Positioning device for adjustable steering columns
AssigneeEaton Corporation
InventorWilliam T. Mihalic
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A positioning device for a vehicle steering column which includes a stationary support structure formed from a pair of spaced plates, a moveable member adapted for attachment to the column and slidably received between the plates for translational and pivotal movement with respect to them, a fixed guide pin and a floating guide pin engaged in cooperating slots in the moveable member to control translational and pivotal movement, latching elements operable to fix the moving member in any pivotal or translational position, and a control lever operative to disable the latching elements to allow movement and further operative to apply a transverse locking force to the plates when the moveable member is in any selected position.
Claims18
A positioning device for use with a steering column in a vehicle, the steering column being adapted to be operatively connected to the steering gear of the vehicle in a manner allowing the steering column to be translatively and pivotally moveable in the plane of the steering column, the positioning device comprising:
- a support member adapted to be secured to the body of said vehicle;
- an elongated slider member adapted to be fixedly secured at one end to said column;
- means mounting said slider member on said support member for:
- selective pivotal movement in said steering column plane between a plurality of the tilt positions thereby effecting pivotal movement of said column;
- selective movement along its axis between a plurality of translational positions in each of said tilt positions thereby effecting translational movement of said column;
- tilt latching means for holding said slider member in any of said tilt positions;
- and
- translation latching means for holding said slider member in any of said translational positions.
A positioning device for use with a steering column in a vehicle, said steering column being operatively connected to the steering gear of the vehicle in a manner allowing said steering column to be translatively and pivotally moveable in the plane of said steering column, the positioning device comprising:
- a support member having first and second side plates adapted for attaching to said vehicle, and including means maintaining said plate in parallel, spaced relation;
- an elongated slider member adapted to be fixedly secured at one end to said column and slidingly received between said plates;
- and
- means for positioning said slider member for:
- selective pivotal movement in said steering column plane between a plurality of discrete tilt positions, thereby effecting pivotal movement of said column;
- and
- selective movement along its longitudinal axis between a plurality of discrete axial positions in each of its tilt positions, thereby effecting translational movement of said column.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.