Closure fasteners – Keepers – With movable dog – catch or striker
Reexamination Certificate
2002-01-18
2004-10-26
Walsh, John B. (Department: 3676)
Closure fasteners
Keepers
With movable dog, catch or striker
C292S341170, C292SDIG002, C296S037120
Reexamination Certificate
active
06808214
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART STATEMENT
The present invention relates to a locking apparatus, in particular a locking apparatus with safety function, the subject of which is a so-called push—push engagement mechanism that engages a moving body by a push operation and releases the engagement by a subsequent push operation, as well as a storage apparatus for vehicle.
Among locking apparatuses that comprise push—push engagement mechanisms, there is one that is constituted by a cam part with heart-shaped cam groove provided on one of a moving body and a housing, and a swivel body that is provided on the other side and has a trace pin that moves on the inside of the cam groove. FIGS.
10
(
a
)-
10
(
c
) show one of the conventional structures. In this example, a moving body in a housing, i.e. a storage tray, is moved against the force of forcing means toward the direction of symbol C to close an opening of the housing, and is moved toward the direction of symbol O by that force to become in the open state. The swivel body
100
having a leaf-shaped arm is attached to the housing inside the vehicle compartment so as to be able to move via a pivot
103
, and it has a trace pin
102
on the tip. The cam part
104
is provided on the moving body, and it has a raised cam part
105
whose periphery forms a heart-shaped cam groove
106
, and a guide groove
107
.
The engagement operation of the push—push engagement mechanism is as follows. FIG.
10
(
a
) shows the engagement released state, where the moving body has moved in the direction of arrow O by the forcing means, and it is pulled out from the housing. In this open state, when the moving body is pushed back into the housing against the force of the forcing means toward the direction of arrow C in FIG.
10
(
a
), the trace pin
102
first meets the engagement guide cam surface
107
a
of the guide groove
107
, and the swivel body
100
rotates counter-clockwise. Upon further movement, after contacting the engagement guide cam groove
106
a
of the cam groove
106
, the trace pin
102
collides with the stopper cam surface
104
a
at the front of the cam part. The moving body is pushed in up to that collision. When the pushing force is released, the moving body is pushed back by the force of the forcing means, and the trace pin
102
engages the engagement groove
106
b
of the cam groove
106
as in FIG.
10
(
b
). The moving body is stopped by that engagement (that is, the push engagement operation is completed), and it is held in the housing.
In the next operation of the mechanism, when the moving body is pushed toward the direction of arrow C
1
in FIG.
10
(
b
), the trace pin
102
meets the stopper surface guide cam surface
104
b
at the front of the cam part, and is led from that guide cam surface
104
b
up to the neighboring stopper cam surface
104
c
accompanying the rotation of the swivel body
100
. When the pushing force is released, the moving body is pushed toward the direction of arrow C in FIG.
10
(
a
) by the force of the forcing means. As a result, the trace pin
102
returns from the stopper cam surface
104
c
to the original position through the contact of the cam groove
106
, the guide cam groove
106
c
, the guide cam surface
107
b
on the side of the guide groove
17
along the way, and becomes in the open state.
From the fact that the above push—push engagement mechanism is constituted by the swivel body
100
with the trace pin
102
and the cam part
104
, as opposed to the type published in Japanese Utility Model publication No. H5-91964, in which a pair of engagement pieces engages and releases a tab of the other member, it is simpler as it does not require a dedicated spring member. Additionally, it is superior in terms of operating quality in that there is less noise when engaging and releasing. However, with this structure in FIG.
10
(
b
) in which the moving body is engaged, when an abrupt load (this load is an unanticipated load that would make a small movement of the moving body toward the direction opposite to the force pressure of the forcing means and roll the swivel body
100
) is applied, i.e. by a sudden stop or collision while driving, a condition identical to the push release operation can occur. If this happens, the trace pin
102
meets the guide cam surface
104
b
, and it easily moves from the stopper cam surface
104
c
to the releasing guide cam groove
106
c
of the cam groove
106
and the releasing guide cam surface
107
b
of the guide groove
17
. It may cause an unanticipated and sudden engagement release.
These erroneous operations damage the performance and quality of the product. As countermeasures, for example, the shape of the engagement groove
106
b
is modified such that the groove is firmly engaged with the trace pin
102
, or a setting the force pressure of the forcing means is adjusted. Nonetheless, the operating performance tends to be sacrificed, and it is still unsatisfactory. In the prior art, as in Japanese Patent Publication No. H7-266996, albeit using a different engagement mechanism, there is also known a structure that prevents in advance the occurrence of the unanticipated engagement release as above. However, the structure requires a spring member which forces the cam member on which the cam groove is formed to swivel one-way by the spring member. The larger number of parts is needed and it becomes more complicated. It is not also widely applicable as the force pressure setting of the spring member would be necessary for each product.
The object of the present invention is to solve the problems such as above. Specifically, it is an object of the invention to provide a push—push engagement mechanism formed of a heart-shaped cam part and a swivel body, wherein the occurrence of unanticipated engagement release of the push—push engagement mechanism can be prevented by a simple and widely usable structure.
Another object of the invention is to provide the push—push engagement mechanism as stated above, wherein an improvement of the reliability of the locking apparatus can be achieved, and it will be able to further expand the uses of the locking apparatus to other kinds of storage apparatuses.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to achieve the above-mentioned objects, a locking apparatus has a push—push engagement mechanism and comprises a cam part with a heart-shaped cam groove provided on one of a moving body and a housing, and a swivel body provided on the other of the moving body and the housing and having a trace pin that moves on the cam groove, wherein the moving body is engaged with the housing at a fixed position by an operation of pushing the moving body opposite to the force of forcing means, and the engagement can be released by a subsequent push operation. Furthermore, the swivel body has a balancer that detects the load when an unanticipated load such as impact is received while in the engaged state, so as to make it possible to prevent the trace pin from moving from an engagement groove of the cam groove to a releasing guide cam groove.
In the present invention, “when an unanticipated load such as impact is received” means that when a vehicle is suddenly stopped while driving, a collision occurs, or excessive vibration is directly or indirectly received. In such cases, the moving body is slightly moved toward the direction opposite to the force of the forcing means and the swivel body moved. “Detects the load” means that the swivel body receives the load and automatically or by itself tries to allow the trace pin to move from the engagement groove of the cam groove to the releasing guide cam groove. “Cam part with a heart-shaped cam groove” means a type at least having a cam groove that is heart-shaped in the periphery of a raised cam part as the construction of the cam part.
The above structural characteristic is that, when the unanticipated load is received, the trace pin and the engagement groove shift position
Sato Tomoaki
Yamamoto Yasuo
Kanesaka Manabu
NIFICO Inc.
Walsh John B.
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