EP0059658A1 - Lock, especially for vehicle doors - Google Patents

Abstract

This lock is provided with an integrated electrical locking device, thanks to the fact that the geared motor group (36) is integrated into the housing (2) of the lock (1) and directly attacks an element (34) of the locking mechanism (32 ). The manually operated input lever (33) of the locking mechanism serves as a contactor for supplying the motor; it is connected to the member (34) driven by the output pinion (50) of the motor by a link which has at least one dead stroke in each of the locking and unlocking positions of the locking mechanism (32). This makes it possible to avoid any manual drive of the engine and therefore to obtain a very gentle operation of the key in normal operation. Application to the centralized electric locking of the doors of motor vehicles.

Description

The present invention relates to a lock, in particular for the door of a motor vehicle, of the type comprising a locking mechanism, a locking mechanism, an actuator with an electric motor thereof, and a key for manual actuation of the locking mechanism and actuator power supply control. These locks are in particular used to equip vehicles with a central locking-unlocking control for all the doors.

In known locks of this type, an actuator with an electric motor is added to a conventional lock with manual control and connected by a linkage to the organs of the locking mechanism inside the housing of the lock. This results in a high cost and a significant weight of the lock-actuator assembly as well as a relatively large size of this assembly which makes it difficult to install in the doors of vehicles.

The object of the invention is to integrate the actuator into the lock so as to reduce the weight, the bulk and the cost of the assembly.

To this end, the subject of the invention is a lock of the aforementioned type, characterized in that the motor output pinion is located in the housing of the lock and directly attacks an element of the locking mechanism.

Still for the sake of integrating the actuator with the lock, it is advantageous for the key to be connected to a contactor lever for supplying the actuator, this lever carrying a metal blade applied elastically against a printed circuit carried by the lock housing.

To simplify the construction, it is desirable that the contactor lever also constitutes the manual input member of the locking mechanism. In this case, very advantageously, the key is linked to the contactor lever, which is itself connected to the element driven by the motor output pinion by a link having a dead stroke at least in each of the positions. of condemnation and unlocking of the condemnation mechanism. Indeed, the key then never rotates the motor pinion itself, and the manual control is very soft.

If, in addition, the contactor lever has only one stable position, which is its inactive middle position, this lever can itself serve as a distributor for supplying all the actuators of the vehicle.

• la Fig. 1 est une vue générale en élévation et en coupe d'une serrure conforme à l'invention;
• la Fig. 2 est une vue en élévation du seul mécanisme de verrouillage de la serrure;
• les Fig. 3 à 5 montrent à plus grande échelle certaines pièces de la serrure;
• la Fig. 6 est une vue partielle en élévation et en coupe d'une variante de la serrure de la Fig. 1.

The invention is set out below in more detail with the aid of the appended drawings, which show only two embodiments thereof. In these drawings:

• Fig. 1 is a general view in elevation and in section of a lock according to the invention;
• Fig. 2 is an elevational view of the single locking mechanism of the lock;
• Figs. 3 to 5 show larger parts of the lock;
• Fig. 6 is a partial view in elevation and in section of a variant of the lock of FIG. 1.

The lock 1 shown in FIG. 1 is essentially housed in a parallelepipedic box 2 fixed flat in the edge of a door 3 of a motor vehicle provided on the one hand with an external control button 4 and with an internal control button (not shown ) for unlocking the lock, and on the other hand an external key 5 and a rod 6 connected to an interior frieze zipper (not shown) for its locking-unlocking. In the following, we will describe the lock in its position shown in FIG. 1, which corresponds to its mounting on a front door of the vehicle. The housing 2 thus has a rectangular shape with its large vertical sides.

The locking mechanism of the lock 1, shown alone in FIG. 2, is mounted between two identical and parallel vertical plates 7 contained in the housing 2. It comprises an oscillating fork 8 forming a bolt, which revolves on a fixed horizontal axis 9, a pawl 10 and an opening lever 11 passing through a gasket seal that closes a slot in the housing 2.

The fork 8 has the general shape of a disc-cam provided with a roughly radial notch 12 which extends almost to the axis 9 and crosses a horizontal notch 13 of the plates 7 and the. rear side of the housing 2 in all the useful positions of the fork. More specifically, the fork 8 is made from a piece of steel in which the central hole and the notch 12 communicate, and the overmolding of a plastic lining around the periphery of the central hole and the notch separate these from each other by a thin strip of plastic.

