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:
Nov. 28, 2000
Filed:
Jan. 13, 1999
Sakae Matsumoto, Takasaki, JP;
Shoji Oka, Gunma-ken, JP;
NSK Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A steering apparatus for a car, comprises a steering shaft provided with a steering wheel at one end thereof, a steering column for supporting the steering shaft to be freely rotatable, an upper support mechanism fixed to the car body side for supporting the steering column, having an operating lever capable of taking a state for allowing the steering column to move in the axial direction and a state for fixing the steering column, so as to selectively take one of these two states and a lower support mechanism fixed to the car body side for supporting the steering column. The lower support mechanism comprises, a lower bracket fixed to the car body, a frictional member provided between the lower bracket and the steering column, capable of taking a first position for frictionally engaging with the lower bracket and the steering column to prevent a movement of the steering column and a second position for releasing the frictional engagement, and a link mechanism for moving the frictional member between the first position and the second position in interlocking with the operating lever.