The present application claims priority to and incorporates by reference the entire contents of Japanese Patent Application No. 2012-090442 filed in Japan on Apr. 11, 2012.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a latch device for vehicle used for a door, a rear door, a trunk lid, a seat back, a seat cushion, and the like of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A latch device for a vehicle, which is provided in a door and the like of a vehicle and locks the door, is typically configured from a meshing mechanism that includes a metal plate-like latch capable of engaging a striker at a car body side and a metal plate-like latchet that prevents rotation of the latch by meshing with the latch. In such a meshing mechanism, an abutting sound occurs due to abutting of metals when the latch abuts on the latchet. Therefore, it is desired to reduce the abutting sound.
For example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2009-41289 discloses a configuration in which a resin portion is provided in a slantly-crossed-belt-shaped manner by molding a resin material in such a way as to be embedded in a band-like groove portion formed in an approximately center part of a latchet in a plate-thickness direction, and this resin portion is caused to function as a buffer, so that an abutting sound occurring when the latchet abuts on a meshing surface of a latch is reduced. Also, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2002-276228 discloses a configuration in which a resin material is protruded from both sides of a meshing surface by covering both side parts of the latchet in a plate-thickness direction with the resin material, and this protruded portion is caused to function as a buffer, so that an abutting sound is reduced.
In the above-described configuration in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2009-41289, it is possible to reduce the abutting sound by the resin portion that functions as the buffer when the latch meshes with the latchet. However, because this resin portion is bridged across the center part of the latchet in a slantly-crossed-belt-shaped manner, there is a possibility that the resin material gradually turns up and peels off as the meshing between the latch and the latchet is repeated, and thus, it is necessary to prevent the turning up by increasing the thickness of the buffer. Therefore, it is necessary to deeply form the groove portion of the latchet, and this leads to a problem in machining the groove portion. Also, a similar problem may be caused in the above-described configuration in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2002-276228, and there is a possibility that the resin portion that wraps the both side parts of the latchet turns up and peels off.
The present invention has been made in view of the foregoing, and a purpose of the invention is to provide a latch device for a vehicle capable of reducing an abutting sound of a latch and a latchet for a long period of time.
It is an object of the present invention to at least partially solve the problems in the conventional technology.
A latch device for vehicle according to the present invention includes: a latch configured to hold and engage with a striker; and a latchet configured to maintain an engagement condition between the striker and the latch by meshing with the latch. Between a meshing surface of the latch and a meshing surface of the latchet that mesh with each other, one meshing surface is formed narrower than the other meshing surface. A supporting member is arranged at a side of the latch or the latchet having the one meshing surface narrower than the other meshing surface with a gap provided between a side face of the latch or the latchet and the supporting member, and an end face of the supporting member is provided at a lower position than the one meshing surface. A periphery of the supporting member including the end face is covered with a resin material and the gap is filled up with the resin material, and an exterior surface of the resin material covering the end face is provided at a higher position than the one meshing surface, so that the exterior surface is formed as a buffer capable of abutting on the other meshing surface.
With such a configuration, when the latch meshes with the latchet, the buffer formed of the resin material is provided at a side of one of meshing surfaces, and this buffer firstly abuts on the other meshing surface of the latch or the latchet, whereby an abutting sound at the time of meshing can be reduced. At this time, because the periphery of the supporting member provided at the side of the latch or the latchet having the one meshing surface is covered with the resin material and the gap is filled up with the resin material; the resin material is firmly fixed and held, and the turning up or peeling off of the resin material can be prevented even if the meshing operation between the latch and the latchet is repeated; and the abutting sound can be reduced for a long period of time. Furthermore, because the end face of the supporting member is provided inside the exterior surface of the resin material that serves as the buffer, excessive bending of the resin material (the exterior surface) at the time of meshing can be prevented, so that the peeling off of the resin material can be further securely prevented.
The one meshing surface is a meshing surface of the latchet, and the supporting member is integrally fixed to the side of the latchet, whereby the supporting member can be configured as a part of the latchet lever that causes the latchet to rotate. Therefore, it is unnecessary to provide the latchet with a separate supporting member, thus a simple structure can be realized.
The latchet and the latchet lever may be integrally covered with the resin material at least under a condition that the meshing surface of the latchet is exposed. In doing so, the resin material may come around each gap and the like formed between the latchet and the latchet lever, and therefore, the resin material can be further firmly provided, in addition to high holding effect of the resin material by the above-described supporting member and the gap. Accordingly, the occurrence of the turning up and peeling off can be further securely prevented.
