Patent ID: 6868936

Claim:
An electric power steering apparatus for use in an automotive vehicle, comprising: a steering wheel; a steering system including a pinion shaft connected to the steering wheel and a rack shaft connected to steerable road wheels of the vehicle; a rack and pinion mechanism having a pinion formed on the pinion shaft and a rack formed on the rack shaft; an electric motor for producing an assisting torque corresponding to a steering torque produced with the steering wheel, the electric motor having a motor shaft rotatable supported by a first bearing disposed at an end of the motor, the motor shaft including an output shaft part projecting outward from the end of the motor; a belt transmission mechanism for transmitting the assisting torque from the electric motor to the rack shaft of the rack and pinion mechanism, the belt transmission mechanism having a driving pulley fixed to the output shaft part of the motor shaft, a driven pulley operatively coupled with the rack shaft, and an endless belt trained around the driving and driven pulleys; and a bracket connected to the electric motor and extending outward from the end of the electric motor through a loop of the endless belt, the bracket having a distal end part disposed outward of the driving pulley and rotatably supporting thereon a second bearing, wherein the output shaft of the motor shaft has an end part disposed outward of the driving pulley and is rotatably supported by the second bearing so that the output shaft part of the motor shaft is rotatably supported at positions on both sides of the driving pulley.