The present invention relates to a vehicle door
handle.
Handles are known comprising a user-activated
control lever movable between a rest position maintained
by a preloaded return spring, and a work position to open
a lock on the door by means of a transmission lever
interposed between the control lever and the lock. In
some applications, the handles are provided with safety
devices for preventing control of the lock, and so
preventing the door from opening spontaneously, in the
event of a side-on collision.
In particular, inertial safety devices are used
comprising a mass or counterweight connected integrally
to, and eccentric with respect to the axis of rotation
of, the transmission lever to balance, in the event of
impact, the inertial forces generated at least by the
control lever and tending to rotate the transmission
lever.
Known handles of the above type are far from
satisfactory, owing to the inertial mass, movable
integrally with the transmission lever, generating on the
lever - when the control lever is activated - an inertial
moment which is added to the moment exerted by the
spring, thus increasing the opening force required, and -
when the control lever is released - a force which, at
the end of the travel of the control lever, generates a
backward thrust and impact resulting in undesired noise.
Moreover, though the door involved in the collision
is kept closed, known inertial devices do not always
succeed in keeping the opposite door closed.
Inertial safety devices of the type described are
also relatively slow to operate, by featuring a
necessarily large mass to balance the inertial forces
tending to open the door, and are only effective up to a
given maximum impact intensity, beyond which, efficiency
is gradually reduced. To increase efficiency, it is
necessary to act on the mass, which is sized according to
a predicted impact intensity. Beyond a given limit,
however, the mass would be excessively large and
incompatible with the space available.
It is an object of the present invention to provide
a vehicle door handle designed to provide a
straightforward, low-cost solution to the above problems.
According to the present invention, there is
provided a handle for a door of a vehicle, the handle
comprising a supporting structure; a control member
movable, with respect to said structure, between a rest
position and a work position to activate a lock on said
door; and retaining means for retaining the control
member in said rest position in the event of lateral
impact on the vehicle, and comprising an inertial mass
rotating about an axis and located eccentrically with
respect to said axis; characterized in that said
retaining means also comprise locking means integral with
said inertial mass and for locking onto said control
member in the event of lateral impact.
A non-limiting embodiment of the invention will be
described by way of example with reference to the
accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 shows a partial view in perspective of a
preferred embodiment of the handle according to the
present invention; Figure 2 shows a side view, with parts removed for
clarity, of the Figure 1 handle; Figure 3 shows an exploded view in perspective of a
detail in Figure 2; Figure 4 shows a section along line IV-IV in Figure
2.
Number 1 in Figure 1 indicates a handle (shown
partly) for controlling a lock on a side door (not shown)
of a vehicle.
Handle 1 comprises a supporting structure 2, which
is connected integrally, in known manner not described in
detail, to the side door of the vehicle. When fitted to
the respective door, structure 2 extends in a
longitudinal direction, and comprises a through cavity 5
extending in a direction A crosswise to the longitudinal
direction and to the door, and defined by a longitudinal
lateral wall 6.
As shown in Figure 1, lateral wall 6 carries a stop
7 extending inside cavity 5, and comprises a U-shaped
portion 8, which extends adjacent to stop 7 and outwards
of structure 2 to define a seat 9, and has a lateral
groove 12 inside seat 9 and parallel to direction A.
As shown in Figures 1, 2 and 4, handle 1 also
comprises a control lever 14 hinged in known manner (not
shown) to structure 2 to rotate between a rest position
(Figure 4) and a work position to open the respective
lock (not shown) by means of a known transmission lever
(not shown) connected to structure 2 and interposed
between lever 14 and the lock.
Lever 14 carries an end arm 16, which extends
through cavity 5 in a direction substantially parallel to
direction A, is defined by a recessed surface 19 facing
portion 8, and carries a longitudinal end appendix 22,
which mates with the transmission lever in known manner
not shown. Arm 16 also carries an end portion 20, which
has a tooth 24 (Figure 4) extending facing surface 19 to
define, with surface 19, a substantially V-shaped
retaining seat 25.
Handle 1 also comprises an inertial safety assembly
27 for preventing the lock from being activated, and the
door from opening spontaneously, in the event of lateral
impact on the vehicle.
As shown in the accompanying drawings, assembly 27
comprises a connecting body 28 having a U-shaped cross
section, and which engages seat 9 and is carried by
structure 2 and connected integrally to portion 8 by a
releasable connecting device 30 integral with body 28.
More specifically, device 30 comprises a straight lateral
rib 32 (Figure 3) connected to groove 12; and an elastic
tab 33 (Figure 4) which clicks onto a seat (not shown) on
portion 8.
Body 28 carries, in one piece, two projecting
lateral plates 36 and 37, which extend parallel to each
other on opposite sides of end portion 20, and are
connected to each other by a supporting plate 38
extending longitudinally and facing end portion 20. At
respective ends, lateral plates 36 and 37 have a through
hole 40 and a through groove 41 respectively; and hole 40
and groove 41 are coaxial with each other along a
longitudinal axis 42 extending on the opposite side of
end portion 20 with respect to tooth 24, and are
connected to a wire spring 45.
