Vehicle Door Latch With Forked Latching Rotors

Abstract

A pawl includes a detent which hooks against one leg of a lower forked latching rotor to hold the rotor in a secondary latched position and hooks against the other leg of the rotor to hold the rotor in a fully latched position. A second detent on the pawl blocks against an upper latching rotor to hold the latter in its fully and secondary latched positions.

Parent Case Text

CROSS-REFERENCE TO A RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a division of application Ser. No. 195,943; filed Nov. 5, 1971, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,773,368, issued Nov. 20, 1973.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a latch for vehicle doors and, more particularly, to a relatively high-strength latch with a forked latching rotor having a leg whose free end is normally engaged by a pawl to hold the rotor in a fully latched position and to prevent the rotor from turning to an unlatched position. In turning from its unlatched position to its fully latched position, the rotor turns through a secondary latched position and, if held in the latter position, the rotor keeps the door in a partially closed condition. Prior latches of the same general type as under consideration herein are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,987,336; 3,432,198 and 3,545,800.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The general aim of the present invention is to provide a latch of the above character which is simpler in construction than prior latches of the same general type. A more detailed object is to achieve this end by providing a pawl which not only engages one leg of the rotor to hold the latter in its fully latched position but which also engages the other leg of the rotor to hold the rotor in its secondary latched position.

The invention also resides in the use of a single spring to bias the pawl toward its normal position and to bias and help move the rotor toward its unlatched position.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary cross-section taken horizontally through the door of a vehicle equipped with a new and improved latch embodying the novel features of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary cross-section taken substantially along the line 2--2 of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are elevational views of the latch as seen in the direction of the arrows 3--3 and 4--4, respectively, of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a cross-section taken substantially along the line 5--5 of FIG. 1 and showing the latch in a fully latched condition.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are views similar to FIG. 5 but showing the latch in its secondary latched and unlatched conditions, respectively.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary cross-section taken substantially along the line 8--8 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the pawl.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

As shown in the drawings for purposes of illustration, the invention is embodied in a latch 10 particularly adapted for use with the door 11 of an automotive vehicle and including a pair of pivoted latching rotors 13 and 14 (FIGS. 5 to 7) carried by the door and coacting with a pin-type striker 15 mounted on a post 16 (FIG. 1) of the vehicle frame to hold the door in a tightly closed position. Herein, each rotor is a fork-like element which is formed with a striker-receiving recess or throat 17 (FIG. 7), the latter being defined between elongated inner and outer legs 19 and 20. As the door is swung closed, contact of the striker with the inside edges of the outer legs 20 turns the rotors first from unlatched positions shown in FIG. 7 to intermediate or secondary latched positions shown in FIG. 6 and then to fully latched positions shown in FIG. 5. When the rotors are in their secondary latched positions, the striker 15 seats partially in the throats 17 of the rotors and the door is held latched but is slightly ajar. When the rotors are in their fully latched positions, the striker seats fully against the bottoms of the throats and the door is held in a fully closed and tightly latched condition.

As shown in FIG. 2, the latching rotors 13 and 14 are mounted on a support formed by a plastic case 21 adapted to be fastened to the outside of the end panel 23 of the door 11 by bolts 24, the rear face of the case being covered by a plate 25 which is fastened to the case by the bolts. The rotor 13 is journaled to turn about a horizontal pin 26 (FIGS. 2 and 5) supported by the case while the rotor 14 is disposed in overlapping side-by-side relation with the rotor 13 and is journaled to turn about a similar pin 27 located directly above the pin 26. The two pins are located on opposite sides of an elongated recess 29 (FIG. 5) which is formed in the case and the plate to accommodate the striker 15 when the door is swung closed.

As will be explained in more detail subsequently, turning of the rotors 13 and 14 to their unlatched positions when the door 11 is closed is prevented by a pawl 33 which is pivoted to turn about a pin 34 supported by the case 21, the pin 34 paralleling the upper rotor pin 27 and being located just above and just outwardly of the latter pin. Formed on the upper edge of the pawl is an elongated finger 35 (FIGS. 1 and 9) which projects through the case and through an opening in the end panel 23 of the door so as to extend into the interior of the door.

