FR2674562A1 - LOCK FOR A VEHICLE HOOD COMPRISING SELF-CONTAINING MEANS. - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to vehicle locks. This lock, in particular for a cover, comprises a keeper (6) in a housing (5) of which is able to engage on closing a support element (2) of the bolt, in this case a rotating fork (4), cooperating hooked onto a nail (7) fixed to the strike (6). The keeper housing (5) (6) comprises self-centering and off-centering compensation means constituted by fixed stops (11, 12), integral with said housing (5) and elastically deformable in the transverse direction of the lock. Application to motor vehicles.

Description

LOCK FOR VEHICLE HOOD

  HAVING AUTOCENTRING MEANS

  The present invention relates to a lock for a vehicle, in particular for a hood of the type comprising a movable part or bolt integral with said cover in an opening or closing movement thereof and a fixed part or striker integral with an element of the body of vehicle, the bolt being constituted by a fork rotating about an axis secured to a support member fixed to said cover and having lateral inlet slopes in a strike housing integrally carrying a nail disposed perpendicularly to the plane of the support member fork and adapted to be overlapped, during a translational movement, by a longitudinal notch of said fork support member in a direction of insertion, until the latter rocking in rotation to secure said nail of

strike by hooking.

  Of course, this type of lock is also intended

  when closing a vehicle tailgate.

  In known locks of this type, a major disadvantage lies in the fact that it is difficult to obtain a correct immobilization of the closure hood in a transverse direction because of mounting tolerances which, cumulatively, can cause such an offset. transverse, of the order of several millimeters, between the axis of the striker and the axis of the bolt, making the closure

difficult or impossible.

  French patent application No. 2,633,654 proposes to remedy this drawback by disposing in the strike housing a pair of wedge-shaped pads adapted to slide longitudinally against springs, by a thrust of the bearing element. fork forming

bolt, when closing the hood.

  These pads are mounted in the housing strike, projecting and, depending on the offset of the bolt relative to the striker, are more or less urged in longitudinal sliding, allowing the catching of a possible game on one side or the other according to the offset and the transverse locking of said bolt relative to the housing. This device is not only complex and expensive because it requires the implementation of several parts to be assembled together, but also if there is a lateral offset between the bolt and strike, this will result in a more or less pronounced depression one of the two sliding wedges thus creating a lateral resistance dissymmetry; indeed, this behavior is directly related to the spring force exerted on each of the corners and the angle of the contact surface between the latter and the door element.

fork.

  The object of the present invention is to overcome these drawbacks and concerns for this purpose a lock for a vehicle, particularly for a hood of the type comprising a movable part or bolt integral with said cover in an opening or closing movement thereof and a part fixed or striker secured to an element of the vehicle body, the bolt being constituted by a fork rotating about an axis secured to a support member fixed to said cover and having lateral inlet slopes in a strike housing bearing severely a nail disposed perpendicularly to the plane of the fork support member and adapted to be overlapped during a translational movement, by a longitudinal notch of said fork support member in an insertion direction, until said last latch in rotation for securing said latch strike pin characterized in that the strike housing comprises autocenter means age with respect to the fork support element during initial adjustment or compensation of the possible eccentricity

  of these two elements between them in use.

  According to another characteristic of the invention, these means consist of fixed stops arranged opposite each opposite end of the keeper housing and elastically deformable in the transverse direction thereof to the passage of the support member.

rotating fork.

  In this way, the aforementioned disadvantages are solved by giving the lock greater reliability since simpler design, this with a

  energy consumed at the lower gap.

  Other features of the invention will appear in

  course of the following description given as a

  example with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: Figure 1 is a top view of a lock case of a lock according to the invention, showing schematically the positioning of a bolt support member, corresponding to the front part; coupling and partly after coupling of said bolt, Figure 2 is a sectional view along the line II-II of Figure 1 also showing schematically the positioning of a bolt support member before and after coupling thereof in a housing of lock, a lock according to the invention, and Figure 3 is a side view of a lock case

according to Figure 2.

  The lock 1 designated as a whole and shown in the figures, comprises a support member 2 fixed to the tailgate of the rear cover of a vehicle, not shown, by means of a stirrup 3, from the middle of which extends into cantilever down said support member 2 on which is disposed a bolt formed in this type of lock, by a rotating fork 4 rotatable in operation on an axis O integral with the support member 2 fork 4 In known manner, the support element 2 comprises lateral slopes 2 a, 2 b facilitating its insertion into a casing 5 of a striker 6 integrally carrying a nail 7 arranged perpendicularly to the plane of the support element 2 fork 4 and fit to be overlapped, during a translational movement, by a longitudinal notch 8 of said support member 2 in a direction of insertion, until the fork 4, carried by the element 2, rotates in rotation a around the O axis for

  to become attached to said striker nail 7 by hooking.

