Abstract: A ball-joint has a hollow housing, and a ball in contact with a socket in the housing; and a locking device is disposed between the largest diameter of the ball and the device which supports the locking device, so that the ball is restrained from moving off the ball socket when the pin shaft is pulled in the direction away from the ball socket. A plurality of locking rings is produced by fabricating a resiliently deformable longitudinal rod, forming the rod into a helix, and cutting the helix parallel to the longitudinal axis.

Abstract: A ball-joint includes a housing with an inwardly facing projection, a ball socket secured to the housing near an end thereof, and a ball pin engaged in the ball socket. A portion of the ball socket extends towards the ball, so as to at least partially surround the ball, and has a plurality of slots extending in a meridional direction towards the free end of the ball socket, so as to form tongues between the slots. The ball socket has an external groove in a portion thereof extending in a direction away from the ball, which engages the projection of the housing, so that the ball pin may be inserted into the ball socket by elastically deforming the tongues, and subsequently the ball socket may be slid into the housing.

Abstract: In a coupling including a ball, a hollow housing, and a slit which extends in correspondence with preselected longitudinal lines on the ball within a predetermined region of the hollow housing so that a series of resiliently movable tongues are provided between the slits. The housing and its tongues are adapted to surround the ball and to resiliently engage portions of the ball respectively, so that a general axial pressure exerted on the housing varies the intensity of engagement of the ball portions by the tongues.