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US 7,458,291 B2Granted
Self-sealing yoke assembly for a steering apparatus
AssigneeFord Motor Company
InventorsJohn D. Douma, John F. Laidlaw, Madhu Nambiar
Life of this patent
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AssigneeFord Motor Company
InventorsJohn D. Douma, John F. Laidlaw, Madhu Nambiar
Estimating the term…
A rack and pinion steering system including a rack slidably supported within a housing that engages in a pinion gear wherein the housing includes a cylindrical sleeve having an outer seal surface with a slight medial taper at one end thereof. A yoke assembly, which is received by the cylindrical sleeve, operates to guide the rack and maintain engagement of the rack and pinion during operation of the steering system and includes a yoke member engaging the rack. A retainer member holds a yoke plug, used in the yoke assembly, in position and has a compliant annular seal member having an inner sealing surface that has a complementary slight outward extending taper to provide a self-sealing interface with the medial taper of the outer seal surface of the cylindrical sleeve to protect the internal components of the steering system from water and other contaminants.
A rack and pinion steering system comprising:
A rack and pinion steering system comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.