Rack and pinion assembly

Claim 2

A rack and pinion assembly comprising a housing, a pinion gear rotatably mounted in said housing, a rack bar extending through said housing in meshing engagement with said pinion gear and adapted to be reciprocally driven thereby, an elastically deformable bearing located opposite said pinion gear and supporting said rack bar, spring means urging said bearing into engagement with said rack bar with a force normally maintaining said rack bar in meshing engagement with said pinion gear, said housing having a generally cylindrical bore slidably supporting said bearing, and said bearing having alternate portions with dimensions greater and lesser than the diameter of said bore with the greater portions radially elastically deformed into frictional engagement with the wall of the bore, permitting movement thereof towards the rack bar under the influence of the spring and frictionally dampening movement away from the rack bar under loads applied thereto by the rack bar.

Claim 3

The rack and pinion assembly of claim 1 wherein said bearing has a head with axial bores increasing the radially elasticity of the bearing.

Claim 4

The rack and pinion assembly of claim 1 wherein the bearing has a recessed head embracing the rack bar and a hollow skirt depending from said head.

Claim 5

The rack and pinion assembly of claim 1 wherein the alternate portions of the bearing include four circumferentially spaced rounded boss portions having a diameter greater than the diameter of the bore of the housing and providing a substantially homogenous loading strain of the bearing areas.

Claim 6

The assembly of claim 1 wherein the yoke has four bearing portions in equally circumferentially spaced relation and the alternate portions are flat.

Claim 7

A rack and pinion assembly comprising a pinion housing, a toothed pinion rotatably mounted in said housing, a rack bar slidable through the housing with rack teeth in meshed engagement with the pinion teeth, said housing having a bore on the side thereof opposite the pinion, a resilient plastics yoke slidable in said bore of the housing and having a recess slidably supporting the rack bar on the side thereof remote from the pinion, means in said bore of the housing urging the yoke toward the pinion to hold the rack bar in meshed engagement with the pinion, said yoke having bearing portions of greater diameter than said bore of the housing alternating with portions of lesser diameter than said bore of the housing, and said greater diameter portions being deformed by the bore of the housing into gaps between the lesser diameter portions and the bore of the housing to provide an interference fit preventing lateral displacement of the yoke in the bore and dampening vibrations transmitted to the yoke by the rack bar.

Claim 8

A rack and pinion assembly comprising a pinion housing, a toothed pinion rotatably mounted in said housing, a rack bar slidable through the housing with rack teeth in meshed engagement with the pinion teeth, said housing having a bore on the side thereof opposite the pinion, a resilient plastics yoke slidable in said bore of the housing and having a recess slidably supporting the rack bar on the side thereof remote from the pinion, means in said bore of the housing urging the yoke toward the pinion to hold the rack bar in meshed engagement with the pinion, said yoke having bearing portions of greater diameter than said bore of the housing alternating with portions of lesser diameter than said bore of the housing, and said greater diameter portions being deformed by the bore of the housing into gaps between the lesser diameter portions and the bore of the housing to provide an interference fit preventing lateral displacement of the yoke in the bore and dampening vibrations transmitted to the yoke by the rack bar.

Claim 9

The assembly of claim 6 wherein said bore of the housing is unfinished.

Claim 10

The assembly of claim 6 wherein the yoke has a head embracing the rack bar, a hollow skirt depending from the head, and the housing has a closure for the bore bottoming the skirt to limit movement of the yoke away from the pinion.

Claim 11

The assembly of claim 6 wherein the yoke has a head with a recess slidably receiving the rack bar and lubricant cHambers are provided in the recess to lubricate the rack bar.

Claim 12

The assembly of claim 6 wherein the bearing portions of greater diameter than the bore of the housing are arranged in diametrically opposite pairs to provide a substantially homogenous loading strain on the bearing areas by said bore.

Claim 13

The assembly of claim 6 wherein the yoke is composed of a rigid and somewhat elastic plastics material selected from the group of polyurethanes, polyethylenes, and acetal resins and has a head slidably receiving the rack bar with bores therein increasing the radial elasticity of the yoke.