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:
May. 24, 2016
Filed:
Oct. 16, 2013
Applicant:
Ford Global Technologies, Llc, Dearborn, MI (US);
Inventors:
Joseph Washnock, Canton, MI (US);
Jackson E. Barry, Jr., Dearborn, MI (US);
Dale Killins, Detroit, MI (US);
Assignee:
Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US);
Attorneys:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
F16H 27/02 (2006.01); B62D 5/24 (2006.01); B62D 3/08 (2006.01); F16H 55/26 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
B62D 5/24 (2013.01); B62D 3/08 (2013.01); F16H 55/26 (2013.01); Y10T 74/1967 (2015.01); Y10T 74/19949 (2015.01);
Abstract
A recirculating-ball style gearbox for a vehicle steering system is provided. The gearbox has a rack with rack-teeth that are capable of providing variable ratio steering, where the rack-teeth are in mesh with the involute-teeth of a tapered sector gear. The involute-teeth of the sector gear have arrays of helical meshing lines extending across the meshing surfaces of the teeth, wherein the array of helical meshing lines have leads that decrease in length moving radially outward across the meshing surfaces.