FR2673733A1 - GEAR LEVER FOR CONTROLLING A CHANGE DEVICE, IN PARTICULAR FOR A MOTOR VEHICLE. - Google Patents

Abstract

Gear lever comprising a downstream section (3), an upstream section carried by the downstream section (3), and connecting means (4 to 8) comprising a rod (4) of the downstream section threaded into an open cavity (40) delimited by an envelope (41) of a carrying part (100) integral with the upstream section. According to the invention, the connection means comprise, for forming snap-fastening means, on the one hand, a pin (5) carried by said carrier part (100) and mounted to slide through a passage hole (8 ) formed in the casing (41) of said carrier part (100) and, on the other hand, a complementary receiving hole (6) made in the rod (4) for receiving said pin (5), and in that said pin is coupled to elastic return means (7) which, carried by the carrier part (100), urge said pin (5) towards the inside of the cavity (40), for engagement thereof with the hole reception. Application: motor vehicles

Description

The present invention relates to a gear lever, for controlling a

  gearshift device, in particular for a motor vehicle, of the type comprising a downstream section intended to be connected to a control linkage of the gearshift device, an upstream section carried by the downstream section and provided with a knob intended to be actuated by the user, and connecting means, for connecting the upstream section with the downstream section, comprising a stem of the downstream section slipped into an open cavity delimited by a casing of a carrier part integral with the upstream section. Such a lever is described in the document FR-A-2 575 707 In this (FIG. 1) the upstream section 11 A can be angularly debated with respect to the downstream section 11B, and threshold detection means effort, intervening between said sections, are provided for

  detection of a desire to maneuver the user.

  These means comprise electrical sensors 23 ', 23' A, 21 ', 21' A, 33 and elastic return means 34. In this embodiment, the rod belongs to a nose of the downstream section and is bonded by welding to a load-bearing part. in solidarity with the upstream section and containing the

  electrical sensors and the end of the upstream section.

  The assembly of said sections is finally done by welding Such an operation complicates the assembly It may be desirable to produce, in a given production site, a subassembly comprising the upstream section as well as various components, such as

  electrical sensors, then finally report this sub-

  together on the downstream section, easily and quickly.

  The object of the present invention is to respond, in a simple and economical manner, to this desire and thus to create a provision making it possible to report easily and quickly in the end a subset comprising the

  upstream section on the downstream section.

  According to the invention, a lever of the above type

  indicated is characterized in that the connecting means comprise, for forming latching means, on the one hand, a pin carried by said carrier piece and slidably mounted through a through hole made in the envelope of said carrier piece, and, secondly, a complementary receiving hole made in the rod for receiving said pin, and in that said pin is coupled to elastic return means which, carried by the carrier piece, solicit said counter inside the cavity, for engagement

  of it with the receiving hole.

  Thanks to the invention, it is possible to create a cartridge knob subassembly possibly containing sensors, then to report the whole in final on the stem of the downstream section with blind mounting

and snap-fastening.

  According to one embodiment, the elastic return means consist of a split ring, in

  steel strip, mounted on the outside of the envelope.

  It should be noted that the disassembly can in all cases be done in an easy manner Advantageously, means of catching games are provided. These means of catching up games can consist of O-rings mounted in the bottom of the cavity and its

  open end These means facilitate assembly.

  The following description illustrates the invention

  with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a sectional view showing a broken lever according to FR-A-2 575 707; Figure 2 is a partial sectional view similar to Figure 1 showing a lever according to the invention; Figures 3 and 5 are partial sectional views showing the lower part of Figure 2, respectively for the mounted position and an intermediate position of mounting; Figures 4 and 6 are sectional views along the line 4-4 of Figure 2, respectively for the mounted position and intermediate mounting positions. In the figures shown, the shifter is a polarized shifter. For the record, it will be recalled that this type of lever comprises means for detecting the force threshold occurring between the upstream and downstream sections, for detecting a will to actuation of the user, said detection means comprising at least one electrical sensor and elastic return means, on the one hand, reminding in alignment the upstream and downstream sections when the lever is not requested by the user, and on the other hand, making it possible to generate electrical signals, via said sensor, from a certain threshold of effort, when the lever is requested by the user in one or

the other from two opposite senses.

  In document FR-A-2 575 707, the upstream section 11 A comprises a bulge 19 'A associated with areas of electrical contacts 23' and 21 'and the elastic return means consist of a coil spring 34 carried by a socket 33, said upstream section being mounted in

inside a room 20 '.

  More specifically, the spring 34, via the sleeve, tends to maintain a shoulder 30 of a ball joint belonging to the section 11A, applied against an annular bearing surface 32 of the housing 20 'to provide a return function The housing 20 'is secured to a carrier part, itself secured to the downstream section, said carrier part having a

  open cavity delimited by an envelope.

