Collapsible shaft assembly
AssigneeNadella, & French Body Corporate
InventorGerard Stephan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A collapsible shaft assembly forming part of a universal coupling, such as in the steering system of a motor vehicle, has outer and inner sleeves, a co-axial elastomeric sleeve in radial compression there between, a shaft rotatably coupled to and axially slideable within the inner sleeve and a shearable lock to hold the shaft axially relatively to the inner sleeve up to a given, minimum axial load, such as in a motor vehicle collision.
Claims17
A collapsible rotatable shaft assembly comprising an outer sleeve forming part of a universal coupling, an inner sleeve coaxially received in said outer sleeve, an elastomeric sleeve coaxially disposed in a space between said inner and outer sleeves in radial compression between said inner and outer sleeves, a shaft non-rotatably coupled to and axially slideable within said inner sleeve and a shearable lock to hold said shaft axially in position relative to said inner sleeve up to a given, minimum axial load.
A collapsible rotatable shaft assembly comprising an outer sleeve forming a part of a universal coupling, an inner sleeve coaxially received in said outer sleeve, said inner and outer sleeves being radially spaced apart to define a space therebetween, an elastomeric sleeve received in said space in coaxial relation with said inner and outer sleeves, said elastomeric sleeve being radially compressed between said inner and outer sleeves to couple said inner and outer sleeves together for unitary rotation, a shaft non-rotatably coupled to and axially slideable within said inner sleeve, and shearable lock means holding said shaft axially in position relative to said inner sleeve up to a given, minimum axial load, said lock means being subject to structural failure by axial loads in excess of said minimum axial load to release said shaft for axial movement relative to said inner sleeve for telescopically collapsing the sub-assembly of said shaft and said inner sleeve.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.