JPH088939Y2 - Telescopic steering device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a telescopic steering device, that is, a steering column in which a steering shaft having a steering wheel attached thereto can extend and contract in the axial direction.

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a steering apparatus for a vehicle adopts a tilt and telescopic structure of a steering column so that a driver can easily secure an optimum driving position. In the telescopic structure, a steering shaft is expandable / contractible in a column jacket, and the steering shaft is composed of a cylindrical shaft and a shaft body that are engaged with each other via a spline, and a steering wheel is mounted on a free end of the shaft body. There are a manual type and an electric type in the operation of inserting and removing the shaft body from the cylinder shaft, and in the manual type, a lock portion for fixing both is attached.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the telescopic steering device, since the tubular shaft and the shaft body are fitted in the axial direction such that they can expand and contract, the shaft body is extended to the maximum extent from the tubular shaft. In this case, the rigidity of the steering shaft tends to decrease.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a telescopic steering device having an expansion / contraction section in which a movable side column jacket which is expandable / contractible in the axial direction is inserted into a fixed side column jacket. A guide member having a grooved portion and having a pair of tapered surfaces formed in a substantially mountain shape is fixed to the fixed side column jacket or the movable side column jacket, and the guide member is provided with the tapered surface. Insert a pair of tops having a tapered surface that slides into the lower end and a pressure contact surface that slides into the outer peripheral surface of the fixed side column jacket or the movable side column jacket at the upper end, and insert a right screw and a left screw into the pair of tops. A telescopic steering wheel characterized in that the engraved screws are screwed together, and a turning operation member is connected to one end of the screw. You configure the location.

Effect According to the present invention, the steering shaft is expanded and contracted,
When the pair of pieces come close to each other in the guide member by the rotation operation of the turning operation member, the movable side column jacket and the fixed side column jacket are in pressure contact with each other, and when the pair of pieces are separated from each other. Separates the movable side column jacket and the fixed side column jacket from each other to fix and release the expandable portion.

Embodiments Hereinafter, first to third embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 to 5 show a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the column jacket 1 has a lower jacket 4 in which a bearing 2 is fitted and fixed at one end and a recess 3 is provided at the other end and which is supported by a vehicle body by a clamp (not shown).
And an upper jacket 5 as a fixed side column jacket, one end of which is fitted so as to be axially press fit through the recessed portion 3, and the other end of the upper jacket 5 is fitted to be movable in the axial direction. The inner tube 8 serves as a movable side column jacket having bearings 6 and 7 fixed to the inner peripheral portion.

A steering shaft 9 is inserted into the column jacket 1 so as to be rotatable and axially expandable and contractable along the axis. The steering shaft 9 has a universal joint at one end.
A cylindrical shaft 12 that connects 10 and engraves a serration 11 on the inner circumference of the other end, and a serration 13 and a circumferential groove 14 that engage with the serration 11 are engraved on one end, and a ball 14a is inserted into this circumferential groove 14. The shaft body 15 inserted into the other end of the cylinder shaft 12, the cylinder shaft 17 inserted into the other end of the shaft body 15 via the spline portion 16 so as to be movable in the axial direction, and fixedly fitted to the free end of the cylinder shaft 17. Shaft 18
Consists of

The cylindrical shaft 17 and the shaft body 18 are integrally inserted into the inner tube 8 coaxially, and are rotatable about the shaft center through the bearings 6 and 7 and axially movable within the range of the spline portion 16. There is. The bearing 6 is fixed by the snap ring 19 and the folded-back portion 20 of the inner tube 8, whereby the inner tube 8 and the shaft body 18 can be integrally moved in the axial direction. A steering wheel (not shown) is attached to the free end of the shaft body 18, and an arbiter 22 made of an elastic material such as rubber or urethane is axially moved around the free end of the inner tube 8 via a ring 21. It is fixed so that it cannot be fitted.

On the other hand, a guide member 23 is fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the inner tube 8 near the upper end of the upper jacket 5. The guide member 23 includes two flange portions 24 into which the upper jacket 5 is fitted and a groove portion 25 integrated with the flange portions 24.
And a pair of tapered surfaces 26, 26 formed in a substantially mountain shape so as to face the inner bottom surface of the grooved portion 25. Further, the guide member 23 has a pair of tops 28, 28a that have the same tapered surfaces 27, 27 as the tapered surfaces 26, 26 and are in sliding contact with each other.
Is inserted in a direction orthogonal to the axis of, the upper end surface of this top 28, 28a has a curved surface 29, 29 facing the tapered surface 27, 27,
The curved surfaces 29, 29 penetrate the notch hole 30 of the upper jacket 5 and are in sliding contact with the inner tube 8. The pair of tops 28, 28a have screws 31 with right and left screws engraved respectively.
Is screwed together, and a nut 33 is fixed to one end of the screw 31 and a turning operation member 32 of a lever or a knob.

