According to the prior art German publication DE 34,09,989 C1, FIG. 5, or U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,159, ball-and-socket joints of this special design are dosed by rolling in a beaded edge on the open side of the pot-shaped housing, after the joint ball with the bearing shell has been inserted into the housing through the open side of the housing. It has also been known that a closing ring, whose internal diameter is smaller than the equator of the joint ball, but is larger than the pin on the joint ball, can be pushed over the pin and can be fastened by rolling in a beaded edge on the open side of the housing, so that the bearing shell is supported against this closing ring in an area extending radially within a projection of the equator. The gasket is fastened with one of its ends either in a groove provided on the outside on the edge of the housing or on the inside on the edge of the housing, and it is possibly secured by an additional retaining ring. It has also been known from the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,159 that such a retaining ring is embedded in the elastic material of the gasket on the housing-side end of the gasket during the preparation of the gasket, as a result of which a certain axial elasticity, which is frequently undesirable, is obtained between the beaded edge of the housing and the bearing shell. In this relatively expensive prior-art arrangement, the gasket is easily damaged in its hose part when the pin with the joint ball is deflected into extreme deflection positions.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds