U.S. patent number 3,705,738 [Application Number 05/075,848] was granted by the patent office on 1972-12-12 for door latch mechanism.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Aisin Seiki Kabushiki Kaisha. Invention is credited to Noboru Yoshimura.
United States Patent |
3,705,738 |
Yoshimura |
December 12, 1972 |
DOOR LATCH MECHANISM
Abstract
An automotive door latch mechanism comprising a rotatable latch
bolt in the form of a fork, and a bolt-supporting shaft, said shaft
being enlarged at a part with which a striker pin is engageable
thereby permitting its tight engagement with the striker pin for
preventing the lowering of the vehicle door relative to the
stationary member thereof.
Inventors: |
Yoshimura; Noboru (Toyota,
JA) |
Assignee: |
Aisin Seiki Kabushiki Kaisha
(Kariya, Aichi Pref., JA)
|
Family
ID: |
14118559 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/075,848 |
Filed: |
September 28, 1970 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
|
|
|
|
|
Oct 4, 1969 [JA] |
|
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44/94742 |
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
292/216;
292/341.12 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E05B
77/38 (20130101); E05B 85/243 (20130101); Y10T
292/688 (20150401); E05B 77/18 (20130101); Y10T
292/1047 (20150401) |
Current International
Class: |
E05B
65/32 (20060101); E05B 65/20 (20060101); E05B
17/00 (20060101); E05c 003/26 () |
Field of
Search: |
;292/DIG.41,DIG.26,DIG.27,280,216,341.12,341.13 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Moore; Richard E.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A door latching mechanism comprising,
a base plate including a hanger plate and fixed to the door,
a cover plate fixed to said base plate opposite to said hanger
plate with respect to said base plate,
a first shaft rigidly mounted on and between said hanger plate and
said cover plate,
a latch bolt in the form of a rotatable fork pivotally mounted on
said first shaft and adapted for engagement with a striker pin,
a second shaft rigidly mounted on and between said hanger plate and
said cover plate substantially in parallel relationship with said
first shaft,
a pawl pivotally mounted on said second shaft to retain the
engagement of said latch bolt and striker pin,
a striker-pressing member pivotally mounted on said second
shaft,
abutment means forming a part of one of said cover plate and hanger
plate,
resilient means permitting resilient engagement between said
striker-pressing member and said abutment means when said
striker-pressing means is pressed by the striker pin when the latch
bolt is brought to its fully latched position.
2. A door latching mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein said
first shaft includes an enlarged portion for permitting tight
engagement with the striker pin when the latch bolt is in its fully
latched position.
3. A door latching mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein said
hanger plate extends outwardly from said base plate toward the
outside of the door and is formed integrally with said base
plate.
4. A door latching mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein said
pawl engages said latch bolt in the same plane as the plane of
engagement of said latch bolt with the striker pin.
5. A door latching mechanism as claimed in claim 1 and further
comprising a spring attached to said latching bolt for normally
urging said latching bolt toward its unlatched position, said
spring being disposed around said first shaft to be guided thereby.
Description
This invention relates to a door latch mechanism for an automotive
vehicle, and more particularly to a door latch mechanism including
a latch bolt in the form of a rotatable fork, i.e., the fork-type
latch mechanism.
In the field of automotive door latch mechanisms, it is desired to
provide a possibility for performing the following multipurpose
functions:
1. When the vehicle door has been closed, the door is kept in its
closed position without being lowered relative to a stationary
member of the vehicle such as a center pillar.
2. When the vehicle is in its running condition, the door latch
mechanism produces no noises and rattles due to the bumping of the
vehicle along the rough road.
3. When the vehicle door has been closed, the door can be
maintained in its closed condition even when a heavy force to open
the door such as a heavy shock in emergency is applied thereto.
4. To provide a possibility of "lock cancelling operation" which
means that when a person depresses the inside door locking knob and
then leaves the vehicle and closes the door, the once latched door
will be automatically released.
5. To provide a possibility of "keyless lock operation" which means
that under the same conditions as is described above the door latch
mechanism can be released by closing the door with its outside
handle being intentionally kept in its door open position.
The main object of the invention is to provide an automotive door
latch mechanism adapted for performing the aforementioned various
and desirous functions.
Another object of the invention is to provide a door latch
mechanism which is characterized by its simplicity and compactness
in construction and which is relatively small in size, economical
to manufacture comparatively quiet in operation and efficient in
use.