In order to prevent the inner tube 8 of the column jacket 1 from rotating, as shown in FIG.
The inner tube 8 is formed with a long hole 34a facing the key lock groove 34 of 17 and the upper jacket 5 is formed with a slit hole 34b.
E-ring-shaped detent member 3 having a protrusion 35 that enters a
Insert 6 into upper jacket 5. Further, normally, the rotational force of a steering wheel (not shown) axially attached to the shaft body 18 is transmitted to the universal joint 10 via the shaft body 18, the cylinder shaft 17, the shaft body 15 and the cylinder shaft 12, and is freely rotated. Although transmitted from the joint 10 to the steering gear box through an intermediate shaft (not shown), a key lock unit (not shown) provided in the upper jacket 5 in the key lock groove 34 provided in the shaft body 17 for the purpose of preventing theft. The structure is configured to prevent the steering wheel from rotating by fitting a part of the. 37
Is one of the members for supporting the column jacket 1 on the vehicle body.

6 to 13 show the second embodiment. In the figure, the same parts as those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and the duplicated description will be omitted. The main part of the second embodiment different from the first embodiment is that, as shown in FIG. 10, a spring member 38 for preventing backlash is interposed in the spline portion 16, and the second embodiment is shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. As shown in FIG. 5, the guide member 23 is provided with the rotation preventing member 39 for the inner tube 8. The spring member 38 is, as shown in FIG.
The elastic wire portion 40 bent into a corrugated shape and one end thereof is bent into a key shape, and the ring portion 41 is formed to form the screw fixing hole 42. As shown in FIG. One of the concave grooves 44 of the cylindrical shaft 17 is inserted into the groove 45, which is interposed between the protrusions 43.

The cylindrical shaft 17 slides in the axial direction of the shaft body 15, but the spring member 38 is fixed to the shaft body 15 by the screw 46 as shown in FIG. 6, and therefore does not move in the axial direction. As shown in FIG. 13, the spring member 38 is formed by cutting out one of the ridges 43 and cutting the ridge 43.
Alternatively, the shaft 15 may be fixed. Next, the detent member 39 causes a part of the guide member 23 to project in the axial direction along the peripheral wall of the upper jacket 5, and a screw 48 is screwed into the protrusion 47 in the radial direction. It is fitted into a long hole 49 formed in the tube 8 in the axial direction.

The aviator 22 in the second embodiment is the first
The inner tube 8 is fastened and fixed by a ring 21a wider than the ring 21 in the embodiment. It is the first embodiment and the second embodiment that are brought into contact with and separated from the arbiter 22.
In both of the embodiments, the ring 50 has a hook-shaped cross section fitted to the inner circumference of the end portion of the inner tube 8. However, the ring 21, 21a is elastically deformed by the force of pushing the inner tube 8 into the upper jacket 5 to absorb the impact. It was decided to adjust according to the width of the, and it did not make substantial changes to the Alviator 22 itself.

Therefore, the operation of the first and second embodiments will be described. In order to adjust the expansion / contraction of the steering shaft 9 (telescopic operation), as shown by the phantom lines in FIGS. 1 and 6, the rotary operation member. By rotating 32 around the rod 31, the tops 28, 28a slide and move downward along the tapered surfaces 26, 27 so as to separate from each other, whereby the tops 28, 28a are pressed against the inner tube 8. To cancel.

When the tops 28, 28a are separated from the inner tube 8, the cylindrical shaft 17, the shaft body 18, and the inner tube 8 are integrally movable through the spline portion 16 in the axial direction. Therefore, the steering wheel is pulled or pushed in front of the driver to set a desired position, and when the positioning is completed, the rotation operation member 32 is rotated in the opposite direction to the rotation. Therefore, the tops 28, 28a move close to each other and upward and come into pressure contact with the inner tube 8, respectively, whereby the inner tube 8 is strongly pressed and fixed to the inner wall of the upper jacket 5 by the wedge effect, and the cylinder shaft 17, the shaft The body 18 and the inner tube 8 do not move in the axial direction.

14 and 15 show the third embodiment. In this example, the present invention is applied to a tilt-type steering column at hand, and a movable bracket 52 pivotally supported by a bracket (not shown) fixed to the vehicle body with a tilt hinge 51 as a center,
An inner tube 53 having one end fixed to the movable bracket 52 as a fixed side column jacket and an outer tube as a movable side column jacket into which the free end of the inner tube 53 is fitted.
54, a cylinder shaft 56 in which a tilt hinge 51 and a universal joint 55 capable of refracting and rotating in the same direction as the tilt hinge 51 are connected to each other, a shaft movable in the axial direction through the cylinder shaft 56 and the spline portion 57, and rotatable about the shaft center. The body 58 and a pair of tops 28, 28a that penetrate the notch 54a of the outer tube 54 and are in sliding contact with the inner tube 53 and are aligned in the axial direction of the inner tube 53, and sandwich the tops 28, 28a and fix them to the outer tube 54. And a guide member 23 for

The cylindrical shaft 56 is attached to the inner tube 53 via the bearing 59, and the shaft body 58 is fixed to the bearing 61 by a snap ring 60.
Each of them is rotatably supported by the outer tube 54 via. Reference numeral 62 denotes an aviator, which is fixed to the back of the bearing 61. In the tops 28 and 28a, the respective tapered surfaces 27 and 27 are in sliding contact with the tapered surfaces 26 and 26 formed in a substantially mountain shape so as to face the inner bottom surface of the groove-shaped member 25 of the guide member 23, and the inner tube 5
The flat surfaces 29a, 29a in contact with 3 are in sliding contact with the flat portion 53a formed in the axial direction of the inner tube 53. Further, the rotation operating member 32 fixed by the nut 33 to the rod 31 that moves the tops 28, 28a close to and away from each other can swing left and right in the circumferential direction of the inner tube 53.

