US 12,222,024 B1
Shaft with surface finished ridges
Sina Mobasher Moghaddam, Campbell, CA (US); Troy A. Carter, Sunnyvale, CA (US); and Jonathan L. Hall, Menlo Park, CA (US)
Assigned to APPLE INC., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed by APPLE INC., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed on Mar. 21, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/612,954.
Application 18/612,954 is a continuation of application No. 17/879,160, filed on Aug. 2, 2022, granted, now 11,953,080.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/247,816, filed on Sep. 24, 2021.
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. F16H 25/22 (2006.01); B60G 17/00 (2006.01); F16H 25/20 (2006.01)
CPC F16H 25/2214 (2013.01) [B60G 17/00 (2013.01); B60G 2202/44 (2013.01); B60G 2204/62 (2013.01); B60G 2206/80 (2013.01); B60G 2500/00 (2013.01); B60G 2800/162 (2013.01); F16H 2025/204 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A ball screw spline actuator, comprising:
a shaft having a longitudinal axis, the shaft defining a helical groove extending along the shaft and a spline groove extending along the shaft, with the spline groove intersecting the helical groove at a plurality of intersections each defining a ridge, wherein each of the ridges comprises a radius;
a ball nut engaged with the helical groove configured to apply a first torque to the shaft about the longitudinal axis; and
a ball spline engaged with the spline groove configured to apply a second torque to the shaft about the longitudinal axis to counteract the first torque to the shaft preventing a rotation of the shaft about the longitudinal axis and allowing the shaft to linearly translate along the longitudinal axis relative to the ball nut and the ball spline.