Closure fasteners – Bolts – Swinging
Reexamination Certificate
1998-07-31
2001-09-11
Browne, Lynne H. (Department: 3629)
Closure fasteners
Bolts
Swinging
C292SDIG002, C070S257000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06286878
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to motor vehicle door locks and more particularly to electric locks.
Such locks comprise, as is known, a forked latch intended to interact with a striker, a pawl which normally locks the latch in the closed position, a latch-release mechanism comprising an operating member which experiences an actuating movement in response to actuation of the door handle by the user. The operating member can adopt an active position in which it acts, during its actuating movement, on the pawl in order to place it in the escapement position, and an inhibited position in which, during its actuating movement, it has no effect on the pawl. The lock further comprises an electric device which responds at least to an unlock signal by moving the operating member until it reaches its active position.
Vehicle door lock systems in which the unlock signal is generated by actuation of a lock cylinder are known. In other known systems, this unlock signal is provided by recognition electronics in response to an infrared remote-control or radioelectric remote-control signal produced by the user using an appropriate remote control.
These known systems are not entirely satisfactory because they require the use either of a key or of a remote control, these objects taking up one of the user's hands.
This is why so-called “hands-free access” systems which do not require the use of a key or of a remote control in order to unlock the lock have been proposed. These systems are equipped with recognition electronics fitted with a radio transmitter and designed to be able to dialogue with a radioelectric device incorporated into a wristwatch, a credit card, a badge or the like worn or carried by the user. The recognition electronics do not produce their unlock signal until the correct owner has been identified.
In such systems, the transmission of the unlock signal that operates the electric device, on the one hand, and the actuation of the release mechanism, on the other hand, take place simultaneously.
However, the difference between the relatively long response time of the electric device and the very short response time of the release mechanism is such that the operating member has completed its actuating movement even though it is not yet in the active position, which means that the user's first action on the door handle does not cause the door to open and that the said user has to operate the door handle again in order to open it.
This need to operate the door handle twice is a drawback that the present invention sets out to eliminate.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The subject of the present invention is therefore a motor vehicle door lock comprising: a forked latch intended to interact with a striker; a pawl which normally locks the latch in the closed position and which can adopt an “escapement” position in which it no longer acts on the said latch; a latch-release mechanism comprising an operating member which, on the one hand, can adopt either an active position in which it acts, during its actuating movement, on the pawl to place it in the “escapement” position, or an inhibited position in which, during its actuating movement, it has no effect on the pawl and, on the other hand, may experience an actuating movement in response to actuation of the door handle by the user; and an electric device which responds at least to an unlock signal by moving the operating member from its inhibited position until it reaches its active position, characterized in that the lock further comprises an opening catch-up means which, when the unlock signal is transmitted more or less at the end of the actuating travel of the operating member, brings the pawl into its “escapement” position.
In a first alternative form, in which the operating member is secured to a lever for opening the lock from the outside, the actuating movement of the operating member in response to actuation of the door handle by the user occurs both when the said operating member is in its active position and when it is in its inhibited position. In a second alternative form, in which the operating member is secured to a lever for locking/unlocking the lock, the actuating movement of the operating member in response to actuation of the door handle by the user occurs only when the operating member (
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) is in its active position.
In the first alternative form, advantageously, in a way known per se, the pawl has a peg and the operating member is equipped with a thrust surface and with a recess which are designed such that, when the operating member is in the active position, the thrust surface comes up against and pushes along the said peg during the actuating movement of the operating member until the said pawl has been placed in the “escapement” position, and such that, when the operating member is in the inhibited position, the peg of the pawl, throughout the actuating movement of the said operating member, remains engaged in the said recess so that the operating member has no effect on the pawl.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the opening catch-up means is produced as follows: part of the wall delimiting the recess of the operating member, and the adjacent part of the peripheral surface of the peg of the pawl are shaped and positioned in such a way that they respectively form a cam and a cam follower which interact with one another when the operating member is more or less in the end of actuating movement position, the movement of the said operating member by the electric device until it reaches its active position driving, thanks to the cam action of the part of the wall, the peg of the pawl until the said pawl has been placed in the “escapement” position. Advantageously, the thrust surface is connected directly to that part of the wall that forms the cam.
In the second alternative form, advantageously, in a way known per se, the operating member has a peg and the latch-release mechanism comprises an actuating lever which is equipped with a thrust surface for performing the movement of actuating the operating member in response to actuation of the door handle by the user, the said thrust surface being designed such that, when the operating member is in the active position, the thrust surface comes up against and pushes along the peg, during the actuating movement, in contact with the pawl in order to move it into the escapement position, and such that, when the operating member is in the inhibited position, the thrust surface no longer comes into contact with the peg, so that the operating member has no effect on the pawl.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, the opening catch-up means is produced as follows: the thrust surface of the lever and the adjacent part of the peripheral surface of the peg of the operating member are shaped and positioned in such a way that they respectively form a cam and a cam follower that interact with one another when the actuating lever is more or less in the end of actuating movement position, the movement of the said operating member by the electric device until it reaches its active position driving, thanks to the cam action of the thrust surface, the peg of the operating member until the said pawl has been placed in the “escapement” position.
Advantageously, the peg has a part that projects on each side of the mean plane of the operating member, it being possible for one of the two projecting portions to interact with the thrust surface of the lever, and it being possible for the other projecting portion to interact with a contact surface of the pawl in order to bring it into the “escapement” position.
Thus, thanks to the invention, the door can be opened by operating the door handle just once, and this can be achieved despite the difference there is between the response time of the release mechanism, which is very fast, and that of the electric unlocking device, which is slower.
It is advantageous to envisage that the unlock signal is transmitted by recognition electronics which are electrically powered only when the user exerts action on the door
Girard Joel
Hochart Jean-Philippe
Browne Lynne H.
Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz
Valeo Securite Habitacle
Walsh John B.
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