Patents Assigned to ZF Lemforder Metallwaren AG
  • Patent number: 7108444
    Abstract: A fastening device for pedals in motor vehicles has a supporting bolt (8) which is accommodated at each of its free ends in a mounting point (5, 5A) of a pedal block (2). The bolt (8) has, between the mounting points (5, 5A), a mounting point for the pedal. The pedal mounting point is arranged in a hole (7) of the pedal body (2). The supporting bolt (8) comprises two bolt halves (9, 10), which are locked with one another in the assembled state by an elastic snap holder (11). The bolt halves (9, 10) are fixed by at least one stop (13) with respect to their position to the pedal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2006
    Assignee: ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG
    Inventors: Andree Burgstaler, Jan Dütz, Simone Pätzold
  • Patent number: 7097381
    Abstract: A joint for the movable connection of two components of a motor vehicle, which are movable in relation to one another, with a housing (1) and with a bearing shell (2) accommodated in the housing (1) for the slidingly movable mounting of a mount body (3) is presented, wherein the mount body (3) has a bearing surface (4) curved complementarily to the bearing shell inner surface and passes over at least on one side into a pin neck (5), which has a connection area (6) for connection to a bearing journal (7).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2006
    Assignee: ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG
    Inventor: Manfred Sieve
  • Patent number: 7090425
    Abstract: The present invention pertains to a ball-and-socket joint, especially for steering mechanisms and/or wheel suspensions of motor vehicles, with a ball pivot (1), which is accommodated rotatably and tiltably in a one-part or multipart bearing shell (4) within a joint housing (7), wherein the bearing shell (4) is fixed in the joint housing by a closing ring (9), wherein a metallic compressible element (18), which provides a sealing contact surface between the joint housing (7) and the closing ring (9) in the assembled state of the ball-and-socket joint, is arranged between the closing ring (9) and the joint housing (7).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2006
    Assignee: ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG
    Inventors: Manfred Bohne, Jürgen Gräber, Manfred Heidemann, Guido Remme, Hans Prins
  • Patent number: 7083199
    Abstract: The present invention pertains to a chassis part for connection and force transmission between a vehicle chassis of at least one wheel, consisting of fiber-reinforced plastics or plastic composite systems, preferably for a passenger car or utility vehicle. The present invention is characterized in that at least one means for measuring forces acting on the chassis parts is integrated in the plastic portions of the chassis parts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2006
    Assignee: ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG
    Inventors: Jürgen Gräber, Jochen Kruse, Joachim Spratte, Stefan Schönhoff
  • Patent number: 7083185
    Abstract: A housing for an inflatable air bag of a motor vehicle is presented, which has a gas generator, a mounting space for inserting the folded air bag as well as a diffusor made integrally with the housing for the uniform distribution of the gas released by the fired gas generator. The gas generator is inserted into the diffusor and has a positive-locking connection with the diffusor chamber inner wall for its fixation in the diffusor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2006
    Assignee: ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG
    Inventors: Thomas Fangmann, Keit Wagener
  • Patent number: 7073970
    Abstract: A ball-and-socket joint for a motor vehicle, especially for a rocker pendulum of a motor vehicle, is provided with a housing (1), which is open on at least one side and into the interior space (2) of which a bearing shell (3) is inserted, which in turn accommodates a joint ball (4) of a ball pivot (5) in a slidingly movable manner. The interior space (2) has elevations and/or depressions (7) along its inner jacket surface (6) or a polygonal cross section, so that the bearing shell (3), which is provided with an oversize in relation to the inner jacket surface (6), can be inserted into the housing (1) in a positive-locking manner while its outer surface undergoes a partial plastic deformation. The inner jacket surface (6) may have pressure zones (19) which shorten the effective length of the elevations and/or depressions (7).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2006
    Assignee: ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG
    Inventors: Matthias Gercke, Christian Maassmann, Jean-Paul Castanet, Jürgen Gräber, Thomas Catterfeld
  • Patent number: 7070355
    Abstract: A ball-and-socket joint has a housing, a ball pivot (3) mounted pivotably in the housing, and a sealing bellows (1), which is fastened to the housing and is mounted on the ball pivot (3) slidably via a sealing ring (4) provided with two legs (5, 6). A first leg (5) of the two legs (5, 6) is in contact with the ball pivot (3) under tension and the second leg (6) meshes with the wall of the sealing bellows (1). The second leg (6) is, furthermore, fastened in an anchoring ring (7) arranged at least partially in the wall of the sealing bellows (1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2006
    Assignee: ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG
    Inventors: Olaf Abels, Dieter Gröger
  • Patent number: 7063480