The door latch mechanism according to the present invention
comprises,
1. a bolt-supporting shaft, said shaft being enlarged at a part
which is engageable with and slightly raised by the striker on the
stationary member of the vehicle whereby the lowering of door
relative to the latter will be prevented;
2. a rotatable striker-pressing member, said member being provided
with a resilient means for urging said member to press resiliently
against the striker in its fully latched position whereby no noises
or rattles of the latch mechanism will be produced;
3. a latch base plate fixed to the door and a hanger plate to which
the heavy longitudinally acting force to destroy the door latch
mechanism may be applied, said hanger plate being integral with
said base plate whereby the said heavy force may not destroy the
latch mechanism;
4. a rotatable pawl to engage the latch bolt for performing the
door locking operation, the engagement point of the pawl and latch
bolt being positioned in the same plane as that of the striker and
latch bolt whereby no twisting force is applied on the pawl, thus
the engagement of the pawl and latch bolt is kept in safety even
when a heavy laterally acting shock may be applied; (It should be
recognized that in the conventional door latch mechanism the
ratchet to engage the pawl has been rotatably mounted on the
bolt-supporting shaft on the back of the base plate relative to the
latch bolt so that when the laterally acting shock is applied to
the vehicle the engagement of the ratchet and pawl is liable to be
released.)
5. an open lever operatively connected both to the inside open
handle and to the inside open button, and a locking lever
operatively connected both to the outside key means and to the
inside lock button, both said levers being adapted to accomplish
the above-mentioned lock cancelling operation and keyless locking
operation.
The invention will now be further described with reference to the
accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, a door
latch mechanism in accordance with the invention.
In the drawings:
FIG. 1 is a plan view of a conventional striker alone;
FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the striker of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a plane view partly in section showing the inside of the
door latch mechanism according to this invention in the fully
latched position;
FIG. 4 is a vertical cross sectional view taken on the plane
indicated by the line IV--IV of FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is a side elevation in the direction of the arrow V in FIG.
3;
FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 3, but in the unlatched
position;
FIG. 7 is an external face view of the latch mechanism;
FIG. 8 is an internal view opposite to that of FIG. 7; and
FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 3, but showing a modified form of
the latch mechanism.
Referring to the drawings, the numeral 10 denotes generally a
conventional keeper or striker which is fixedly attached to a
certain stationary member of the automotive vehicle. The striker 10
comprises a striker plate 11 and a U-shaped pin 12 fitted
integrally therewith.
A door latch mechanism 13 is fixedly attached to each door of the
vehicle to cooperate with the striker 10. The mechanism 13
comprises a door latch base 14 which is secured to the door and a
hanger plate 15 which is made integrally with the base plate 14 by
stamping and protruded therefrom outside of the door in a manner of
so-called "plant-on" type. A cover plate 41 is secured to the base
plate 14. The hanger plate 15 and cover plate 41 mount rigidly two
separate shaft 16 and 17. A rotatable fork-shaped latch or bolt 18
is made integrally with the former shaft 16 while a swinging detent
or pawl 19 is mounted on the latter shaft 17. The latch bolt 18 is
formed with a recess 20 which straddles over the striker pin 12,
and further with first and second ratchet teeth 21 and 22,
respectively, either thereof being adapted for engagement with
tooth 23 formed on the pawl 19.
The numeral 24 indicates a coil spring which is mounted on and
between an inwardly projecting rod or pin 25 integral with the bolt
18 and an outward projection 26 of the cover plate 41. Thus the
bolt 18 is resiliently urged to turn in counter clockwise direction
in FIG. 3. The spring 24 may be positioned between the hanger plate
14 and cover plate 41 as is clearly seen in FIG. 4, so that there
is no need to provide a space for only the said spring. In
addition, when the latch bolt 18 is caused to rotate about the
shaft 16 in the clockwise direction in FIG. 6 by engagement with
the striker 10, the coil spring 24 will be expanded around and
along the shaft 16. Thus the exerting force of the spring 24 on the
bolt 18 is proportional to the rotated amount of the bolt, so that
an operating person can easily feel the door closing degree.
The shaft 16 comprises an enlarged portion 16a adapted for
engagement with the striker pin 12, whereby the lowering of the
door relative to the stationary member of the vehicle will be
prevented. It will be apparent that any suitable collar may be
fitted around the shaft 16 in place of the enlarged portion
16a.
A further coil spring 39 is mounted on the shaft 17. One end of the
spring 39 is kept in engagement with an inward projection 40 of the
pawl 19 so as to urge the pawl 19 to turn in clockwise direction in
FIG. 3 whilst its other end is kept engagement with a slot of the
cover plate (not shown). There is provided an elongated slot 42 on
the cover plate 41. Within the elongated slot 42 the projection 40
is movably fitted thereby limiting the movable range thereof.
A rotatable striker-pressing member 27 made from a plastics
material is mounted on the shaft 17 coaxially with the pawl 19. The
striker-pressing member 27 comprises a free end 28 one face of
which is adapted for engagement with the striker pin 12, the other
face being provided with a resilient member 29 secured thereto and
preferably made from a rubber material. The numeral 30 denotes an
outwardly projecting flange or abutment the cover plate 41 which is
engageable with the resilient member 29 as a stopper when the door
is in its fully latched position as is seen in FIG. 3. It should be
noted that the resilient member 29 may be secured to the stopper
flange 30 in place of the pressing member 27. The numeral 43
denotes a resilient stopper for prevention of excess turning of the
latch bolt 18 in the counter clockwise direction in FIG. 6.
