Nsk Corporation

Nsk Steering Systems Co., Ltd.

Kenji Sato

Sakae Matsumoto

Naoki Sawada

Isamu Chikuma

Shuhei Ikeda

Yasuhiro Shibuya

Tetsuya Koike

Kiyoharu Higashino

Masaki Nishioka

Katsumi Saito

A steering column is structured such that a clamp/unclamp mechanism of a telescopic mechanism and a tilting mechanism can be operated by a single control lever located in the vicinity of a steering wheel, and that no part juts out of the steering column to improve reliability and controllability. When the control lever is pulled to rock on the center of the lever center axis, a tilt head is unclamped, while the rocking motion of the control lever turns a pusher plate, thereby pushing a pusher rod and also turning a column clamp shaft through a rocking arm. With the rotation of the column clamp shaft, the clamp is released to allow a column head to move. Since the column clamp shaft turns parallelly with the direction of movement of the column head, the column head can be clamped/unclamped regardless of its position.

Steering column for motor vehicle

A steering column device (), comprising a column body () having a swelled shell part () in deformed section swelled in the side direction of a steering shaft () beyond the portion of thereof where an upper bearing () is installed and having opposed walls parallel with each other, wherein a lower body mounting part () and an upper body mounting part () are formed in the swelled shell part (), whereby a distance bracket and a lower bracket must not be prepared and fixedly positioned on the column body.

Steering column device

A steering column adjustable height and inclination of steering wheel has a singularity of control lever for controlling clamping/unclamping of a telescopic mechanism and a tilting mechanism for the adjustment. An energizing direction inverting mechanism inverts direction of biasing force applied to the lever by an energizing member from clamping direction to unclamping direction halfway through operation of the lever by a driver.

An impact absorption type steering column apparatus for an automotive vehicle is constructed so that a car body sided bracket secured to a car body is press-fitted to a column sided bracket provided separately from or integrally with a steering column, the steering column is supported by inserting a bolt through through-holes formed in the two brackets, and, when a secondary collision happens, an impact energy thereof is absorbed in a way that causes a flexural deformation of the car body sided bracket while moving the steering column towards the front of the automotive vehicle. In this apparatus, the through-hole of the column sided bracket is formed as an elongate hole extending to the rear side of the automotive vehicle from a position of the bolt.

Shock absorbing steering column device for vehicle

An impact absorbing type steering column apparatus for an automotive vehicle is capable of adjusting a steering position and, when a secondary collision happens, absorbs impact energy thereof by moving a steering column supported through a bracket on a car body towards the front of the vehicle. The bracket includes a restricting portion for restricting a steering position adjusting range of the steering column. The restricting portion allows, upon the secondary collision, the steering column to move beyond the steering position adjusting range.

Vehicle shock absorption type steering column device

A tilt adjustable type steering apparatus for a vehicle according to the present invention has a failsafe mechanism that makes the vehicle unable to travel by locking, e.g., a speed-change shift at a parking range (P) when a steering wheel is tilted up through a large angle, and prevents the steering wheel from being tilted up when other than parking of the vehicle, e.g., during the traveling. The present tilt adjustable type steering apparatus for the vehicle is provided with a large angle tilt-up sensorfor detecting that a front side end support seat portion (a tilt-up stopper)of a rear column memberabuts on a rear side end support seat portion (a tilt-up stopper)of a front column member. When detecting a vehicle travelable state such as a release from a parking brake, a shift-down or shift-up of the change gear, etc. after the rear column memberhas returned to within a normal on-driving tilt adjustable range (approximately &#xb1;10 degrees), a pinof a solenoidprovided on the rear column memberenters a lock holeof a tilt adjusting lever, thereby locking the tilt adjusting lever

Vehicle tilt type steering device

An outer column () is held between a tension member () and brackets () by operating a lever (L), thereby making it possible to block displacements of fixing members () along tilt grooves (). An inner column () is held to the brackets () through the outer column (), whereby the displacements of the fixing members () along telescopic grooves () can be blocked. A steering shaft (S) can be thereby fixed in a tilting direction and a telescoping direction. The brackets () apply a pressing force to the inner column () through flange portions () of the outer column () by operating the lever (L), and the inner column () receives the pressing force in a direction opposite to a direction in which the tension member () approaches. As rigidities of the pair of brackets () are approximately equal, a central position of the inner column () can be therefore kept substantially fixed. Hence, an axis deviation of the steering shaft (S) can be effectively restrained.

