Movable or removable closures – Operator interrelated with closure latch release – Motor driven
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-13
2003-11-25
Strimbu, Gregory J (Department: 3634)
Movable or removable closures
Operator interrelated with closure latch release
Motor driven
C049S360000, C292S341160
Reexamination Certificate
active
06651387
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a locking controller mounted inside a sliding door, and more particularly, to a locking controller of a sliding door, which is operated in connection with an inner handle turned into the door opening direction or into the door closing direction to control a gripped condition of an door-open maintaining means or a door-close maintaining means.
2. Description of the Related Art
A sliding door mounted on a van type car is in a sliding type that it slides in the back and forth direction of a car body along the side surface of the car body to be opened or shut. Therefore, passengers can get in or off the car easily and the opening and shutting of the door is not interfered from the surroundings even in a small area.
Identically with a general hinged door, the conventional sliding door includes a door-close maintaining means for maintaining a closed state of the door, a locking controller connected to the door-close maintaining means to control the operation of the door-close maintaining means, inner handle assembly and outer handle assembly connected to the locking controller to release the door from the closed state, and a door locking knob connected to the locking controller for controlling the locking controller to lock the door in the closed state. If the door opened is closed, the door is automatically fastened by the door-close maintaining means not to be opened. When inner and outer handles are operated in the state that the door is closed, the door-close maintaining means is released to open the closed door. When the door locking knob is operated, the door is not opened even though the inner and outer handles are operated in the state that the door is closed.
However, in the conventional sliding door, if the door is opened in the state that the car is parked on a slanted road surface, the door is automatically closed while sliding by self-weight, thereby the passenger may be injured by the automatically closed door. To prevent the problem, the passengers must hold the opened door.
To solve the problem, a method for installing a door-open maintaining means inside the sliding door to maintain the open state of the door has been disclosed and widely used. Moreover, the locking controller, the inner handle and the outer handle have been under study in many directions to control the operation of the door-open maintaining means.
For an example, a sliding door control assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,363 assigned to Chrysler Corporation. In such sliding door control assembly, if the outer handle is pulled, the door-open maintaining means and the door-close maintaining means are simultaneously released. If the passenger grasps the inner handle and presses a button mounted on the inner handle, the door-open maintaining means and the door-close maintaining means are simultaneously released.
In case of the outer handle, as the passenger, who stands outside, operates the outer handle, the operation of the handle is natural. However, in case of the inner handle, as the passenger must slide the door to open or shut in a small area of the inside of the car while grasping the inner handle with one hand and pressing the button, thereby it is very difficult and complicate in releasing the sliding door.
For another example, a method that the door-open maintaining means and the door-close maintaining means are released simultaneously when the inner handle is pulled in the same way as the outer handle has been also disclosed and used. However, the method is more complicate in releasing the sliding door than the sliding door control assembly disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,363.
Therefore, to solve the above problem, an attempt has been made as follows. The inner handle is mounted on a housing of an inner handle assembly in such a manner that the inner handle rotates in both directions, and is resiliently returned to a neutral position by an inner handle operation controlling means, and thereby when the inner handle is turned into the door opening direction or into the door closing direction, the inner handle is turned from the neutral position to the door opening direction or the door closing direction, such that the door-open maintaining means and the door-close maintaining means are released.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a locking controller of a sliding door, which is operated in connection with an inner handle resiliently returned to a neutral position while turned into a door opening direction or into a door closing direction, thereby controlling a gripped condition of a door-open maintaining means or a door-close maintaining means.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a locking controller of a sliding door comprising: a housing having a plurality of coupling parts and guide holes; an inner handle link connected to the inner handle through the medium of a power transmission member such as a rod and a link, the inner handle link being rotatably fixed to the housing in both directions on a hinge shaft (F); an operation controlling link rotatably fixed to the housing on the hinge shaft (F), the operation controlling link being rotated in a clockwise direction by the inner handle link when being rotated in the clockwise direction of the inner handle link, the operation controlling link being returned to the original position by the restitutive force of a spring;
a link for a door-close maintaining means connected to the door-close maintaining means through the medium of the power transmission member such as the rod and the link, the link for the door-close maintaining means being rotatably fixed to the housing on the hinge shaft, the link for the door-close maintaining means being selectively connected to the operation controlling link through the medium of a door locking means connected to the operation controlling link to be rotated in the clockwise direction when being rotated in the clockwise direction of the inner handle link, the link for the door-close maintaining means being returned to the original position by the operation controlling link;
a link for a door-open maintaining means rotatably fixed to the housing on a hinge shaft (M), the link for the door-open maintaining means being connected to the door-open maintaining means through the medium of another power transmission member such as a cable, the link for the door-open maintaining means being rotated in the clockwise direction by the inner handle link when being rotated in a counterclockwise direction of the inner handle link, the link for the door-open maintaining means be returned to the original position by the restitutive force of another spring;
an outer handle means directly connected to the outer handle or indirectly connected to the outer handle through the medium of a separate power transmission member, the outer handle means being connected to the operation controlling link and the link for the door-open maintaining means, wherein if the outer handle is pulled or turned back, the outer handle means rotates the operation controlling link and the link for the door-open maintaining means to release the door-close maintaining means and the door-open maintaining means from a gripped state; and a door locking means connected to a door locking knob through the medium of another power transmission member such as a rod and a link, the door locking means being rotatbly mounted on the housing, the door locking means being connected to the operation controlling link in a movable manner to selectively stop the power transmission to the link for the door-close maintaining means from the operation controlling link.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4617757 (1986-10-01), Kagiyama et al.
patent: 4848031 (1989-07-01), Yamagishi et al.
patent: 5605363 (1997-02-01), Kapes
patent: 6032987 (2000-03-01), Fukumoto et al.
patent: 6176528 (2001-01-01), Taga
patent: 6223468 (2001-05-01), Kobayashi
patent: 6276743 (2001-08-01), Jyawook et al.
patent: 6332634 (2001-12-01), Fukum
Davis & Bujold PLLC
Kia Motors Corporation
Strimbu Gregory J
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