FR2710097A1 - Door lock for a motor vehicle, the said lock including a moulded plastic casing - Google Patents

Abstract

Door lock for a motor vehicle, including a latch bolt and a restraining catch associated with the latch bolt in order to restrain the latch bolt in the latching position in which it interacts with a fixed latch plate carried by the bodywork of the vehicle, the latch bolt and the catch being mounted so as to pivot on pins (A1, A2) carried by a metal support by means of which the said lock is fastened to the door of the vehicle, the said support carrying a casing (10) made of substantially rigid plastic, the said support and the said casing (10) carrying holding and pivoting (articulation) means for members to disable (engage) and enable (release) the lock, the user being able to act on these means via operating levers which interact with the said members and which are carried by the door of the vehicle. A wedging stop (13) made of flexible material is carried by the said casing (10), with which wedging stop (13) the latch plate can interact; the wedging stop (13) is moulded at the same time as the casing (10).

Description

MOTOR VEHICLE DOOR LOCK, SAID
LOCK COMPRISING A PLASTIC HOUSING
MOLDED
The present invention relates to a motor vehicle door lock, said lock comprising a molded plastic housing.

 More specifically, the present invention relates to a door lock for a motor vehicle comprising a bolt and a retaining pawl associated with said bolt for retaining the bolt in the locked position in which it cooperates with a fixed strike carried by the vehicle body, the bolt and the pawl being pivotally mounted on axes carried by a metal support by which said lock is secured to the door of the vehicle, said support carrying a substantially rigid plastic housing, said support and said housing carrying means for holding and articulation for locking and unlocking members of the lock on which the user can act by means of operating levers which cooperate with said members and which are carried by the vehicle door.

 The housing generally carries a timing stop, of flexible material, with which the keeper is capable of cooperating, at least at the end of the race, when the lock carried by the door is moved relative to the keeper when the said door is closed. this wedging stop has so far been made up of an independent molded part attached to the housing in a housing thereof; the timing stop is intended to wedge the keeper in the lock and to absorb the shock caused when the vehicle door is slammed when it is closed.

 Such an arrangement has drawbacks: during assembly of the lock, the setting up of the timing stop costs an assembly time, it is also necessary to remember to place said timing stop; in addition, the production, independently, of the timing stop leads to more or less random strike settings, taking into account the manufacturing dispersions existing both for the timing stop and for the housing of the housing which receives it , random stalls to which is added the risk of poor maintenance of the stopping stop in handling and in operation.

 The present invention aims to overcome these drawbacks.

 Thus, according to the invention, a lock of the above type, in which a timing stop, with which the keeper is capable of cooperating, is carried by the housing, is characterized in that the timing stop has come from molding at the same time as the housing.

 The housing can be provided in thermoplastic resin, preferably acetal; advantageously, the flexible material constituting the timing stop is a synthetic elastomer, preferably a polychloroprene.

 As is known, the bolt carried by the lock is rotated by the keeper itself when the door is closed to prevent the bolt from performing too great a rotational stroke, in particular during the closing by snapping of the door, which would lead to a sudden return on the locking pawl and therefore to a noticeable closing noise, a wedging pad of flexible material is provided with which is brought to cooperate in abutment said bolt at the end of its stroke in rotation; such a wedging pad also has the advantage of resiliently holding the door in the closed position, while the vehicle is running, the bolt being held in application against said wedging pad by the retaining pawl in the locked position.

 The wedging pad is generally an independent molded piece attached to the metal support on which it is stapled, such an arrangement has the same drawbacks as those described in connection with the strike wedging stop and that the present invention also aims to overcome.

 Thus, according to the invention, a lock of the above type, in which a wedging pad made of flexible material is provided with which the bolt cooperates in abutment, is characterized by the fact that the wedging pad came from molding at the same time. time that the housing advantageously, the flexible material constituting the timing pad is an elastomer of thermoplastic polyurethane.

