Patent ID: 7762514

Claim:
A feeding apparatus, comprising a screw shaft provided between a fixture member and a movable member relatively movably supported by the fixture member, the screw shaft rotatably supported by one of the fixture member and the movable member, the screw shaft extending in a moving direction of the movable member; a feeding nut connected to the other of the fixture member and the movable member and screwed onto a feeding screw portion of the screw shaft; a supporting member provided at the one of the fixture member and the movable member; a driving unit for transmitting a rotational driving torque to the screw shaft; an intermediate member supported by the screw shaft and arranged to be rotatable relative to the supporting member, the intermediate member including a radial sliding contact surface slidably contacting a radial bearing surface of the supporting member, a first thrust sliding contact surface slidably contacting a first thrust bearing surface formed at a first side portion of the supporting member, and a second thrust sliding contact surface contacting a second thrust bearing surface formed at a second side portion of the supporting member; and an elastic biasing mechanism for elastically biasing the first and second thrust sliding contact surfaces of the intermediate member to contact the first and second thrust bearing surfaces in an axial direction of the screw shaft, respectively, and for elastically biasing the intermediate member in the axial direction of the screw shaft to a thrust receiving member provided at the screw shaft for assembling the intermediate member and the thrust receiving member onto the screw shaft without a clearance between the intermediate member and the thrust receiving member.