Locks – Special application – For automotive vehicles
Patent
1998-12-28
2000-08-08
Gall, Lloyd A.
Locks
Special application
For automotive vehicles
70255, 70264, 70DIG30, E05B 6536
Patent
active
060984325
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention pertains to a lock which is used in particular as a rear lock in the trunk lid of a motor vehicle. In this lock, the cylinder core of the lock cylinder can be rotated by a properly fitting key out of a neutral position, which is determined by a pulse spring, into any one of three different working positions. After rotation in a pulse-wise manner into a first working position, called the "unsecured" position, the lock can be opened by the operation of a handle. In this position, an active connection between the lock and the handle is established. This does not apply to the second and third working positions, called the "secured" and the "safe-secured" or simply "safe" positions, respectively. In these cases, the handle is inoperative, for which reason the lock does not move when the handle is actuated. In the neutral position, a key can be inserted into the cylinder core and removed again; its pulse spring automatically returns the cylinder core to this neutral position from the unsecured or secured position. A key can also be inserted and removed in the safe position, in which the cylinder core remains after it has been rotated by the key.
The rotation of the cylinder core of the lock into the various working positions is reported to a central locking device, referred to in abbreviated form below as the "CL" device. The CL device acts on other locks on the motor vehicle, which are controlled in a corresponding manner. The locking mechanisms provided for these additional locks are rendered operative or inoperative by the CL device in the same way. But when the lock is in its safe position, the CL device cannot bring it back again into the unsecured position (in which the handle can be used to open the associated lock) when a key is used to actuate the cylinder core of any of the other locks.
When a key is used to rotate the cylinder core, a switch actuator is moved as well; as this actuator moves from the neutral position to the secured position or from the neutral position to the unsecured position, it actuates a microswitch. In each case, this microswitch initiates specific additional functions in the motor vehicle; for example, it can initiate the previously mentioned control function of the CL device or turn an electrical anti-theft warning system on or off. When the cylinder core is rotated beyond the secured position and into the safe position, the switch actuator moves to the other side of the microswitch, where, in the case of the known lock, it is held. Therefore, as already mentioned, the locking mechanism belonging to this lock remains blocked in the safe position, because the handle is inoperative. When, in the known lock, a key is used to rotate the cylinder core out of the safe position and back into the neutral position, so that the key can be removed again in the neutral position, the cylinder core passes through the secured position again on its return route, and the switch actuator actuates the microswitch again. As a result, the functions associated with the secured position are initiated yet again, such as, for example, the turning-on of the anti-theft warning system, the blocking of the locking mechanism, and the blocking of the CL device. In the case of the known lock, this can lead not only to inconvenient situations but also to dangerous ones.
A dangerous situation can result in the case of a vehicle with an array of locks on the doors and on the tailgate, which can be controlled from a central location by the CL device. Whereas the locks on the doors have three working positions (neutral position, secured position, an unsecured position), the lock for the tailgate can also be moved into the previously mentioned safe position; in the case being assumed here, this is the position in which it is supposed to remain. When a key is then used in one of the locks to change the locks on the doors into the unsecured position by way of the CL device, the lock on the tailgate remains in the safe position. When, finally, a key is used to turn the lock o
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Gall Lloyd A.
Huf Hulsbeck & Furst GmbH & Co. KG
Kueffner Friedrich
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