US Patent Issued to ZF Friedrichshafen on Feb. 17 for "Steering drive for a steering axle of a steerable vehicle, steering axle, and industrial truck" (German Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,552,446, issued on Feb. 17, was assigned to ZF Friedrichshafen AG (Friedrichshafen, Germany).

"Steering drive for a steering axle of a steerable vehicle, steering axle, and industrial truck" was invented by Wolfgang Mauritz (Furstenzell, Germany) and Max Leitner (Immenstaad, Germany).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A steering drive for a steering axle of a steerable vehicle includes an electric motor with a motor shaft. A steering lever is rotatable about a pivot axis that is parallel to the electric motor. First and second planetary stages each have a sun gear, planet gears, and a planet carrier. The steering drive is configured such that...