Steering apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9415795-B2
Application number	US-201414438876-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 10, 2014
Priority date	Oct 31, 2013
Publication date	Aug 16, 2016
Grant date	Aug 16, 2016

Abstract

A steering apparatus is disclosed, the apparatus including friction plates 23, 24 a, 24 b clamped by a clamping bolt 10 together with a clamp portion and a vehicle-sided bracket 6 to extend toward a rear side of a vehicle in an axial direction; and a holding member 20 fitted on an inner column 3 and connected to portions, on the rear side of the vehicle, of the friction plates 23, 24 a, 24 b , the holding member 20 and the inner column 3 being connected together via shearing pins 21 a, 21 b , the shearing pins being sheared into fracture upon receiving a predetermined level of impact force to enable a more stable and lower separating load to be acquired.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A steering apparatus comprising:
a steering shaft transferring steering force;
an inner column rotatably supporting a portion, on a rear side of a vehicle, of the steering shaft;
an outer column rotatably supporting a portion, on a front side of the vehicle, of the steering shaft and including: a clamp portion slidably fitted onto the inner column and clamping and declamping the inner column; and a tilt pivot disposed on the front side of the vehicle and rotatably fitted to a vehicle body;
a vehicle-sided bracket pinching and fixing both sides of the clamp portion in a widthwise direction of the vehicle to the vehicle body and unlocking the locked clamp portion, and making the inner column and the outer column pivotable about the tilt pivot; and
a clamping bolt for clamping the clamp portion and the vehicle-sided bracket in the widthwise direction of the vehicle corresponding to an operation of a user, and declamping the clamp portion and bracket,
wherein the steering apparatus further comprises: a friction plate having an elongate hole extending in an axial direction and receiving insertion of the clamping bolt and being clamped by the clamping bolt together with the clamp portion and the vehicle-sided bracket to extend toward the rear side of the vehicle in the axial direction; and a holding member fitted on the inner column and connected to a portion, on the rear side of the vehicle, of the friction plate,
the holding member and the inner column are connected together via a shearing pin, and
the shearing pin is sheared into fracture upon receiving a predetermined level of impact force.

2. The steering apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a second shearing pin connecting the holding member and the inner column together, the shearing pin and the second shearing pin being disposed in a face-to-face relationship in a widthwise direction of a vehicle.

3. The steering apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the holding member takes an annular shape to receive internal fitting of the inner column, and
a resin is interposed between an upper portion of the holding member and the inner column.

4. The steering apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the resin is injection-molded after the inner column has been fitted in the holding member.

5. The steering apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the resin has a fixing portion making use of elasticity thereof and is fixed to the holding member via the fixing portion after being molded.

6. The steering apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the fixing portion engages with a hole formed to penetrate the holding member in a radial direction.

7. The steering apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the fixing portion embraces the upper portion of the holding member from an inside in the radial direction of the holding member.

8. The steering apparatus according to claim 7 , further comprising a support member fixed to the inner column, at least a part of the support member being interposed between the holding member and the inner column, the shearing pin being received in a through-hole portion formed through the support member and the holding member.

Assignees

• Nsk Ltd

Inventors

• Hagiwara Wataru
• Jouta Masaya
• Kojima Hideki

Classifications

• B62D1/184

  Mechanisms for locking columns at selected positions · CPC title

• B62D1/195 Primary

  Yieldable supports for the steering column · CPC title

• B62D1/192

  Yieldable or collapsible columns · CPC title

• B62D1/187

  with tilt adjustment; with tilt and axial adjustment (B62D1/183, B62D1/19 takes precedence) · CPC title