The above and other objects, features, advantages and technical and industrial significance of this invention will be better understood by reading the following detailed description of presently preferred embodiments of the invention, considered in connection with the accompanying drawings.
Hereinafter, a latch device for a vehicle according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the appended drawings by taking favorable embodiments.
As illustrated in
The latch device for the vehicle 10 includes a main body 16 that has an approximately triangle shape in a plan view and houses the meshing mechanism LM therein, and a cover plate 18 that serves as a cover body to block up an opening formed in one surface side of the main body 16.
A striker entry groove 20 for the striker S to enter is provided in an approximately center portion of the cover plate 18; a latch axis 22 and a latchet axis 24 are provided at both sides placing the striker entry groove 20 in between. The latch axis 22 and the latchet axis 24 rotatably support the latch 26 and the latchet 28 that constitute the meshing mechanism LM, respectively, and are fixed between the main body 16 and the cover plate 18. The striker entry groove 20 is a notch formed from a center portion of one end side of the cover plate 18 toward an inner portion, and the width is formed such that the striker S can be inserted.
As illustrated in
The latch 26 rotates about an axis center of the latch axis 22 such that the engagement groove 32 intersects with the striker entry groove 20. The latch 26 is biased in a counterclockwise direction of
As illustrated in
The latchet 28 rotates about an axis center of the latchet axis 24 and is biased in a clockwise direction of
Here, an engagement operation between the meshing mechanism LM and the striker S will be described with reference to
First, as illustrated in
Next, when the door is closed, the latch device for the vehicle 10 approaches so as to engage with the striker S provided in a body of a car. This causes the latch 26 to rotate in the clockwise direction centering around the latch axis 22 (hereinafter, referred to as an “engagement direction”) in accordance with the engagement with the striker S, and causes the full-latch meshing portion 36 to gradually move from a front end side to an inner part side of the striker entry groove 20 to traverse the striker entry groove 20, as illustrated in
Then, when the latch 26 further rotates in the clockwise direction from the half-latch position, the opening of the striker entry groove 20 is blocked up by the full-latch meshing portion 36 traversing the inner part of the striker entry groove 20 as illustrated in
Note that the release lever unit 42 of the latchet 28 functions as an operation unit when causing the latchet 28 to rotate in a direction away from the latch 26, which is the counterclockwise direction in
Next, a more specific configuration of the latchet 28 will be described.
The latchet 28 is an approximately rectangular plate-shaped member in which a through hole 50 in the plate-thickness direction, to which the latchet axis 24 is inserted, and a fit hole 52 above the through hole 50 are formed, as illustrated in
The latchet lever (lever latchet) 46 is an approximately L-shaped and plate-shaped member integrally fixed so as to overlap with a side part of the latchet 28 as illustrated in
The supporting member 56 is bent in some degree in a direction away from a side face of the latchet 28, and then extends upward so as to be parallel with the side face of the latchet 28, so that a valley-shaped gap 60 is formed between a side face of the supporting member 56 and the side face of the latchet 28; and an end face (upper surface) of the supporting member 56 forms a supporting surface (end face) 56a that lines with the meshing surface 40a of the latchet 28 at a lower position than the meshing surface 40a (also, see
As illustrated in
At this time, as illustrated in
Therefore, in the meshing mechanism LM, in a case where the first meshing surface 34a or the second meshing surface 36a of the latch 26 meshes with the meshing surface 40a of the latchet 28 (see
That is, the first meshing surface 34a (the second meshing surface 36a) of the latch 26 first abuts on exterior surface 38a of the resin cover 38, which is the resin material, and then squashes the exterior surface 38a and abuts on and meshes with the meshing surface 40a of the latchet 28. Therefore, the resin cover 38 (exterior surface 38a) serves as a buffer at the time of abutting between the latch 26 and the latchet 28, and the impact at the time of meshing between the latch 26 and the latchet is absorbed, whereby the abutting sound is reduced.
As described above, according to the latch device for the vehicle 10 of the present embodiment, the meshing surface 40a of the latchet 28 is formed narrower than the first meshing surface 34a and the second meshing surface 36a of the latch 26. The supporting member 56 is arranged with the gap 60 provided between the side face of the supporting member 56 and the side face of the latchet 28 at a side of the latchet 28, and the supporting surface 56a that is an end face of the supporting member 56 is provided at a lower position than the meshing surface 40a. Further, all of the periphery of the supporting member 56 including the supporting surface 56a is covered with the resin material of the resin cover 38, and the gap 60 is filled up with the resin material of the resin cover 38. Furthermore, the exterior surface 38a of the resin material that covers the supporting surface 56a is provided at a higher position than the meshing surface 40a. Accordingly, the exterior surface 38a is formed as a buffer capable of abutting on the first meshing surface 34a and the second meshing surface 36a of the latchet 28.