The pawl 10, which is mounted oscillating on another horizontal axis 14 located on the other side of the notch 13 relative to the axis 9, that is to say above the notch 13, comprises a branch provided with a stop surface 15 and a retaining surface 16, and an actuating branch 17. A spring 18 biases clockwise the pawl towards its active position, in which the retaining surface 16 rests on an elastic stop 19.

To move the pawl away from this position, the lever must be tilted counterclockwise 11, which is articulated on the axis 14 and is biased towards its rest position by a spring 20. This tilting is carried out either by means of the button 4, by means of a link 21, or by means of the button interior control, via a pull tab 22.

In the unlocked position of the lock _' shown in FIG. 1, the notch 12 directs its opening towards the entry of the notch 13. The pawl 10 is retracted and is supported by a concave surface 23 on a roughly circular surface 24, of maximum radius, of the fork 8 spanning about a quarter of a turn.

When the door closes, a cylindrical keeper 25 secured to the vehicle body enters the two notches 12 and 13 and rotates the fork 8 clockwise. The end of the surface 23 of the pawl comes in line with a first radial surface 26 of the fork, and, under the action of the spring 18, this surface comes to bear on a surface 27 of reduced but increasing diameter of the fork which extends to the notch 12. The surface 26 is then opposite the stop surface 15 of the pawl, which corresponds to the first locking notch of the lock.

When the keeper 25 arrives at the closed end of the notch 13, likewise, the surface 15 of the pawl cooperates with the inner edge 28 of the notch 12, and its surface 16 is applied against the elastic stop 19. The lock is then at its second locking notch.

In each locking position, the radial surface 26 or 28 of the fork exerts on the surface 15 of the pawl 10 a force F substantially directed towards the axis 14. In addition, the opening force P, due in particular to the compression of the door seals, is exerted very close to the axis 9, contrary to the force _F. Consequently, a small effort is sufficient for unlocking. This force is exerted on the branch 17 of the pawl by a surface 29 of the lever 11 by means of a tab 30 which is part of the locking-unlocking mechanism described below, this in the unlocking position of this mechanism. To lock the lock, the tab 30 is moved towards the axis 14 to bring it opposite a notch 31 of the lever 11; the tilting of the latter then becomes ineffective.

When the lock is unlocked, the retraction of the pawl 10 releases the fork 8; when the door is open, the exit of the keeper 25 from the notch 13 brings this fork back to its initial position, and the release of the control button used lets the entire locking mechanism return to its position in FIG. 1.

The locking-unlocking mechanism, generally designated by the reference 32 and shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 to 5, essentially comprises an input lever 33, an actuating plate 34, a link 35 which ends in the tab 30 indicated above, and an actuator constituted by an electric motor or geared motor 36 received in a housing which projects from the front face of the housing 2, located in front of the plane of FIG. l, and is an integral part of this housing.

The lever 33 and the plate 34 are mounted oscillating on the same horizontal axis 37 near the lower right corner of the housing 2. The lever 33 comprises a disc 38 provided with an elastic metal blade 39 in a semicircle, and a tail 40 which leaves the housing through a lateral slot 41 of the latter and is connected to the barrel of the key 5 by a rod 42. A screen 43 in an arc, secured to the tail 40 inside the housing ₂ , permanently closes the slot 41 when the lever 33 moves between its two stable positions defined by the elastic cooperation of a ball 44 loaded by a spring with two recesses in the adjacent front face of the housing.

The plate 34 (Fig. 1 and 3) has the general shape of an L whose angle, mounted on the axis 37, forms a disc 45 which receives the disc 38 of the lever 33. The vertical branch of the L ends by a toothed sector 46, and its horizontal branch by a screen 47 in an arc of a circle which permanently closes a lateral slot 48 of the housing 2 opposite to the slot 41. The lower end of the rod 6 is hung in the middle of this screen 47 .

The plate 34 has, on the side of the slot 41, a projecting peripheral flange 49 which runs along the vertical branch of the L and the disc 45. This flange is interrupted opposite the slot 41 and traversed at this location, with a notable circumferential clearance, by the tail 40 of the lever 33, which abuts against this edge in each of its stable positions. The output pinion 50 of the gear motor 36 is located in the housing 2 proper and meshes directly with the toothed sector 46 of the wafer 34. '

The link 35 carries the tab 30 at its upper end and is articulated by its lower end on a pivot 35A of the horizontal branch of the plate 34, so that the oscillation of this plate in a counterclockwise direction moves the link 35 downward. and brings the tab 30 into its locking position, and vice versa (Fig. 2). Guiding in quasi-translation of the link 35 is provided on the one hand by the adjacent face of the pawl 10, on the other hand by an appropriate configuration of the housing 2.

