Nsk Corporation

Masato Iwakawa

Hiroshi Kakita

Yoshiyuki Sekii

Naoki Sawada

Takeshi Fujiwara

Akihiro Shoda

Kazuyuki Harada

Kazuki Hara

Construction is achieved that is able to effectively prevent the displacement in the axial direction of a ball bearingthat supports the middle section of a pinion shaftso as to be able to rotate freely, and that is compact and low cost. A fastening grooveis formed around the entire circumference of a portion near an opening of the inner circumferential surface of a sub housing sectionof a casing, and a radially outside portion of a C-shaped retaining ringis fastened in this fastening groove. As a result, a side surface in the axial direction of a radially inside portion of the retaining ringis pressed against a side surface in the axial direction of an outer ringof a ball bearingthat is fitted inside and supported by the inner circumferential surface of the sub housing section. Moreover, a cliphaving a radially outside arm sectionand radially inside arm sectionis mounted in the opening edge section of the sub housing section, and a diameter reduction prevention sectionthat comprises the tip-end section of the radially inside arm sectionis inserted into a non-continuous areaof the retaining ring

Rack and pinion steering gear unit

The electric steering wheel position adjustment apparatus of the present invention is constructed so as to improve the support rigidity of a portion that constitutes a steering column apparatus thereof, such that the steering shaftand the steering columnhave non-expandable construction, but are able to be displaced in the axial direction; holding holes are provided in at least two locations on the top side of the column holderthat supports the steering column; and in each of the holding holes, a sliding plate, an elastic memberand a coverare assembled such that the sliding plateis elastically compressed by the elastic memberand pushes the outer circumferential surface of the steering column

Electric steering wheel position adjustment apparatus

The electric steering wheel position adjustment apparatus of the present invention comprises: a non-expandable steering shaft; a non-expandable steering column; a column holderthat supports the steering columnso as to be able to move in the axial direction; a pair of left and right tilt shaftsthat support the column holderso as to be able to pivotally move around the center axis thereof; and an expandable intermediate shaftthat is connected to the steering shaftby way of a universal joint; and a tilt shaftsthat are arranged so that the center axis thereof is orthogonal to the center axis of the steering shaft. The center axis Oof the pair of left and right tilt shaftsis located in a range between the position Oof the center of displacement of the front-end section and the position Oof the center of displacement of the rear-end section of the universal joint

In order to make it possible to stably and smoothly perform the operation of position adjustment of a steering wheel, the electric position adjustment apparatus for a steering wheel of the present invention is such that: a concave engaging sectionof a moving piecethat moves in the forward/backward direction with an electric motoras a driving source has a cylindrical concave-shaped inner-circumferential surface; a cylindrical column sectionof a transmission memberthat transmits the movement of the moving pieceto a steering columnis inserted into the concave engaging sectionby way of cylindrical spacerand has a cylindrical convex-shaped outer-circumferential surface; and a cylindrical spacerhas a cylindrical convex-shaped outer-circumferential surface and a cylindrical concave-shaped inner-circumferential surface.

Electric position adjustment apparatus for steering wheel

In a motor-driven steering wheel position adjustment apparatus, a nutbeing a driven member is mounted such that it can be detached from an inner column of a steering column, based on a shock load applied at the time of a secondary collision, and therefore a threaded rod of a feed screw mechanism does not have resistance with respect to displacement of the inner column in the forward direction at that time. Improvement in the protection of a driver at the time of a collision can thus be achieved, and, since an integrated member can be used for the threaded rod, silence during the position adjustment of a steering wheel by the feed screw mechanism can be ensured.

Growing community of inventors

Maebashi, Japan

Masato Iwakawa