Closure fasteners – Bolts – Swinging
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-16
2002-12-24
Knight, Anthony (Department: 3626)
Closure fasteners
Bolts
Swinging
C292S201000, C292SDIG002
Reexamination Certificate
active
06497436
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention concerns a motor vehicle door lock with mechanical or electric control of opening and/or locking/unlocking.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
In some known motor vehicle door locks, when the lock is in its locked state and an outside door handle is lifted before the unlocking information has been passed to the lock, the outside opening lever connected to the handle can block the unlocking mechanism, preventing opening of the lock. For example, in the case of such a lock with electric locking/unlocking, in a situation in which a passenger of the vehicle “panics” and tries to open a door by lifting the outside handle before the driver has been able to send a unlocking signal by means of his remote control, the electric lock motors unlock the locks in the other doors whose handles have not been touched, whereas the door whose handle is held in lifted position remains locked.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The prime purpose of the invention is to propose a motor vehicle door lock that provides an unlocking function of the lock even when a part of the lock blocks the lock's kinematic opening chain.
For this purpose, a first object of the invention is a motor vehicle door lock including an outside opening lever able to open the lock under the action of outside opening means such as a handle or outside door finger-plate, a locking lever able to move a disengageable interconnecting link between an engaged position in which the outside opening lever can cooperate, during its opening travel, with said interconnecting link to open the lock, and a disengaged position in which the opening travel of the outside opening lever does not interfere with said interconnecting link, which prevents opening of the lock, characterized in that it includes at least one blocking part able to block the movement of said interconnecting link when this link is in its disengaged position, and anti-panic means positioned between said locking lever and said interconnecting link to enable, on the one hand, movement of said interconnecting link by said locking lever, when said blocking part is at rest, and on the other hand, movement of said locking lever to its unlocked position when said blocking part is in its position blocking said interconnecting link, the unlocking energy resulting from the movement of the unlocking lever being stored by said anti-panic means to automatically trigger the movement of said interconnecting link to its engaged position as soon as said blocking part returns to its rest position.
In a particular embodiment, said anti-panic means include two distinct locking actuators whose respective movements are connected by elastic interconnection means, the first locking actuator cooperating with the locking lever and the second locking actuator cooperating with said interconnecting link, so that, on the one hand, the movement of the locking lever, when said part is at rest, causes movement of the interconnecting link via the two locking actuators, and on the other hand, the movement of the locking lever to its unlocked position, when said blocking part blocks the interconnecting link and the second locking actuator, causes both movement of the first locking actuator and elastic deformation of said elastic interconnection means which store the unlocking energy, the return of said blocking part to its rest position releasing the interconnecting link which then moves to its engaged position under the action of the second locking actuator moving under the elastic action of the elastic interconnection means.
The two locking actuators are preferably mounted pivoting on the same axis and are rotationally linked together by a torsion spring constituting said elastic interconnection means.
Advantageously, the outside opening lever constitutes a blocking part that can block the interconnecting link, said outside opening lever being able at the end of its opening travel to block said interconnecting link in its disengaged position.
According to another characteristic of the invention, the lock includes a superlocking lever cooperating with said anti-panic means, so as to block, in the superlocked position, the movement of the interconnecting link in its disengaged position, and to allow the movement of the locking lever to its unlocked position, said anti-panic means storing the unlocking energy resulting from the movement of the locking lever to automatically trigger the movement of said interconnecting link to its engaged position, when the superlocking lever returns to its rest position, said superlocking lever constituting a part that can block the interconnecting link.
In this case, one can arrange that the superlocking lever, in its superlocked position, is able to block the movement of said second locking actuator, so that the movement of the locking lever to its unlocked position causes both movement of said first locking actuator and elastic deformation of the elastic interconnection means, the return of the superlocking lever to its rest position releasing the second locking actuator which, under the elastic action of the elastic interconnection means, can move the interconnecting link to its engaged position.
Advantageously, the superlocking lever is able to block, in its superlocked position, the rotation of the second locking actuator to its unlocked position, whereas said second locking actuator is able to block, in its unlocked position, the movement of the superlocking lever to its superlocked position.
In a particular embodiment, the lock includes an electric superlocking control motor cooperating, via a gear train, with a toothed sector on the superlocking lever.
Advantageously, the locking lever cooperates with an inside locking lever, connected for example to a fascia pullrod, and with an electric locking/unlocking control motor via a gear train. For a front door lock, the locking lever also cooperates with an outside locking lever, connected for example to a lock barrel, the outside locking lever cooperating with the superlocking lever to move it to its rest position when the outside locking lever is moved to its unlocked position.
According to another characteristic, the interconnecting link cooperates with an inside opening lever such that, in the engaged position of said interconnecting link, the inside opening lever is able to cause the opening of the lock via the interconnecting link, and in the disengaged position of the interconnecting link, the opening travel of the inside opening lever does not interfere with said interconnecting link.
For the fabrication of motor vehicle door locks, it is common to make several separate modules or compartments that are then assembled to form the complete lock. These compartments or modules generally hold restraining parts, kinematic parts, and if need be electrical lock controls.
The second purpose of the invention is to propose a motor vehicle door lock which includes a new arrangement of the compartments or modules of the lock, to facilitate its final assembly and reduce the fabrication costs.
For this purpose, the second object of the invention is a motor vehicle door lock characterized in that it includes a first module which includes a retention compartment containing the restraining parts of the lock, notably a striker-retaining latch-bolt and a pawl that holds said latch-bolt in at least one position restraining the striker, and in which part of the kinematic opening/locking chain of the lock is mounted on a mounting face of said first module, on the opposite side from said retention compartment; and that it also includes a second module on which is mounted the other part of the kinematic opening/locking chain of the lock, said second module fitting on said first module on the same side as said mounting face; and that it also includes a casing that covers said second module and the mounting face of said first module, said first and second modules and said casing being assembled by connecting means.
The connecting means are advantageously constituted by at least two pins or shouldered screws that
D'Almeida José
DeBlock Luc
Sannier Jean
Knight Anthony
Morgan & Finnegan , LLP
Valeo Securite Habitacle
Williams Mark
LandOfFree
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