JPH0555344B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a steering device for automobiles, etc., and particularly relates to a steering device in which a pad portion at the center of a steering wheel maintains a non-rotating state. .

(Prior Art) In recent years, steering wheels have come into use in which the operating parts of various operating mechanisms are arranged on the pad part at the center of the steering wheel. need to be kept in state.

Conventionally, as a device for setting such a pad portion in a non-rotating state, for example, a method has been proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 60-203549.

This conventional device has a boss fixed to the steering shaft at the center of the steering wheel, and an upper cylindrical member having an internal gear on the inside of the outer periphery and a pad on the top is rotatably fitted around the outer periphery of the boss. Further, a lower cylindrical member having an internal gear on the inside outer periphery is rotatably fitted in a lower position of the upper cylindrical member, and the lower cylindrical member is connected to a steering column through which the steering shaft is inserted. It is stuck to etc.

Furthermore, a planetary gear meshing with the internal gears of the upper and lower cylindrical members is rotatably mounted on a support frame fixed to the boss.

Then, when the steering wheel is rotated, the planetary gear rotates and revolves through engagement with the internal gear of the lower cylindrical member, which is stationary, and the planetary gear and the internal gear of the upper cylindrical member engage with each other. The upper cylindrical member is held stationary through engagement.

In addition, the planetary gear has a portion of the upper cylindrical member and the lower cylindrical member that meshes with the internal gear with a soft gear portion that is always in contact with the internal gear and is made of a soft synthetic resin or rubber material, and has a gap therebetween. The inner gear is separated from the hard gear made of hard synthetic resin or metal and arranged side by side, and the soft gear usually meshes with the internal gear to prevent noise from occurring due to meshing.
Even if the soft gear part deforms when a sudden handle operation or an external force is applied to the pad in the rotational direction, the hard gear part meshes with the internal gear, preventing tooth skipping and ensuring a non-rotating state. is now being maintained.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in manufacturing the planetary gear with the above structure, for example, a hard gear part is integrally molded with the rotating shaft, and a soft gear part is attached to this. However, since the soft gear part is integrally molded alongside the hard gear part and separately from the hard gear part, molding is difficult and the structure is not suitable for mass production.

In addition, when the handle is suddenly operated or an external force is applied to the pad in the rotational direction, the hard gear directly contacts the internal gear, causing abnormal noise due to the meshing of the gears.

The present invention was developed in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is intended to make the structure of a planetary gear easy to mold and suitable for mass production, and also to prevent sudden handle operation and external force acting on the pad in the direction of rotation. It is an object of the present invention to provide a steering device that can prevent the occurrence of abnormal noise due to gear meshing even in cases where gears mesh with each other.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention provides a steering device including a steering wheel main body 1 which has a rim portion 4, spoke portions 7 and bosses 8 and is fixed to a steering shaft 14 by the bosses 8, The upper cylindrical member 20 is rotatably fitted on the outer periphery of 8 and has an internal gear 23 inside the outer periphery and a pad 54 on the upper part.
An internal gear 28 is disposed below the upper cylindrical member 20 on the inner side of the outer periphery which is fixed in a substantially non-rotating state.
and internal gears 23 and 28 of the upper cylindrical member 20 and the lower cylindrical member 25.
a planetary gear 3 that is meshed with the boss 8 and rotates together with the boss 8;
8, the planetary gear 38 includes the internal gears 23 of the upper cylindrical member 20 and the lower cylindrical member 25,
28 is a soft gear 39 made of a soft synthetic resin or rubber material and always in contact with the internal gears 23 and 28, and a hard insert gear body 41 made of a hard synthetic resin or metal is the soft gear part 39. The internal gears 23 and 28 are covered with an integral soft covering part 42, and are formed with a hard gear part 40 having a gap therebetween.

(Function) The steering device of the present invention has a structure in which the hard gear part 40 of the planetary gear 38 is covered with the soft coating part 42 that is integrated with the soft gear part 39 on the hard insert gear body 41. The hard insert gear body 41 of the hard gear part 40 is easily connected to the internal gear via the soft covering part 42 even when the handle is suddenly operated or an external force is applied to the pad 54 in the direction of rotation. 23,2
8 to mesh with each other.