Tripping of the pawl 33 to unlatch the door 11 from the outside thereof is effected by a contactor 37 (FIG. 4) which is pivoted on a flange 39 at 40. The flange lies along the inside of the end panel 23 and is fastened to the latter by the same bolts 24 used to hold the case 21 on the door. The contactor is formed with a slot 41 (FIG. 4) which receives the finger 35 of the pawl 33 and, when the contactor is swung counterclockwise by an outside actuator such as a push button (not shown), the lower edge of the slot engages and lifts the finger 35 to swing the pawl clockwise about the pin 34 thereby to trip the pawl and enable opening of the door. The pawl is urged in the opposite or counterclockwise direction by a coiled compression spring 43 (FIG. 5) seated against the end of an opening 44 in the plastic case 21 and held by a tab 45 on the upper edge of the pawl.

A locking lever 46 (FIG. 3) is pivoted at 47 on a flange 49 formed integrally with and at a right angle to the flange 39 and extending along the inside panel 50 (FIG. 1) of the door 11. When the locking lever is swung counterclockwise about the pivot 47 to the locked position shown in FIG. 3, a lug 51 on the upper end of the locking lever overlies and engages the upper edge of the contactor 37 to prevent the latter from being swung counterclockwise and tripping the pawl 33. Swinging of the locking lever between its locked and unlocked positions may be effected from the inside of the door by a garnish button-actuated lever 53 (FIG. 3) connected to the locking lever and pivoted on the flange 49 at 54 or from the outside of the door by a key-actuated lever 55 (FIG. 4) pivoted on the flange 39 at 56 and connected to the lever 53. The locking lever 46 also may be swung to its unlocked position by clockwise (FIG. 3) swinging of a lever 57 pivoted on the flange 49 at 59 and adapted to be turned by the remote actuator (not shown) on the inside of the door, the lever 57 being formed with an arm 61 for engaging the upper end portion of the locking lever to move the latter to its unlocked position. When the lever 57 is turned clockwise by the remote actuator, the arm 61 first turns the locking lever 46 to its unlocked position if the locking lever has been set in its locked position. Thereafter, a second arm 63 moves beneath and swings the contactor 37 counterclockwise to lift the finger 35 of the pawl 33 and effect unlatching of the door 10. The door may be locked from the outside without a key by swinging the locking lever 46 to its locked position with the garnish button-actuated lever 53 when the door is open and thereafter by simply swinging the door shut.

Returning now to the specific construction of the pawl 33, it will be seen in FIG. 9 that the inner end portion of the pawl is formed with a downwardly projecting hook or detent 66. When the lower rotor 13 is in its fully latched position (FIG. 5), the detent 66 hooks against a shoulder 67 which is formed on the inner edge of the inner leg 19 of the lower rotor at the free end of such leg. By virtue of the detent 66 hooking the shoulder 67, the lower rotor is held in its fully latched position and is prevented from turning toward its unlatched position. As pointed out in U.S. Pat. No. 3,545,800, hooking of the pawl on the inner leg of the rotor 13 provides a high strength arrangement since any force-open load applied to the rotor by the striker pin 15 is resisted by both the pin 26 which supports the rotor and the pin 34 which supports the pawl.

In accordance with the present invention, the same pawl 33 which hooks the inner leg 19 of the lower rotor 13 to hold the latter in its fully latched position also engages the outer leg 20 of the rotor to hold the rotor in its secondary latched position. Thus, as the lower rotor 13 is turned clockwise from its unlatched position shown in FIG. 7 toward its secondary latched position shown in FIG. 6, the outer leg 20 of the rotor first engages the detent 66 on the pawl 33 and cams the latter in a clockwise direction about the pin 34. Then, as the inner edge of the outer leg 20 moves past the detent 66, the spring 44 swings the pawl reversely to cause the detent to move downwardly alongside the inner edge of the leg (see FIG. 6). If the door is closed no further, the detent 66 engages the inner edge of the leg 20 near the free end thereof and holds the rotor 13 in the secondary latched position shown in FIG. 6 so as to prevent the rotor from turning counterclockwise toward the unlatched position.

