Steering column for vehicle and steering apparatus having the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9371086-B2
Application number	US-201514589627-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 5, 2015
Priority date	Sep 7, 2011
Publication date	Jun 21, 2016
Grant date	Jun 21, 2016

Abstract

The present invention relates to a steering column for a vehicle and a steering apparatus having the same. According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent loads transmitted to the steering column from being concentrated to a part of the steering column, to uniformize the distribution of operation force of the adjusting lever, and to prevent the deformation and damage of the steering column when the driver operates the steering wheel by maintaining the bearing forces of the upper tube and the lower tube at the time of tightening and releasing the adjusting lever for a tilt or telescope operation while increasing the rigidity of the entirety of the steering column.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A steering column for a vehicle comprising:
a hollow lower tube enclosing a steering shaft; and
an upper tube fitted on an outer periphery of the lower tube,
wherein the upper tube includes: a first portion on which a first slot is slit axially; a second slot is slit circumferentially at the lower end of the first slot; supporting parts protrude from an outer periphery of the first portion at an upper side of the second slot to be diametrically opposed to each other; one or more stress dispersion parts are formed on the outer periphery of the first portion at an axially upper side of the supporting parts to disperse stresses; and a second portion on which an upper tube hole is formed,
wherein the first portion protrudes upwardly from an outer periphery of the second portion so that the first portion has an outer circumference greater than that of the second portion,
wherein the supporting parts are formed at circumferentially opposite sides of the first slot on the first portion of the upper tube, and
wherein the one or more stress dispersion parts are formed by a through-hole spaced from the first slot by a predetermined distance between the first slot and the upper tube hole.

2. The steering column as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the one or more stress dispersion parts are formed at a position forming a predetermined angle from the upper end of the first slot in relation to the upper side axial direction.

3. The steering column as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the one or more stress dispersion parts are formed at circumferentially opposed and symmetric positions with reference to the first slot.

Assignees

• Mando Corp

Inventors

• Kim Jong Han

Classifications

• B62D1/184 Primary

  Mechanisms for locking columns at selected positions · CPC title

• B62D1/16 Primary

  Steering columns · CPC title

• B62D1/189

  the entire column being tiltable as a unit · CPC title

• B62D1/18 Primary

  yieldable or adjustable, e.g. tiltable (padded linings associated with the steering column B60R21/05) · CPC title