Abstract Herein disclosed is a worm and reciprocating ball type steering gear having a worm shaft connected to a steering shaft and having an external helical groove, a nut member longitudinally movably fitting on the worm shaft and having an internal helical groove aligned with the opposed helical groove in the worm shaft, balls rolling in the grooves in the worm shaft and nut member, and a sector gear in mesh with a rack portion formed on the nut member. Rotation of the worm shaft as brought about by the rotation of the steering shaft is converted into longitudinal movement of the nut member and this movement, in turn, results in rotation of the sector gear. The rack portion of the nut member is generally curved in a quadratic formation in the direction of axis of the worm shaft so that the steering gear ratio is smoothly varied as the steering angle is varied during steering operation.
A steering gear comprising: a housing; a worm shaft rotatably supported in said housing; a nut fitting said worm shaft for longitudinal movement therealong having a segment rack on one side thereof, said segment rack having a basic pitch curve which is a quadratic curve approximating an intermeshing pitch curve of said rack; a rock shaft transversely mounted in said housing and a sector gear carried by said rock shaft and formed complementary to said segment rack,
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
77 words
A steering gear comprising: a housing; a worm shaft rotatably supported in said housing; a nut fitting said worm shaft for longitudinal movement therealong having a segment rack on one side thereof, said segment rack having a basic pitch curve which is a quadratic curve approximating an intermeshing pitch curve of said rack; a rock shaft transversely mounted in said housing and a sector gear carried by said rock shaft and formed complementary to said segment rack,
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
22 words
A steering gear as claimed In claim 1, wherein the basic pitch curve of said segment rack is a part of circle.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
87 words
In a steering gear having a housing; a worm shaft rotatably supported in said housing; a nut fitting said worm shaft for longitudinal movement therealong having a segment rack on one side thereof; a rock shaft transversely mounted in said housing and a sector gear carried by said rock shaft, the improvement wherein said segment rack has a basic pitch curve which is a part of circle approximating an intermeshing pitch curve of said rack, and wherein said sector gear is formed complementary to said segment rack.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
87 words
In a steering gear having a housing; a worm shaft rotatably supported in said housing; a nut fitting said worm shaft for longitudinal movement therealong having a segment rack on one side thereof; a rock shaft transversely mounted in said housing and a sector gear carried by said rock shaft, the improvement wherein said segment rack has a basic pitch curve which is a part of circle approximating an intermeshing pitch curve of said rack, and wherein said sector gear is formed complementary to said segment rack.