Patent Application
20150345178
The present application is based on Japanese patent application No. 2014-114069 filed on Jun. 2, 2014, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a cylinder lock device configured such that only a rotor is rotated relative to a body when an incorrect key or a foreign object such as screwdriver is inserted.
2. Description of the Related Art
A cylinder lock device for, e.g., a vehicle door, etc., is known, in which a rotor is rotatably arranged inside a cylindrical body and has a key insertion hole formed to extend in an axial direction (see, e.g., JP-A-2007-239242). When a correct key is inserted, each tumbler is disengaged from a sleeve (which corresponds to a first sleeve in the present invention), allowing the rotor and the sleeve to be rotated independently. By the subsequent rotation of the key, a clutch member (which corresponds to a second sleeve in the invention) and a lever member (which corresponds to a holder lever) are rotated together with the rotor and the door is thereby locked/unlocked.
Meanwhile, in case that an incorrect key or a foreign object such as screwdriver is inserted, a freewheel mechanism functions to allow only the rotor and the sleeve to rotate relative to the body. In this cylinder lock device, when the rotor is rotated by a key other than the correct key, the rotor is disengaged from the clutch member to make the rotor and the sleeve rotatable relative to the body and the rotation is thus not transmitted to the lever member.
In the cylinder lock device provided with such a freewheel mechanism, a spring is required to move the rotor, the sleeve, the clutch member and the lever member back to the key neutral position. In addition, since the rotor is not engaged with the lever member when the freewheel mechanism is in operation, a restricting portion is also required to restrict the clutch member and the lever member from moving in a rotation direction. Furthermore, in the conventional configuration, a stopper for the spring is separately provided from the restricting portion for restricting the clutch member and the lever member from rotating and it is thus necessary to increase the size in a radial direction.
It is an object of the invention to provide a cylinder lock device that achieves reduction in radial size thereof.
(1) According to one embodiment of the invention, a cylinder lock device comprises: a body;
a rotor rotatably arranged inside the body;
a first sleeve rotatably arranged between the body and the rotor and comprising a key insertion hole;
tumblers that are provided on the rotor so as to be movable in a radial direction, are engaged with the first sleeve by being pressed radially outward and are disengaged from the first sleeve when a correct key is inserted into the key insertion hole;
a rotatable holder lever arranged to face a side of the rotor opposite to the key insertion side;
sliding members that are arranged between the first sleeve and the body and move in an axial direction toward the holder lever when the first sleeve is relatively rotated by a predetermined angle relative to the body;
a second sleeve that is arranged between the rotor and the holder lever, is axially movable relative to the holder lever and rotates in conjunction with the holder lever, and is disengaged from the rotor when the sliding members move toward the holder lever; and
a biasing member pressing the second sleeve toward the rotor so as to engage the second sleeve with the rotor, the biasing member applying a force in a circumferential direction of the second sleeve or the holder lever,
wherein the body comprises a region that serves both as a stopper against an end portion of the biasing member and as a contact portion for restricting the second sleeve or the holder lever from moving in a rotation direction.
In the above embodiment (1) of the invention, the following modifications and changes can be made.
(i) The biasing member comprises a coil spring, and end portions of the biasing member comprise both ends of the coil spring.
(ii) The contact portion is a notch provided on the second sleeve at a predetermined circumferential position.
(2) According to another embodiment of the invention, a cylinder lock device comprises:
a body;
a rotor rotatably arranged inside the body;
a first sleeve rotatably arranged between the body and the rotor and comprising a key insertion hole;
a rotatable holder lever arranged to face a side of the rotor opposite to the key insertion side;
sliding members that are arranged between the first sleeve and the body and move in an axial direction toward the holder lever when the first sleeve is relatively rotated by a predetermined angle relative to the body;
a second sleeve that is arranged between the rotor and the holder lever, is axially movable relative to the holder lever and rotates in conjunction with the holder lever, and is disengaged from the rotor when the sliding members move toward the holder lever; and
a biasing member pressing the second sleeve toward the rotor so as to engage the second sleeve with the rotor, the biasing member applying a force in a circumferential direction of the second sleeve or the holder lever,
wherein the body comprises a region that serves both as a stopper against an end portion of the biasing member and as a contact portion for restricting the second lever or the holder lever from moving in a rotation direction.
