JP2008279979A - Lock device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a lock device capable of suppressing a gap formed in the circumferential direction of a latch in a locked state while securing the assurance of the lock even if it is formed of the latch rotatably supported to a base member and a pole for holding the latch in the locked state. <P>SOLUTION: This lock device comprises the latch 30 rotatably supported to the base member 10 and the pole 40 engagedly adjacent to the latch 30 and rotatably supported to the base member 10, biased by a first spring 80 in the direction of being engaged with the latch 30, and holding the latch 30 in the locked state by being engaged with the latch 30. The lock device further comprises a driving cam 70 for applying a pressing force to the latch 30 rotatably supported to the base member 10 and brought into the locked state in the locking direction by a second spring 86. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a locking device, and more specifically, a latch pivotally supported on a base member, and adjacent to the latch so as to be engageable and pivotally supported on the base member. The present invention relates to a locking device that includes a pole that is biased in a direction to engage with a latch by a spring force and engages the latch to hold the latch in a locked state.

  Conventionally, as a retractable rear seat 100 in a vehicle, for example, a technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 is already known. In this technology, as shown in FIG. 11, the seat back 102 can be folded with respect to the seat cushion 101 such that the seat back 102 is inclined forward and the seat back 102 is stacked on the seat cushion 102. In order to prevent the headrest 103 from interfering with the front seat 200 during the folding, the stay 103a (not shown in FIG. 11) of the headrest 103 can be tilted forward (rotatable) with respect to the seat back 102. It is assembled to. Note that a lock device 104 is provided inside the seat back 102 for holding the rotating state of the stay 103a when the headrest 103 is in use (in FIG. 11, the headrest 103 is indicated by a solid line). As this locking device 104, for example, as shown in FIG. 12, a latch 130 formed integrally with a stay 103a of a headrest 103 (not shown in FIG. 12) and an engagement groove 132 of the latch 130 are engaged. There is known a type that includes a pole 140 having a hook portion 141 and holds the latch 130 in a locked state by engaging the hook portion 141 of the pole 140 with an engagement groove 132 of the latch 130.

As prior art document information related to the invention of this application, for example, Patent Document 1 is known.
JP 2006-6720 A

  However, in the locking device 104 described above, in order to ensure the lockability (that is, to ensure that the locking state is achieved without entering the half-locked state), the width L1 of the engaging groove 132 of the latch 130 is secured. Is set to be larger than the width L2 of the hook portion 141 of the pole 140 (see a partially enlarged view of FIG. 12). Therefore, in the locked state, a gap is generated between the inner wall surface of the engaging groove 132 of the latch 130 and the side surface of the hook portion 141 of the pole 140. This gap causes a backlash in the circumferential direction of the latch 130 in the locked state. Was supposed to occur. In the partially enlarged view of FIG. 12, the gap is exaggerated. This also applies to FIGS. 6, 7, and 10 described later. Since this gap is actually a small gap, the play caused by this gap is a small play. However, even if this backlash is small on the base end side (seat back side) of the stay 103a, it becomes large on the headrest 103 side, which is the front end side of the stay 103a, and the passenger sitting on the seat is uncomfortable. It was a looseness to feel.

  The present invention is intended to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to hold a latch in a locked state by engaging the latch pivotally supported by the base member and the latch. It is an object of the present invention to provide a lock device that can suppress backlash generated in the circumferential direction of a latch in a locked state while securing lockability even in the case of a pole.

The present invention is for achieving the above object, and is configured as follows.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, a latch that is pivotally supported by the base member and a latch that is slidably adjacent to the latch and pivotally supported by the base member are provided. This is a locking device comprising a pole that is biased in the direction of engaging with the latch by the spring and that holds the latch in a locked state by engaging with the latch, and is pivotally supported by the base member. And a driving cam for applying a pressing force in the locking direction by the second spring to the latch in the locked state.
According to this configuration, by applying a pressing force to the latch in the locked state and turning it, the gap generated when the latch and the pole are engaged can be reduced. Therefore, the play which arises in the peripheral direction of a latch in the locked state of a locking device can be suppressed.

