Automobile door handle

Details Automobile door handle Automobile door handle

2000-10-04

2002-06-25

Gordon, Stephen T. (Department: 3612)

Land vehicles: bodies and tops

Bodies

Door or window with specified vehicle feature

C296S152000, C296S153000, C296S182100

Reexamination Certificate

active

06409249

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automobile door handle and more particularly to an automobile door handle adapted and constructed to break off when an automobile is laterally crashed to prevent shock caused by collision from being transmitted to passengers, thereby promoting safety to the passengers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a door hinged to the body of an automobile for passengers to get on and get off therethrough is provided to the automobile. The door
10
is manufactured by an outer panel and an inner panel mutually combined as illustrated in FIG.
1
. The inner panel
11
is mounted with a trim member
12
as interior material whereas the trim member
12
is inwardly and protrusively provided with a handle
13
for a passenger to hold for opening and closing the door.
In other words, the handle
13
is integrally equipped with a boss part
14
protruded to each rear tip end portion thereof as illustrated in
FIG. 1
, and the boss part
14
is formed as a hollow cylinder with a through hole
14
a.
Furthermore, the boss part
14
is inserted thereinto with a bolt
15
which passes the hole
14
a
to get coupled with a nut
16
at a rear panel of the inner panel
11
, securing the handle
13
to the inner panel
11
. At this time, between a tip end of the boss
14
and the inner panel
11
there is provided a predetermined length of spacer
17
for absorbing a gap between the inner panel
11
and the boss
14
.
Meanwhile, when an automobile is laterally crashed and equipped with the handle
13
protruded toward the inner side of the door
10
thus described, shock transmitted to the body of the automobile is transferred to the inner panel
11
and simultaneously to the handle
13
secured thereto, where the handle
13
is pushed into the inside of the automobile by the shock and applies shock to a side of a passenger, aggravating the injury of the passenger.
Therefore, it is preferred to make the boss part
14
with material of less strength in consideration of passenger's safety when an automobile is hit at a side thereof while it is preferred to make the handle
13
with material of higher strength in order to firmly secure the handle
13
to the inner panel
11
of the door
10
.
When the handle
13
is manufactured, above two points should be considered at the same time, which is impossible in reality, such that other countermeasures should be studied than the material of boss part
14
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is disclosed to solve the aforementioned problems and it is an object of the present invention to provide an automobile door handle constructed and designed to enable a boss part for securing a door handle to an inner panel to be broken off by the shock transmitted from a side collision, thereby preventing the shock generated by the side collision from being directly transmitted to a side of a passenger through the handle.
In accordance with the object of the present invention, there is provided an automobile door handle, the handle comprising:
a handle part;
a boss part combined to the handle part and again coupled to a door panel; and strength weakening means for weakening the structural strength of the boss part in order to break the boss part when shock of more than a predetermined size is applied to the boss part, wherein the strength weakening means comprises a notch formed at a predetermined portion lengthwise along the boss part decreasing the thickness of the boss part, and the boss part is formed with a plurality of slots extending lengthwise thereof, each formed at a predetermined space along a circumferential direction thereof.


REFERENCES:
patent: 2325292 (1943-07-01), Westrope
patent: 5181759 (1993-01-01), Doolittle
patent: 5519917 (1996-05-01), Cordnonnier
patent: 5529370 (1996-06-01), Veit
patent: 5531499 (1996-07-01), Vecchio et al.

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