Rod end bearing

The heim joint's advantage is that the ball insert permits the rod or bolt passing through it to be misaligned to a limited degree.

The spherical rod end bearing was developed by Nazi Germany during World War II.

[1] When one of the first German planes to be shot down by the British in early 1940 was examined, they found this joint in use in the aircraft's control systems.

After the patents ran out the common names stuck, although as of 2017[update], rosejoint remains a registered trademark of Minebea Mitsumi Inc.,[3] successor to Rose Bearings Ltd.

This is useful for maintenance, to correct for wear after a period of use, adjusting the link length to compensate for manufacturing tolerances, or fine tuning the performance of a mechanism after it is assembled.