Bearing eye for a leaf spring and leaf spring having a bearing eye

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11370259-B2
Application number	US-202017104093-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 25, 2020
Priority date	Nov 25, 2019
Publication date	Jun 28, 2022
Grant date	Jun 28, 2022

Abstract

A bearing eye for a leaf spring for sprung support of a vehicle component on a vehicle body of a vehicle may include a through opening and a torsion spring therein, and a first catch. The bearing eye may provide pivotable mounting of the leaf spring on the vehicle body. The torsion spring is twistable relative to the bearing eye and connectable non-rotatably to the vehicle body. The first catch may project radially inwardly into the through opening, and the torsion spring has a second catch that projects radially outwardly into the through opening. The first and second catches may form a locking engagement which, depending on a degree of relative twisting between the bearing eye and the torsion spring, stops the relative twisting.

First claim

That which is claimed:

1. A bearing eye for a leaf spring for sprung support of a vehicle component on a vehicle body of a vehicle, the bearing eye comprising:
a through opening and a torsion spring therein; and
a first catch,
wherein the bearing eye provides pivotable mounting of the leaf spring on the vehicle body,
wherein the torsion spring is twistable relative to the bearing eye and connectable non-rotatably to the vehicle body,
wherein the first catch projects radially inwardly into the through opening, and the torsion spring has a second catch that projects radially outwards into the through opening,
wherein the first and second catches are spaced apart by a spaced apart distance in a nominal state and, after the first catch moves the spaced apart distance relative to the second catch from the nominal state, the first catch and the second catch form a locking engagement which, depending on a degree of relative twisting between the bearing eye and the torsion spring, applies a spring force of the torsion spring counteracting the relative twisting.

2. The bearing eye according to claim 1 , wherein at least three first catches are arranged in a manner distributed uniformly along an inner circumference of the through opening, and at least three second catches are arranged in a manner distributed uniformly along an outer circumference of the torsion spring.

3. The bearing eye according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second catches are each designed as latching noses, and the locking engagement is formed by positive contact between the first catch and the second catch.

4. The bearing eye according to claim 1 , wherein the bearing eye is a component which is separate from the leaf spring and can be fixed on the leaf spring.

5. The bearing eye according to claim 1 , wherein the first catch and the second catch rotate together while in the locking engagement in response to the relative twisting exceeding the spring force of the torsion spring.

6. A bearing eye for a leaf spring for sprung support of a vehicle component on a vehicle body of a vehicle, the bearing eye comprising:
a through opening and a torsion spring therein; and
a first catch,
wherein the bearing eye provides pivotable mounting of the leaf spring on the vehicle body,
wherein the torsion spring is twistable relative to the bearing eye and connectable non-rotatably to the vehicle body,
wherein the first catch projects radially inwardly into the through opening, and the torsion spring has a second catch that projects radially outwards into the through opening, and
wherein the first and second catches form a locking engagement which, depending on a degree of relative twisting between the bearing eye and the torsion spring, stops the relative twisting
wherein the first and second catches are each designed as latching noses, and the locking engagement is formed by positive contact between the first catch and the second catch;
wherein an elastically deformable intermediate element is disposed on a surface of the first catch that contacts a surface of the second catch when the positive contact is achieved between the first and second catches.

7. The bearing eye according to claim 6 , wherein the elastically deformable intermediate element comprises a portion of the locking engagement.

8. The bearing eye according to claim 6 , wherein the elastically deformable element is attached firmly to the first catch.

9. The bearing eye according to claim 6 , wherein the elastically deformable element is attached firmly to the second catch.

10. A leaf spring for sprung support of a vehicle component on a vehicle body of a vehicle, the leaf spring comprising:
a first end section having a first bearing for operably coupling the leaf spring to the vehicle body;
a second end section situated diametrically opposite to the first end section and having a second bearing for operably coupling the leaf spring to another portion of the vehicle body; and
a spring-action section extending between the first end section and the second end section,
wherein one or both of the first bearing and the second bearing comprises a bearing eye, the bearing eye comprising:
a through opening and a torsion spring therein; and
a first catch,
wherein the bearing eye provides pivotable mounting of the leaf spring on the vehicle body,
wherein the torsion spring is twistable relative to the bearing eye and connectable non-rotatably to the vehicle body,
wherein the first catch projects radially inwardly into the through opening, and the torsion spring has a second catch that projects radially outwards into the through opening, and
wherein the first and second catches are spaced apart by a spaced apart distance in a nominal state and, after the first catch moves the spaced apart distance relative to the second catch from the nominal state, the first catch and the second catch form a locking engagement which, depending on a degree of relative twisting between the bearing eye and the torsion spring, the torsion spring applies a spring force counteracting the relative twisting.

11. The leaf spring according to claim 10 , wherein at least three first catches are arranged in a manner distributed uniformly along an inner circumference of the through opening, and at least three second catches are arranged in a manner distributed uniformly along an outer circumference of the torsion spring.

12. The leaf spring according to claim 10 , wherein the first and second catches are each designed as latching noses, and the locking engagement is formed by positive contact between the first catch and the second catch.

13. The leaf spring according to claim 12 , wherein an elastically deformable intermediate element is disposed on a surface of the first catch that contacts a surface of the second catch when the positive contact is achieved between the first and second catches.

14. The leaf spring according to claim 13 , wherein the elastically deformable intermediate element comprises a portion of the locking engagement.

15. The leaf spring according to claim 13 , wherein the elastically deformable element is attached firmly to the first catch.

16. The leaf spring according to claim 13 , wherein the elastically deformable element is attached firmly to the second catch.

17. The leaf spring according to claim 10 , wherein the bearing eye is a component which is separate from the leaf spring and can be fixed on the leaf spring.

18. The leaf spring according to claim 10 , wherein the bearing eye is a separate component from the leaf spring and is fixed on the first end section or the second end section.

19. The leaf spring according to claim 10 , wherein the leaf spring has only a single leaf.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Palandri Jacopo
• Souschek Rainer
• Hintzen Ralf
• Girelli Consolaro Alberto
• Wolf-Monheim Friedrich Peter
• Reff Bjoern
• Gerhards Thomas
• Zandbergen Paul

Classifications

• B60G11/44 Primary

  and also torsion-bar springs · CPC title

• B60G2206/017

  forming an eye for the bushing · CPC title

• B60G2202/114

  transversally arranged · CPC title

• B60G7/04

  Buffer means for limiting movement of arms {(stops limiting fluid passage in fluid dampers F16F9/49; stroke-limiting stops for fluid dampers F16F9/58)} · CPC title

• B60G2204/122

  Mounting of torsion springs · CPC title