The invention according to claim 2 is the locking device according to claim 1, wherein an engagement groove is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the latch, and the latch is engaged on the outer peripheral surface of the pole. A hook portion engageable with the groove is formed, and when the latch portion is locked by engaging the hook portion with the engagement groove, the latch is rotated by the pressing force of the driving cam. The inner wall surface of the engaging groove presses the side surface of the hook portion by turning.
According to this configuration, since the engagement groove is formed in the latch that is the member on the rotation side, if the latch is rotated, the operation of the pole is not performed in the engagement groove of the latch without performing other operations. It becomes the appearance that the hook part fits. Therefore, operability can be improved.

Further, the invention according to claim 3 is the locking device according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein the latch in the locked state to which the pressing force is applied by the backlash cam is locked. Even when the driving cam is rotated in the locking direction by receiving a load in the direction, the latched state of the latch by the pole is maintained.
According to this configuration, the latch in the locked state described in any one of claims 1 and 2 receives a load in the lock direction, and the driving cam is driven in a direction opposite to its own biasing direction by an impact caused by the load. Even when the lock device is rotated, the lock state of the lock device is not immediately released.

Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
Example 1
First, Example 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view showing an application example of the locking device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the locking device of FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the operation of the locking device of FIG. 1 and shows the headrest in a forward-turned state. FIG. 4 shows a state in which the headrest is released from the forward movement in FIG. FIG. 5 shows a state immediately before the headrest is locked in FIG. FIG. 6 shows a locked state of the headrest in FIG. FIG. 7 shows a pressing state of the driving cam in FIG. FIG. 8 shows a state in which the pressure by the pushing cam is dropped in FIG.

  In this embodiment, the locking device of the present invention is applied to a lock that holds the rotation of the stay 3a in the forward tilting mechanism of the headrest 3, which is a known technique. Therefore, before explaining this locking device, first, the forward tilting mechanism of the headrest 3 will be briefly explained.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the headrest 3 is assembled to a pair of left and right stays 3a. At the lower ends of these stays 3a, a bracket 20 is mounted so as to bridge both stays 3a. Disc members 22 are respectively assembled to the left and right ends of the bracket 20. A latch 30 described later is integrally assembled on the outer surface of one of the disk members 22 (the disk member on the right side in FIG. 1).

  On the other hand, a pair of left and right base members 10 are assembled to the upper arm portion of the seat back frame 2 to which both the stays 3a are assembled by screws 2a. A latch 30 and a disc member (a disc member on the left side in FIG. 1) 22 to which the latch 30 is not assembled are assembled to both the base members 10 by the rotation screw 11. Yes. Thereby, the latch 30 and the disk member 22 on which the latch 30 is not assembled are pivotally supported with respect to both the base members 10 respectively. Therefore, the headrest 3 can be moved forward with respect to the seat back (not shown).

  The bracket 20 is formed with a spring hook 23 so as to be parallel to the longitudinal direction. A third torsion spring 88 that is a torsion spring is inserted and locked to the spring hook 23. One end 84 of the third torsion spring 83 is hooked on the spring hooking hole 24 formed in the bracket 20, and the other end 85 is hooked on the rod 50 described later. Thereby, the headrest 3 is always urged forward with respect to the seat back.

  Next, the locking device of the present invention which is a main part will be described. This locking device mainly includes a latch 30, a pawl 40, and a driving cam 70. Hereinafter, each of these components will be described individually.

