Self-lubricating joint

Claim 1

A SELF-LUBRICATING ARTICULATE JOINT COMPRISING A PAIR OF CONCENTRICALLY DISPOSED AND RELATIVELY ROTATABLE MEMBERS, SAID MEMBERS DEFINING AN ANNULAR SPACE THEREBETWEEN, A RESILIENT MEMBER OF ORGANIC POLYMERIC MATERIAL OCCUPYING SAID SPACE, THE OUTER MEMBER OF SAID PAIR OF MEMBERS SUBSTANTIALLY ENCAPSULATING AND COMPRESSIVELY CONSTRAINING SAID RESILIENT MEMBER THEREIN, SAID RESILIENT MEMBER HAVING A PLURALITY OF SEPARATE POCKETS IN A ROTATABLE MEMBER ABUTTING SURFACE THEREOF SAID POCKETS HAVING SIDES, EACH OF WHICH ARE SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR TO THE ROTATABLE MEMBER ABUTTING SURFACE OF SAID RESILIENT MEMBER, FLUID LUBRICANT MATERIAL FILLING SAID POCKETS, SAID POCKETS BEING SPACED LATERALLY AND TRANSVERSELY TO PROVIDE A SUFFICIENT AREA OF SAID ABUTTING SURFACE BETWEEN SAID POCKETS TO INSURE COMPRESSIVE NONBUCKLING YIELDING OF SAID ABUTTING SURFACE WHEN SAID JOINT IS SUBJECTED TO RADIAL LOADING, WHEREBY RADIAL LOADING OF SAID JOINT CAUSES COMPRESSIVE YIELDING OF SAID ABUTTING SURFACES THEREBY DECREASING THE VOLUME OF SAID POCKETS AND CAUSING A PORTION OF THE LUBRICANT MATERIAL THEREIN TO BE EJECTED THEREFROM TO PROVIDE LUBRICATION OF SAID ABUTTING SURFACES.