Vehicle Door Handle Assembly

Abstract

A vehicle door handle assembly, characterized by that the handle is divided into a main handle and an auxiliary handle, the latter being pivotably mounted on the former and the latter being capable of performing a pivoting movement in advance of that of the main handle when the assembly is subjected to a door opening manual effort and that mechanical latch means are provided between the both handles for the prevention of unintentional pivotal movement of the main handle upon reception of mechanical shocks.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to improvements in and relating to vehicle door handle assemblies, and more specifically, it relates to a shock-proof safety device in such vehicle door handle assemblies for providing absolute safety against lateral mechanical shocks as may occur during vehicle collision.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main object of the present invention is to provide a safety device of the above type to assure safety of vehicle door handle assemblies and prevent unintentional opening of the door latch so that safety provisions, especially those prevailing in the United States concerning the required use of safety devices for vehicle door handle assemblies which prevent accidental and occasional door opening and latch-release, are met.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

This and further objects, features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description thereof taken by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a preferred embodiment an automotive outside door handle according to the instant invention, the handle being shown in its regular position.

FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the door handle of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially along a section line III--III in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a similar view to FIG. 1 illustrating the operation of the door handle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, numeral 10 represents a base member which is attached to the inside of a door of an automotive vehicle, not shown, by means of two fixing bolts 11 and 12. This base member 10 is fitted with a pair of supporting members 13 and 14 on which are pivotably mounted bell crank levers 16 and 17 of a main handle 15, respectively, by means of respective hinge pins 18 and 19. It should be noted that in FIGS. 3 and 4, a corresponding pin-receiving opening is denoted with the same reference numeral 18.

A spring 20 is attached by one of its end to the bell crank lever 17 which is called "arm" frequently by those skilled in the art, and by its other end to the supporting member 14 of the base member so that the main door handle 15 is resiliently urged to rotate in clockwise direction in FIG. 3. With this arrangement, the main handle 15 is kept in its normal position by pressure contact with stop pins 21 and 22, as shown by full lines and dotted lines.

Main handle 15 is formed with a connecting opening 23 by which a cable, not shown, is operatively connected with a pawl member of a door latch mechanism, not shown.

With the arrangement shown and described so far, when an operator grips the main handle 15 from below and draws it towards him so as to bring it from its full line position to its chain-dotted line position by pivoting it counter clockwise as shown in FIG. 4, the pawl member of the door latch mechanism is forced to disengage and the door is opened.

The mechanism so far shown and described is already known in the art.

Since the main door handle is heavy and the center of gravity thereof is situated at a considerable distance from the pivotal center of the main door handle, when the vehicle is subjected to a lateral shock relative thereto, such as during an accidental lateral vehicle collision from the opposite direction relative to the vehicle body side at which the door handle unit under consideration is positioned, a substantial amount of inertia force will act upon the main handle 15 to urge the latter to swivel counter clockwise in FIG. 3. Therefore, there is a substantial threat that the door will open. It would be conceivable to strengthen the spring 20 to avoid such accidental door opening in an emergency. However, the use of a stronger spring as at 20 would be detrimental to the operational desirability of this type of door handle especially when an operator tries to open the door. In addition, a corresponding increased space must be provided for such a heavy spring. In the present invention, the main door handle 15 is fitted pivotably with an auxiliary handle 24 by a pivot pin 25, the latter handle being provided with an elongated arm 26 having a shoulder 27 kept normally in engagement with a projection rigid with the main handle for the prevention of unintentional pivotal movement thereof in the door-opening direction. A spring 29 is provided one end of which is fixedly attached to the auxiliary handle 24, while the opposite end of the spring is fixedly attached to the main handle 15, so as to resiliently urge the latter to rotate clockwise in FIG. 3.

When the operator introduces his fingers into the cavity of main handle 15 from below and exerts a manual effort to swivel the latter to open the door, the auxiliary handle is at first swiveled counter clockwise in FIG. 3 and the engagement between the projection 27 and the shoulder or tooth 28 is released, and only thereafter, does the main handle swivel and the door is opened. The design and arrangement of the auxiliary handle 24 are so selected that its center of gravity corresponds as closely as possible to the center of pivotal movement of the auxiliary handle which is also made of a lighter material so as to represent as small a weight as possible, for avoiding unintentional pivotal movement when subjected to an outside lateral shock.

It will be clear from the foregoing that due to the principles of the present invention, and automotive door handle assembly is provided which completely satisfies the provisions of the U.S. Automotive Safety Standard whereby the pawl in the door latch mechanism does not move during vehicle collision or the like.

It will be further clear that the invention may be carried out in various modified ways other than the sole embodiment so far shown and described, which modifications will be within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are as follows:

1. A door handle safety locking assembly for a vehicle door, which door is normally held in a closed position by a latch mechanism, said assembly comprising:

base means for fixed attachment to the vehicle door;

main handle means for operative association with a latch mechanism of the door, said main handle means being pivotally movable on said base means between a first position and second release position;

auxiliary handle means pivotally mounted on said main handle means and operatively movable by abutment therewith toward the release position;

manually displacable check means displacably connected between said auxiliary handle means and said base means for normally preventing relative pivotal movement of said main handle means between said first and second position, whereby a door latch mechanism is only released to open the door upon a first pivotal movement of said auxiliary handle means followed by a second pivotal movement of both said auxiliary handle means and said main handle means to said second position thereof, said first and second pivotal movements occurring consecutively and continuously.

2. An assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein said check means comprises a projection on said base means in the path of pivotal movement of a portion integral with said auxiliary handle, and said auxiliary handle includes a toothed portion on said auxiliary handle means, said toothed portion normally engaging said projection when said main handle means is in said first position which prevents movement of the main handle to said second door-opening position, said toothed portion being disengaged from the projection when the auxiliary handle means is manually displaced to permit the main handle to move and assume the second pivotal movement.

3. An assembly as claimed in claim 2 wherein the center of gravity of said auxiliary handle means is located in close proximity to its center of pivotal movement so that the moment of inertia of the auxiliary handle is reduced to a minimum.