The lock also has a lever 51 for poorly closed door detector (Fig. 1, 2 and 4). This lever is articulated by one end on a horizontal axis 52 located between the notch 13 and the slot 48 of the housing 2 and bears elastically on the lower region of the fork 8 by its other bent end 53. This support is provided by the action of an elastic appendage 54 of the lever 51, the free end of which abuts on the upper edge of the slot 48. A metal blade 55 is fixed to the middle part of the lever 51. This blade, as the blade 39 of the lever 33, is applied elastically against a printed circuit board 56 (Fig. 1 and 5) carried by the. large interior face of the housing 2.

Although it has not been described in detail, all the elements of the lock have in the necessary locations appropriate plan changes to allow them to carry out their movements.

The operation of the locking mechanism 32 is as follows.

The vehicle in question is equipped with several locks, for example four locks, at least two of which include a key 5. Any locks devoid of key, in particular on the rear doors, are identical to the others but may be devoid of the lever 33 and of the slot 41. The vehicle includes a centralized electrical distributor (not shown) which supplies all the motors 36 with electrical energy according to the orders it receives. Each printed circuit 56 is connected to the electrical distributor and its poorly closed door indicator lamp (see below) by a bundle of cables terminated by a connector which clips onto the lower part of the housing 2. Dashboard switches or other parts of the vehicle can also give the central distributor various condemnation orders nation or unlocking, for example unlocking the locks when they are not all at their second locking notch.

Whatever the position of the locking mechanism, we will assume at the start the unlocked door, that is to say the tab 30 located opposite the surface 29 (Fig. 2) of the lever 11, which corresponds to the position high of the link 35 (Fig. 1).

The start of the actuation of any key 5 brings the blade 39 of the lever 33 into contact with tracks of the printed circuit 56 which cause the supply of all the motors 36 for a predetermined time t. Meanwhile t, each motor rotates its plate 34 and changes position of the link 35, bringing the tabs 30 facing the notch 31 of the levers 11, which ensures the simultaneous locking of the locks. This movement is fast enough to take place before the tail 40 of the actuated lever 33 catches up with the play which separates it from the rim 49 of the associated wafer 34. As a result, the lever 33 does not have to drive the pinion 50 of the motor in rotation, and the operation of the key is very gentle and can continue without effort until the lever 33 reaches its other stable position.

If the electrical circuit is faulty, the contact made by the blade 39 has no effect. The lever ³³ then catches up with its angular play attacks the rim 49 and itself causes the rotation of the plate 34.

In both cases, the plate 34 can also be maneuvered manually in one direction or the other by the rod 6, which attacks the end 47 of its horizontal branch.

When the lock is open (Fig. 1) or closed at the first notch or safety catch, the end 53 of the lever 51 rests on a circular region 57 of minimum diameter of the fork 8 which starts from the notch ₁ 2 and extends over about a half-turn then is connected

to the surface 24 of maximum diameter by a ramp 58.

In this position, the blade 55, via the printed circuit 56, actuates a warning light located on the dashboard of the vehicle. When the fork 8, turning clockwise, arrives in the second notch locking position (Fig. 2), the end 53 of the lever 51 rises on the ramp 58 and comes to rest on the surface 24, which extinguishes l door failure warning.

In this embodiment, the gear ratio of the electric actuator is chosen so that in the event of an electrical failure, the drive of the motor caused by the movement of the locking lever 33 requires an effort to maneuver the key 5 or the inner pull tab low enough to assure the user a pleasant functioning. The variant of FIG. 6 allows this manual drive of the motor 36 to be completely eliminated.

The lock 1A of FIG. 6 has the same locking-unlocking mechanism as the lock l, and its locking mechanism 32A comprises the same locking rod 35. However, the lower end of this rod is directly articulated on an additional tail 59 of the lever 33 opposite to the tail 40. The articulation axis 60, which is located as in the first embodiment, forms a cylindrical stud received in a groove 61 of a cam wheel 62 rotatably mounted in the housing 2. The outer periphery of this wheel is toothed and meshes with the output pinion 50 of the motor 36, which is then located in the region of the notch 13. The groove 61 comprises a spiral turn 63, the two ends of which are joined by a radial straight line segment 64.

