Patent ID: 7384101
Filing Date: 2008-06-10
Classification: B60N

Abstract:
1. A bracket angle adjustment mechanism comprising: a first bracket including an external-tooth gear; a second bracket including an internal-tooth gear which has a larger number of internal teeth than that of external teeth of the external-tooth gear; a pair of wedge members fitted in an eccentric space which is defined between a large-diameter hole formed in a central region of the external-tooth gear and a small-diameter shank constituting a central portion of the internal-tooth gear, in a state when the external-tooth gear and the internal-tooth gear are partly engaged with one another; a spring member applying a biasing force to each of the pair of wedge members in a wedging direction; a control shaft; and a wedge-state release member disposed between respective wedging-directional leading edges of the pair of wedge members, the wedge-state release member including a circular bottom, an arc-shaped first wedge-state release portion at a position of circumference of the circular bottom and an arc-shaped second wedge-state release portion at a position opposed the first wedge-state release portion, the wedge-state release member being concentrically fastened to the control shaft, the wedge-state release member being operable, when rotated by the control shaft associated therewith, to move the pair of wedge members together with the spring member in a wedge-state release direction circularly in the eccentric space, whereby the small-diameter shank is eccentrically moved relative to the large-diameter hole to allow an engagement position of the internal-tooth gear relative to the external-tooth gear to be changed so as to adjust an angle of the second bracket relative to the first bracket, wherein the wedge-state release member is held by the external-tooth gear in such a manner that an outer peripheral surface of the wedge-state release member is rotatably fitted in an inner peripheral surface of the large-diameter hole formed in the central region of the external-tooth gear by the first and second wedge-state release portions.