  In the housing 20 'are arranged two contact blades 21' and 23 ', and the shoulder 30, when a force is applied to the section 11A, tilts relative to the scope 32 while the shoulder 31 remains in contact with the flange 33 A, which inclines until it comes into contact with one or the other of the blades

  21 'or 23' to establish electrical contacts.

  It is then established an electrical circuit that sends information to a computer to drive the

control of a clutch.

  For more details, refer to the above-mentioned document FR-A-2 575 707, the content of which is

  considered as incorporated in the present invention.

  Such a device can be incorporated in the lever according to the invention and will not be described in more detail here. Thus the gear lever according to the present invention, for controlling a gearshift device, for a motor vehicle, comprises a downstream section 3 intended to be connected to a control linkage of the shifting device (not visible), an upstream section 1 carried by the downstream section 3 and provided with a knob 2 intended to be actuated by the user, and connecting means 4 to 8, for connecting the upstream section with the downstream section, comprising a rod 4 of the downstream section threaded into an open cavity 40 delimited by an envelope 41 of a carrier part 100 integral with the

upstream section.

  According to the invention, a lever of the above type

  indicated is characterized in that the connecting means comprise, for forming latching means, on the one hand, a pin 5 carried by said carrier piece 100 and slidably mounted through a through hole 8 made in the envelope 41 of said carrier piece 100 and, secondly, a complementary receiving hole 6 made in the rod 4 for receiving said pin 5, and in that said pin is coupled to resilient return means 7 which, worn by the carrier part 100, urge said pin 5 towards the inside of the cavity, for engagement thereof with the receiving hole. In FIGS. 2 to 6, the rod 4 is cylindrical in shape with a circular section and belongs to a nose that has the downstream section at its head or free end. The rod 4 is therefore connected here by a rounded zone and a shoulder to the portion current of the section 3 This rod has, according to a feature of the invention, a penetrating head 44 This head 44 may be in the form of ogive portion but here it consists of a frustoconical portion The rod 4 and the cavity 40 have

complementary shapes.

  The carrier piece 100 has at its free end a blind hole 40 for forming an open cavity. At the opening of the cavity, the part has a groove 42 for accommodating an O-ring 10 serving to catch the sets of as described hereinafter Another O-ring 9 is arranged

in the bottom of the hole 40.

  A through hole 8, with a chamfered inlet end, is formed in the casing 41 delimiting the cavity 40 and thus allows communication of the interior of the cavity 40 with the outside Here the hole 8 is practiced generally at middle of the height

of the cavity (Figure 5).

  The pin 5 of cylindrical shape complementary to that of the hole 8, also cylindrical, has a penetrating head 51 and a tail 52 coupled to resilient return means 7 These elastic return means 7, according to a feature of the invention, surround externally. at least in part the casing 41 of the cavity 40 These elastic return means 7 (a ring 7 in Figures 2 to 6) are deformable circumferentially and are adapted to occupy a retracted assembly position in which they enclose at least partially the envelope 41 (FIG. 4), and deployed mounting positions (FIG. 6) in which they are only partially in contact with

said envelope 41.

  Here the head 51 of the pin 5 is chamfered and it is fixed by riveting to a split ring 7 formed by a spring steel strip. The ring 7 therefore has the overall shape of a C and the pin 5 is fixed to the middle of it (FIGS. 4 and 6) both circumferentially (FIG. 4) and in height (FIGS.

3 and 5).

  The pin 5 ring 7 forming a mobile assembly, the pin 5 being in cylinder-pin relationship with

the through hole 8.

  Alternatively, the ring 7 could be replaced by a ring of elastically deformable material fixed on the pin 5, said ring then completely surrounding.

  the envelope 41, when the final assembly is performed.

  The receiving hole 6 consists of a blind hole and its position relative to the end of the rod 41 is a function of the height of the cavity 40 and the position of the hole 8, so that in the assembled position (FIG. ) a slight clearance exists between the end of the rod 41 and the bottom of the cavity 40 This hole 6, cylindrical in shape, has a shape complementary to that of the pin 5, and thanks to the invention, the mounting of the lever is done in an easy manner blindly by simple snap-fastening leading to a fixation in rotation and in translation of the downstream section 3 with respect to the piece 100, with

  confinement of the rod 4 inside the cavity 40.

  Indeed, after firstly producing a subassembly comprising the upstream section 1, the knob 2, the carrier part 100 and possibly a device comprising stress threshold detection means, this subassembly is carried in a second place for final assembly and this assembly is carried out by threading the cavity 40 on the rod 4 in the direction of the arrow A, and finally a rotation is made according to the arrow B to bring the pin 8 opposite the hole 6 and

  locking the assembly by snapping.

