The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 18, 1991
Filed:
Mar. 21, 1990
Ichiji Yamada, Toyota, JP;
Yutaka Inuzuka, West Bloomfield, MI (US);
Michiyuki Murakami, Toyoake, JP;
George Suzuki, Chiryu, JP;
Tyo Tanahashi, Aichi, JP;
Takeshi Kondo, Nagoya, JP;
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Toyota, JP;
Tsuda Industries Company, Ltd., Kariya, JP;
Abstract
An apparatus is provided for supporting a shift lever for a transmission the shift lever including a ball-like portion which is on the shift lever and has spherical surfaces of a fixed curvature at least on a part of the lower and upper sides. A receiving surface has a concave spherical surface of nearly the same curvature as the lower spherical surface of the ball-like portion and is in contact with the lower spherical surface, and a retaining surface has a concave spherical surface in surface contact with the upper spherical surface of the ball-like portion and holds the ball-like portion between the concave spherical surface and the receiving surface. A retaining member is installed from above to cover the ball-like portion, and an elastic displacement section is projectingly formed on the lower side of the retaining member to enclose the upper part of the ball-like portion and is elastically deformable in the radial direction of the ball-like portion. The retaining surface is formed on a part of the elastic displacement section which faces the ball-like portion. The ball-like portion is held in between the receiving surface and the retaining surface with the elastic force of the elastic displacement section, and a frictional force based on the elastic force acts as the shift-lever operating load.