Appeal No. 2006-0045
Application No. 10/190,473
The invention relates to “a constructional form of a ball-end pin with a plastic
flange to be applied in ball joints of the steering and suspension systems of automotive
vehicles” (specification, page 1). Representative claims 1 and 12 read as follows:
1. A ball joint assembly employed in ball joints of the steering and suspension
systems of vehicles, comprising
a ball-end pin and a separate plastic flange formed to
receive a protection cover,
wherein the flange is made of injected plastic material and has a conical central
orifice with at least one of longitudinally-extending protrusions and grooves,
wherein the ball-end pin is shaped by a stamping process and has a conical
section with longitudinally-extending grooves that eliminates the machining process,
said grooves being formed during the stamping process to mate with said
longitudinally-extending protrusions.
12. A ball joint assembly employed in ball joints of the
steering and suspension systems of vehicles, comprising
a ball-end pin member having a spherical ball portion and a pin portion extending
from the ball portion;
a substantially rigid flange member matingly disposed on said pin portion, said
flange member having a conical central orifice; and
a resilient boot member extending from said flange member to a housing
encapsulating said spherical ball portion,
wherein said pin portion has a conical section, said conical section of said pin
portion and said central orifice of said flange member being formed with matching
longitudinally-extending grooves and protrusions to mate said flange member with said
pin portion.
THE PRIOR ART
The references relied on by the examiner to support the final rejection are:
Templeton 3,248,955 May 03, 1966
Buhl et al. (Buhl) 5,312,200 May 17, 1994
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