Method of producing a vehicle steering wheel
US6524515B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 31, 1999 |
| Grant date | Feb 25, 2003 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 31, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC B)Performing Operations; Transporting
- CPC primaryB62D1/06
- WIPO fieldTransport
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
The method provides for forming a supporting structure of the steering wheel, the structure having a metal core and an outer cover layer of polymer material; for each portion of the structure to be covered with valuable material (e.g. brier), two curved preformed half-shells of multilayer composite material are formed of such shape and size as to fit, facing each other, on opposite sides about the corresponding portion of the structure, so as to define a substantially continuous, tubular shell; the portion of the structure is wound, over the outer cover layer, with at least one layer of cloth impregnated with a polymer resin and to which the preformed half-shells are applied; and polymerization of the polymer resin, conducted in a heated mold, ensures adhesion of the half-shells to each other and to the structure. Each portion of the structure also has two diametrically-opposite, circumferential grooves formed in the outer cover layer to permit thermal expansion, without stressing the half-shells, of the polymer material of which the outer cover layer is made.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.