  First, the latch 30 will be described. As already described, the latch 30 is supported by the rotating screw 11 with respect to the base member 10 so as to be able to rotate around its axis. An engagement groove 32 that is engaged with a hook portion 41 of a pole 40 described later is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the latch 30. A stepped portion 34 that is engaged with the hook portion 41 of the pole 40 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the latch 30 on the substantially opposite side of the engaging groove 32. Further, on the surface of the latch 30 (surface facing the base member 10), a projection 33 is formed that is retracted into a retracting portion 71 of a driving cam 70 described later.

  Next, the pole 40 will be described. The pole 40 is formed at one end of a rod 50 provided in parallel with the bracket 20 so as to be integrated with the rod 50 and adjacent to the latch 30 (coplanar). Both ends of the rod 50 are assembled to the base members 10 by the rotation pins 12 in the same manner as the disk member 22 and the latch 30 described above. As a result, the pole 40 formed integrally with the rod 50 is supported by the rotation pin 12 so as to be rotatable about its axis with respect to the base member 10. Further, as already described, the hook portion 41 that can be engaged with the engagement groove 32 of the latch 30 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the pole 40. Further, on the outer surface of the pole 40, a protrusion 42 is formed that can move in a long hole 72 of a driving cam 70 described later.

  A release lever 51 is assembled to the outer peripheral surface of the rod 50 so as to be integrated with the rod 50. An operation cable 54 is assembled to the release lever 51 so as to be integrated with the release lever 51 via a connecting pin 53. Thereby, when the operation cable 54 is pulled, the pole 40 formed integrally with the rod 50 is rotated. Further, a first torsion spring (a “first spring” recited in the claims) 80 that is a torsion spring is inserted and locked to a part of the rod 50. One end 81 of the first torsion spring 80 is hooked on the spring hooking rod 23 of the bracket 20, and the other end 82 is hooked on a spring hooking hole 52 formed in the release lever 51. As a result, the pole 40 is always biased in a direction to engage with the latch 30.

  Next, the driving cam 70 will be described. The driving cam 70 is supported so that it can be rotated about its axis by the rotation pin 12 with respect to the base member 10 in the state of being sandwiched between the pole 40 and the base member 10. ing. As already described, a pull-in portion 71 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the driving cam 70. The pull-in portion 71 has a pressure angle that allows the protrusion 33 of the latch 30 to be pulled in. Further, as described above, a long hole 72 is formed in the driving cam 70 along the circumferential direction. The protrusion 42 of the pole 40 is inserted into the long hole 72. Thus, unless the hook portion 41 of the pole 40 is engaged with the engaging groove 32 of the latch 30, the driving cam 70 is restricted so as not to pull the protrusion 33 of the latch 30.

  At this time, a second torsion spring (a “second spring” described in claims) 86, which is a torsion spring, is inserted and locked to the rotation pin 12. The second torsion spring 86 is sandwiched between the base member 10 and the driving cam 70. One end 87 of the second torsion spring 86 is hooked in the spring hooking hole 13 formed in the base member 10, and the other end 88 is hooked in the spring hooking hole 73 formed in the driving cam 70. Thereby, the driving cam 70 is always urged in the unlocking direction, which is the urging direction of the pole 40.

  Then, operation | movement of the locking device mentioned above is demonstrated. The operation state of the lock device changes according to the tilt state of the stay 3 a of the headrest 3. Therefore, the operation of the locking device will be described according to the tilting state of the stay 3a. First, the description starts from a state where the stay 3a is held forward (the state shown in FIG. 3).

  First, in this forward-holding state, the stay 3a is urged forwardly (counterclockwise in FIG. 3) with respect to the seat back by the third torsion spring 83 already described. By this urging, the outer peripheral surface of the latch 30 and the outer peripheral surface of the pole 40 are in contact with each other. Thus, the stay 3a is regulated so as not to be further moved forward (the stay 3a is not further moved forward than the state shown in FIG. 3). At this time, the hook portion 41 of the pole 40 is locked to the step portion 34 of the latch 30. Thus, even when the stay 3a receives an external force in the backward direction (clockwise direction in FIG. 3), the stay 3a is held in this forward-turned state without being rotated backward. .