If the door 11 is closed completely, continued turning of the lower rotor 13 causes the inner leg 19 to cam the pawl 33 clockwise once again and then the detent 66 drops alongside and hooks the shoulder 67 to hold the rotor in its fully latched position shown in FIG. 5. Accordingly, the same pawl 33 first engages the outer leg 20 of the lower rotor 13 to hold the rotor in its secondary latched position and then engages the inner leg 19 of the rotor to hold the rotor in its fully latched position thereby to provide a high strength latch which is comparatively simple in construction as a result of the use of a single pawl to hold the rotor in both its secondary and fully latched positions.

Preferably, an additional detent 70 is provided on the same pawl 33 in order to hold the upper latching rotor 14 securely in its fully and secondary latched positions. As shown in FIGS. 5, 8 and 9, the additional detent 70 simply comprises a small buttonlike member located near the outer end portion of the main pawl 33 and fitted over the pin 34. A short finger 71 (FIG. 5) protruding from the detent 70 projects snugly into a hole 73 (FIG. 9) in the pawl 33 so as to turn in unison with the latter. The detent 70 is offset from the detent 66 and is disposed in the same vertical plane as the upper rotor 14.

When the upper rotor 14 is in its secondary latched position (FIG. 6), a lug 74 formed integrally with the inner end of the detent 70 blocks against a shoulder 75 on the upper edge of the upper rotor and prevents movement of the rotor toward its unlatched position if an opening force is applied to the door 11. When the upper rotor is in its fully latched position, the lug 74 blocks against a shoulder 76 as shown in FIG. 5 to prevent turning of the rotor from such position, the shoulder 76 being formed on the rotor and being spaced angularly from the shoulder 75. As the pawl 33 is swung clockwise to lift the detent 66 out of engagement with the lower rotor 13, the detent 70 also is lifted out of engagement with the upper rotor 14 to free the latter for movement to the unlatched position shown in FIG. 7.

Advantageously, the spring 45 which urges the pawl 33 counterclockwise is used also to bias the rotors 13 and 14 toward their unlatched positions thereby to eliminate the need of employing separate springs for biasing the rotors. When the pawl 33 is tripped and lifted upwardly from the position shown in FIG. 5, the striker 15 causes the rotors to turn slightly toward their unlatched positions as the door 11 is initially opened. If the pawl thereafter is immediately allowed to return to its lowered position, a cam surface 77 on the lower edge of the pawl adjacent the detent 66 engages the upper edge of the inner leg 19 of the lower rotor 13. The spring 45 acting on the pawl causes the surface 77 to bear against the upper edge of the leg 19 to cam the lower rotor to its secondary latched position shown in FIG. 6. At the same time, the lower edge of the lug 74 bears against the upper edge of the shoulder 76 to bias and cam the upper rotor 14 to its secondary latched position.

After the pawl 33 has been lifted and the door 11 has been opened sufficiently far to move the rotors 13 and 14 from their secondary latched positions toward their unlatched positions, the cam surface 77, upon subsequent lowering of the pawl, engages the upper edge of the outer leg 20 of the lower rotor 13 and cams the latter to its unlatched position, the spring 45 urging the lower rotor toward the unlatched position and serving to yieldably hold the rotor in that position as shown in FIG. 7. In addition, the lower edge of the lug 74 engages the extreme upper edge of the upper rotor 14 (see FIG. 7) and coacts with the spring 45 to first cam the upper rotor to its unlatched position and then to yieldably hold the upper rotor in the unlatched position. Accordingly, the return spring 45 for the pawl 33 helps turn both rotors toward and holds the rotors in their unlatched positions so that additional springs for biasing the rotors are not required.

Claims

I claim as my invention:

1. A latch adapted to coact with a striker to hold a vehicle door in a closed position, said latch comprising a support, a forked latching rotor mounted on said support to turn about a first axis from an unlatched position to a secondary latched position and then to a fully latched position, said rotor having first and second legs extending transversely of said axis and defining a single throat which receives said striker in both the secondary latched position and the fully latched position of said rotor, and means mounted on said support to pivot about a second and parallel axis and sequentially engageable with said first and second legs to hold said rotor in said secondary and said fully latched positions, respectively, as the rotor is turned from said unlatched position.

2. A latch as defined in claim 1 in which said means comprise a pawl having one end portion formed with a hook.

3. A latch as defined in claim 2 further including a spring urging said pawl into engagement with said rotor, said pawl having a surface located adjacent said hook for engaging said first leg and yieldably camming said rotor toward said unlatched position as the rotor turns from said fully latched position.