Referring to FIG. 9, a modification of the striker-pressing member
is illustrated. This modified pressing member 127 is engageable
resiliently with the rubber member 129 which is securely attached
to the hanger plate 115. When the striker engages the latch bolt
118 in its fully latched position, the pressing member 127 is urged
to press resiliently against the striker by means of the rubber
member 129.
The engaging point of the striker 10 and latch bolt 18 is
positioned in the same plane as the engaging point of the pawl 19
and latch bolt 18 as is seen in FIG. 4. By virtue of this
construction, no twisting force will be applied to the pawl 19 when
the latch bolt 18 is urged to disengage with the striker pin 12 due
to the laterally acting force. Thus the engagement of the pawl 19
with the bolt 18 may be maintained in safety.
Then, referring to FIGS. 5 and 8, the numeral 31 indicates a
locking lever which is pivotally mounted on an end portion 32 of
the shaft 17. One end 31a of the locking lever 31 is operatively
connected to an inside locking button (not shown) while its other
end 31b is operatively connected to an outside key cylinder (again
not shown).
Open lever 33 is pivoted on a pin 34 studded on the cover plate 41.
One end 33a of the open lever 33 is operatively connected to an
inside open handle (not shown) through an inside open lever 37
whilst its other end 33b is operatively connected to an outside
door handle (again not shown). An intermediate lever 35 is
pivotally mounted on the open lever 33 at a pivot pin 36.
A cancelling lever 38 connected to the pawl 19 through its
projection 40 secured to the lever 38 and provided with two
projecting flanges 38a and 38b is pivotally mounted on the end
portion 32 of the shaft 17 coaxially with the locking lever 31.
When the locking lever 31 is positioned in the unlocking position
as in FIG. 8, the rocking operation of the open lever 33 about the
pivot 34 will be transmitted to the cancelling lever 38 at the
flange 38b thereby permitting the cancelling lever 38 to rotate in
the clockwise direction to allow disengagement of the pawl 19 and
latch bolt 18. When the locking lever 31 is positioned in the
locking position, the intermediate lever 35 is rotated in the
clockwise direction in FIG. 8 by rotation of the locking lever 31
so that rocking action of the open lever 33 results in an idle
movement.
In operation, the door latch mechanism 13 fixed on the door
advances in the direction from left to right in FIG. 3, the striker
pin 12 is brought into engagement with the latch bolt 18 at its
recess 20 which is thus caused to rotate in the clockwise direction
in FIG. 3 against the exerting force of the spring 24. By this
actuation, the front edge of first ratchet tooth 21 on the bolt 18
is brought into engagement with the tooth 23 of the pawl 19 which
is thus rotated in the counter clockwise direction against the
urging force exerted by the coil spring 39. In this way, the
ratchet tooth 21 is brought into contact with the pawl member 19 so
that the door latch mechanism is maintained in its secondary
latched position.
With further continuation of the door advancement in its closing
direction, the front edge of second ratchet tooth 22 will actuate
the pawl 19 for further rotation and finally the tooth 22 is
brought into meshing with the pawl, thus the desired fully latched
position of the latch mechanism is attained. It should be noted
that during this operation the enlarged portion 16a of the shaft 16
is negligibly affected by the striker pin 12. When the latch
mechanism is in its fully latched position, the enlarged shaft 16a
is rigidly contacted with and slightly lifted by the striker pin 12
thereby preventing the lowering of the door with respect to the
stationary member of the vehicle. Meanwhile, the striker pin 12
causes the striker-pressing member 27 (or 127) to resiliently press
on the stopper 30 through the resilient member 29 (or 129). The
resilient force exerted by the member 29 (or 129) will allow the
rocking of pressing member 27 (or 127) between the striker pin 12
and stopper 30 (or hanger plate 115) in dependence upon bumping of
the vehicle so as to prevent the noises and rattles of the latch
mechanism.
In addition, the striker pin 12 is engaged with the bolt 18 in the
same plane in which the pawl 19 is engaged with the latter as is
clearly seen in FIG. 4, whereby objectionable force to cause the
pawl 19 to disengage with the latch bolt 18 is not applied to the
pawl 19 even when the heavy laterally acting force is applied to
the vehicle.
When the door is closed, keeping the locking lever 31 in its
locking position, the latch bolt 18 is caused to rotate the pawl 19
in the counter clockwise direction in FIG. 3 whereby the cancelling
lever 38 connected to the pawl 19 through the projecting pin 40 is
rotated in the clockwise direction to strike the intermediate lever
35. When the intermediate lever 35 is swung about the pivot 36 in
the counter clockwise direction, the locking lever 31 is shifted to
its unlocking position. Thus the lock cancelling operation is
accomplished.
When it is desired to perform the keyless lock operation, it is
only necessary to close the door by the outside door handle being
held in its door opening position while keeping the inside door
lock button in its locking position. While the latch bolt 18 is
being brought into its fully latched position by engagement with
the striker 10, the projection 38a of the cancelling lever 38 can
not strike the intermediate lever 35 so that the door latch
mechanism 13 is kept in its locked position without use of the door
key.
* * * * *