STEERING COLUMN APPARATUS

• US 20140352481A1
• Filed: 05/28/2014
• Published: 12/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jtekt Column Systems Corporation
• Original Assignee: Fuji KIKO Company Limited
• Inventors: Uesaka, Yota
• Granted Patent: US 8,967,016 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 74/493
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 1/181 with power actuated adjustment, e.g. with position memory
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 17/02 for radial load only
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 33/08 Attachment of brasses, bushes or linings to the bearing housing
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 35/02 in the case of sliding-contact bearings

Abstract

A supporting unit of a telescopic adjustment mechanism is placed within an opening hole formed at one end side of an outer jacket and fixed to an outer peripheral surface of an inner jacket. A tip of a screw axle which is movable in an axial direction of a jacket is linked to the supporting unit. The inner jacket placed at an inside of an outer jacket is pressed on an inner peripheral surface of outer jacket by means of a biasing mechanism placed at an opposite side of the opening hole. Thus, positions of the supporting unit and the biasing mechanism along the axial direction of the jacket are substantially coincident with each other and the supporting unit is placed within the outer jacket in the axial direction of the jacket. Consequently, a steering column apparatus can be small-sized in the axial direction of the jacket.

Claims

1. A steering column apparatus, comprising:

a jacket including a cylindrical inner jacket and a cylindrical outer jacket, the cylindrical inner jacket being inserted through an inside of the cylindrical outer jacket;

an arc shaped member which is formed by bending a thin plate material, the arc shaped member being interposed between the cylindrical outer jacket and the cylindrical inner jacket;

a steering shaft rotatably supported on the jacket, the steering shaft having one end linked to a steering wheel and the other end linked to a steerable gear side;

a telescopic adjustment mechanism with an electrically driven motor as a driving source, the telescopic adjustment mechanism being adjustable a forward-or-backward position of the steering wheel by modifying a projection quantity of the cylindrical inner jacket projected from one end side of the cylindrical outer jacket; and

a biasing mechanism configured to press an outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical inner jacket on an inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical outer jacket via the arc shaped member,

wherein a rectangular opening hole having a pair of elongated side sections along an axial direction of the jacket is formed on one end side of the outer jacket, the biasing mechanism comprises a pressing member disposed along the axial direction of the outer jacket at an opposite side of a circumferential direction of the opening hole and biased to project from the inner peripheral surface of the outer jacket toward a radial direction of the outer jacket, the telescopic adjustment mechanism comprises;

a supporting unit placed within the opening hole and fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the inner jacket; and

an axle member movably supported on the outer jacket along the axial direction of the jacket and having a tip linked to the supporting unit, and the inner jacket is always biased toward the opening hole side by means of a biasing force of the pressing member and is supported via the arc shaped member at both side sections of the opening hole in the inner peripheral surface of the outer jacket placed along the pair of elongated side sections.

2. The steering column apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the inner jacket is supported at two supporting points provided at both sides of the opening hole and placed at the pair of elongated side sections of the opening hole as viewed from the axial direction of the jacket.

3. The steering column apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein, in a case where, as viewed from the axial direction of the jacket, a biasing direction of the biasing mechanism is deviated toward one of the pair of elongated side sections with respect to an opening center of the opening hole, a tip position of the arc shaped member placed at the one of the pair of elongated side sections is set to be more remote from the opening hole than a tip position of the arc shaped member placed at the other of the pair of elongated side sections and a position at which the inner jacket is supported at one of the pair of the elongated side sections is more remote from the opening hole than another position at which the inner jacket is supported at the other of the pair of the elongated side sections.

4. The steering column apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in a case where, as viewed from the axial direction of the jacket, a biasing direction of the biasing mechanism is deviated toward one of the pair of elongated side sections with respect to an opening center of the opening hole, an inner diameter of a part of an inner peripheral surface of the outer jacket adjacent to the one of the pair of elongated side sections is made relatively large and a position of the one of the pair of elongated side sections at which the inner jacket is supported is more remote from the opening hole than a position of the other of the pair of elongated side sections at which the inner jacket is supported.

5. The steering column apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the arc shaped member is made of steel, the outer jacket is a casting product, and the inner jacket is a cylindrical member made of steel.