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. 19, 2001
Filed:
Jul. 13, 1999
Peter Shixiang Zhou, Dayton, OH (US);
Harry Charles Buchanan, Jr., Spring Valley, OH (US);
Ralph John Unterborn, Dayton, OH (US);
Valeo Electrical Systems, Inc., Auburn Hills, MI (US);
Abstract
A drive gear engages a driven gear with non-intersecting axes of rotation making an angle of approximately 90° with respect to one another. A shaft has a first portion with a predetermined diameter, and a second portion has an enveloped worm gear with at least one roll-formed helical tooth formed thereon with an outer diameter greater than the diameter of the first portion of the shaft. The extra envelopment achieves an overall smaller package size for competitive advantage. When the shaft is rolled, the outside teeth exceed the shaft diameter by a predetermined amount allowing more teeth to be in contact with the driven gear. An outer bearing can be placed at the end of the shaft to allow the teeth to be of a larger diameter than the shaft. The pitch of the teeth can vary. Preferably, the bearing groove is roll formed simultaneously with the teeth of the worm gear since the centroid of the enveloped teeth must be located with the gear center line.