Modified plastic ball race cages for shock absorber suspension pivots - to incorporate integral seal or clip profiles alongside the cage

摘要

The parent patent described bearings for vehicle suspension shock absorber pivots in which a ring of ball bearings rolling between two concave tracks was located in an annular cage of non-metallic material, specifically of injection moulded or cast polyamide, polyester, polyurethane, polyolefin or fluoropolymer resins, pref. by injection moulding. This addn. describes two modifications of the cage form which may apply independently or simultaneously. One modification is extrusion of one rim of the ball cage to project a divergent lip which can seal the gap between the borders of the adjacent track profiles. The other modification is to extend the rim of the cage to provide a profile protruding from the cage which can act as a clip. A cage with one integral seal may be used at the same time as a separate supplementary annular profile which seals and/or clips the cap between the track profiles on the opposite side of the cage.