 When closing the door, the keeper rotates the bolt; the locking pawl being permanently biased by a spring towards its locking position, it is therefore, before closing, on the path of the bolt, which bolt rotates the pawl in the unlocking direction during closing, said pawl returning towards its locking position after closing: in this return movement, the pawl is generally prevented from coming suddenly into contact with the bolt thanks to an elastic pawl stop against which it elastically abuts, this avoiding the noise that would cause the shock of the pawl on the bolt, these two parts being metallic. The elastic ratchet stop is generally an independent plastic part, attached to the housing; such an elastic ratchet stop has the same drawbacks as those described in connection with the strike setting stop and the bolt setting buffer, which the present invention also proposes to overcome.

 Thus, according to the invention, a lock of the above type, comprising an elastic ratchet stop in flexible material is characterized in that said stop is molded at the same time as the housing; advantageously, the material constituting said stopper is a terpolymer of ethylene, propylene and a diene.

 In general, the axes carried by the support, on which the bolt and the bolt locking latch are pivotally mounted, pass through cylindrical barrels of the housing for mounting it on the support; the axial fixing of the housing relative to the support is obtained by stamping the ends of said axes; thus, the transverse maintenance of the housing is only ensured by the cooperation of the inner cylindrical surface of the barrels with the cylindrical outer surface of the axes; taking into account the manufacturing dispersions, this transverse support is not straightforward and the vibrations generated by the vehicle when driving, or when the engine is stopped, can cause noise. the invention also provides for filtering the vibrations transmitted by the housing. to the support, or vice versa.

 Thus, according to the invention, a lock of the above type, in which the axes carried by the support, and on which the bolt and the pawl are pivotally mounted, pass through cylindrical barrels provided on the housing for mounting said housing on the support, is characterized in that said barrels are made of a vibration filtering material and have come from molding at the same time as the housing; advantageously, said guns are made of a terpolymer of ethylene, propylene and a diene, or a synthetic elastomer, preferably a polychloroprene.

 According to a particular embodiment, the barrel which the axis crosses around which is articulated in rotation the bolt is made in one piece with the timing stop provided for the keeper.

 It will have been noted that, of course, the invention will be all the more advantageous as the maximum of the different plastic parts the strike setting stop, the bolt setting buffer, the ratchet stop, as well as the barrels, is produced by molding in one piece, at the same time as the housing.

 To better understand the object of the invention, we will now describe, by way of purely illustrative and nonlimiting example, an embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings.

On these drawings
- Figure 1 is a bottom plan view of the housing according to the invention
- Figure 2 is a sectional view along line II-II of Figure 1;
- Figure 3 is a sectional view along line III-III of Figure 1;
- Figure 4 is a sectional view along the line IV-IV of Figure 1;
- Figure 5 is a sectional view along line VV of Figure 1;
- Figure 6 is a perspective view of the housing of Figure 1;
- Figure 7 is similar to Figure 6, the housing having rotated 45 "clockwise
- Figure 8 is similar to Figure 7, the housing having rotated 90 "clockwise, the bolt, the locking pawl and the strike having been shown
- Figure 9 is a sectional view along the line Ix-Ix of Figure 1.

 In FIGS. 1 to 7, we see at 10 a housing according to the invention forming part of a door lock for a motor vehicle, said lock, well known to those skilled in the art, not having been shown in his outfit. The box 10 is carried by a metal support thanks to metal pins integral with the metal support passing through cylindrical passages 11 and 12 of the box 10 the metal support has a cross-section in the form of a square, as suggested by the dashed line S in the figure 5, and therefore comprises a wing S1 parallel to the general plane of the substantially parallelepipedal housing and a wing S2 which extends perpendicularly to the wing S1, which wing S1 carries said mounting axes of the housing 10, symbolized in Ai, A2 at the Figure 5; when the lock is mounted on the vehicle door, the wings S1 and S2 are vertical and the lock is fixed to the door by the wing S1 of the support S.

