Patent ID: 7325467

Claim:
A locking device for use with a steering column which is adjustable in at least one adjustment direction, said locking device comprising: at least one locking part associated with one of the adjustment directions, said at least one locking part comprising at least one first toothing and at least one second; at least one counterlocking part associated with said one of the adjustment directions, said at least one counterlocking part comprising at least one first countertoothing and at least one second countertoothing; and one openable and closable tensioning arrangement having an opened state and a closed state, wherein in the opened state the first and second toothings are spaced apart from the first and second countertoothings and in the closed state the locking part and the counterlocking part mesh teeth with one another; wherein teeth of the toothings and of the countertoothings extend transversely to said one of the adjustment directions and successive teeth of the toothings and countertoothings are each equidistantly spaced apart from one another and tips of the teeth of the toothings and countertoothings each lie in a plane; wherein the plane of the tips of the teeth of the first toothing and the plane of the tips of the teeth of the second toothing form a V relative to one another and form an angle, and the plane of the tips of the teeth of the first countertoothing and the plane of the tips of the teeth of the second countertoothing form a V with one another and form the same said angle, and wherein the teeth of the first toothing and the teeth of the second toothing are offset from one another in said one of the adjustment directions by a fraction of the distance between successive teeth.