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:
Feb. 25, 1997
Filed:
Aug. 31, 1995
Thomas J Milton, Bay City, MI (US);
William D Cymbal, Freeland, MI (US);
Kevin C Ross, Hemlock, MI (US);
General Motors Corporation, Detroit, MI (US);
Abstract
A motor vehicle steering column including a longitudinally collapsible mast jacket, a lower mount whereat the mast jacket is supported for vertical pivotal movement, and an upper mount consisting of a pair of stationary rigid strikers and a pair of releasable capsules on the mast jacket each of which receives in plug-in fashion and automatically retains a corresponding one of the strikers. Each of the capsules includes a socket, a plunger bore intersecting the socket, a plunger in the plunger bore, and a plunger spring biasing the plunger toward an extended position partially obstructing the socket. Each striker has a cam at a distal end thereof and an inverted frustoconical body. When the mast jacket is pivoted vertically up, the cams on the strikers shift the plungers inward in the plunger bores. When the strikers are seated in the sockets, each plunger spring wedges the corresponding plunger between the frustoconical body of the striker and a side of the plunger bore converging with the frustoconical body of the striker. In a preferred embodiment, one of the plungers is oriented laterally and one is oriented longitudinally to eliminate lateral and longitudinal lash between the mast jacket and the vehicle body and the lower mount includes a flex plate which biases the mast jacket vertically downward to eliminate vertical lash between the mast jacket and the vehicle body.