US 11,781,636 B1Granted

Gearbox for vehicle seat

AssigneeToyota Boshoku Kabushiki Kaisha

InventorsKenji Tatewaki, Tomokazu Fukuda, Kentaro Morishita

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Abstract

Provided is a gearbox for vehicle seats that can inhibit rattling of its shaft while inhibiting an increase in sliding resistance at a shaft end. The gearbox is used in a movable mechanism of a vehicle seat, and including a housing, a thrust bearing, and a cap. The housing accommodates a shaft, a gear, and a rotary bearing therein, and includes a female screw portion. The thrust bearing includes a force applied portion to be in contact with an end of the shaft, a male screw portion threadedly engaged with the female screw portion, and an engaged portion arranged to interpose the male screw portion between the engaged portion and the force applied portion in an axial direction of the shaft. The cap includes an engaging portion in engagement with the engaged portion of the thrust bearing, and a removal stopper restricting removal of the thrust bearing from the housing.

Claims7

Dependent claims

A gearbox for a vehicle seat, the gearbox used in a movable mechanism configured to displace part of the vehicle seat, and the gearbox comprising:

a shaft;
a gear secured to the shaft;
a rotary bearing rotatably supporting the shaft;
a housing accommodating the shaft, the gear, and the rotary bearing therein, and including a female screw portion;
a thrust bearing including:
a force applied portion configured to be in contact with an end of the shaft;
a male screw portion in thread engagement with the female screw portion;
and
an engaged portion arranged such that the male screw portion is interposed between the engaged portion and the force applied portion in an axial direction of the shaft;
and
a cap including:
an engaging portion in engagement with the engaged portion of the thrust bearing;
and
a removal stopper restricting removal of the thrust bearing from the housing, the removal stopper being mounted to the housing, or inserted in the thrust bearing to thereby press the thrust bearing against the housing.

11 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.