 The support S and the housing 10 carry means, not shown, for holding and articulation for locking and unlocking members of the lock on which the user can act by operating levers which can be actuated by, for example, a handle. interior, exterior handle, frieze zipper, remote control.

The housing 10 is made of relatively rigid molded plastic; this material is, for example, a thermoplastic resin, preferably acetal, such as that which is marketed under the trademark DELRIN 100 by the company DU PONT DE NEMOURS, or under the trademark HOSTAFORM C 2521 by the company
HOECHST.

 As known per se, the vehicle door lock comprises a bolt and a retaining pawl associated with said bolt; the bolt and the retaining pawl are metal parts rotatably mounted on the axes A1, A2 of the support S on the face of the wing S1 facing the housing 10; in Figure 8, a bolt 20 and a pawl 30 have been shown without the support S to show their location relative to the housing 10. The bolt 20 is adapted to cooperate with a fixed strike carried by the vehicle body; such a keeper is shown at 40 in FIG. 9; the keeper 40 comprises a cylindrical body 41 with which the bolt 20 cooperates, a threaded tail 42 for fixing to the vehicle body and a circular head 43 for wedging; the keeper 40 is also visible in Figure 8 where the bolt 20, the pawl 30 and the keeper 40 are in the position they occupy, relative to the housing 10, when the vehicle door is closed.

 The housing 10 carries a timing stop 13 with which the keeper 40 is capable of cooperating; the timing stop 13 is made of a flexible material and is molded at the same time as the housing 10; it advantageously consists of a synthetic elastomer, preferably a polychloroprene, for example a neoprene whose Shore A hardness is 70.

 The timing stop 13 has the general shape of an L with two wings 13A, 13B making a right angle or close to a right angle the wing 13A extends in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the keeper 40 relative to the housing 10; when the lock carried by the door is moved relative to the keeper 40 when the door is closed, the setting head 43 of the keeper 40 comes to bear elastically on the wing 13A of the setting stop 13, as illustrated in phantom in Figure 1; during the above movement, the keeper 40 moves inside a channel 14 of the housing U, said channel 14 having a U-shaped section; the wing of the channel 14 which is closest to the axis A2 extends substantially parallel to the wing 13B of the timing stop 13 and, in line with the latter, is not integral with the bottom of the housing 10 so that it has a certain transverse flexibility; the wedging head 43 of the keeper 40 cooperates directly with said flexible wing of the channel 14 which itself cooperates with the wing 13B of the wedge stop 13: this allows elastic wedging of the keeper 40, also in the lock transversely. According to the example shown, the wing 13B has, on its face facing the axis A2, a semi-cylindrical portion 15 with which the metal axis A2 cooperates, as will be described below.

 The housing 10 also carries a wedging pad 16 of flexible material, molded at the same time as the housing 10; the flexible material constituting the wedging pad 16 is advantageously an elastomer of thermoplastic polyurethane, for example the material sold under the trade name DESMOPAN 385 by the company BAYER.

 The timing pad 16 extends in the same plane as the bolt 20; such a wedging pad 16 makes it possible to avoid the bolt 20 making too great a rotational stroke when the door is closed during which it is rotated by the keeper 40 in the closed position, the arm 21 of the bolt 20, as visible in FIG. 8, is in elastic contact with the setting pad 16.

 The housing 10 also carries an elastic stop 17 of the pawl, molded at the same time as the housing 10; the elastic material constituting the elastic stop 17 is advantageously a terpolymer of ethylene, propylene and a diene, such as that which is known by the abbreviation EPDM. Solicited by its return spring towards its locking position, for which a locking spout 32, which is provided with the pawl 30, engages with a finger 22 of the bolt 20, as shown in FIG. 8, the pawl 30 cooperating elastically, by a heel 31, with the elastic stop 17, the heel 31 of the pawl 30 being placed at the end of the pawl 30 opposite to that which carries the spout 32, relative to the axis of rotation of the pawl 30.

