GB744309A - Vehicle steering mechanisms - Google Patents

Abstract

744,309. Steering vehicles. BURMAN & SONS, Ltd., and BRIGGS, W. H. April 29, 1954 [Feb. 5, 1953], No. 3238/53. Class 79 (5). In a vehicle steering mechanism of the kind comprising a driver-operated rotatable screw b, a nut c movable longitudinally along the screw, and means to transmit motion from the nut to the steerable wheels, a fluid-actuated power resistor is provided of which the cylinder j moves with the nut, the piston i is formed on or secured to the screw, and a control valve r is operable in response to an initial movement of the nut. In one embodiment, steering column a is formed with the screw b and rotation of the column advances the cylinder over the piston i. The movement of the cylinder rotates a shaft f which carries at its other end an arm h connected to an intermediate point of an arm t, the latter being connected at one end to the steerable wheels and, at the other end, to a piston valve r which works in a sleeve seat formed in arm h. There is a pressure fluid inlet p to the valve seat, two outlets o which lead to the two ends of cylinder j, and two outlets to exhaust at the ends of the seat. Due to the negative lap of the lands of the piston valve, there is a constant circulation of fluid to the two ends of the cylinder when the valve is in neutral position. The initial movement of the steering column causes movement of the valve to apply a pressure differential across the piston i and so assist the movement of the nut along the screw. In another embodiment the nut c constitutes the valve, and the slight rotary movement it makes on the initial turning movement of the steering column serves to direct the pressure fluid to the appropriate end of the cylinder.