Arrangement for connecting a rod end to a headed pin and method of manufacture

Abstract

An arrangement and method of manufacture for providing a connection between one end of a control rod and a headed pin includes a hard plastic housing having a pin receiving cavity defined therein, the housing overmolded over the rod end and a soft elastomeric vibration isolator to hold the same together without assembly clearances or subjecting the vibration isolator to direct pressure from the pin to avoid excessive lash in the connection. Retention prongs are integrally molded and configured to engage the head of the pin when inserted in the cavity to be deflected to allow assembly and thereafter resist extraction, with the insertion forces much lower than the extraction force.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional applications Ser. No. 60 / 386,986, filed Jun. 7, 2002 and Ser. No. 60 / 400,082, filed Jul. 31, 2002.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] This invention concerns rod end terminal connections commonly used to connect control rods to pins mounted to automobile transmission levers and the like to enable shifting of the transmission by the driver of the automobile. The pin is retained in a housing by a ball feature head on the pin snap fit to retention features on the housing. It has become standard practice to interpose a vibration isolator between the connected rod and pin to prevent vibrations from being felt by the driver when grasping a shifter or other member. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,581,953 for an example of such a connection. [0003] The vibration isolator is usually constructed of a soft compressible material and excessive lash can result if the isolator material is directly contacted by...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011] The overmolding of the hard plastic housing eliminates assembly of separate parts as well as eliminating clearances and lash resulting from having separate parts. The housing opening has an overlying web blocking entrance of the pin into the cavity from the wrong side to insure insertion of the pin into the housing from the prior side.

Problems solved by technology

The vibration isolator is usually constructed of a soft compressible material and excessive lash can result if the isolator material is directly contacted by the pin.

Such connections have been provided by assembling several parts together, and the necessary clearances for assembly also contribute to excessive lash at the connection.

The cost of manufacturing such linkages typically is high due to the need to assemble several components, and the need to insure that proper assembly of the components has been accomplished.

Another difficulty is encountered in designing the usually snap fit assembled pin and rod connection so that the force to assemble the connection must be low while the force resisting disconnection of the components must be much higher.

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