    Abstract: A ball-and-socket joint for a motor vehicle, especially for the chassis of the motor vehicle, is provided, wherein the ball-and-socket joint has a ball-and-socket joint housing (4) provided with a joint opening (6) as well as a ball pivot (3). The ball pivot (3) includes a joint ball (1) and a pivot (2). The ball pivot (3) is mounted with its joint ball (1) rotatably and pivotably in the ball-and-socket joint housing (4) and protrudes with its pivot (2) from the ball-and-socket joint housing (4). A separate closing element (10), which closes a mounting opening (9) provided in the ball-and-socket joint housing at least partially, and at which at least one electronic component (11) is arranged, is fastened to the ball-and-socket joint housing (4).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2006
    Assignee: ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG
    Inventors: Metin Ersoy, Joachim Spratte, Armin Müller
  • Patent number: 7059213
    Abstract: A holding device for the pedal mechanism of a motor vehicle is presented, which has at least one pedal block (1, 2) with pedals (4, 6) fastened thereto pivotably and a baseplate (3). The baseplate (3) and the pedal block (1, 2) are made of plastic in one piece. The pedal block (1, 2) for holding a pedal (4, 6) has a mount for the pivot axis of the respective pedal (4, 6). The mount is made of two side walls (8, 9, 10, 11) located opposite each other. The side walls (8, 9, 10, 11) are formed of sheet metal and the mount is injection molded in the plastic pedal block. The sheet metal mount forms a deformation device for the release of the pivot axis (5, 7) in the case of an accident of the motor vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2006
    Assignee: ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG
    Inventors: Andree Burgstaler, Jan Dütz, Simone Pätzold
  • Patent number: 7055404
    Abstract: A resetting device for pedals of a motor vehicle is provided with a spring element (6), which is fixed on a mount (9) at the pedal (1), on the one hand, and, on the other hand, at a corresponding mount (10). At least one spring-loaded friction element (12) is provided with at least one friction surface pair (13, 14). The friction surface pair (13, 14) is arranged between the pedal (1) and the body of the motor vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2006
    Assignee: ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG
    Inventors: Andree Burgstaler, Jan Dütz, Simone Pätzold
  • Patent number: 7044048
    Abstract: A drive unit is provided for the coaxial twisting movement of two stabilizer halves of a motor vehicle axle stabilizer with a tubular housing. Two housing halves are provided having an interior of which a hydraulically movable actuating piston is arranged displaceably in relation to the longitudinal axis of the housing. The longitudinal displacement of the piston is converted by an intercalated cam drive into a rotary movement of the housing halves around their common longitudinal axis. The housing halves are fixed with their respective free ends facing away from one another at a stabilizer halve. A hydraulically actuated releasing piston is pretensioned against a spring element and arranged at each opposite flat sides of the actuating piston, wherein the releasing pistons make possible the displacing movement of the central actuating piston in the pretensioned position and fix the actuating piston in its middle position in the released position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2006
    Assignee: ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG
    Inventor: Metin Ersoy
  • Patent number: 7045999
    Abstract: A bearing for a control arm of a wheel suspension of a vehicle has at least one sensor (18, 28, 38, 48, 58) arranged in or at the bearing (11, 21, 31, 41). The sensor determines the relative movement of the vehicle parts connected to each other by the bearing (11, 21, 31, 31, 41).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2006
    Assignee: ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG
    Inventors: Metin Ersoy, Joachim Spratte, Bernd Grannemann
  • Patent number: 7037022
    Abstract: A ball-and-socket joint, preferably for chassis suspensions and/or steering mechanisms of motor vehicles, is presented, which has a ball pivot pin (1), which is accommodated rotatably and tiltably in a joint housing (8) with one of its free ends with a spherical joint area (3). The other free end of the ball pivot pin (1) is fixed to a body part. The ball-and-socket joint has a stop device for limiting the tilting movement of the ball pivot pin (1) in the joint housing (8), which comprises a stop element, which is arranged in the bottom area (11) of the joint housing (8) rotationally symmetrically to the longitudinal axis of the sphere and cooperates with the end-side joint area (6) of the ball pivot pin (1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2006
    Assignee: ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG
    Inventors: Stefan Schönhoff, Markus Fischer
  • Patent number: 7037023
    Abstract: A ball-and-socket joint, especially a wheel guide joint for motor vehicles is provided with a housing (1), in the cavity (2) of which, which is open on at least one side, a bearing shell (3) is inserted with a joint ball (4) mounted therein. The bearing shell (3) forms a assembly unit (3,4) together with the joint ball (4) accommodated therein. The assembly unit is displaceable in the cavity (2) along a axis (6). A first collar (7) and a second collar (8), between which a limited free path (5) of the displaceable assembly unit (3, 4) is defined, form end stops in the cavity (2) of the housing (1). The bearing shell (3) is a accomodated in the cavity (2) under a slight radial pretension and at least one compensating element (15) is arranged between the bearing shell (3) and the inner surface of the cavity (2).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2006
    Assignee: ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG
    Inventors: Andreas Mönninghoff, Martin Wellerding, Martin Rechtien, Olaf Abels, Matthias Gercke