Therefore, in the third embodiment, in order to adjust the expansion and contraction of the steering shaft 9, the turning operation member 32 is turned to the left or right to move the tops 28, 28a away from each other and the inner tube.
Release contact with 53. That is, the tops 28 and 28a are flat portions.
The flat surfaces 29a, 29a of the tops 28, 28a are moved below the flat portion 53a by the rotation of the screw 31 in the direction away from each other along the 53a and the tapered surfaces 26, 26, whereby the outer tube 54
Is free from the inner tube 53, and the shaft body 58 and the outer tube 54 can integrally move in the axial direction via the spline portion 57.

Effect of the Invention According to the present invention described above, the movable side column jacket and the fixed side column jacket have a wedge effect by pressing the expansion and contraction portions of the column jacket when the pieces come close to each other by the operation of the rotation operation member. Is firmly fixed by
Even when the stretchable part is stretched to the maximum extent, the decrease in rigidity is slight.

In addition, the pair of tops can move toward the telescopic part while the taper surface locked to the lower end of the top moves along the substantially mountain-shaped taper surface formed on the guide member. The amount of movement in the direction can be reduced. Therefore, the expansion / contraction portion can be fixed and released at an operation angle with a small number of rotation operation members, and operability is improved.

Furthermore, the amount of movement of the top required in the screw axis direction can be minimized by advancing and retracting the top with respect to the expansion and contraction portion, so that the force of frictional engagement is not impaired and the top of the column jacket in the radial direction is reduced. Can make the structure compact.

Since frictional engagement is performed at the three points of the pair of tops and the contact points of the fixed side and movable side column jackets, the force balance is good and the column jacket holding force is improved.

Furthermore, when releasing the fixing of the expansion / contraction part, the pair of tops are forcibly moved by the screw in the direction away from the column jacket, so that the fixation is reliably released and the expansion / contraction between the column jackets can be smoothly performed.

In addition, the top surface of the top is formed with the same surface as the surface of the column jacket that comes into contact with this top, and both are in full-face frictional engagement, so that the load is not concentrated even if tightened by the wedge effect. Thus, there is no wear or fatigue of both, and durability is improved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGS. 1 to 5 show a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a half sectional side view, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1 and FIG. 1 is a sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line C-C in FIG. 1,
FIG. 5 is a partial view in the direction of arrow X in FIG. 1, FIGS. 6 to 13 show a second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 6 is a half sectional side view, FIG. 7 is FIG. 6D-D. Sectional view, FIG. 8 is FIG. 6F-F sectional view,
FIG. 9 is a partial view of FIG. 6 taken in the direction of the arrow Y, FIG. 10 is a partial perspective view of the expandable portion, and FIGS. 11 (A) and 11 (B) are side views and front views showing a part of FIG. 12 and 13 are partial sectional views of the expandable portion, and FIGS. 14 and 15 show the third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 14 is a side view of a main part of a half section, and FIG. 15 is a sectional view taken along the line EE of FIG. 1 ... Column jacket, 4 ... Lower jacket, 5
...... Upper jacket, 8 ...... Tube, 9 ...... Steering shaft, 15,58 …… Shaft body, 16,57 …… Spline part (extendable part), 17,56 …… Cylinder shaft, 23 …… Guide member, 2
4 …… Collar, 25 …… Groove, 26, 27 …… Tapered surface, 28, 2
8a ... Top, 29 ... Curved surface, 29a ... Flat surface, 30 ... Notched hole, 54a ... Notched portion, 31 ... Screw, 32 ... Rotating operation member, 33 ... Nut.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A telescopic steering device having a telescopic steering device having an axially expandable and contractible movable column jacket inserted into the fixed side column jacket, wherein the fixed side column jacket or the movable side column jacket has a grooved portion. A guide member having a pair of tapered surfaces formed in a substantially mountain shape is fixed to the grooved portion, and the guide member has a tapered surface in sliding contact with the tapered surface at the lower end and the fixed side at the upper end. Insert a pair of tops having a pressure contact surface that is in sliding contact with the outer peripheral surface of the column jacket or the movable side column jacket, screw right and left screws engraved in the pair of tops, and attach one end of the screw. A rotary operation member connected to the movable portion, and when the pair of tops come close to each other in the guide member due to rotation of the rotary operation member, the movable side member Beam jacket and the fixed-side column jacket is pressed against each other,
The telescopic steering device, wherein when the pair of tops are separated from each other, the movable side column jacket and the fixed side column jacket are separated from each other to fix and release the expandable portion.