Abstract: A ball screw assembly (10) includes a ball nut (12) and a lead screw (14). The ball nut (12) has a construction which provides both a flexiblility comparable to that achieved with a coil spring ball nut design and a stiffness of a solid ball nut body. The ball nut (12) consists of three sections: a head (16), a tail (18) and a connecting section (20). The connecting section (20) contains most of a ball circuit (22) in the form of a helical track (24), along which ball bearings (14) travel as the ball nut (12) and the lead screw (14) rotate with respect to each other. A plurality of separate slots (32) are provided, essentially along the helical track (24) of the ball circuit (22). The slots (32) are interrupted by a solid spine (34) along the length of the connecting section (20). Segments (36) of the connecting section (20) between the slots ( 32) form ribs connected to the backbone or spine (34).

Abstract: An improved ball screw and follower and method of making the same includes one or more helical grooves along the leadscrew with mating grooves and pitch within the follower to form a course therebetween for the rotational positioning therein of a plurality of balls in rolling engagement with the leadscrew and follower. Backlash is substantially eliminated by cutting a central section of the follower along the land between adjacent grooves in the follower for at least one turn to form thereby a torsionally-resilient section that torsionally couples the resulting leading and trailing sections of the follower together in a manner that resiliently flexes along the course in which the balls rotate.