Patent Application
20110304162
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to vehicle latch assemblies and, more particularly to a pendulum stop for a release lever of a latch assembly.
A vehicle frequently includes displaceable panels such as doors, hood, trunk lid, hatch and the like which are affixed for hinged or sliding engagement with a host vehicle body. Cooperating systems of latches and strikers are typically provided to ensure that such panels remain secured in their fully closed position when the panel is closed.
A door latch typically includes a fork bolt that is pivoted between an unlatched position and a primary latched position when the door is closed to latch the door in the closed position. The fork bolt is typically held in the primary latched position by a detent lever that pivots between an engaged position and a disengaged position. The detent lever is spring biased into the engaged position and thus, holds the fork bolt in the primary latched position when in the engaged position and releases the fork bolt when it is moved to the disengaged position so that the door can be opened.
The fork bolt is pivoted to the primary latched position by a striker attached to, for example, an associated door jamb when the door is closed. Once in the primary latched position, the detent lever engages the fork bolt to ensure the assembly remains latched.
In order to open a vehicle door, an inner door handle is coupled to a release lever by a cable, which is also used in a push/pull configuration to lock and unlatch the latch assembly.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a latch assembly wherein the release lever is not inadvertently moved from an unlatched position to a locked position. More specifically, it is desirable to provide a stop for the release lever of the latch assembly.
In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a vehicle door latch assembly is provided, the vehicle door latch assembly having: a release lever pivotally secured to the latch assembly for movement between a locked position and an unlatched position; a pendulum stop pivotally secured to the release lever for movement between a blocking position and an unblocking position, wherein the release lever is prevented from moving to the locked position when the pendulum stop is in the blocking position; and a spring for biasing the pendulum stop into the unblocking position wherein the pendulum stop is configured such that movement of the release lever from the unlatched position towards the locked position will cause the pendulum stop to move from the unblocking position to the blocking position such that movement of the release lever from the unlatched position towards the locked position is limited to a predetermined position between the locked position and the unlatched position.
In another exemplary embodiment, a method of limiting movement of a release lever of a vehicle latch assembly is provided, the method including the steps of: pivotally securing the release lever to the vehicle latch assembly for movement between an unlatched position and a locked position; pivotally securing a pendulum stop lever to the release lever for movement between a blocking position and an unblocking position, wherein the release lever is prevented from moving to the locked position when the pendulum stop is in the blocking position; biasing the pendulum stop into the unblocking position wherein the pendulum stop is configured such that movement of the release lever from the unlatched position towards the locked position will cause the pendulum stop to move from the unblocking position to the blocking position such that movement of the release lever from the unlatched position towards the locked position is limited to a predetermined position between the locked position and the unlatched position.
Additional features and advantages of the various aspects of exemplary embodiments of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description in conjunction with the drawings wherein like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts in the several views.
Although the drawings represent varied embodiments and features of the present invention, the drawings are not necessarily to scale and certain features may be exaggerated in order to illustrate and explain exemplary embodiments the present invention. The exemplification set forth herein illustrates several aspects of the invention, in one form, and such exemplification is not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a vehicle door latch assembly having a pendulum stop for limiting movement of a release lever of the latch assembly under certain conditions.
In an exemplary embodiment, the inside release lever is pulled by a cable to unlatch the latch assembly in addition to being pushed by same cable to lock the latch assembly. Thus, unlocking is achieved by a cable pull in same direction as unlatching. The assembly or release lever has a spring to return the release lever to a home position and the biasing force of the spring is sufficient to provide the required feel for the cable effort in both directions (locking and unlatching) as well as the required resistance for preventing undesired lever movement due to external forces applied to the latch assembly.
However, if the release lever is pulled to a maximum unlatching position in one direction and then released, the biasing force of the return spring could rotate the release lever through the home or neutral position and into a locked position from the unlatched position, which may not be desirable.
Referring now to
In an exemplary embodiment, the release lever 12 is pivotally secured to the latch assembly for movement between a latched position (
The movement of the pendulum stop is facilitated by the centripetal force acting upon the weighted pendulum and against a biasing force of a spring 18. The pendulum stop limits the movement of the release lever to a home or neutral position (
As illustrated, spring 18 is provided to bias the pendulum stop into the unblocking position. However, the weight and pivotally securement of the pendulum stop to the release lever is configured such that movement of the release lever from the locked or home position towards the unlatched position by a cable pull subsequent release of the inner door handle pulling the cable will allow the release lever spring to rotate the release lever back towards the home position and wherein this movement will cause the pendulum stop to overcome the biasing force against it by spring 18 and move or rotate from the unblocking position to the blocking position. Thus, undesired movement of the release lever from the unlatched position to the locked position by the biasing force of a return spring 20 of the release lever is limited to a predetermined neutral or home position between the locked position and the unlatched position.
Accordingly, the pendulum stop prevents the release lever from inadvertently traveling from unlatched position to the locked position through the release of an inner door release lever 22 (illustrated schematically) when the release lever is at the unlatched position and the biasing force of spring 20 rotates the release lever in the direction of arrow 24.