 As we saw at the beginning of this description, the housing 10 is fixed to the support S by the axes At, A2 which pass through the cylindrical passages 11, 12 of the housing 10; to avoid the transmission of vibrations between the axes At, A2, on the one hand, and the housing 10, on the other hand, the passages 11, 12 are made in barrels which are made of a vibration filtering material and have come molding at the same time as the housing 10; said filtering material is advantageously a terpolymer of ethylene, propylene and a diene, for example that which is known by the abbreviation EPDM, or a synthetic elastomer, such as a polychloroprene, for example a neoprene of which the Shore A hardness is 70. We see, in the figures, such a barrel 18 adapted to receive the axis At; the barrel adapted to receive the axis A2 partly consists of the wing 13B of the timing stop 13, in line with its semi-cylindrical portion 15, and for another part by a complementary cylindrical portion 19 also coming from molding with the housing 10, if it is desired that the two said parts be made of different materials; of course, it is also possible, as a variant, for the two materials to be the constituent material of the timing stop 13, the barrel which the axis A2 crosses then being produced in one piece with the timing stop 13.

 The invention which has just been described leads to a lock whose manufacturing costs have been minimized while being sure, moreover, that none of the parts described above risks being forgotten; in operation, such a lock is, moreover, quieter than the locks known up to now.

Claims (10)

CLAIMS 1- Motor vehicle door lock comprising a bolt (20) and a retaining pawl (30) associated with said bolt (20) for retaining the bolt (20) in the locked position in which it cooperates with a strike (40) fixed carried by the vehicle body, the bolt (20) and the pawl (30) being pivotally mounted on axes (At, A2) carried by a metal support (S) by which said lock is secured to the vehicle door, said support (S) carrying a housing (10) made of substantially rigid plastic, said support (S) and said housing (10) carrying holding and articulation means for locking and unlocking members of the lock on which the the user can act by means of operating levers which cooperate with said members and which are carried by the vehicle door, a timing stop (13) made of flexible material being carried by said housing (10), timing stop ( 13 ) with which the keeper (40) is capable of cooperating, characterized in that the timing stop (13) came from molding at the same time as the housing (10).  2 - Lock according to claim 1, characterized in that the housing (10) is made of thermoplastic resin.  3 - Lock according to claim 2, characterized in that the housing (10) is made of acetal thermoplastic resin.  4 - Lock according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the flexible material of the timing stop (13) is a synthetic elastomer.  5 - Lock according to claim 4, characterized in that the flexible material of the timing stop (13) is a polychroroprene.  6 - Lock according to one of claims 1 to 5, comprising a chock pad (16) of flexible material with which cooperates in abutment said bolt (20), characterized in that the chock pad (16) came from molding at the same time as the housing (10).  7 - Lock according to claim 6, characterized in that the material constituting said wedging pad (16) is an elastomer of thermoplastic polyurethane.  8 - Lock according to one of claims 1 to 7, comprising an elastic stop (17) of ratchet made of flexible material, characterized in that said elastic stop (17) of ratchet is molded at the same time as the housing ( 10).  9 - Lock according to claim 8, characterized in that the elastic stop (17) is made of terpolymer of ethylene, propylene and a diene.  10 - Lock according to one of claims 1 to 9, in which the axes (At, A2) carried by the support (S), and on which the bolt (20) and the pawl (30) are pivotally mounted, pass through cylindrical barrels (18, 15-19) provided on the housing (10) for mounting said housing (10) on the support (S), characterized in that said barrels (18, 15-19) are made of a material of vibration filtering and came from molding at the same time as the housing (10).  t t - Lock according to claim 10, characterized in that said barrels (18, 15-19) are made of a terpolymer of ethylene, propylene and a diene, or a synthetic elastomer, preferably a polychloroprene.  12 - Lock according to claim 10, characterized in that the barrel that crosses the axis (A2) around which is pivotally articulated the bolt (20) is made in one piece with the timing stop (13).