Patents by Inventor Lothar Broszat

Lothar Broszat has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 5876149
    Abstract: A ball joint with a ball (1a) that is arranged on a gudgeon (1) and situated in a ball socket in a rotatable and tiltable fashion. The ball socket consists of plastic and is closed on one side. The ball socket is arranged in a housing (3). The ball socket is sealed at its opening, which faces the gudgeon (1), by a sealing bellows (4) arranged between the housing (3) and the gudgeon (1). An edge (4a) of the sealing bellows (4) on the side of the ball is clamped in the axial direction between the housing (3) and an extension (2a) of the ball socket (2) on the side of the gudgeon.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 1997
    Date of Patent: March 2, 1999
    Assignee: TRW Fahrwerksysteme GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Christoph Dorr, Lothar Broszat, Hans-Joachim Schutt
  • Patent number: 5611635
    Abstract: The invention pertains to a ball joint comprising a housing (1) provided with a cylindrical receptacle opening (1a) and a gudgeon (2) arranged in a ball socket (3) made of plastic such that it is able to rotate and pivot within a limited range, wherein the outer surface (3b) of the ball socket that corresponds with the inner diameter of the receptacle opening (1a) is, after the assembly process, fixed in the radial direction and secured in the axial direction by means of annular shoulders (3c,4a), one of which (3c) is situated on an annular flange that surrounds the opening (3a) of the ball socket (3) on the side of the gudgeon. In order to ensure a secure, i.e., large-surface, fixing of the ball socket (3) on the housing (1) in the axial direction despite a simplified manufacture, the annular shoulder (4a) that cooperates with the upper side of the housing (1) is arranged on a ring (4) connected with the ball socket (3), preferably in an inseparable manner by means of ultrasonic welding.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 1995
    Date of Patent: March 18, 1997
    Assignee: TRW Fahrwerksysteme GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Hans-Joachim Schutt, Lothar Broszat, Theo Heep, Wolfgang Prickler
  • Patent number: 5464296
    Abstract: The invention pertains to a pivot joint with a housing (4) in which a ball pivot (1) is mounted via its ball race-shaped bearing surface (1a) by means of an inset bearing shell (3) to be free from play within a delimited range and, set against a restoring force, to be twistable and horizontally sweepable. In order to create the pivot joint, in which the defined restoring force of the spring (5), independent of respective tolerances, increases with deflection according to the spring characteristic and form, the ball pivot (1) is provided with an end surface (1b) located opposite pivot shank (2), and a conical countersink (7) extending to the edge is configured in this end surface (1b), in which the ball sits closely on the conical surface (7a) of this conical countersink (7), with the ball (6) being acted upon by the force of a spring (5) supported by the cover (8) which seals the housing (64).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 1994
    Date of Patent: November 7, 1995
    Assignee: TRW Fahrwerkesysteme GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventor: Lothar Broszat
  • Patent number: 5213435
    Abstract: The subject of the invention is an adjustable fastening of a ball joint (2) to a tie rod (1) for steering linkages of motor vehicles, with a ball-ended wrist pin (12) movable in all directions located in a universal joint housing (14), which is arranged in a fastening plate (16) with a bearing hole (18), a fastening element (screw 22) fixed on the tie rod, which passes through the bearing hole (18), so that the fastening plate (16) is supported swiveling around the fastening element (screw 22) and a locking element engaging with the fastening plate (16) for fixing of the ball joint (2) in a defined swiveled position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 1991
    Date of Patent: May 25, 1993
    Assignee: TRW Ehrenreich GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventor: Lothar Broszat
  • Patent number: 5152628
    Abstract: The invention pertains to a ball-and-socket joint with a ball-ended spindle (3) encompassing a spherical head (1) and a link pin (2), which is movably mounted in a joint housing (7) of pot-like interior configuration. A simply producible and installable ball-and-socket joint with a secure, air- and dust-tight connection between bearing shell and joint housing has a spherical head (1), which is mounted in the joint housing (7) by means of a one-piece bearing shell (6) of plastic, while the bearing shell (6) has, on the pin side, an annular shoulder (11) extending radially outward, which is fitted to the face (12) of the joint housing (7) on the aperture side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 1991
    Date of Patent: October 6, 1992
    Assignee: TRW Ehrenreich GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Lothar Broszat, Hans-Joachim Schutt
  • Patent number: 4953894
    Abstract: An adjustable fastening of a ball joint to a track rod (1) for steering rods of motor vehicles, in which the ball joint has a ball stud (12) supported movable in all directions around a central axis (17) in a joint housing (16), and the central axis (17) can be pushed along by adjusting the ball joint (2) in relation to the track rod (1), is said, in particular, to be possible to use even with U-shaped profiled track rods. For this purpose, the ball joint (2) has a fastening plate (16) which has a bearing bore (18) arranged eccentric to the axis (17) of movement of the ball stud (12). The fastening plate (16) is supported swingable by its bearing bore (18) on a fastening element (22), and the track rod (1) has fixing elements (23) gripping against the fastening plate (16) for fixing the ball joint (2) in a definite swinging position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 1988
    Date of Patent: September 4, 1990
    Assignee: TRW Ehrenreich GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Lothar Broszat, Michael Servos, Dieter Schnitzler
  • Patent number: 4902158
    Abstract: An assembly for use especially as track and tie rods of motor vehicles, comprising a ball joint shank (3) and a tube (1) the ball joint shank (3) having an outer thread (4) which is received in an inner thread (2) of the tube (1), and clamping means located in the zone of the inner thread (2) for securing the ball joint shank and applying a force acting circumferentially of the tube (1). Assembling of the shank with the tube is simplified. In particular, simple sealing and connection with many different tubes is possible. To this end, the tube comprises a fold (5) extending radially outward and having side walls (6) which can be clamped together by at least one fastener (8) to secure the ball joint shank (3).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 1988
    Date of Patent: February 20, 1990
    Assignee: TRW Ehrenreich GmbH & Co.
    Inventors: Lothar Broszat, Andreas Merklinger, Fritz Busse
  • Patent number: 4580921
    Abstract: In fastening a sealing bellows to the housing of a ball joint, the sealing bellows has a doughnut-form rim which seats in a circumferential ring groove, open in the axial direction and designed U-shaped in cross section, on the outer rim of the housing. The ring groove is formed in part by a circumferential recess, L-shaped in cross section, on the housing rim, and by an L-shaped holding ring, opposite in cross section to the recess and fastened into this latter. To simplify this fastening and to protect the fixing of the sealing bellows, the flat bottom of the opening has a circumferential ring step lying radially inward, and the fastening of the holding ring by its ring flange to the ring step against the radially extending surface of the recess, is made by means of a circumferential projection or several segment-like projections staked from the ring step.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 1984
    Date of Patent: April 8, 1986
    Assignee: TRW Ehrenreich GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Lothar Broszat, Franz-Dieter Schnitzler, Werner Dickopp