ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 28 -- United States Patent no. 12,448,999, issued on Oct. 21, was assigned to ZF Friedshafen AG (Friedrichshafen, Germany).
"Joint component" was invented by Christoph Werries (Bissendorf, Germany), Jorg Heemann (Diepholz, Germany), Soren Knopp (Ostercappeln, Germany), Philipp Wilhelm Kruse (Cappeln, Germany) and Farina Brenk (Brockum, Germany).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A joint component includes a ball joint with a joint housing that defines a stud opening and a measurement port opposite the stud opening in an axial direction. A ball stud includes a joint ball movably fitted in the joint housing, where the joint ball faces toward the measurement port and the ball st...