Steering wheel

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9550525-B2
Application number	US-201514810844-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 28, 2015
Priority date	Jul 30, 2014
Publication date	Jan 24, 2017
Grant date	Jan 24, 2017

Abstract

A steering wheel includes: a cylindrical slider which is disposed on an outer side of a support member so as to slide in a front-to-rear direction and which is biased to the rear; a cap member which covers at least respective rear end portions of the support member and the slider from the rear; a movable-side contact portion which is provided inside the cap member; an annular damper holder which is mounted inside the cap member; an annular elastic member which is interposed between the slider and the damper holder; a transmitting portion which is provided in an inner circumferential portion of the damper holder; and a movement catch portion which is provided on an outer circumferential portion of the slider so as to be positioned immediately before the transmitting portion and to which a forward movement of the damper holder is transmitted through the transmitting portion.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A steering wheel comprising:
a support member which is inserted through a bag holder of an air bag module;
a cylindrical slider which is disposed on an outer side of the support member so as to slide in a front-to-rear direction and which is biased to the rear by a biasing member;
a cap member which covers at least respective rear end portions of the support member and the slider from the rear in such a state that the cap member is spaced away to the rear from the rear end portion of the slider;
a movable-side contact portion which is provided inside the cap member;
an annular damper holder which is mounted inside the cap member while covering part of the slider;
an annular elastic member which is interposed between the slider and the damper holder;
a transmitting portion which is provided in an inner circumferential portion of the damper holder; and
a movement catch portion which is provided on an outer circumferential portion of the slider so as to be positioned before the transmitting portion and to which a forward movement of the damper holder is transmitted through the transmitting portion, wherein
when the air bag module is not depressed, the air bag module is caused to function as damper mass of a dynamic damper and the elastic member is caused to function as a spring of the dynamic damper, whereas when the air bag module is depressed, the slider is caused to slide to the front against the biasing member by causing the cap member to move to the front in association with the depression of the air bag module, and in the sliding process, the movable-side contact portion is brought into contact with the rear end portion of the support member to thereby activate a horn module.

2. The steering wheel according to claim 1 , wherein
the transmitting portion is in direct contact with the movement catch portion or is in contact with the movement catch portion indirectly via an elastic plate-shaped portion which is formed on an outer circumferential portion of a front end of the elastic member.

3. The steering wheel according to claim 1 , wherein:
the movement catch portion catches a rearward biasing force of the biasing member.

4. The steering wheel according to claim 1 , wherein:
the support member comprises a shaft portion which extends in a depressing direction of the air bag module and a collar portion which is formed on an outer circumferential portion of a rear end of the shaft portion;
a main portion of the slider is made up of a cylindrical portion which is placed on the shaft portion slidably; and
a rear end portion of the cylindrical portion makes up the rear end portion of the slider.

5. The steering wheel according to claim 4 , wherein:
at least a rear portion of the elastic member is made up of an annular elastic main body portion which functions as the spring of the dynamic damper;
a gap portion is defined between the elastic main body portion and the collar portion; and
a rib is provided at a portion on a rear surface of the elastic main body portion so as to project to the rear to thereby be brought into contact with a portion on a front surface of the collar portion.

6. The steering wheel according to claim 5 , wherein:
the elastic member comprises an elastic cylindrical portion which extends to the front from the elastic main body portion; and
a gap portion is defined between the elastic cylindrical portion and the transmitting portion.

7. The steering wheel according to claim 1 , wherein:
the movement catch portion is positioned immediately before the transmitting portion.

Assignees

• Toyoda Gosei Kk

Inventors

• Ishii Tsutomu
• Hirose Osamu
• Sasaki Kenji
• Yanagisawa Toshihito

Classifications

• B60R21/21658

  with integrated switches, e.g. horn switches · CPC title

• B60R21/2037

  the module or a major component thereof being yieldably mounted, e.g. for actuating the horn switch or for protecting the driver in a non-deployment situation (horn switches integrated in steering wheel covers with tear lines B60R21/21658) · CPC title

• B60Q5/003 Primary

  mounted on the steering wheel · CPC title

• B60R21/203

  in steering wheels or steering columns · CPC title

• B62D7/222 Primary

  acting on the steering wheel · CPC title