Closure fasteners – Operators with knobs or handles
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-27
2004-04-13
Sandy, Robert J. (Department: 3677)
Closure fasteners
Operators with knobs or handles
C292S347000, C292S348000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06719336
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART STATEMENT
The present invention relates to a door handle assembling construction used for an outside handle of, for example, a four-wheel vehicle.
When an outside handle
3
is assembled to a door outer panel
5
of an automobile door as shown in
FIG. 3
, a grip portion
32
of the outside handle
3
is pulled to turn a bell crank
34
, and then is moved to a position in which the bell crank
34
is less liable to interfere with a square hole
5
d
in the door outer panel
5
as shown in
FIGS. 9 and 10
to prevent interference of the bell crank
34
and a counter weight
38
, which constitute a mechanism section of the outside handle
3
, with the door outer panel
5
. At the time of assembling, the worker must always perform a motion of passing the bell crank
34
through the square hole
5
d
while pulling the grip portion
32
.
With this method, the worker must perform the assembling work while maintaining, by hand, a state in which the grip portion
32
is pulled out against the urging force of a spring
35
. Therefore, the worker is forced to keep an unnatural posture and a pulling force. This work is a troublesome work, and thus it brings about an increase in fatigue of worker and a decrease in work efficiency.
In order to decrease the force for pulling out the grip portion
32
to make the work easy to do, it can be thought that the reaction force of the spring
35
is decreased so that the worker can pull out the grip portion
32
easily, thereby reducing the load on the worker.
In some cases, however, the reaction force of the spring
35
is increased so as to improve the sense of heaviness in order to take measures for the improvement in the sense of operation of the outside handle
3
, the improvement in the quality of sound in opening and closing the door, the prevention of opening of door at the time of side impact, and the like. Also, in some cases, the reaction force of the spring
35
is utilized to secure a weight balance between the grip portion
32
and the handle mechanism section
34
,
38
. Thus, there is a tendency to increase the reaction force of the spring
35
according to the conditions, so that it is difficult to decrease the urging force of the spring
35
to a degree such as not to impose a load on the worker.
Also, even if the force for the worker to pull out the grip portion
32
is decreased, the pulling motion itself cannot be eliminated. Also, as described above, the decrease in the reaction force of the spring
35
degrades the quality such as the sense of operation, the quality of sound, and the prevention of opening of door.
As a method for solving the above-described problems, there is available a method in which the outside handle
3
is temporarily fixed by using a separate stopper
8
that does not relate to the function of the outside handle
3
as shown in FIG.
17
. In this method, the stopper
8
is inserted between the grip portion
32
and a case portion
33
by pulling out the outside handle
3
, and the stopper
8
is temporarily fixed by utilizing a force of pulling the grip portion
32
in the direction of F2 by means of the spring
35
, by which a state in which the outside handle
3
is pulled is maintained. The use of this method eliminates the need for decreasing the reaction force of the spring
35
and enables the spring
35
to be set freely.
In this method, however, it is necessary to perform the work for installing the stopper
8
to the outside handle
3
and the work for removing the stopper
8
after the outside handle
3
is assembled to a door
2
. Therefore, the number of work steps increases undesirably. Also, since it is difficult to use the removed stopper
8
for another purpose as a part assembled to the vehicle, the removed stopper
8
must be disposed of or recycled. Therefore, the manpower for waste disposal and management work relating to the vendor is needed. That is to say, the above-described method suffers disadvantages in terms of environment, work manpower, and parts control.
OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a door handle assembling construction in which the cost can be reduced without decreasing the work efficiency.
The present invention provides a door handle assembling construction comprising a grip portion used for a door opening operation, a base portion for installing one end of the grip portion to a door panel, a case portion for installing the other end of the grip portion to the door panel, and an arm portion capable of being brought into and out of the case portion, which is erected on the back face at the other end of the grip portion, the grip portion being subjected to an urging force in the direction such that the arm portion is pulled toward the door inside, and a mechanism section which releases a door latch interlocking with the motion of pulling out the grip portion against the urging force being provided on the case portion, wherein when the arm portion is tilted in the direction different from the direction such as to be pulled toward the door inside after the grip portion is pulled out, the arm portion engages with the case portion and is kept in the pulled-out state, and by returning the arm portion in the direction such as to be pulled toward the door inside, the engagement is released.
The case portion has a wall portion erected on the back face thereof and a protruding portion provided on the wall portion, and the arm portion moves in the wall portion and the tip end thereof engages with the protruding portion on the wall portion.
The arm portion moving in the wall portion is formed into an arcuate shape, the grip portion turns around the base portion when being pulled out, and the protruding portion of the wall portion is provided at a position facing the outer peripheral surface of the arm portion and can be engaged with a corner portion on the outer peripheral surface side of the arm portion.
The protruding portion of the wall portion is provided on a face extending substantially in parallel with the lengthwise direction of the grip portion, and the arm portion is engaged with the protruding portion of the wall portion by tilting the grip portion around the lengthwise axis thereof.
The case portion has a wall portion erected on the back face thereof and a protruding portion provided on the wall portion, and the arm portion moves in the wall portion and is provided with a concave portion capable of being engaged with the protruding portion of the wall portion in the external surface thereof.
The protruding portion of the wall portion is arranged in a pair so as to face each other, and the concave portion of the arm portion is formed in a pair so as to be engaged with the protruding portions.
The present invention provides a door handle assembling construction comprising a grip portion used for a door opening operation, a base portion for installing one end of the grip portion to a door panel, a case portion for installing the other end of the grip portion to the door panel, and an arm portion capable of being brought into and out of the case portion, which is erected on the back face at the other end of the grip portion, the grip portion being subjected to an urging force in the direction such that the arm portion is pulled toward the door inside, and a mechanism section which releases a door latch interlocking with the motion of pulling out the grip portion against the urging force being provided on the case portion, wherein when the arm portion is tilted in the direction different from the direction such as to be pulled toward the door inside after the grip portion is pulled out, the arm portion engages with the case portion and is kept in the pulled-out state, and by returning the arm portion in the direction such as to be pulled toward the door inside, the engagement is released. Therefore, even if a stopper part as in the case of the conventional construction is not used, the work efficiency is not decreased, and the cost can be reduced.
If the case portion has a wall por
Alston & Bird LLP
Lugo Carlos
Sandy Robert J.
Suzuki Motor Corporation
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