  It will be noted during assembly, that the head 44 of the rod 4 is allowed to come into contact with the head 51 of the pin 5 (Figure 5), then the penetrating movement continues the pin 5 is pushed outwardly to the against the force exerted by the elastic ring 7, to occupy a maximum deployed position,

represented at 50 in FIG.

  The movement continues, the pin 5 remains in this extended maximum position, until, after rotation, the hole 6 reaches the hole 8 and the pin 5 at this time the ring 7 relaxes and narrows around the envelope 41 to occupy the retracted end position shown in Figure 4, said pin 5 cooperating in a complementary manner with the hole

one-eyed 6.

  As will be understood, the dimension of the ring 7 is adapted to the size of the envelope 41, here of cylindrical shape, and to the length of the hole 8 and therefore the thickness of the envelope 41 is dimensioned in so that the pin 5 does not escape said hole 8 when it occupies its maximum deployed position 50 The ring 7 therefore acts in the manner of a clamp and originally occupies a tight position before assembly, then is admitted to s open when the head 44 comes into contact with the head 51 and then to close for final assembly, the pin 5 performing

then a movement back and forth.

  Of course, disassembly is easy, because it suffices to slide a tool between the outer periphery of the casing 41 and the ring 7, as shown in arrow C of FIG. 5, to open the ring and deploy the peg 5 Advantageously in the assembly position, the ring 7 is slightly under prestressing, and a clearance separates the bottom of the hole 6 of the head 51 of the pin 5 in

assembly position (Figure 4).

  According to another characteristic, the O-rings 9 and 10 constitute catch-up means of

  games provided between the carrier part 100 and the rod 4.

  More precisely, the seal 9 is able to come into contact with the head 44 of the rod 4 with the appearance of a clearance between the head 44 and the bottom of the cavity 40 and limits the axial displacement of the rod 4 relative to the cavity

  while the seal 10 provides a clamping effect.

  Thus we are sure that the pawn 5, despite manufacturing tolerances, will penetrate in any circumstance inside the hole 6 Indeed, by trial and error can be crushed more or less the seal 9, so that the pin 5

  penetrate inside the receiving hole 6.

  Naturally, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment example described. In particular, the elastic means for compensating for play can consist of an elastic ring carried by the shoulder formed in the connection zone between the rod 4 and the current portion of the downstream section, said ring being allowed to cooperate with the free end of

the carrier part 100.

  Alternatively, the seal 9 can be replaced by

  example by a Belleville washer.

  If desired, several pieces 5 and several holes

  6.8 may be provided, depending on the applications.

  Finally, the cavity 40 may have a bottom reducing to a simple shoulder for receiving the seal 9.

Claims (7)

  1) Gear lever, for controlling a gearshift device, for a motor vehicle, comprising a downstream section (3) intended to be connected to a control linkage of the shifting device, an upstream section (1) carried by the downstream section (3) and provided with a knob (2) to be actuated by the user, and connecting means (4 to 8), for connecting the upstream section with the downstream section, comprising a rod (4) the downstream section threaded into an open cavity (40) delimited by an envelope (41) of a carrier part (100) integral with the upstream section, characterized in that the connecting means comprise, for forming means for snap, on the one hand, a pin (5) carried by said carrier piece (100) and slidably mounted through a through hole (8) formed in the envelope (41) of said carrier piece (100) and, on the other hand, a complementary receiving hole (6) made in the stem (4) for receiving said pin (5), and in that said pin is coupled to elastic return means (7) which, carried by the carrier piece (100), urge said pin (5) towards   inside the cavity (40), for engagement of the ci with the receiving hole.   2) Lever according to claim 1, characterized in that the elastic return means (7) externally surround at least partly the envelope (41) of the cavity (40).   3) Lever according to claim 2, characterized in that the elastic return means (7) are deformable circumferentially and are adapted to occupy a retracted assembly position, wherein they enclose at least partially the envelope (41) and deployed mounting positions in which they are only partially in contact with said envelope (41).   4) lever according to any one of   Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the means   return elastics (7) consist of a split ring, and in that said pin (5) is fixed to said ring (7). Lever according to any one of   Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that means   Elastics catch-up games are provided between the   carrier piece (100) and the rod (4).   6) Lever according to claim 5, characterized in that the means of catching games comprise at least one O-ring (9,10) carried by said cavity (40).   7) Lever according to claim 6, wherein the cavity (40) consists of a blind hole and wherein the rod (4) has a penetrating head (44), characterized in that the O-ring is mounted in the bottom of the cavity (40) for contact with the head (44) of the rod (4).   8) Lever according to any one of   preceding claims, characterized in that the hole   reception consists of a blind hole.