In each of the two positions of the locking mechanism, the stud 60 is in abutment at one end of the segment 64. Thus, if the beginning of the movement of the lever 33 actuated by key does not cause the motors 36 to be powered, the pursuit of this movement operates the link 35, which requires negligible effort, without driving the wheel 62 and therefore the motor 36. Otherwise, each motor 36 rotates its wheel 62, which operates all the links 35, the faces radial 65 which terminate the spiral 63 limiting this rotation to one revolution, so that the position of the wheel 62 is identical with the lock locked and the lock unlocked.

In this variant, it is understood that it is not necessary for the central distributor to supply the motor of the lock actuated manually by its key or its internal pull. In addition, the reduction ratio between the angle of rotation of the motor and that of the locking lever 33 can be much greater than in the previous embodiment, which makes it possible to use a less powerful motor, or to have 'a greater effort, to activate the locking mechanism by the engine without penalizing the maneuvering efforts of this mechanism in case of engine power failure.

In each variant, the time for changing the position of the locking mechanism by the motor 36 is of the order of half a second, that is to say of the same order of magnitude as the time required to turn a key 5 half a turn. As a result, we can also consider the following variant, not shown: the lever 33 is transformed into a monostable lever recalled to a single stable position, which is an electrically inactive position. By turning the key of any lock, the lever is brought _{corresponding} in an unstable position, which closes the circuit of all motors 36 during the time required for change of state of the locking mechanism. Then the key is released, the lever 33 returns to its neutral position, and the power supply to the motors 36 is interrupted. This eliminates the central distributor, at least as regards the simple locking-unlocking by key.

In this variant, as before, a possible overtravel of the lever 33 manually actuates the corresponding locking mechanism. This type of operation is made possible by an obvious modification of the clearances between the tail 40 of the levers 33 and the flange 49 of the plates 34.

In each variant, the locking mechanism, which is subjected to high stresses, is preferably made of steel, while the locking mechanism, subjected only to low stresses, can be essentially made of plastic. The screens 43 and 47 and the seal of the lever 11 ensure a good seal of the lock against dust and runoff water.

It is understood that each variant of the locking mechanism can be combined in the same lock housing with different types of locking-unlocking mechanisms.

Claims (11)

1.- Lock, in particular for the door of a motor vehicle, of the type comprising a locking mechanism, a locking mechanism, an actuator with an electric motor of the latter, and a key for manual actuation of the locking and control mechanism of the power supply to the actuator, characterized in that the output pinion (50) of the motor (36) is located in the housing (2) of the lock (1; 1A) and directly attacks an element (34; 62) the locking mechanism (32; 32A). 2. Lock according to claim 1, characterized in that the key (5) is connected to a lever (33) actuator supply switch (36), this lever carrying a metal blade (39) applied elastically against a printed circuit (56) carried by the housing (2) of the lock (1; 1A). 3.- Lock according to claim 2, characterized in that the contactor lever (33) is also the manual input member of the locking mechanism (32; 32A). 4.- A lock according to claim 3, ca- _r actérisée in that the key (5) is connected to the lever switch (33) which is itself connected to the element (34; 62) driven by the pinion output (50) from the motor (36) by a link having a dead travel at least in each of the locking and unlocking positions of the locking mechanism (32; 32A). 5. A lock according to claim 4, characterized in that said pinion (50) meshes with a toothed sector (46) belonging to an oscillating plate (34) of the locking mechanism (32), and in that the contactor lever ( 33) pivots on the same axis between two stops (49) of this plate with an angular play. 6. A lock according to claim 4, characterized in that said pinion (50) meshes with a cam (62) comprising a groove (61) which has a spiral part (63) whose two ends are joined by a segment of radial right (64), and in that the contactor lever (33) comprises a stud (60) engaged in this groove. 7. Lock according to any one of claims 2 to 6, characterized in that the contactor lever has a single stable position, which is its inactive middle position. 8.- Lock according to any one of claims 1 to 7, with oscillating fork and two locking notches, characterized in that it comprises a warning lever (51) biased in abutment against a cam surface (24 , 57, 58) of the fork (8) and changing position when the lock reaches its second locking notch, this lever being connected to an alarm device. 9. A lock according to claim 8, characterized in that the warning lever (51) carries a metal blade (55) applied elastically against a printed circuit (56) carried by the housing (2) of the lock (1; the). 10.- Lock according to any one of claims 1 to 9, with oscillating fork, characterized in that the fork (8) consists of a part having an oscillating mounting hole and a notch (12) for receiving the keeper (25) communicating with this hole, this part being provided with a local coating of plastic material of the hole and the notch which separates them from each other. 11.- Lock according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the motor (36) is received in a housing projecting from the housing (2) of the lock and forming an integral part thereof.

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