Steering apparatus for vehicles

Abstract

A steering apparatus for a four-wheeled vehicle including a pair of pivotable knuckle arms connected to a pair of respective front wheels and actuatable through a steering gear by rotational movement of a steering wheel. One of the knuckle arms is pivotally connected to one end of a connector rod extending longitudinally of the vehicle, the other end of the connector rod being connected to a cam plate slidable in a housing. The cam plate has an inverted S-shaped cam groove or alternatively an S-shaped cam groove within which is slidably received a pin mounted on a tie rod pivotally connected between a pair of pivotable support arms supporting a pair of rear wheels, respectively. Due to the shape of the cam groove, the rear wheels are turned in the same direction as the front wheels when the steering wheel is rotated through a relatively small angle, and the rear and front wheels are turned in opposite directions when the steering wheel is rotated through a relatively large angle.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.