Patent ID: 8297137
Filing Date: 2012-10-30
Classification: B62D,F16B,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A hollow body of plastics material for placing around a motor vehicle steering column, the body comprising: first and second half-bodies; and assembly means for assembling the half-bodies to each other in a longitudinal direction, the assembly means comprising a plurality of longitudinal tabs each secured to the first half-body, and snap-fastener means for fastening each tab to the second half-body, each half-body comprising a concave shell with a concave side, the concave side of the first half-body facing towards the concave side of the second half-body, each of said shells presenting an inside face, each longitudinal tab comprising a longitudinal arm with a first end secured to the first half-body and a portion in relief projecting along a portion of the longitudinal arm remote from the first half-body, said portion in relief including a first catch bearing surface, and the snap-fastener means comprising, for each longitudinal tab of the first half-body, a housing formed on the inside face of the second half-body, the housing presenting an opening and being defined by at least two parallel longitudinal walls facing each other at a predetermined spacing, the longitudinal walls comprising a first wall forming a rear bearing surface for the tab and a second wall including at least one constriction locally narrowing the spacing between the two longitudinal walls, the constriction having a second bearing surface, the first and second walls of the housing are both substantially perpendicular to the inside face of the second half body, the constriction restricting the spacing between the first and second walls in a direction substantially parallel to said inside face, the longitudinal tabs being configured to be inserted longitudinally into the housings of the snap-fastening means via respective openings, at least one of the tabs and said second walls being configured to elastically deform for said tabs to pass by the constructions in the longitudinal insertion direction such that when the first and second half-bodies are assembled, the portions in relief of the longitudinal tabs are held by the constrictions by virtue of bearing surfaces of the longitudinal tabs coming into contact with complementary bearing surfaces of the constrictions having planes that are inclined relative to the longitudinal direction so that the portions in relief travel past the constrictions by elastic deformation when the first and second half-bodies are moved apart from each other by means of a predetermined longitudinal force, and the bearing surfaces and the complementary bearing surfaces are arranged such that when the first and second half-bodies are moved apart from one another in the longitudinal direction, said bearing surfaces and said complementary bearing surfaces come in contact with one another along a contact area extending in a plane angled in a range of 50° to 70° from the longitudinal direction, the first wall of the housing having a longitudinal flat, the longitudinal arm having a plane longitudinal wall opposite the relief, the plane longitudinal wall being flat and parallel to the longitudinal direction up to a tip of the longitudinal tab opposite the first half-body, the plane longitudinal wall and the first wall of the housing being arranged such that the plane longitudinal wall is parallel with and bears against the longitudinal flat when the first and second half-bodies are moved apart from one another in the longitudinal direction and when said bearing surfaces and said complementary bearing surfaces are in contact with one another.