  Just as the support element 2 of the rotating fork 4 is integral with the cover constituting a moving part during an opening or closing movement, the strike box 6 is integrally mounted on the vehicle body (not shown). at the edge of a luggage compartment for example, on which the hood stops

when closing.

  As is particularly clearly shown in FIG. 2, the striker housing 6 is integral with a fastening plate 9 having three passage-through slots 10 mounted by screws (not shown) able to be screwed into corresponding threaded holes ( not shown) of a rear inner wall of the trunk

of the vehicle.

  The striker case 6 is defined by a parallelepipedal volume open at its upper part to allow the insertion of the support member 2 of the fork 4 and whose rectangular section is delimited by two lateral flanks 5a, 5b and two walls. The lateral flanks 5a, 5b are traversed perpendicularly by the nail 7 fixed cantilevered to the fixing plate 9 of the end plate 5c.

casing 5.

  According to the invention, the striker case 6 comprises means of self-centering with respect to the support member 2 of the fork 4 during an initial adjustment or compensation of the possible eccentricity of these two

  elements 2, 6 between them in use.

  These means are constituted by fixed stops 11, 12 arranged vis-à-vis respectively on each of

  opposite end walls 5c, 5d of the housing 5.

  These stops 11, 12 are identical and are obtained during a single molding operation of a plastic material. Each of the stops 11, 12 is constituted, in the present embodiment, by a hollow element substantially forming a U whose free ends of the branches 11a, 11b, 12a, 12b are directed in a direction opposite to that of introduction of the support member 2 of fork 4, the branches 11b and 12b facing the axis XX 'of the lock 1 being elastically deformable relative to the others, respectively 11a, 12a fixed on the inner walls

  end 5c and 5d of the housing 5.

  Such resilient bumpers 11, 12 could be sufficient for them to fulfill their role as mentioned above, but in order to reinforce their elastic quality and their reliability over time the branches 11a, 11b and 12a, 12b of each bumper 11, 12 are brought together in pairs near their free end by cylindrical rubber elements respectively reported 13, 14, acting freely and held in place by elastic clamping between each pair of branches 11a, 11b or 12a, 12b in parts of housing 13a, 14a formed respectively at said ends of the branches 11a, 11b or 12a, 12b and forming part of a cylinder,

  corresponding to the rubber elements to be clamped.

  Each of the stops 11 or 12 comprises removable fastening means cooperating with the inner end walls 5c, 5d of the keeper housing 6 and which consist of a lug 15 or 16 provided with a head 17 or 18 and made at the lower part of each fixed branch 11a or 12a of each stopper 11, 12 An anchor spoiler 19 or 20 is also provided at the upper part of said fixed branch 11a or 12a The mounting of each stop 11 or 12 is carried out by introducing said lug 15 or 16 is by its head 17 or 18 to the enlarged upper part of a buttonhole-shaped opening 21 or 22 formed in the inner end wall 5c or 5d of the housing 5 keeper 6, then brought to its lower part by sliding the head 17 or 18 behind a narrowed portion of said buttonhole 21, 22 until the spoiler 19 or 20 snaps elastically to the upper part of the

light 21 or 22.

  In order to facilitate the insertion of the support element 2 of the rotating fork 4 into the keeper 6 by its lateral slopes 2 to 2b, corresponding inclined entry slopes 23, 24 are respectively formed at the free ends of the branches 11b, 12 b elastically deformable from each stop 11, 12, turned towards the axis XX 'of the lock Each of the slopes 23, 24 is extended by faces 25, 26 parallel to said axis XX' of the lock 1 The slopes 2 a, 2 b of the support element 2 are likely to cooperate with the slopes 23, 24 of the stops 11, 12 during the

closing the hood.

  The mounting of the lock 1 described above is as follows. Of course, the striker 6 and the rotating fork assembly 4 disposed on its support 2 are separately mounted respectively on the edge of the trunk of the vehicle and on the hood along approximately the same axis XX ', so as to subsequently allow a trajectory of the vehicle. support element 2, substantially parallel to its notch 8 to ensure its insertion

  progressive in the case 5 striker 6.

  Initially, during assembly, said housing 6 is held in position by screws (not shown) passing through the slots 10, oblong in the transverse direction, but these screws are not tightened permanently in order to allow the translation adjustment of the housing 5 , the lights 10 allow a lateral movement thereof, of the order of 10 mm for example, caused precisely by the reciprocal contact of the slopes 2a of the support element 2 of the fork 4 and the slopes 23, 24 of each resilient stop 11, 12, thereby providing self-centering of said keeper housing 6 with respect to said support member 2, after which the screws are permanently locked to immobilize the

strike 6.

