Nsk Corporation

Shin Mihara

Seiichi Moriyama

Hiroyuki Hattori

Yoshifumi Kurokawa

Osamu Kurihara

Masajirou Watanabe

Takuma Nakamura

Takayuki Ishii

Sho Inaki

Yoshio Nakano

Ryota Murata

A steering device including a steering column supporting a steering shaft to be coupled to a steering wheel. The steering column is sandwiched between a bracket including a first support plate and a second support plate with a tightening shaft penetrating the first support plate and the second support plate and including a male thread at an end of the tightening shaft on a side close to the second support plate having a nut attached thereon. An operation lever is disposed between the nut and the second support plate and penetrated by the tightening shaft. A case including a bottom surface facing an end surface of the tightening shaft is attached to the operation lever, and a coil spring coming into contact with the bottom surface and the tightening shaft.

Steering device

At least one of the vehicle body side through holes and the column side through hole is an adjusting long hole which is long in a direction in which a position of the steering wheel can be adjusted. A base end portion of the adjusting lever includes a lever side through hole penetrating through the base end portion in the width direction. The adjusting rod is press-fitted into the lever side through hole.

Position adjusting apparatus of steering wheel

An upper surface of a front portion of an outer column is provided with a slit having a substantial T shape as seen from a radial direction and a pair of sandwiched portions. In a rear end side portion of an outer surface of the sandwiched portion, a dented portion is formed to be dented inward in a width direction at a lower half portion thereof. Accordingly, a distance from the position of a force which acts on the sandwiched portions according to an operation on an adjustment lever to a position of a main outer column body which is a fulcrum of elastic deformation becomes longer. Therefore, a structure capable of reducing change of a force necessary for operating the adjustment lever and stably fitting and holding an inner column regardless of the position of a steering wheel in a front-rear direction is implemented.

Outer column for telescopic steering device and telescopic steering device

In a position adjustment device of a steering wheel, a step forming surface is provided in a portion close to one axial end of an adjustment rod. A nut is threadedly fixed to one end portion of the adjustment rod in the axial direction. An adjustment lever is connected to a driving cam of a cam mechanism. The driving cam is sandwiched between the step forming surface and the nut.

Position adjustment device of steering wheel

Provided is a telescopic shaft having a coated section that reduces sliding resistance, with fluctuation of the sliding resistance according to sliding position of the telescopic shaft being reduced. A female shaftB is fitted onto a male shaft in a state of interference, and by causing the male shaftA to slide back-and-forth a specified number of times in the axial direction with respect to the female shaftB while applying, for example, a load in a direction that bends the male shaftA with respect to the female shaftB, friction heat is generated between side surfacesof groovesin the female shaftB and the coated section, which heats the coated sectionand causes the coated sectionto expand along the entire length in the axial direction of teethof the male shaftA. Therefore, the coated sectionplastically deforms along the entire length in the axial direction of the teeth causing compressive strain to occur. By causing the male shaftA to slide back-and-forth with respect to the female shaftB in this state, the groovesof the female shaftB and the teethof the male shaftA are uniformly in contact along the entire length in the axial direction, and thus sliding friction becomes constant along the entire length of the sliding range.

Telescopic shaft and manufacturing method thereof

A steering-column apparatus minimizes the force required for expanding or contracting the portion where an inner column fits and is supported and improves the ease of operation for adjusting the position of a steering wheel. A split is provided in the bottom surface of the front section of an outer column includes a main slit section in the axial direction and a sub slit section in the circumferential direction, with the front-end section of the main slit section being open on the edge on the rear side thereof. The length from the main slit section to one end section in the circumferential direction of both end sections in the circumferential direction of the sub slit section, is longer than the length from the main slit section to the other end section in the circumferential direction.

Outer column and steering column apparatus

Construction is achieved that, when performing operation in order to maintain the position of a steering wheel after adjustment, is capable of reducing the operation torque that is applied to an adjustment leverduring the first half of the operation, and is capable of improving operability. Portions (virtual sliding-contact section lines M) of the drive-side cam surfacesthat can come in sliding contact with the driven-side continuous surfaceswhen moving from a state in which the position of the steering wheel can be adjusted to a state in which the adjusted position can be maintained, are inclined toward one side in the circumferential direction at the time when the virtual sliding-contact section lines M overlap one end Nin the circumferential direction of the driven-side continuous surfaces. As a result, during operation, the areas of sliding contact between the drive-side cam surfaceand the driven-side continuous surfacesgradually increase from the inside end in the radial direction to the outside in the radial direction.

Steering wheel position adjustment apparatus

Construction is achieved capable of stably maintaining an inner columnon the inner diameter side of an outer column. The outer column, including a support sectionis formed by using hydroforming to swell a hollow tube outward in the radial direction. A displacement bracketis also integrally formed with the outer columnby tube swelling. Furthermore, raised sectionsof the support sectionare formed at three or more location in the circumferential direction on the inner circumferential surface of the outer column, and these raised sectionsand the outer circumferential surface of the inner columncome in contact with each other at three or more locations in the circumferential direction.

Growing community of inventors

Gunma, Japan

Shin Mihara