Toyoshima

Bibliographic Details