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. 13, 2006
Filed:
Dec. 21, 1999
Brian James Andonian, Livonia, MI (US);
Michael Kenneth Liubakka, Canton, MI (US);
Gregory James Stout, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Brian James Andonian, Livonia, MI (US);
Michael Kenneth Liubakka, Canton, MI (US);
Gregory James Stout, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Ford Global Technologies, Inc., Dearborn, MI (US);
Abstract
An automotive vehicle steering system has an actuator () for steering a wheel (). A shaft () passes axially through the interior of a housing () of the actuator and through a rotor tube () journaled for rotation within the housing. On the exterior of the housing one end of the shaft is coupled to the wheel. An electric motor () within the interior of the housing rotates the rotor tube when the wheel is steered by a steering wheel. An internal screw thread () on the rotor tube and an external screw thread () on the shaft are operatively coupled by a set () of transmission rollers () to provide for bi-directional transmission of motion between the rotor tube and the shaft such that rotation of the rotor tube causes the shaft to move axially of the housing to steer the vehicle wheel and axial motion of the shaft due to wheel recovery from a turn rotates the rotor tube.