In the above embodiment (2) of the invention, the following modifications and changes can be made.
(iii) The region comprises a protrusion on the body.
(iv) The rotor is engaged with the second sleeve so as to rotate the holder lever according to a rotation of a correct key when the correct key is inserted into the key insertion hole.
(v) The first sleeve allows disengagement between the rotor and the second sleeve so as not to rotate the holder lever according to a rotation of an incorrect key when the incorrect key is inserted into the key insertion hole.
According to one embodiment of the invention, a cylinder lock device that achieves reduction in radial size thereof
Next, the present invention will be explained in more detail in conjunction with appended drawings, wherein:
An embodiment of the invention will be specifically described below in conjunction with the appended drawings.
Configuration of Cylinder Lock Device
As shown in
In detail, as shown in
The body 20 is composed of a cylindrical portion 21a and a front portion 21b. The cylindrical portion 21a houses the rotor 30 and the first sleeve 40, etc. The front portion 21b is a portion to be exposed to a surface a vehicle door, etc., when installing the device. The body 20 is attached and fixed in a state that the cylindrical portion 21a is inserted into an insertion hole of a vehicle door panel, etc., and the front portion 21b is exposed to the surface of the door panel.
The rotor 30 is in a substantially cylindrical shape and has a key insertion hole 31 formed to extend in an axial direction. As shown in
As shown in
Each of the grooves 37 houses a tumbler spring 51 and each tumbler 50 is pressed radially outward by each tumbler spring 51. Engaging grooves 41 to be engaged with a radially outer end portion of each tumbler 50 are formed on the first sleeve 40 and the rotor 30 rotates integrally with the first sleeve 40 when the tumblers 50 pressed radially outward are engaged with the engaging grooves 41. A hole 52 matching a correct key is formed on each tumbler 50. Each tumbler 50 moves in a radial direction along a grove shape of the key inserted into the rotor 30. When the correct key is inserted, all tumblers 50 are separated and disengaged from the first sleeve 40, thereby allowing the rotor 30 and the first sleeve 40 to be rotated independently.
As shown in
The slide bars 70 are each formed in a substantially T-shape and is composed of an axially-extended portion 71 and a circumferentially-extended portion 72. The axially-extended portion 71 extends in an axial direction and is housed in the receiving groove 42. The circumferentially-extended portion 72 is formed at an end portion of the axially-extended portion 71 on the second sleeve 80 side so as to extend in a circumferential direction. Each slide bar 70 moves in an axial direction toward the holder lever 60 when the first sleeve 40 is relatively rotated by a predetermined angle relative to the body 20.
As shown in
The circumferentially-extended portion 72 is in contact with the second sleeve 80 which is pressed by the spring 90. Thus, each slide bar 70, together with the second sleeve 80, is pressed toward the key insertion side. Due to this pressing force, each slide bar 70 is fitted to the recessed portion 23 of the body 20 in the initial state and, when the first sleeve 40 is relatively rotated relative to the body 20 from the initial state, each slide bar 70 is withdrawn from the recessed portion 23 against the pressing force and moves in the axial direction toward the holder lever 60. The axial movement of each slide bar 70 separates the second sleeve 80 from the rotor 30 and the raised portions 36 of the rotor 30 are thereby disengaged from the recessed portions 81 of the second sleeve 80. An end portion of the first sleeve 40 on the second sleeve 80 side is notched so as to correspond to the circumferentially-extended portions 72 of the slide bars 70, as shown in
As shown in
Each of the recessed portions 81 is formed on a surface of the second sleeve 80 on the key insertion side at an inner rim of the receiving hole 82 (see
As shown in
The second sleeve 80 is pressed by the spring 90 toward the rotor 30 in normal use, i.e., when a cylinder lock is operated by a correct key, and the notch 85 can pass through a notched groove (not shown) of the body 20. On the other hand, the second sleeve 80 moves toward the holder lever 60 by being pressed by the slide bars 70 during freewheel operation. In this state, the notch 85 can come into contact with the protrusion 20A of the body 20 in accordance with the rotation.
