Closure fasteners – Knobs
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-04
2003-02-25
Lavinder, Jack (Department: 3683)
Closure fasteners
Knobs
C292S350000, C292S352000, C292SDIG004
Reexamination Certificate
active
06523871
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a motor vehicle opening-leaf handle including improved means for immobilizing an external element.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates more particularly to a motor vehicle opening-leaf handle, of the type in which the opening leaf has an internal space delimited by two panels, inner and outer, which are connected by an edge panel, of the type in which the handle includes a handle support which is arranged in the interior space of the opening leaf, and of the type in which an external element of the handle is equipped with an attachment tang which is engaged transversely inward through an orifice formed in the outer panel, to be secured to the handle support and thus attach the external element.
A motor vehicle handle may include various types of element arranged on the outside of the bodywork panel. In the case of a particularly simple handle, this may be a simple fixed bar for grasping, by means of which the user can move the opening leaf between an open position and a closed position.
It may also be a body intended to take a lock for locking a lock of the opening leaf, this body including an external part which, on the one hand, allows access to the lock, so that a key can be inserted, and which, on the other hand, esthetically integrates the lock.
Furthermore, the external element may also be an element which plays a part in attaching the handle to the opening leaf.
The attachment of such an element raises numerous problems.
For esthetic reasons, it is desirable that the means of attaching this external element should not be visible from outside the vehicle. Now, the support for attaching the handle is generally arranged in a place in the opening leaf which is not readily accessible, particularly once the opening leaf has been completely assembled and the interior door linings have been fitted. Specifically, the attachment support is generally arranged inside a closed box section of the opening leaf delimited, in particular, by the inner and outer panels.
When the desire is for the external element not to be fitted until the last moment of assembling the opening leaf or when the desire is for this element to be removable, for example to carry out repairs to the outer bodywork panel, it is then advantageous to be able to have easy access to the means of attachment of the external element.
To this end, the invention proposes a motor vehicle opening-leaf handle, of the type in which the opening leaf has an internal space delimited by two panels, inner and outer, which are connected by an edge panel, of the type in which the handle includes a handle support which is arranged in the interior space of the opening leaf, and of the type in which an external element of the handle is equipped with an attachment tang which is engaged transversely inward through an orifice formed in the outer panel, to be secured to the handle support and thus attach the external element, which handle includes a member for immobilizing the attachment tang, the immobilizing member being mounted so that it can move on the handle support and being maneuvered between an unlocked position and an immobilizing position by a maneuvering mechanism which can be manipulated through an opening made in the edge panel of the opening leaf.
According to other features of the invention:
the immobilizing member is mounted so that it can slide in the support in a direction perpendicular to the transverse direction of engagement of the external element, and the immobilizing member includes at least one lug which, in the immobilizing position, is housed in a complementary housing in the tang of the external element to prevent the possibility of the external element being extracted transversely outward;
the lug and the housing collaborate via two complementary surfaces which are inclined with respect to the transverse direction of engagement of the external element and with respect to the direction of sliding of the immobilizing member so that, when the immobilizing member is brought into its immobilizing position, the external element is urged transversely inward by the lug of the immobilizing member;
the tang of the external element is guided in sliding in the transverse direction in the handle support;
the immobilizing member has the shape of a U-shaped yoke with two parallel longitudinal branches connected at their rear end by a base which runs at right angles to the two branches and at right angles to the transverse direction, the yoke is introduced longitudinally from front to rear as far as a forward unlocked position, into a complementary slideway arranged at the rear of the support, and the yoke is brought by the maneuvering means longitudinally rearward as far as its immobilizing position in which the lugs formed at the front ends of each branch are engaged in corresponding housings in the tang of the external element, the latter then being housed between the two longitudinal branches of the immobilizing yoke;
the handle support includes means for prepositioning the immobilizing member which, while the handle is being fitted, hold it in its unlocked position;
the maneuvering means consist of a threaded rod of longitudinal axis which is screwed into the base of the yoke, the front end of which bears against a surface which is longitudinally fixed, and the rear end of which exhibits a socket which complements that of a manipulating tool which can be introduced through the opening in the edge panel of the opening leaf;
the threaded rod rests against a lateral surface of the tang of the external element;
the external element forms a locking body which plays a part in attaching the handle to the opening leaf;
the external element forms a fixed element for grasping by means of which a user may bring the opening leaf from a closed position into an open position; and
the external element forms a case intended to house a latch.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2102714 (1937-12-01), Jakeway
patent: 2322275 (1943-06-01), Birdsall et al.
patent: 2761721 (1956-09-01), Jakeway
patent: 4883296 (1989-11-01), Laurie
patent: 6234548 (2001-05-01), Mittelbach et al.
patent: 6239693 (2001-05-01), Benard et al.
patent: 30 30 519 (1982-02-01), None
patent: 0 276 972 (1988-08-01), None
patent: 0 681 075 (1995-11-01), None
patent: 0 728 885 (1996-08-01), None
Lavinder Jack
Morgan & Finnegan , LLP
Valeo Securite Habitacle
Williams Thomas J.
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