Therefore, when the latch 26 meshes with the latchet 28, the exterior surface 38a of the resin cover 38 as the buffer firstly abuts on the first meshing surface 34a (the second meshing surface 36a) of the latch 26; thus the abutting sound at the time of meshing can be reduced. In this case, the periphery of the supporting member 56 provided at a side of the latchet 28 is covered with the resin cover 38 and the gap 60 is filled up with the resin material of the resin cover 38. Therefore, the resin cover 38 is firmly fixed to the latchet 28, and the turning up and peeling off of the resin material can be prevented even if the meshing operation between the latch 26 and the latchet 28 is repeated, whereby the abutting sound can be reduced for a long period of time. Furthermore, the supporting surface 56a of the supporting member 56, which is one step lower than the meshing surface 40a of the latchet 28 is, is provided inside the exterior surface 38a of the resin cover 38 serving as the buffer. Therefore, excessive bending of the resin material (the exterior surface 38a) by the latch 26 can be prevented and the peeling off of the resin cover 38 can be further securely prevented.
In the latch device for the vehicle 10, the supporting member 56 is configured as a part of the latchet lever 46; therefore it is not necessary to fix a separate member for the supporting member 56 to the latchet 28, thus a simple structure can be realized. Note that the supporting member 56 may be configured as a part of the latchet 28, and in this case, it can be configured in a similar manner to the supporting member 56 by increasing the plate thickness of the meshing surface 40a, and machining the increased portion of the plate thickness under the condition that the width t1 (see
In the latch device for the vehicle 10, the latchet 28 and the latchet lover 46 are integrally covered with the resin cover 38 at least under the condition that the meshing surface 40a of the latchet 28 is exposed. Therefore, the resin cover 38 allows the resin material to turn around a gap and the like formed between the latchet 28 and the latchet lever 46 in addition to a high holding effect by the supporting member 56 and the gap 60. Therefore, the resin cover 38 can be further firmly fixed, and the turning up and peeling off can be further prevented from occurring. In the present embodiment, a case of covering the most part of the latchet 28 and the latchet lever 46 as the resin cover 38 has been exemplarily illustrated. However, any resin cover 38 can be employed as long as at least it can cover the periphery of the supporting member 56 and can exhibit the function as a buffer.
Note that it is clear that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment and can be freely modified without departing from the scope of the present invention.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, a configuration has been exemplarily illustrated in which the supporting member 56 is provided at the meshing surface 40a side of the latchet 28 from between the meshing latch 26 and the latchet 28 that meshes with each other, and the exterior surface 38a of the resin cover 38 is formed as the buffer at the time of meshing. However, the supporting member may be of course provided at the latch 26 side in an approximately similar manner. However, in this case, it is necessary to provide both of the half-latch meshing portion 34 and the full-latch meshing portion 36 of the latch 26 with a supporting member. Therefore, the structure becomes slightly complicated compared with the configuration example of the above-described embodiment. Note that the shape or the configuration thereof can be properly changed as long as the latch 26 and the latchet 28 can be mutually in a meshing condition and the meshing condition can be released.
In the above-described embodiment, a configuration has been described in which the supporting member 56 is provided only at one side of the latchet 28 (or the latch 26). However, may be configured such that the supporting member 56 is provided at both sides of the latchet 28 (or the latch 26), and the resin cover 38 is molded therein. In this case, the width of the first meshing surface 34a and the second meshing surface 36a of the latch 26 may be configured to be capable of abutting on the exterior surface 38a of the resin cover 38 of the both sides.
According to the present invention, when a latch meshes with a latchet, a buffer formed of a resin material is provided at a side of one of meshing surfaces, and this buffer firstly abuts with the other meshing surface of the latch or the latchet. Therefore, an abutting sound at the time of meshing can be reduced. Furthermore, a periphery of a supporting member provided at a side of the latch or the latchet having the one meshing surface is covered with the resin material and a gap is filled up with the resin material. Therefore, the resin material is further firmly fixed/held and turning up or peeling off of the resin material can be prevented even if a meshing operation between the latch and the latchet is repeated, whereby an abutting sound can be reduced for a long period of time.
Although the invention has been described with respect to specific embodiments for a complete and clear disclosure, the appended claims are not to be thus limited but are to be construed as embodying all modifications and alternative constructions that may occur to one skilled in the art that fairly fall within the basic teaching herein set forth.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2012-090442 | Apr 2012 | JP | national |