Steering device

An impact absorption type steering column apparatus for a vehicle includes a car body securing bracket taking substantially an L-shape as viewed from its side. The car body securing bracket is constructed so that a bent portion and a couple of plate-shaped support wall portions are disposed at the rear side of the vehicle on the car body securing portion, and a couple of column fastening fixation portions are disposed at the front side of the vehicle on these plate-shaped support wall portions. With this layout, when a secondary collision happens, the support wall portions of the car body securing bracket and the column fastening fixation portions start moving in the direction of their rotating about the bent portion as a fulcrum, however, this direction is substantially the horizontal direction and is substantially coincident with an input direction (substantially the horizontal direction) of a load of impact from a driver. Therefore, the start of motion of the car body securing bracket at the secondary collision can be stabilized. In a state where the fastening lever is fixed in a tilt adjusted position, a portion to be hand-held of the fastening lever is disposed on a more anterior side of the vehicle than the proximal end portion, and, when the secondary collision happens, the fastening lever moves towards the front of the vehicle, whereby the safety against the collision on a knee of a passenger can be further enhanced.

A tilt adjustable type steering apparatus for a vehicle is constructed such that a rear column member is connected in a swayable manner within an on-driving tilt adjustable range to a front column member fixed to a car body, a fixed gear provided on one of the front column member and the rear column member is engaged with a movable gear provided on the other of the front column member and the rear column member when fixing the rear column member to a tilt adjusted position, and the two fixed and movable gears are disengaged from each other by swaying the movable gear when releasing the rear column member from the tilt adjusted position. The same apparatus includes a spring and/or a lock mechanism, which enables the rear column member to be tilted up to an upper predetermined position in excess of the on-driving tilt adjustable range and holds in this position the rear column member tilted up to the predetermined position.

A steering device for a car comprises an inner column for rotatably supporting one end of a steering shaft, an outer column for rotatably supporting the other end of the steering shaft, in which the inner column is slidably fitted, a couple of clamp portions formed integrally with the outer column and each having an embracing surface for embracing the inner column, and a fastening mechanism for making the couple of clamp portions embrace and thus fasten the inner column by moving the couple of clamp portions close to each other. The steering shaft is moved in the axial direction by releasing the fastening mechanism so that a telescopic position of the steering shaft is adjustable.

Steering device for car

The universal joint of this invention comprises a hub interposed between an upper shaft and a middle shaft, an upper pin coupling together the upper shaft and the hub, a lower pin coupling together the middle shaft and the hub, and a stopper ring fitting over the outside of the middle shaft at an end thereof on the side of the upper shaft. The hub is formed in such a manner that the outer shape thereof is a spindle shape narrowing in the fore-and-aft direction with respect to the upper pin, and a bottomed hole provided with a taper portion is formed in the axial center thereof, opening towards the rear of the upper pin. In a front end portion of the upper shaft are formed a taper portion contracting towards the front of the upper pin and a groove portion engaging with the lower pin. The upper and lower pins are disposed adjacent to one another in the central axial direction of the hub and are also at a phase angle difference of, for example, 90 degrees. This invention provides a universal joint that has a simpler structure and a reduced manufacturing cost.

Universal joint assembly for coupling together a first and a second shaft

An apparatus for supporting a steering column has a cross member spanned over two right-and-left walls of a car body at a portion just anterior to a driver's seat, a support bracket integrally fixedly connected to a portion, aligned with the driver's seat, of an intermediate portion of the cross member, a supported bracket fixedly connected to an intermediate portion of the steering column, and a connecting member for connecting the support bracket and the supported bracket to each other with no intermediary of other brackets.

Apparatus for supporting a steering column

A shock absorbing steering column apparatus comprise a steering column member admitting an insertion of a steering shaft, and a shock absorbing member for permitting the steering column member to displace in an axial direction while being plastically deformed by an impact load applied in the axial direction of the steering column member. The steering column member and the shock absorbing member are integrally formed of a non-ferrous metal.

Growing community of inventors

Kitagunma-gun, Japan

Kenji Sato