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:
Dec. 25, 2012
Filed:
Sep. 10, 2010
Yasuhisa Yamada, Gunma, JP;
Yasuhisa Yamada, Gunma, JP;
NSK, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
Low cost construction of a steering apparatus is provided that is capable of protecting an operator's kneesduring an automobile collision. A tilted plateis arranged below and behind a bottom end section of a housingwhich is a component of an electric power assist mechanismconnected to a front end section of a steering column. In case that the automobile is in a collision, automobile equipmentthat moves forward under pressure from the driver's knees hits against a bottom surface of the tilted plate. This allows the impact energy to be absorbed by the elasticity or deformation of the tilted plateduring impact, and after impact as well, the automobile equipmentto move in a direction along the bottom surface of the tilted plate.