GB360805A - Improvements in or relating to the steering gear of motor vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

360,805. Motor vehicle steering-gear. KNORR-BREMSE AKT.-GES., 9, Neue Bahnhofstrasse, Lichtenberg, Germany. April 27, 1931, No. 12417. Convention date, Jan. 21. [Class 79 (v).] Comprises servomotor steering-gear in which a fluid-pressure cylinder 1 acts on the steering lever 4, the passage of fluid to,and from the cylinder being controlled by valves 5, 6 operated respectively by sleeves 9, 10 slidable under spring control on the steering shaft 8, the displacement of the sleeves along the shaft being effected by the rotation of the hand-wheel 7. The hand-wheel has a lostmotion connection to the steering shaft, which connection may be of the pin-and-slot kind shown on the hub of the hand-wheel. The sleeves 9, 10 have pin-and-slot connections 22, 23 with the steering shaft 8 so that they can slide but not rotate thereon, and they are pressed upwards by springs 20, 21 abutting against the pins 22, 23. The upper ends of the sleeves have cam edges engaged by a projection 11 on the hand-wheel, this projection normally lying in a recess formed by the opposite faces of the sleeve cams. When the handwheel is rotated in either direction it moves slightly on the shaft and depresses one of the sleeves and this sleeve acts through a flange at its lower end on a valve spindle 12. The spindle 12 is shown in its normal position in Fig. 2 in which the exhaust valve 17 is closed and an inlet valve 13 is open so that compressed air can enter at A from a receiver (not shown) and pass through the valve 13 and an outlet B to the steering cylinder 1. The valves 13 in both casings 5, 6 are normally open so that both ends of the cylinder 1 are under pressure. When one of the valve spindles 12 is depressed by its sleeve 9 or 10 the corresponding valve 17 is opened and 13 is shut so that the corresponding end of the cylinder 1 is relieved of pressure and the pressure at the other end moves the piston and operates the steering gear. When the movement of the hand-wheel stops the steering shaft 8, which has been " following up," catches up to the hand-wheel, the sleeve which has been depressed is released and its valve mechanism is returned to its normal position, so that both ends of the cylinder 1 are under pressure again, and the steering gear is held in its new position until the handwheel is again rotated.