Vehicle steering column
AssigneeThe Torrington Company
InventorMichael T. Hancock
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A steering column for a vehicle and a method of making same, wherein the steering column is made from a tube which has a sleeve passed over a length of it in the region where the steering column is to be engaged by a steering lock mechanism, in order for there to be sufficient thickness in that region to accommodate a lock slot of the steering lock mechanism. In order to achieve substantially the same overall outer diameter along the major length of the steering column, the sleeve is secured to the tube, for example, by welding and the sleeve and underlying tube are crushed by swaging or a die forming machine so that the outer diameter of the sleeve becomes substantially the same as that of the tube beyond the sleeve.
Claims19
A steering column for a vehicle, comprising a tube, a sleeve fitted to the tube around the outside of part of the length of the tube and having a slot in it and the outer diameter of the sleeve and the outer diameter of the tube beyond the sleeve being substantially the same.
A method of making a steering column for a vehicle including the steps of forming the steering column from tube, fitting a sleeve about part of the length of the tube, causing the outer diameter of the sleeve and the outer diameter of the tube beyond the sleeve to be substantially the same and forming a slot in the sleeve.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.