The release lever is coupled to the inner door release lever via a cable 26 which is used to rotate the release lever into the unlatched position when the inner door release lever is actuated. As discussed above, a release lever spring 20 is configured to provide a biasing force in the direction of arrow 24 such that upon release of the inner door release lever the release lever rotates back to the neutral or home position illustrated in
During further operation of the latch assembly, actuation of the inner door release lever in a direction opposite to the movement associated for unlatching will cause the cable to push the release lever into the locked position and movement of the inner door release handle and the cable in an opposite direction causes the cable to pull the release lever into the unlatched position.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to an apparatus and method for providing a latch assembly. Furthermore, exemplary embodiments are directed to a latch assembly having a fork bolt 28 movably secured thereto for movement between a latched position and an unlatched position. The latch assembly further comprises a detent lever 30 capable of movement between an engaged position and a disengaged position, wherein the detent lever retains the fork bolt in the latched position when the detent lever is in the engaged position. The latch assembly also includes a bell crank 32 for moving the detent lever from the engaged position to the disengaged position.
References made to the following United States patents: U.S. Pat. No. 3,969,789; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,568,741 and U.S. patent Publication No. 2002/0163207 the contents each of which are incorporated herein by reference thereto.
As is known in the related arts the latch assembly may further comprise a frame plate or support that is adapted for fastening the latch assembly to a vehicle proximate to a compartment closure and the fork bolt or fork bolt lever is pivotally or rotationally mounted to frame plate about a pivot pin or stud that is received within a pivot pin opening of the fork bolt. Accordingly, the fork bolt is capable of rotational or pivotal movement between an open or unlatched position and a closed or latched position.
The latch assembly is attached to a vehicle structure such that the fork bolt is moved between the open position and the closed position when a door, window, lift gate, etc. is opened and closed and the fork bolt engages a striker that is attached to the door, window, lift gate, etc. Alternatively, the latch assembly can be secured to the door, window, lift gate, etc. and the striker is secured to the vehicle body at an opening into which the door, window, lift gate, etc. is received. The cooperation of a fork bolt and striker is well known and need not be described in detail.
The detent lever pivots on the support or frame plate about a pivot pin 34 received within a pivot pin opening in the detent lever. The detent lever cooperates with the fork bolt in a well known manner to retain the fork bolt in the closed position or release the fork bolt for return to the open position. That is, detent lever 30 pivots between a closed or engaged detent position shown in
In accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the fork bolt has an engagement surface or contact surface that slides along and makes contact with a complimentary engagement surface or contact surface of the detent lever when the fork bolt pivots or moves from the open position to the closed position and once in the closed position a surface of the fork bolt engages a surface of the detent lever thus engaging the fork bolt and securing it into the closed position when the striker is secured in a receiving opening of the fork bolt. Once the latch is in the closed position the detent lever is spring biased into contact with the fork bolt such that the fork bolt cannot rotate into the open position unless the detent lever is moved back to the release or disengaged detent position.
In order to move the detent lever to the disengaged position, an intermediate lever 36 is coupled to the bell crank at one end and a linkage member 38 at another end. The linkage member is pivotally mounted to the latch assembly such that is can be rotated or pivoted by movement of the release lever. For example and as illustrated in
In order to couple and uncouple the intermediate lever to the bell crank and ultimately the detent lever, a locking lever 42 is pivotally mounted to the latch assembly for movement between a first position (
As illustrated, a first end 48 of the intermediate lever is movably mounted to the linking member 38 such that an opposite end 50 of the intermediate lever may move upwardly in the direction of arrow 52 such that end 50 and accordingly the intermediate lever 36 is uncoupled from the bell crank when end 50 the intermediate lever 36 is moved upward. In order to facilitate this movement a feature 52 of the locking lever 42 is received within a corresponding opening of the intermediate lever such that rotation or pivotal movement of the locking lever by the release lever moves the intermediate lever such that the same can be coupled and uncoupled from the bell crank and accordingly the detent lever.
When the intermediate lever is uncoupled from the detent lever, the movement of the intermediate lever by the linking member or any other component of the latch assembly will not cause the detent lever to become disengaged and thus the fork bolt will remain in a latched position.
Accordingly an apparatus and method for limiting movement of a release lever of a vehicle latch assembly is provided herein. Although not specifically illustrated and in addition to the fork bolt, the release lever and the detent lever being spring biased into a first or home position, the locking member and the linking member are also each biased into a first or home position such that movement rotational, pivotal or otherwise from the first or home position by an applied force the moved member will return to the first or home position by the biasing force of the appropriate biasing member once the applied force moving the member from the first or home position is removed.
As used herein, the terms “first,” “second,” and the like, herein do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather are used to distinguish one element from another, and the terms “a” and “an” herein do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced item. In addition, it is noted that the terms “bottom” and “top” are used herein, unless otherwise noted, merely for convenience of description, and are not limited to any one position or spatial orientation.
The modifier “about” used in connection with a quantity is inclusive of the stated value and has the meaning dictated by the context (e.g., includes the degree of error associated with measurement of the particular quantity).
While the invention has been described with reference to an exemplary embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.
