Steering column manufacturing machine and method of manufacturing a steering column
AssigneeSteering Solutions IP Holding Corporation
InventorsRobert W. Dubay, David E. Witucki, Dennis G. McDonagh
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A steering column assembly is provided. The assembly includes an outer jacket, an inner jacket telescopingly disposed within the outer jacket for movement along a longitudinal axis with a cavity defined between the inner and outer jackets. A bushing is radially disposed about the inner jacket within the cavity between the inner and outer jackets. The bushing includes at least one tab engaging the inner jacket to interconnect the bushing to the inner jacket and includes at least one radially projecting pad engaging the outer jacket to frictionally interconnect the bushing to the outer jacket for interlocking the inner and outer jackets.
Claims10
A steering column assembly comprising:
- an outer jacket,
- an inner jacket telescopingly disposed within said outer jacket for movement along a longitudinal axis with a cavity defined between said inner and outer jackets,
- a bushing radially disposed about said inner jacket within said cavity between said inner and outer jackets,
- said bushing including at least one tab engaging said inner jacket to interconnect said bushing to said inner jacket and including at least one radially projecting pad engaging said outer jacket to frictionally interconnect said bushing to said outer jacket for interlocking said inner and outer jackets and preventing axial movement between said inner and outer jackets with said pads being meltable for thermally sizing said bushing to allow relative movement between said inner and outer jackets and to uniformly load said inner and outer jackets during telescoping movement of the steering column assembly.
A steering column manufacturing machine for manufacturing a steering column having a first jacket in telescopic relation to a second jacket with a bushing located between the first and second jackets, the manufacturing machine comprising:
- a loading first member for releasable connection to the first jacket;
- a second member for releasable connection to the second jacket and axially opposing said first member;
- and
- a thermal fixture constructed and arranged to be heated for heating of the bushing through one of the first and second jackets.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.