(Example) Hereinafter, the configuration of an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, 1 is a steering wheel body, and this steering wheel body 1 includes an annular rim portion 4 having a rim core metal 2 covered with a covering material 3 on the outside, and a ring-shaped rim portion 4 that is welded to the rim core metal 2. It has a plate-shaped spoke part 7 in which the outer side of the connected plate-shaped spoke core metal 5 is covered with a coating material 6, and a boss 8 welded and fixed to the center of the spoke core metal 5. This boss 8 is integrally provided with an annular flange portion 9 in the middle portion, and cylindrical portions 10 and 11 are provided at the upper and lower portions of this flange portion 9, and the outer ends of both cylindrical portions 10 and 11 are provided. Ring groove 12,1 on the outer periphery
3 is formed. Then, the center portion of the boss 8 is fitted into the upper end portion of the steering shaft 14 and fixed by a nut 15.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, 20 is a cylindrical upper cylindrical member integrally formed of hard synthetic resin, and this upper cylindrical member 20 includes an inner fitting cylindrical portion 21 and an outer periphery. It has an annular portion 22, and a gear 23a and a gear 2 are provided inside the annular portion 22.
An internal gear 23 is formed at the lower part of the gear 3a and a toothed portion 23b having a slightly larger diameter. The inner fitting cylindrical portion 21 is rotatably fitted to the outer periphery of the cylindrical portion 10 of the boss 8, and a retainer is provided in the ring groove 12 of the boss 8 in contact with the upper surface of the fitting cylindrical portion 21. A snap spring 24 is fitted.

25 is a cylindrical lower cylindrical member integrally formed of hard synthetic resin, and this lower cylindrical member 25 has an inner fitting tube part 26 and an outer annular part 27; An internal gear 28 is formed inside the portion 27 and includes a toothed portion 28a and a toothed portion 28b provided above the toothed portion 28a with a slightly larger diameter. The inner fitting cylindrical portion 26 is rotatably fitted to the outer periphery of the cylindrical portion 11 of the boss 8, and a retainer is provided in the ring groove 13 of the boss 8 in contact with the lower surface of the fitting cylindrical portion 26. A snap spring 29 for use is fitted. Further, a fixing mechanism 31 is provided on the lower cylindrical member 25 to substantially fix it to the steering column 30 through which the steering shaft 14 is inserted. This fixing mechanism 31 has a plurality of protrusions 32 for preventing rotation integrally protruding from the lower surface of the lower cylindrical member 25, and each protrusion 32 corresponds to a combination switch case 33 fixed to the steering column 30. The lower cylindrical member 25 is prevented from rotating by engaging each protrusion 32 into each engaging hole 34.

A substantially U-shaped support frame 35 is fixed near the center of the spoke core metal 5 with a screw 37 via a mounting piece 36, and a planetary gear 38 is rotatably mounted on this support frame 35. This planetary gear 38 is provided with a soft gear part 39 on the end side and a soft gear part 39 on the middle side in the upper and lower parts meshing with the internal gears 23 and 28 of the upper cylindrical member 20 and the lower cylindrical member 25 of the planetary gear 38. A hard gear portion 40 is provided.
The soft gear portion 39 is made of a soft synthetic resin or rubber material such as nylon or polyester elastomer, and is always in contact with the tooth portions 23a and 28a of the internal gears 23 and 28. For example, a hard insert gear body 41 made of hard synthetic resin such as polyacetal, polycarbonate, ABS, or metal, and having a diameter slightly smaller than that of the soft gear part 39 is covered by a soft coating part 42 that is integrated with the soft gear part 39 to form the soft gear part 39. The tooth portions 23b and 2 of the internal gears 23 and 28 are formed to have the same diameter.
8b Can be engaged, but usually has a gap.
Further, a support shaft 43 is formed integrally with the upper and lower end surfaces of the hard insert gear body 41 and protrudes from the upper and lower end surfaces of the planetary gear 38, and this support shaft 43 is rotated by a bearing 44 fitted in the support frame 35. A planetary gear 38 is rotatably supported on the support shaft frame 35 by being freely fitted.

