Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Masatoshi Inoue

Sosuke Kinouchi

Hiroshi Takata

Shigeo Adachi

Noboru Yanagiuchi

Toyoshi Matsuda

A steering apparatus for a four-wheeled vehicle transmits a steering force through a steering shaft, a reduction gear mechanism, a steering lever and right and left tie rods to right and left knuckles. The reduction gear mechanism includes a pinion gear turned by the steering shaft, and steering gear engaged with the pinion gear mounted on a lever shaft. The pinion gear and the steering gear are cut in a taper and both of the gears are press-engaged together in an axial direction by a spring so that no backlash is formed between the pinion gear and the steering gear.

Steering apparatus for four-wheeled vehicle

A steering apparatus for a four-wheeled vehicle transmits a steering force through a steering shaft, a reduction gear, a steering lever and right and left tie rods to right and left knuckles. The reduction gear includes a pinion gear turned by the steering shaft, a steering gear engaged with the pinion gear and fixedly mounted on a lever shaft, which is combined with the steering lever, and a gear case housing the pinion gear and the steering gear. The lever shaft has a first end portion supported in a bearing held on the gear case. The bearing permits the lever shaft to be turned therein. The lever has a second end portion supported in a bearing hole that permits the second end portion to be shifted in the back-and-forth direction. The second end portion of the lever shaft is biased by a spring so as to press the steering gear against the pinion gear so that no backlash is formed between the pinion gear and the steering gear.

A steering apparatus for a four-wheeled vehicle transmits a steering force through a steering shaft, a spur gear type reduction gear mechanism, a steering lever and right and left tie rods to right and left knuckles. The reduction gear mechanism includes a pinion gear formed integrally with a pinion shaft, a steering gear mounted on a lever shaft which is combined with the steering lever, and a gear case housing the pinion gear and the steering gear. The steering gear has internal teeth which are engaged with the pinion gear. The lever shaft has a first end portion supported in a bearing held on the gear case. The bearing permits the lever shaft to be turned therein. The lever shaft also has a second end portion supported in a bearing hole. The bearing hole is elongated along the back-and-forth direction so that the second end portion of the lever shaft is able to be shifted along the back-and-forth direction. The second end portion of the lever shaft is biased by a spring so as to press the internal teeth against the pinion gear so that backlash between the pinion gear and the steering gear is eliminated.

A governor device for a vehicle having a speed detecting device adapted for detecting the speed of the input shaft of a transmission which is adapted to conduct a shift between power transmitting stage and neutral stage. The input shaft of the transmission is connected to the engine through an automatic stepless speed changer. The speed detecting means may be, for example, a centrifugal governor device meshing with the input shaft of the transmission.

Growing community of inventors

Himeji, Japan

Masatoshi Inoue