With particular reference to Figure 3, spring 45
comprises a hinge portion 46 having an omega-shaped
intermediate portion 48, and two opposite straight
portions 49 and 50 engaging hole 40 and groove 41
respectively. Spring 45 also comprises a connecting arm
53, which is connected to portion 50, extends on the
opposite side of plate 37 with respect to plate 36, and
has a free end 54 connected to a seat 55 (Figure 4) on
plate 37.
Assembly 27 also comprises a C-shaped inertial body
56 formed in one piece and carried by, and housed inside,
body 28.
As shown, particularly in Figures 3 and 4, body 56
extends in a plane perpendicular to axis 42, and
comprises two end arms 57 and 58, which are substantially
parallel to each other and respectively located between
lateral plates 36 and 37 and adjacent to stop 7. More
specifically, arm 57 comprises a parallelepiped-shaped
end connecting portion 61 facing end portion 20, and onto
which omega-shaped portion 48 is forced to enable body 56
to rotate, about axis 42, between an angular standby
position (shown by the continuous line in Figure 4), in
which arm 57 rests against supporting plate 38, and an
angular retaining position (shown by the dash line in
Figure 4) into which body 56 is moved by inertia in the
event of lateral impact on the vehicle. Arm 58, on the
other hand, comprises a hooked end portion 63, which
extends towards tooth 24, is separated transversely from
tooth 24 when body 56 is in the standby position, and, in
the event of lateral impact, positively engages seat 25
to retain lever 14 in the rest position.
Body 56 comprises an inertial mass 64 located
eccentrically with respect to axis 42 and between lateral
plates 36 and 37.
In actual use, in the absence of lateral impact on
the vehicle, spring 45 exerts an elastic force on body 56
to keep body 56 in the standby position, while arm 16 of
lever 14 is free to move in a direction substantially
parallel to direction A and independently of assembly 27.
Conversely, in the event of lateral impact, lever 14
of handle 1 on the distressed door undergoes an inertial
reaction which tends to rotate it from the rest to the
work position and so open the respective lock. At the
same time, inertial mass 64 generates an inertial force,
which rotates body 56, clockwise in Figure 4, about axis
42 with respect to lever 14 and in opposition to the
elastic force of spring 45.
In particular, the distance between tooth 24 and
hooked portion 63, the rigidity of spring 45, and the
position of inertial mass 64 with respect to axis 42, are
so determined that, in the event of lateral impact, the
intervention time of assembly 27 is less than the
response time of lever 14.
Consequently, when body 56 rotates inertially, in
advance with respect to the movement of lever 14, hooked
portion 63 moves up to surface 19, i.e. seat 25. At which
point, as soon as lever 14 tends to move, seat 25 mates
with hooked portion 63, and arm 16 exerts thrust on body
56, so that spring 45 is deformed and arm 58 rests on
stop 7 to prevent any movement of lever 14, which
therefore remains substantially in the rest position.
Handle 1 as described and illustrated therefore
comprises a safety assembly 27, which, in the absence of
lateral impact, has no effect on the operation of control
lever 14 or the transmission lever, so that, in normal
operating conditions, the noise level and the force
required to operate handle 1 are the same as those of a
handle with no safety assembly.
Conversely, in the event of lateral impact, the fast
response time of assembly 27 provides for an extremely
high degree of efficiency. That is, the body 28-body 56
connection is subject to very little friction by virtue
of spring 45, which acts both as a hinge pin and as an
elastic retaining element; and, by not being called upon
to directly balance the inertial forces acting on the
transmission and control levers, inertial mass 64 is
smaller than in known solutions, and, for the same
reason, need not be sized, unlike known solutions,
according to a given predicted impact on the door.
Moreover, unlike known solutions, in the event of
impact, assembly 27 provides for keeping the distressed
door closed, while having no release effect on the
opposite door lock.
Moreover, assembly 27 comprises a relatively small
number of parts, and is extremely easy to assemble by
simply forcing portion 48 of spring 45 onto portion 61,
inserting portion 49 inside hole 40, clicking portion 50
inside groove 41, and elastically deforming arm 53 to
insert end 54 inside respective seat 55. Safety assembly
27 is also fitted or replaced quickly, by body 28
sliding, parallel to direction A, inside seat 9 and
clicking onto portion 8 by means of device 30.
Using a flexible wire spring 45 as a hinge means
enables body 56 to spring back automatically into the
standby position following impact. That is, the forces
acting on lever 14 upon impact are transmitted to
structure 2 by arm 58 resting on stop 7, as opposed to
via spring 45, which, even after impact, continues to
operate elastically to reset body 56 and permit normal
control of the lock.
Clearly, changes may be made to handle 1 as
described herein without, however, departing from the
scope of the present invention.
In particular, assembly 27 may differ from and be
located differently from the one described and
illustrated herein by way of example.
Assembly 27 may be connected differently to
structure 2, e.g. without stop 7 or connecting body 28,
and with body 56 hinged directly to structure 2, so as to
further reduce the number of component parts of assembly
27; and/or spring 45 may be replaced with a different
elastic element, e.g. integral with body 56.