| 主权项 |
1. A steering wheel position adjusting apparatus, comprising:
a steering column; a supported portion provided on part of the steering column; a displacement-side though hole provided in the supported portion; a steering shaft supporting a steering wheel on a rear-end portion of the steering shaft, the steering shaft being rotatably supported on a radially inward side of the steering column; a support bracket having a pair of support-plate portions that hold the supported portion from both sides in a width direction, and supported by a portion that is fastened to a vehicle body; a pair of fixed-side through holes provided in portions of the pair of support-plate portions that are aligned with each other; an adjustment rod inserted in the width direction through the pair of fixed-side though holes and the displacement-side through hole; an anchor portion provided on one end portion of the adjustment rod that protrudes out from an outside surface of one support-plate portion of the pair of support-plate portions; a pressing portion provided on other end portion of the adjustment rod that protrudes from an outside surface of other support-plate portion of the pair of support-plate portions; an expansion mechanism expanding or contracting a space between the pressing portion and the anchor portion; an adjustment lever operating the expansion mechanism according to rotation of the adjustment lever centered around the adjustment rod; and a damper provided between a portion that rotates together with the adjustment lever centered around the adjustment rod and a portion that is fixed to the other support plate portion, and providing resistance against at least a rotation of the adjustment lever in a direction toward a position that enables position adjustment of the steering wheel, and the pair of fixed-side through holes being constructed by a pair of long holes in a up-down direction that extend in the up-down direction to allow the steering wheel to be adjusted centered around a tilt shaft that is arranged in the width direction, wherein the damper is constructed by an expandable damper that provides resistance with respect to a direction of expansion or contraction of an overall length, and the damper comprises:
a cylinder portion having a tip-end portion, a base-end portion and an opening that is open on the tip-end portion of the cylinder portion; anda damper rod having a tip-end portion, a middle portion and a base-end portion, the base-end portion to the middle portion of the damper being loosely inserted inside the cylinder portion from the opening on the tip-end portion of the cylinder portion, wherein the base-end portion of the cylinder portion is supported by one of the portion that rotates together with the adjustment lever centered around the adjustment rod, and the portion that is fixed to the other support-plate portion, and the tip-end portion of the damper rod is supported by the other of the portion that rotates together with the adjustment lever centered around the adjustment rod, and the portion that is fixed to the other support-plate portion, with the base-end portion of the cylinder portion and the tip-end portion of the damper rod being supported to be pivotally displaced respectively centered around a pivot shaft that is arranged in the width direction, and to absorb dimensional change in an axial dimension of the expansion mechanism, in an installation direction that an amount of change in a distance between the base-end portion of the cylinder portion and the tip-end portion of the damper rod is kept small when the steering column is pivotally displaced in order to displace the adjustment rod along the pair of long holes in the up-down direction. |