In manufacturing this planetary gear 38, the hard insert gear body 41 is used together with the support shaft 43.
This hard insert gear body 41 is placed in a mold, and the soft gear part 3 is formed by injection molding.
9 and the soft covering portion 42 are integrally molded. In addition,
Protrusions 45 are provided on both side surfaces of some of the teeth of the hard insert gear body 41, and when the hard insert gear body 41 is placed in a mold, the protrusions 45 come into contact with the inner surface of the mold, causing the hard insert gear body 41 to harden. Insert gear body 4
1 is placed approximately in the center of the mold, and a soft coating portion 42 is placed on each tooth surface of the hard insert gear body 41 with an equal thickness.
This protrusion 45 may be provided long in the axial direction along the tooth surface as shown in the figure, or may be provided only at one location, but the protrusion 45 may be provided at only one location. In order to avoid contact with the toothed portions 23b, 28b, it is desirable to provide it at a position that does not mesh with the toothed portions 23b, 28b.

An electric unit 50 is mounted on the upper cylindrical member 20 with screws 52 via a mounting piece 51, and a plurality of operation buttons 5 are mounted on the upper surface of the electric unit 50.
3 are installed in parallel. A pad 54 is fitted over the electric unit 50 with each operation button 53 protruding.

Then, when the steering wheel main body 1 is rotated, the planetary gear 38 rotates and revolves through engagement with the internal gear 28 of the stationary lower cylindrical member 25, and the planetary gear 38 and the upper cylindrical member Through the engagement of the member 20 with the internal gear 23, the upper cylindrical member 20, the electric unit 50, and the pad 54 are held stationary.

At this time, normally, as shown in FIG.
The tooth portions 23a and 28a are in contact with and mesh with each other,
During normal operation, as shown in Figure 5,
A non-rotating state is maintained only by the soft gear portion 39. Therefore, no abnormal noise is generated due to gear meshing.

In addition, when the handle is suddenly operated or an external force is applied to the pad 54 in the rotational direction, the soft Even if the gear part 39 is greatly deformed, the hard gear part 40 will not be able to maintain the internal gears 23, 28.
Since the gear meshes with the teeth 23b and 28b of the hard gear 4, the non-rotating state can be maintained reliably.
0 hard insert gear body 41 is soft covering part 42
Since the contact occurs through the gears, no abnormal noise is generated due to gear meshing.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, by configuring the hard gear of the planetary gear to be covered with the soft coating part integrated with the soft gear part on the hard insert gear body, the soft gear part can be easily and uniformly molded into the hard insert gear body. It is effective in mass producing planetary gears, and even when the handle is suddenly operated or an external force is applied to the pad in the direction of rotation, the hard insert gear body of the hard gear part will not connect to the internal gear through the soft coating. By making contact, it is possible to prevent the generation of abnormal noise due to gear meshing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing an embodiment of the steering device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the entirety, FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion thereof, and FIG. The figure is a sectional view of the main part, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are explanatory diagrams of its operation. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Steering wheel body, 4... Rim part, 7... Spoke part, 8... Boss, 14... Steering shaft, 20... Upper cylindrical member, 2
3... Internal gear, 25... Lower cylindrical member, 28...
Internal gear, 38... Planetary gear, 39... Soft gear part, 40... Hard gear part, 41... Hard insert gear body, 42... Soft covering part, 54... Pad.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A steering wheel body having a rim portion, spoke portions, and a boss and fixed to the steering shaft by the boss; and an internal gear rotatably fitted on the outer periphery of the boss and having an internal gear inside the outer periphery. and an upper cylindrical member provided with a pad on the upper part; a lower cylindrical member fixed in a substantially non-rotating state below the upper cylindrical member and having an internal gear on the inside of its outer periphery; a planetary gear that meshes with the internal gear of the lower cylindrical member and rotates together with the boss;
The planetary gear comprises a soft gear portion made of a soft synthetic resin or rubber material and always in contact with the internal gear, and a hard gear portion that meshes with the internal gear of the upper and lower cylindrical members. 1. A steering device comprising a hard insert gear body made of synthetic resin or metal, covered with a soft coating part integral with the soft gear part, and a hard gear part having a gap with respect to the internal gear.