Steering mechanism assembly for automotive vehicle

A manual or power-assisted steering control linkage assembly for automotive vehicles, including a housing having articulated mounting means at its extremities for fixing the housing to the chassis of the vehicle, the housing being acted upon by axial stresses, wherewith a complex component of said housing being formed from two tubular housing elements disposed at an angle to each other, one of the two tubular housing elements extending transversely to the vehicle chassis, and the complex housing component accommodating steering system components cooperating with a steering column shaft by a rack and pinion arrangement, said rack and pinion arrangement comprising:

• a rack bar connected to wheels of a vehicle via articulated connections, the rack bar being supported and guided in sliding movement by an end-disposed pillow bearing disposed in an interior of the one tubular housing element oriented transversely to the vehicle chassis, and
• a pinion mounted in the other of the two tubular housing elements, the pinion coordinating with the steering column shaft and engaging the rack, said pinion being rotationally supported by a pair of bearings at respective ends of the other tubular housing element,
• the two tubular housing elements also having housing means to adapt to and mount a control valve system for power-assisted steering,
• the two tubular housing elements including respective metallic tubes of different length, bearings and supports for the rack bar and pinion being installed in the two tubular housing elements, the two tubular housing elements being joined in a superposed arrangement by a bead of welding or brazing material disposed at the edges of respective openings in the walls of said two tubular housing elements, the openings being of different dimensions and corresponding different shapes, to form an angular junction of said two tubular housing elements in a superposed orientation corresponding to a desired angular alignment of the steering control linkage, and to provide a communication space between said two tubular housing elements to accommodate engagement of the pinion with the rack when the rack is housed in the longer of said two tubular housing elements and the pinion being housed in the shorter of said two tubular housing elements, and said longer tubular housing element having, at a location intermediate in said longer tubular housing element and close to the superposed openings, a second interior pillow bearing for sliding support of the rack bar, and the shorter tubular housing element having, at a location between the end disposed pillow bearing and the second interior pillow bearing supporting the pinion, means for automatically positioning the pinion in engagement with the rack in response to effects of the axial stresses tending to result in fluctuations in the engagement of the pinion and rack in order to avoid undesirable noise in the steering mechanism, the automatic positioning means including at least one elastic organ which continuously urges the pinion toward the rack.