The spring 90 is a torsion coil spring as a biasing member and is composed of a coiled portion as a compression spring and end portions 90a and 90b each protruding in a radial direction. Thus, the spring 90 functions as a compression spring for pressing the second sleeve 80 toward the rotor 30 and also as a torsion spring for generating a pressing force in a circumferential direction.
As shown in
In addition, as shown in
Meanwhile, as shown
As shown
Operation of Cylinder Lock by Correct Key
When a correct key is inserted into the key insertion hole 31, the tumblers 50 are disengaged from the first sleeve 40, allowing the rotor 30 and the first sleeve 40 to be rotated independently. When the key is rotated in this state, the second sleeve 80 engaged with the rotor 30 rotates together with the holder lever 60 and the lever 100 is rotationally driven, thereby driving the door lock mechanism to lock or unlock the door.
In
When the holder lever 60 is rotated in the L-direction, the end portion 90b of the spring 90 is rotated in the L-direction by the side surface 65b of the protrusion 65 of the holder lever 60. Meanwhile, the end portion 90a of the spring 90 comes into contact with and is stopped by the contact end 20a of the protrusion 20A which is now serving as a stopper. Thus, if the rotation operation is performed in the L-direction, a pressing force (restoring force) in a reverse direction (R-direction) to return to the neutral position shown in
Although the second sleeve 80 is also rotated in the L-direction, the notch 85 passes through the notched groove (not shown) of the body 20 in normal use as previously described and the contact portion 85a of the second sleeve 80 does not come into contact with the contact end 20a of the protrusion 20A of the body 20.
When the door unlock operation is performed by rotating the key in the R-direction, all of the motions described above are performed in the opposite direction.
Operation of Cylinder Lock by Incorrect Key
If an incorrect key or a foreign object such as screwdriver is inserted into the key insertion hole 31, the tumblers 50 are not disengaged from the first sleeve 40 and the rotor 30 still rotates together with the first sleeve 40. When the key is rotated in this state, the first sleeve 40 together with the rotor 30 rotates relative to the body 20, the slide bars 70 move toward the holder lever 60 and the second sleeve 80 is then disengaged from the rotor 30. As a result, even when the key is rotated, only the rotor 30 and the first sleeve 40 rotate but the second sleeve 80 and the holder lever 60 do not rotate.
During freewheel operation, the second sleeve 80 and the holder lever 60 are not coupled to the rotor 30 in a rotation direction. However, since the second sleeve 80 is arranged such that the protrusion 20A of the body 20 is sandwiched between the contact portions 85a and 85b as sidewalls of the notch 85, the second sleeve 80 is restricted from rotating by contact of the contact portions 85a and 85b with the contact ends 20a and 20b of the protrusion 20A. As a result, the second sleeve 80 and the holder lever 60 are kept at the neutral position shown in
In the embodiment of the invention, the following effects are obtained.
(1) As shown in
(2) The downsizing of the cylinder lock device in the radial direction means that the cylindrical portion 21a of the body 20 has a small diameter, which allows the diameter of the insertion hole of the door panel, etc., to be reduced. As such, it is possible to meet the needs of downsizing the cylinder lock device in the radial direction.
(3) The downsizing of the cylinder lock device in the radial direction provides effects such as improvement in degrees of freedom in design around a door handle of the door panel.
Although the cylinder lock device 1 for locking/unlocking a vehicle door has been described as an example of the embodiment, the cylinder lock device 1 may be configured to lock/unlock, e.g., house doors or drawers, etc.
Although the typical embodiment and illustrated examples of the invention have been described, the invention according to claims is not to be limited thereto. It should be therefore noted that all combinations of the features described in the embodiment and illustrated examples are not necessary to solve the problem of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-114069 | Jun 2014 | JP | national |
