Trw Limited

David C Shropshire

Fredrick D Venable

G David Fetters

E David Venable

A steering gear mechanism includes a housing and a worm gear having an input portion. The worm gear is supported for rotation in the housing. A sector gear has teeth in meshing engagement with teeth formed on the worm gear. The sector gear has an output portion. A circumferentially expandable spring pin supports the sector gear for pivotal movement relative to the housing and biases the sector gear into meshing engagement with the worm gear to compensate for wear of the gears. The housing has means for supporting the spring pin.

Gear mechanism with wear compensation

A steering column having a pair of steering column members arranged coaxially about a first axis. One of the steering column members is axially movable along the first axis relative to the other steering column member. The steering column members are supported for angular movement about a second axis extending transverse to the first axis. A first lock releasably locks the members in one of a plurality of relative axial positions along the first axis. A second lock releasably locks the members in one of a plurality of angular positions about the second axis. A control lever is mounted for pivotal movement toward and away from a neutral position. An actuator operates in response to pivotal movement of the control lever away from the neutral position in a direction of desired movement of the one member to actuate one or both of the first and second locks to release the one member for movement to the desired position in the same direction in which the control lever is moved.

Tilt-telescope steering column

A double-staged, rotary pump and a fluid flow control device is disclosed. An inner rotary member is fixed to a rotatable drive shaft. The inner rotary member has n circumferentially spaced radially projecting teeth. An intermediate rotary member having n+1 internal teeth encircles the inner rotary member and is mounted for rotation about an axis eccentrically disposed from the drive shaft axis. The intermediate member has n+1 circumferentially spaced radially projecting teeth. An outer rotary member having n+2 circumferentially spaced internal teeth encircles the intermediate member and is mounted for rotation about an axis coincident with the drive shaft axis. The inner rotary member drivingly engages the intermediate rotary member which in turn drivingly engages the outer rotary member, all members rotating in the same direction. The external teeth of the inner rotary member and the internal teeth of the intermediate rotary member define a first set of successive expanding pumping chambers and a first set of successive contracting pumping chambers. The external teeth of the intermediate rotary member and the internal teeth of the outer rotary member define a second set of successive expanding pumping chambers and a second set of successive contracting pumping chambers. A valve control means is provided to connect the first pump stage and the second pump stage in differing modes to effectuate series communication, and to effect parallel communication. The valve control means also provides connection with one of the pump stages while connecting the other pump stage to itself.

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Lafayette, IN, United States of America

David C Shropshire