Rack guide and rack-and-pinion type steering apparatus using the same
AssigneeOiles Corporation
InventorsShuichi Kubota, Yoshiro Kuzumi, Hidetoshi Kaida
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A rack-and-pinion type steering apparatus 1 includes a gear case 3 made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy and having a hollow portion 2; a steering shaft 6 rotatably supported by the gear case 3 through rolling bearings 4 and 5; a pinion 7 which is rotatably supported in the gear case 3 through the steering shaft 6; a rack bar 9 on which rack teeth 8 meshing with the pinion 7 are formed; and a rack guide 10 which is disposed in the hollow portion 2 inside the gear case 3 and supports the rack bar 9 slidably with respect to its moving direction A.
Claims27
A rack guide for a rack-and-pinion type steering apparatus, comprising:
- a rack guide body having a concave surface which slidably comes into contact with a rack bar and having a pressure receiving surface for receiving a pressing force directed toward the rack bar, the direction of said pressing force being perpendicular to a rotational axis of a pinion with which the rack bar is meshed;
- a resiliently deformable member disposed on a side of the pressure receiving surface of said rack guide body;
- and
- a pressing member for imparting to said resiliently deformable member the pressing force directed toward the rack bar,
- wherein said resiliently deformable member is disposed between said rack guide body and said pressing member so as to bulge in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the pressing force by being resiliently deformed by the pressing force directed from said pressing member toward the rack bar,
- said resiliently deformable member having a first through hole, said pressing member having a second through hole which is communicated with the first through hole in series in the direction of the pressing force, said rack guide body including a main body portion having the concave surface and the pressure receiving surface, and a supporting portion which at its one end is provided integrally on the main body portion and is passed through each of the first and second through holes, said resiliently deformable member being disposed between the main body portion and said pressing member in the direction of the pressing force,
- the supporting portion having at another end thereof a slit for facilitating the insertion of the supporting portion into the first and second through holes, and at the other end thereof a bulged portion which bulges from the other end of the supporting portion in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the pressing force, said bulged portion coming into contact with said pressing member to be engaged with said pressing member so as to prevent the supporting portion from coming off the second through hole.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.