Appeal No. 2006-0026
Application No. 10/012,518
According to Bellamy, the foregoing arrangement eliminates
ball joint fatigue caused by the neck of the ball pin striking the
surrounding edges of the socket aperture through which it extends
(see column 1, lines 15-32). As described in the reference,
[i]n operation the ball pin is free to rotate
through 360° by rotation of its spherical head 17 within
its lubricating bearing 16 and rotation of the extension
18 within the slug 19.
The close fit of the sides of the slug 19 to the
longer side walls of the aperture 21 ensure that the
joint is prevented from angular movement about a second
axis extending along the length of the track rod 6 and
thereby resists twisting due to any torsion in the track
rod tending to twist the joint about the axis of the
track rod. The clearance 25 between the slug 19 and the
ends of the aperture 21 permit a total angular movement
of, for example 8°, of the ball pin axially relative to
the track rod thereby permitting some joint movement
about a third axis which is horizontal and perpendicular
to said second axis along the length of the track rod.
By this arrangement movement of the joint to
accommodate operation of the vehicle suspension is
permitted and forces exerted by the track rod on the
joint can be accommodated while reducing the tendency for
the mating part 15 of the ball pins to strike the edge of
7
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