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:
Aug. 05, 2003
Filed:
Apr. 09, 2001
Alfred Brenner, Heubach, DE;
ZF Lenksysteme GmbH, Schwaebisch Gmuend, DE;
Abstract
A method for producing a blank for a gear rack for rack-and-pinion steering of motor vehicles includes the following steps: In a first step, a starting material having an essentially circular cross-section is placed into a stamping apparatus containing at least three form tools movable relatively to one another. In a second step, at least one force in at least one direction is exerted upon at least one of the form tools, the form tools moving relative to one another by this force, so that the starting material is reformed into a blank for the gear rack. At least in the axial region of the tooth system of the gear rack to be formed, the blank is provided with a shape differing from a circular cylinder. Using this method, part of the material of the starting material is displaced on one side from the middle into the region of the tooth system to be formed, without having much strain-hardening occur in this region. This makes subsequent production processes easier.