Automobile Locking Apparatus

This invention relates to an automobile locking apparatus.

The prior art automobile locking apparatus has the problem that its component parts make unpleasant noises every time vibrations of the vehicle occur. In order to overcome said problem, the present invention uses the simple means of a base body made of synthetic resins, and including shafts or tubes extending from said base body to which said component parts are fitted.

In many key-less door locking apparatus of the prior art, a ratchet which is engaged with a latch, is used not under compressive stress but under tensile stress to prevent a reversal of rotation of a latch.

Namely, to prevent a reversal of rotation of a latch, a pawl equipped with a ratchet is engaged with a notch of the latch, thus preventing reversal of rotation of a latch. Structures such as above, however, have the disadvantage of tensile stress.

But by the novel structure mentioned hereinafter, a ratchet can be used under compressive stress.

It is the primary object of this invention to provide an automobile locking apparatus which component parts, for example, latch, ratchet and release lever, can easily be fitted therein without said parts loosening.

It is another object of this invention to provide an automobile locking apparatus being entirely simple in construction.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an automobile locking apparatus being small in size, light, solid, compact and economical on account of its component parts being small, adding that which causes surer power transmission.

An embodiment in accordance with the present invention a ratchet is used under tensile stress will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of an automobile locking apparatus made according to one of the embodiments of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view of said apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a back view of a base body which forms part of said apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV--IV in FIG. 3, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 5 is an exploded view similar to FIG. 3 but showing how a locking lever can be fitted on a base body on which a release lever and a link are already fitted;

FIG. 6 is a back view of a base body on which a release lever, a link and a locking lever are already fitted;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of said release lever;

FIG. 8 is a vertical sectional view of said release lever;

FIG. 9 is a back view of said release lever;

FIG. 10 is a back view of said link;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of said link, a portion of the element being cut away;

FIG. 12 is a back view of said locking lever;

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of said locking lever;

FIG. 14 is an exploded sectional view of said locking lever and part of said base body;

FIG. 15 is an exploded view of said base body, and a latch, spring and ratchet;

FIG. 16 is an assembly view of said base body, latch, spring and ratchet;

FIG. 17 is an explanatory view showing said latch and ratchet in a semi-locked position with respect to a striker;

FIG. 18 is an explanatory view showing said latch and ratchet in a fully locked position with respect to a striker;

FIG. 19 is a front view of a metallic portion of said latch;

FIG. 20 is a perspective view of said metallic portion;

FIG. 21 is a front view of a resilient covering of said latch;

FIG. 22 is a perspective view of said resilient covering;

FIG. 23 is a back view showing said release lever and link in an unlocked position;

FIG. 24 is an explanatory view showing said release lever and link operated to open a door;

FIG. 25 is an explanatory view showing a sill-knob pushed after operating a door to open;

FIG. 26 is an explanatory view showing said locking lever in an unlocked position;

FIG. 27 is an explanatory view showing said locking lever in a locked position;

FIG. 28 is a perspective view of said base body; and

FIG. 29 is an explanatory view showing said base body, release lever and link being fitted therein.

As illustrated in its entirety in FIGS. 1 and 2, the numeral 1 denotes the base body made of synthetic resins according to this invention. Said body 1 is shown vertically as it appears when mounted within a door, and has metallic cover plate 2 and back plate 3, respectively, mounted at front and back sides thereon. Admission part 5 for striker 4 is formed in a slight upper portion from a longitudinal center of said body 1. To form said admission part, a raised portion 6 is provided on a back side of body 1, in FIG. 3. Release lever 7 and locking lever 9 are well arranged in the back side of said body below the admission part, in FIG. 5. On a front side of said body, the base body has a recess 12 which receives latch 10 and ratchet 11 for preventing the reversal of rotation of said latch. As shown in FIG. 16, relation of said latch and ratchet is almost one above the other. The numeral 13 denotes the shaft which is used in order to pivotally mount latch 10 through body 1, and which is inserted into an axial hole 14 formed in body 1. The synthetic resinous base body has sleeve 15 made by injection molding on a back side of hole 14. Accordingly, when shaft 13 is inserted into sleeve 15 and supported by the sleeve, said latch can be fitted within recess 12 without their loosening. In the same way, ratchet 11 can be fitted within recess 12 witout their loosening, because said ratchet is supported by a shaft 46 inserted into synthetic resinous sleeve 16 extending from base body outwardly. FIG. 5 shows how the locking lever 9 can be fitted with base body 1 with which release lever 7 and link 8 are already fitted. As shown in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9, sleeve 17 is made by press forging in an almost horizontal center of the release lever. Namely, release lever 7 and link 8 are made by punching a metallic plate, such as iron plate or brass plate. However, when release lever 7 is punched, the axial hole 18 and surrounding metallic sleeve 17 of release lever 7 are made by deep-drawing. Accordingly, when release lever 7 is mounted to base body 1, deep-drawn sleeve 17 of said lever fits well with synthetic resinous sleeve 15 of body 1, so that said lever is well seated within said body without loosening. As best shown in FIG. 27, torsion coil spring 30 always applies a downward force to the end b, and an upward force to the end a of release lever 7, and a portion of end a is stopped against a cushion mounted in raised portion 6. Said end a is connected with a rod coupled to a door knob (not shown in FIGS.). Link 8 is also made by press forging and as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 includes an axial hole 19 in its upper end portion, an arched guide slot 21 in its other end portion, an opening 48 in the middle of it, and abutting bits 22 and 47 bent at a right angle to it at said opening. Opening 48, which the projection 29 on ratchet 11 can be slidably moved through, is formed between bits 22 and 47.