  During operation, there may be offsets of the constituent parts of the lock 1 between them, due to variations in the geometry of the body of the vehicle over time or to an unbalanced force exerted on the hood The system according to the invention allows to compensate for these offsets due to the transverse elastic deformation of the stops, able to be more or less compressed by means of the rubber cylinders 13, 14 also acting a vibration damping function contributing to a decrease of

  sound level of the entire vehicle.

  It may also be noted that the contact between the stops 11, 12 and the fields 2c, 2d of the support element 2, after insertion into the striker 6, is effected by means of parallel surfaces, respectively 2c, 2 d and 25, 26, which makes it possible to have no increase in effort as a function of a variation in penetration of the support element 2 of fork 4 in

the strike box 6.

  The only variations in the interlocking force are due to the only geometric width dispersions of the element 2 and the housing 5 which are controlled thanks to

the invention.

  As an exemplary embodiment, the hardness of the rubber cylinders 13, 14 is 80 SH and the value

  permissible crush is of the order of 1 millimeter.

  Thus, a compression of 0.3 to 0.8 mm ensures a

excellent rigidity.

  By way of example also the slopes 2a, 2b of the support element 2 of fork 4 form an angle ai of 27 30 with the axis XX 'and the inlet slopes 23, 24 of the stops 11, 12 of the striker 6 form an angle α of 30 with the same axis.

  facilitates the contacting of the elements in presence.

Claims (7)

  A lock (1) for a vehicle, in particular for a hood of the type comprising a movable part or bolt secured to said cover in an opening or closing movement thereof and a fixed part or striker (6) integral with an element of the vehicle body, the bolt being constituted by a fork (4) rotating about an axis (5) integral with a support member (2) fixed to said cover and having lateral slopes (2 a, 2 b) input in a housing (5) of striker (6) integrally carrying a nail (7) arranged perpendicular to the plane of the support element (2) fork (4) and adapted to be overlapped during a translational movement, by a longitudinal indentation (8) of said support element (2) of the fork (4) in an insertion direction, until the latter rotates in order to be secured to said striker nail (7) (6) by hooking characterized in that the housing (5) of striker (6) comprises means of autocent rage with respect to the support element (2) fork (4) during initial adjustment or compensation of the possible eccentration of these two elements (2, 6) between them course of use.   2 lock according to claim 1 characterized in that said means for self-centering and eccentric compensation are constituted by fixed stops (11, 12) arranged vis-a-vis at each of the opposite ends (5 c, 5 d ) of the housing (5) striker (6) and elastically deformable in the transverse direction thereof to the passage of the support element (2) of rotating fork (4).   3 lock according to claim 2, characterized in that each stopper (11, 12) is constituted by a hollow element substantially forming a U whose free ends of the legs (11a, 11b; 12a, 12b) are directed in a opposite direction to that of introduction of the support member (2) fork (4), one of said branches (11b, 12b) facing the axis (XX ') of the lock being elastically deformable relative to the other fixed on an inner end wall (5c, 5d) housing (5) keeper (6).   4 Lock according to claim 3 characterized in that the legs (11a, 11b; 12a, 12b) of each stopper (11, 12) are connected in pairs near their free end by a cylindrical rubber element reported , (13, 14) acting freely and held in place in housing portions (13 to 14 a) formed at said ends of the limbs (11a, 11b; 12a, 12b) and forming a corresponding cylinder. 5 lock according to claim 3, characterized in that each stop (11, 12) comprises removable fastening means cooperating with the inner end walls (5 c, 5 d) of the housing (5) striker (6), constituted by a pin (15, 16) with a head (17, 18) formed at the lower part of the fixed branch (11a, 12a) of said stop (11, 12) and an anchoring spoiler (19, 20). ) made at its upper part, said lug (15, 16) being introduced by its head (17, 18) to the enlarged upper part of a buttonhole-shaped opening (21, 22) formed in the inner side wall of end (5c, 5d) of the housing (5) latch (6), then brought to its lower part by sliding the head (17, 18) behind a narrowed portion of said buttonhole (21, 22), until the spoiler (19, 20) snaps elastically to the   upper part of the light (21, 22).   Lock according to one of Claims 3 to 5,   characterized in that the elastically deformable branches (11b, 12b) of each stop (11, 12) facing the axis (XX ') of the lock (1), each having at their free end a slope of inclined inlet (23, 24) extending by a face parallel (25, 26) to said axis (XX ') of the lock (1), the input slope (23, 24) being capable of cooperating, on closing, with the corresponding lateral entrance slopes (2 a, 2 b) of the support element (2) of fork (4).   Lock according to one of Claims 3 to 6   characterized in that the bumpers (11, 12) are identical and obtained during a single molding operation.