U.S. patent number 3,757,064 [Application Number 05/236,923] was granted by the patent office on 1973-09-04 for switch actuating mechanism responsive to opening and closing of a door.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Toyota Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha. Invention is credited to Hisashi Ogawa.
United States Patent |
3,757,064 |
Ogawa |
September 4, 1973 |
SWITCH ACTUATING MECHANISM RESPONSIVE TO OPENING AND CLOSING OF A
DOOR
Abstract
A switch actuating device responsive to the opening and closing
of the door of a motor vehicle or the like. The device comprises a
striker of a door lock mechanism, a contact disposed in a striker
receiving gap of the door lock mechanism and slidable in a full
latch stroke section of the striker, the contact being normally
urged to move toward an opening of the gap by the biasing force of
a spring, and an actuator of a limit switch disposed in the path of
rearward movement of the contact.
Inventors: |
Ogawa; Hisashi (Kuwana,
JA) |
Assignee: |
Toyota Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki
Kaisha (Toyota City, Aichi-ken, JA)
|
Family
ID: |
14245008 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/236,923 |
Filed: |
March 22, 1972 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
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|
|
|
|
Oct 26, 1971 [JA] |
|
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46/99345 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
200/61.64;
280/804; 292/201; 297/469 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B60R
22/06 (20130101); Y10T 292/1082 (20150401) |
Current International
Class: |
B60R
22/06 (20060101); B60R 22/04 (20060101); H01h
027/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;292/144,201 ;340/274
;297/385 ;24/230 ;200/47,61.88B,61.64,61.67,61.68,153LA |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Truhe; J. V.
Assistant Examiner: Tolin; Gerald P.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A switch actuating device responsive to the opening and closing
of the door of a motor vehicle, comprising:
a. a door lock mechanism including a striker and a gap into which
said striker is received, said striker being received within a
section of said gap a full latch stroke;
b. a slidable contact, connected to said door lock mechanism and
partially extending within said striker receiving gap, said contact
having a front end that is slidable within said section of said gap
a full latch stroke and a rear end spaced outside said gap, said
rear end including an arm extending therefrom, said arm having a
cam including a bevelled surface;
c. a spring biasing said contact towards an opening of said gap
through which said striker is received to a position within said
section of said gap, said striker being of U-shape form wherein the
leg first entering said section removably engages said front end of
said contact; and
d. a limit switch including an actuator extending within the path
of said contact, said cam removably engaging said actuator wherein
forward movement of said striker within said section of gap forces
said contact rearwardly to position said bevelled surface over said
actuator for pressing and moving said actuator downwardly.
2. A switch actuating device responsive to the opening and closing
of the door of a motor vehicle, comprising:
a. a door lock mechanism including a striker, and two rotary
latches disposed in a face-to-face relationship and forming between
them a gap into which said striker is received, said striker being
received within a section of said gap a full latch stroke;
b. a slidable contact block supported by said lock mechanism and
slidable within said striker receiving gap, said contact block
having a front end that is slidable within said section of said gap
a full latch stroke and a rear end;
c. a spring biasing said block towards an opening of said gap
through which said striker is received to a position within said
section of gap, said striker being of U-shape form wherein the leg
first entering said section removably engages said front end of
said block; and
d. a limit switch including an actuator extending within the path
of said block, said rear end of said block removably engaging said
actuator wherein forward movement of said striker within said
section of said gap forces said block rearwardly to engage said
actuator.
3. Apparatus responsive to the opening and closing of the door of a
motor vehicle, comprising:
a. a door lock mechanism including a striker and a gap into which
said striker is received, said striker being received within a
section of said gap a full latch stroke when the door is
closed;
b. a contact, connected to said door lock mechanism and partially
extending within said striker receiving gap, said contact having a
front end that is slidable within said section of said gap a full
latch stroke and a rear end having an arm extending therefrom;
c. a spring biasing said contact towards an opening of said gap
through which said striker is received to a position within said
section of gap, said striker being of U-shape form wherein the leg
first entering said section removably engages said front end of
said contact;
d. a limit switch including an actuator extending within the path
of said contact, said arm removably engaging said actuator; and
e. means coupled to said limit switch for transferring seat and
shoulder belts between occupant restraining and belt releasing
positions comprising a lap belt, a shoulder belt, annular members
slidably fitted over said lap belt and said shoulder belt
respectively and movable along respective guides from a belt
restraining position to a belt release position, an annular member
drive means connected to the door of the vehicle and responsive to
the actuation of said limit switch for moving said annular members
to the release position when the door is open and for moving said
annular members to the occupant restraining position when the door
is closed.
Description
This invention relates to a switch actuating mechanism which is
responsive to the opening and closing of a door of a motor vehicle
or the like.
Switch actuating mechanisms of various types have been proposed
which are responsive to the opening and closing of a door of a
motor vehicle. Switch actuating mechanisms of the prior art have,
however, the disadvantage of responding to the opening and closing
of the door even if the door is half-open or the door lock is
half-latched, as if the door were fully closed. This makes it
necessary to provide an additional detection means to detect when
the door is half-open, resulting in increased complexity of the
mechanism and increased cost.
The present invention obviates the aforementioned disadvantage of
the prior art. Accordingly, an object of this invention is to
provide a switch actuating mechanism responsive to the opening and
closing of the door, simple in construction, which does not respond
to the opening and closing of the door when the door is half-open,
and which permits the driver to discover when the door is
half-open.
Another object of this invention is to provide a switch actuating
mechanism that responds to the opening and closing of the door,
which is compact in size and capable of being readily incorporated
in a door locking mechanism, in which the position of the striker
in the lock means determines whether or not a limit switch is
actuated. The limit switch is not actuated when the door is
half-open, so that the driver can find out that the door is
half-open.