As shown in FIGS. 12, 13 and 14, the locking lever 9 made of a synthetic resinous material includes, in its middle, a sleeve 23 similar to sleeve 17 formed on release lever 7, said sleeve 23 being well fitted with the outside of sleeve 16 extending from the body 1. However, said locking lever is made of synthetic resins, so that sleeve 23 is formed not by deep-drawing, but by injection molding. A mountain-shaped abutment member 24 is formed in the left side of lever 9, with the top of member 24 facing toward sleeve 23. The numerals 25 and 26 denote abutment sides formed in both sides of the top of said member 24 respectively. The locking lever 9 is equipped with an injection molded projection 27 engaged within the arched guide slot 21 formed in the link 8 (FIG. 23). When the locking lever is fitted with the body, end 20 formed in the link is sandwiched between the lever 9 and the body. The body has a connective opening 28 therethrough, in FIG. 28, and projection 29 extends from ratchet 11 through said opening 28 to the opposite side. Locking lever 9 as shown in FIGS. 26 and 27, moves between its unlocked position and locked position. In FIG. 23, it shows the positions of the link 8 and release lever 7 when locking lever 9 is in its unlocked position, and the door is opened. When said situation exists the locking lever cannot be turned around from unlocked to locked position. Namely, abutting bit 47 on the link 8 is engaged with projection 29, so that the link 8 cannot be turned counter-clockwise, and the locking lever 9 cannot be moved into locked position. Though the locking lever can be moved into its locked position by doing the next thing. That is, by moving the end a of release lever 7 downwardly and placing projection 29 in the interspace 48, in FIG. 23, end 20 of link 8 can be moved rightwardly and locking lever 9 can be turned and moved into its locked position.

Referring to FIGS. 26 and 27, torsion coil spring 30 for holding the locking lever is illustrated. One end of said spring is connected with an abutting bit 31, the other end 32 being shaped as a wedge is engaged with the mountain-shaped abutment member 24 on lever 9. Latch 10, which is seated within recess 12 on body 1, includes a groove 33 engagable with striker 4, and a semi-locked portion or notch 35, and a full locked portion or surface 36 engaged with supporting member 34 of ratchet 11 in FIG. 18. Numeral 37 denotes a covering of resilient material made of rubber or so forth, which covers at least the abutment sides 38 and 39 of the groove 33 of latch 10 which are engagable by striker 4 and also covers the abutment sides 40 and 41 of the notch or semi-locked portion 35. In the drawings numeral 43 denotes a portion of the covering 37 corresponding to abutment side 39 of latch 10, numeral 44 denotes a portion of the covering corresponding to abutment side 40 of latch 10, and numeral 45 denotes a portion of the covering corresponding to abutment side 41 of latch 10.

This locking apparatus operates as follows:

In the situation where the associated door is opened, projection 29 of ratchet 11 is positioned as shown in FIG. 23, and bit 47 of link 8 is engaged by projection 29 via said spring 30. In accordance with said engagement, the end 20 of link 8 cannot be moved rightwardly in FIG. 23, so that locking lever 9, which is engaged with link 8 by projection 27, also cannot be moved into its locking position as shown in FIG. 27. By means of this function, it is possible to prevent the mislaying of the key inside of a car by unconsiously pushing the sill-knob connected with the right end of locking lever 9 (key-less locking apparatus). When operation of the handle of the door that is connected with the end a of release lever 7 is complete, in short, pushing the end a of release lever downwardly, the engagement between bit 47 and projection 29 is separated as shown in FIG. 24, and the projection can be moved through the interspace 48. Accordingly, the locking lever now can be easily moved into its locking position by pushing the sill-knob. When with the locking lever 9 in its locking position, the door is closed, striker 4 is engaged with groove 33 of the latch, in FIGS. 16 to 18, and supporting member 34 of the ratchet is engaged with the full locked portion 36, and this engagement of member 34 prevents the reversal of rotation of the latch. In this case, the structure of this apparatus is very strong, because ratchet 11 is used under the compressive stress (force of compressing the ratchet). Locking lever 9, which is positioned in its locking position of FIG. 27, is held in its position by the wedge-shaped end of spring 32 holding the abutment side 25 of locking lever. Though link 8 is moved downwardly resulting in release lever being rotated clockwise, latch 10 cannot be free from ratchet 11 for the sake of abutting bit 22 being shifted out of registry with projection 29. Finally, the lock is accomplished.

Considering the shafts used for pivotally mounting the latch and ratchet of prior art automobile locking apparatus, such shafts usually are fixed to a metallic cover plate at both sides of base body and extend through the body. There is nothing but the shaft passing through the body.

In this invention, however, there are the integral sleeves 15 and 16 which are made by a one-piece molding on the back side of body 1, and said sleeves pivotally support the shafts 13 and 46 that are used for pivotally mounting the latch and ratchet, respectively. Owing to this structure, component parts are well fitted with the base body without their loosening.

This invention also utilizes release lever 7 and locking lever 9 which are also fitted around said sleeves 15 and 16, respectively. Thus, said sleeves 15 and 16 support not only shafts 13 and 46, but also release lever 7 and locking lever 9.

In most part of prior art automobile key-less locking devices, the ratchet preventing the reversal of rotation of the latch has been used under tensile rather than compressive stress. In short, prior constructions where the reversal of rotation of the latch is prevented by engaging a ratchet pawl in a groove of a latch has the disadvantage of stress.

It is possible, however, with the construction of this invention that the base body be vertically mounted within a door, so that latch 10 is mounted in the upper portion of body 1, and ratchet 11 in its lower portion, and the ratchet 11 is thus engageable with latch 10 under compressive stress. By means of the above construction, this apparatus can be made at least as small as any conventional apparatus.