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:
Sep. 29, 1998
Filed:
Dec. 04, 1996
Minoru Wakamatsu, Okazaki-shi, Aichi-ken 444-21, JP;
Takashi Matsuda, Toyota-shi, Aichi-ken 471, JP;
Kohki Kawarada, Toyota-shi, Aichi-ken 471, JP;
Hiroshi Hori, Toyota-shi, Aichi-ken 471, JP;
Other;
Abstract
A shaft assembly in which a cross-groove universal joint is mounted on each of the two end portions of a shaft. In this cross-groove universal joint, an inner race formed in the outer circumference with ball grooves inclined alternately in opposite directions with respect to the axial direction and an outer race formed in the inner circumference with ball grooves oriented to intersect the former ball grooves are concentrically fitted. Balls are arranged at the intersections between the ball grooves of the inner race and the ball grooves of the outer race, as confronting each other. The balls are retained by a cage arranged between the inner race and the outer race. A first inner race is fixed on one end portion of shaft, and a second inner race is fixed on the other end portion of the shaft such that with respect to any of the ball grooves of the first inner race, the ball grooves, as inclined in the directions opposed to those of the former ball grooves with respect to the axial direction, are positioned within an offset range of a predetermined phase from the complete in-phase position in the circumferential direction of the shaft.