Door lock apparatus

Details Door lock apparatus Door lock apparatus

2000-12-22

2003-04-22

Brittain, James R. (Department: 3677)

Closure fasteners

Bolts

Swinging

C292S216000, C292SDIG002

Reexamination Certificate

active

06550826

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a door lock apparatus suitable for use in a door lock of a vehicle.
2. Related Art
In the past, a door lock apparatus used in a door lock of a vehicle had a handle mounted on the inside or the outside of a back door for opening and closing thereof, an opener handle provided in proximity to the driver's seat, and an operating member such as a key plate of a key cylinder, so that the initial stage of the opening operation causes the unlocking of the back door lock. More specifically, when the back door in the closed condition is to be opened by a door lock apparatus, first the initial opening operation of the operating member is performed, whereupon the door lock apparatus changes the back door from fully locked condition to the half-locked condition, and then to the open condition, in which the back door lock is disengaged. After that, the back door can be opened by hand.
With a decrease in seal repulsive force caused by back door vertical mounting and the like, a stopped condition on a steep downgrade, and an increase in pull-in force by a gas-loaded stay, when an operator removes his or her hand from the operating member at the initial opening operation of the operating member, the back door can return to the closed condition.
If this condition occurs, with a back door lock apparatus of the past there is return again to either the half-latched condition or the fully latched condition. For this reason, it is necessary to repeat the opening operation from the initial opening operation stage using the operating member, this representing an extremely troublesome reduction in ease of operation.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a door lock apparatus making use of the drive force of a motor that disengages a door lock, thereby lightening the burden on the operator and greatly improving the ease of operation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A door lock apparatus according to the present invention comprises a lock mechanism enabling locking and unlocking of a door, a lock disengaging mechanism which when driven by a motor causes a door lock to be unlocked by the lock mechanism, a first detector detecting that an actuator member for opening and closing the door has been operated, a second detector detecting that the door has been closed to within a prescribed range of closure, and a controller which during a time when the second detector is detecting causes continuous drive of the motor and which stops driving of the motor when the second detector is not detecting.


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