Steering wheel assembly with non-rotatable center hub

DETAILED DESCRIPTION It is therefore an essential object of the present invention to provide a steering wheel assembly having a non-rotatable center hub, which is free of the above-mentioned drawback.
According to the present invention, there is provided a steering wheel assembly with a non-rotatable center hub, which comprises a steering shaft to which a steering wheel is connected to rotate therewith, a tubular holder concentrically disposed on the steering shaft and secured thereto to rotate therewith, an annular member concentrically disposed about the tubular holder and rotatable relative thereto, the annular member carrying thereon the non-rotatable center hub, first means for restricting the axial movement of the annular member in one direction relative to the tubular holder, second means for restricting the axial movement of the annular member in the other direction relative to the tubular holder and third means for holding the annular member stationary relative to the tubular holder even when the steering shaft and thus the tubular holder are rotated, wherein one of the first and second means comprises an annular groove formed about the tubular holder, the rounded bottom surface of the annular groove being tapered toward the other of the first and second means, and a snap ring concentrically disposed in the annular groove with its inner wall contacting with the tapered bottom surface of the annular groove and its inboard side surface slidably contacting with an axial end surface of the annular member.