  • Patent number: 7025344
    Abstract: A rubber mount, preferably a stabilizer mount, and a process are provided for mounting the mount, which is used to mount sectional bars used preferably as stabilizers. The mount is of a simplified mounting type. For this purpose, the elastomeric mount body (2) for receiving the sectional bar as well as a clamp (3) for jointly fastening the mount (1) and the sectional bar to other components forms a structural unit according to the present invention already before the mounting on the sectional bar. Both the mount body (2) and the clamp (3) receiving it have an axially extending opening gap (5). The mounting of the mount (1) on the sectional bar is carried out using the opening gap (5) by pressing the sectional bar through this opening gap into the mount (1), i.e., the mount (1) is clamped on the sectional bar.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2006
    Assignee: ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG
    Inventors: Helmut Kammel, Raik Michelmann
  • Patent number: 7017890
    Abstract: A vibration-damped rubber mount is provided to ensure good sliding friction properties over a broad spectrum of spring rigidities with a simple design in a vibration-damped rubber mount with an inner part, which is surrounded by an outer sleeve, where an elastomer ring body is provided between the inner part and the outer sleeve for vibration damping, it is proposed that the elastomer ring body (4) is arranged radially on the outside at the inner wall of the outer sleeve (3) and radially on the inside at a sleeve-like bearing shell (5), which slidingly cooperates with the inner part (1), forming a ball-and-socket joint.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2006
    Assignee: ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG
    Inventor: Martin Rechtien
  • Patent number: 7014178
    Abstract: A hydraulically damping bush bearing is presented, in which an inner rubber mount, which comprises an essentially cylindrical or nearly cylindrical inner part (1) with an axial through hole (2), an outer sleeve (3) surrounding the inner part (1) as well as an elastomeric damping member (4), which is arranged between the inner part (1) and the outer sleeve (3) and is connected to them by vulcanization, is surrounded at its axial ends by chambers (5, 5?) for receiving a fluid damping agent, wherein the chambers (5, 5?) are formed by a hydraulic area, which is arranged separately around the rubber mount and which comprises a rigid channel carrier (6) pushed over the outer sleeve (3) of the rubber mount with a channel (7) for the flow-conducting connection of the chambers (5, 5?), an outer bush (8) supported axially on the channel carrier, and means (9, 9?) arranged axially on both sides of the rubber mount for closing the bush bearing, wherein the means (9, 9?) consist in their radially outer area of an elastome
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2006
    Assignee: ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG
    Inventors: Andreas Vossel, Andreas Rodenberg
  • Patent number: 7001076
    Abstract: A housing for receiving a bearing component is presented, which has a shaft projection, which can be inserted into the recess of the end area of a hollow section and can be pressed together with the end area, wherein the shaft projection is provided with a groove profile, in which the groove profile is prepared by a deformation process or an original shaping process. Notch effect and consequently a weakening of the cross section on the highly stressed shaft projection is avoided by the said processes. The present invention pertains, moreover, to such a groove profile located at a shaft projection of a housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2006
    Assignee: ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG
    Inventors: Wilfried Lustig, Matthias Gercke, Franz-Josef Marquardt, Sören Knopp, Ralf Kunze
  • Patent number: 6997614
    Abstract: An elastic rubber bearing is provided with an intermediate tube, namely, a bush bearing with a reinforcing insert arranged in the elastomeric bearing body. The design of the bearing includes a pretension, which is distributed as uniformly as possible both in relation to the circumference and in the axial direction. The pretension is generated in the elastomer in a bearing body after the vulcanization by calibrating the outer sleeve. A reinforcing element of the bearing includes an intermediate tube slotted on two sides in relation to its axial extension.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2006
    Assignee: ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG
    Inventors: Helmut Kammel, Bernd Kümper, Axel Sichler
  • Patent number: 6997850
    Abstract: A shifting device (1) is provided for transmitting shift commands to an automatic transmission of a motor vehicle, with a housing (2) and/or a frame, a selector lever (4), which transmits shift commands to the transmission of the motor vehicle and can be moved at least in an automatic gate and preferably also in a Tiptronic gate. The selector lever (4) can be fixed in a parking position P by an axially displaceable locking bar (5) that can be actuated manually, and with a locking device, which is coupled with the ignition lock and prevents the unlocking of the selector lever (4) from the parking position when the ignition key has been removed and the removal of the ignition key when the selector lever (4) is outside the parking position. The locking device is formed by a stopper (8), which is displaceable in the direction of the automatic gate and through which the selector lever (4) passes, and a locking lever (9), which acts on the stopper (8).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2006
    Assignee: ZF Lemförder Metallwaren AG
    Inventors: Andreas Giefer, Jörg Meyer, Dietmar Otto