Other objects are those inherent in the invention shown, described
and claimed herein and will become evident as the description
proceeds.
In the drawings:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the switch actuating device
comprising one embodiment of this invention;
FIG. 2 is a front view of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a side view of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view, on an enlarged scale, of essential
portions of the switch actuating device of FIG. 1;
FIG. 5 is a side view of another embodiment of this invention;
FIG. 6 is a perspective view, on an enlarged scale, of essential
portions of the embodiment of FIG. 5, with certain parts being cut
out and the device being shown in a half latched position;
FIG. 7 is a perspective view, on an enlarged scale, of essential
portions of the embodiment of FIG. 5, with certain parts being cut
out and the device being shown in a fully latched position; and
FIG. 8 is a schematic perspective view of a driver's seat of a
motor vehicle provided with a seat belt guide device utilizing the
switch actuating mechanism according to this invention.
FIG. 1 to FIG. 4 show a first embodiment of this invention in which
a striker 11 is secured to a mounting frame of a vehicle body, and
lock means 10 is provided in a door.
Lock means 10 is formed with a striker receiving gap 13. When
inserted in striker receiving gap 13, striker 11 is locked by a
locking device (not shown) after it has moved in gap 13 a distance
corresponding to a full latch stroke section L.
Disposed in full latch stroke section L in striker receiving gap 13
is a contact 15, slidably supported by a base plate 14 of lock
means 10, which is normally urged by the biasing force of a spring
17 to move toward an opening 16 of gap 13 so that a front end 18 of
contact 15 may be disposed within full latch stroke section L.
Accordingly, when striker 11 is inserted in gap 13 and reaches full
latch stroke section L after the door is closed, the front end 18
of contact 15 is pressed by a leg 12 of striker 11, so that contact
15 is moved rearwardly against the biasing force of spring 17.
Disposed in the path of rearward movement of contact 15 is an
actuator 20 of a limit switch 19 which is pressed by the rearwardly
moving contact 15, thereby turning limit switch 19 on or off as the
case may be.
In the embodiment shown and described above, a cam 22 having a
bevelled surface is formed on a back of an arm 21 contiguous with
and projecting from a rear end of contact 15 as shown in FIG. 4.
When bevelled surface of cam 22 is brought into contact with a side
edge 23 of actuator 20 and contact 15 moves rearwardly in the
direction of an arrow 51, cam 22 causes actuator 20 to move in the
direction of an arrow 52, thereby turning limit switch 19 on or off
as the case may be.
In FIG. 3, one leg 12 of striker 11 is shown as being in a half
latched position, and hence leg 12 in this position indicates that
the door is half-open. 12a shows the position which leg 12 occupies
when it is in a full latch position and hence the door is fully
closed.
FIG. 5 to FIG. 7 show a second embodiment of this invention in
which a leg 32 of an annular striker 31 is inserted in a gap 33
formed between opposing surfaces of rotary latches 24 and 25 which
are rotated by the leg received in the gap, so that leg 32 received
in a recess 26 of rotary latch 24 as teeth 34 and 35 are brought
into engagement with each other is locked. In this locking device,
a slide block 38 slidably supported by a door lock proper 30 and
disposed in an inner part of gap 33 functions as a contact. Slide
block 38 is pressed and moved rearwardly by leg 32 of annular
striker 31 when leg 32 is introduced into the full latch stroke
section shown in FIG. 7 from its half-latched position shown in
FIG. 6. An actuator 40 of a limit switch 39 is disposed in the path
of rearward movement of slide block 38. When striker 31 moves
forwardly, rotary latches 24 and 25 are returned to their positions
shown in FIG. 5 by the biasing force of a coil spring 37. 32a in
FIG. 7 shows the position which leg 32 of striker 31 occupies when
it is latched.
In the embodiments as shown and described above, the actuator 20 or
40 of limit switch 19 or 39 remains inoperative when striker 11 or
31 is in a half-latched position in the locking device. It is only
after striker 11 or 31 has entered the full latch stroke section
that actuator 20 or 40 is rendered operative.
FIG. 8 shows an application of the switch actuating device
according to this invention in a seat belt guide device so as to
guide a lap belt 41 and a shoulder belt 42 between occupant
restraining positions and belt release positions. When a door 43 is
opened as shown, limit switches are actuated and a motor 50 built
in the door is operated, so that annular members 44 and 45 fitted
over lap belt 41 and shoulder belt 42 respectively are moved to
belt release positions along guides 46 and 47. When the door is
closed, limit switches are actuated to move annular members 44 and
45 to anchors 48 and 49 of the lap belt and shoulder belt
respectively, so as to bring the belts to occupant restraining
positions.
In this example, the switch actuating device according to this
invention responds to the opening of the door from a fully closed
position to a half-open position in which the door is slightly open
or the striker is in a half-latched position, so that the belts are
brought to respective belt release positions. Consequently the
occupant is released from restraint in his seat as soon as the door
is opened. Conversely, when the occupant closes the door, the
switch actuating device according to this invention does not
respond to the closing of the door when it is not fully closed and
the striker is in the half-latched position. Consequently, the
limit switches are not actuated and belts are not moved to occupant
restraining positions, thereby indicating that vehicle is not ready
for running. It is only after the door is fully closed that belts
are brought to the occupant restraining positions.
61 and 62 are limit switches for opening an operation circuit for
motor 50 at opposite ends of a stroke of annular member 44.
The example shown and described above is but one of the many cases
of the use of the switch actuating device according to this
invention. It will be readily understood that the device can be
utilized, for example, in turning on and off room lights in the
vehicle in response to the opening and closing of the door and at
the same time in finding out that door is not in a half-open
position.
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