  Next, a case where the stay 3a is moved forward from the holding state to the use state will be described. The stay 3a is rotated backward against the engaging force of the hook portion 41 and the elastic force of the third torsion spring 83 (see FIGS. 4 and 5). At this time, the pole 40 is urged in the direction of engaging the latch 30 (the counterclockwise direction in FIGS. 4 and 5) as described above. The outer peripheral surface is pressed.

  Eventually, when the stay 3a is rotated until the stay 3a becomes substantially vertical, the hook portion 41 of the pole 40 is fitted into the engagement groove 32 of the latch 30 by its urging force (see FIG. 6). As a result, even when the stay 3a is urged in the forward direction (counterclockwise direction in FIG. 6), the stay 3a is held in a use state that is a substantially vertical state. The use state of the stay 3a is the lock state of the lock device. At this time, similarly to the description of the prior art, the width L1 of the engagement groove 32 of the latch 30 is set to be larger than the width L2 of the hook portion 41 of the pole 40, so that the guarantee of locking is ensured. (See a partially enlarged view of FIG. 6).

  At this time, since the engagement groove 32 is formed in the latch 30 which is a rotation side member, if the stay 3a is rotated, the engagement groove of the latch 30 can be performed without performing other operations. The hook portion 41 of the pole 40 is fitted into the pole 32. For example, as will be described in a second embodiment described later, when the configuration of the engagement between the latch 30 and the pole 40 is reversed, the hook portion 41 of the pole 40 is formed in the engagement groove 32 of the latch 30 only by rotating the stay 3a. Will not fit. Therefore, when the stay 3a is rotated, an operation of pulling the operation cable 54 is required in conjunction with the rotation operation.

  At this time, the driving cam 70 is biased in the biasing direction of the pole 40 as already described, and therefore the driving cam 70 also rotates in the same direction as the biasing direction of the pole 40. (See FIG. 7). Then, the retracting portion 71 of the driving cam 70 pulls the protrusion 33 of the latch 30, and by this pulling, the latch 30 is biased in the direction opposite to the rotation of the driving cam 70 (clockwise direction in FIG. 7). (A pressing force is applied). As a result, the inner wall surface 32a of the engagement groove 32 of the latch 30 is pressed against the side surface 41a of the hook portion 41 of the pole 40 (see a partially enlarged view of FIG. 7), and the rotation of the latch 30 is completed. . Therefore, play that occurs in the circumferential direction of the latch 30 when the stay 3a is in use (locked state of the locking device) can be suppressed.

  At this time, the long hole 72 is a circle of the driving cam 70 so that the protrusion 42 does not come into contact with the inner wall surface 72a in the direction opposite to the biasing direction of the pole 40 among the inner wall surfaces of the long hole 72. It is drilled so as to be sufficiently long in the circumferential direction. As a result, the retracting portion 71 of the driving cam 70 can reliably retract the protrusion 33 of the latch 30. Therefore, the above-described play can be reliably suppressed.

  Next, the case where the stay 3a is moved forward from the use state and returned to the holding state will be described. The stay 3 a is rotated forward while pulling the operation cable 54 downward to eliminate the state where the hook portion 41 of the pole 40 is fitted in the engagement groove 32 of the latch 30. At this time, the protrusion 42 of the pole 40 moves in the long hole 72 of the driving cam 70, and eventually the protrusion 42 presses against the inner wall surface 72 a of the long hole 72. By this pressing, the driving cam 70 is also rotated in the same direction as the pole 40, so that the driving cam 70 is not pulled into the latch 30.

  Eventually, when the stay 3a is rotated until the stay 3a is brought forward, the hook portion 41 of the pole 40 is engaged with the step portion 34 of the latch 30 (see FIG. 3). Thereby, the stay 3a is returned and held in the forward-turned state.

  In the state of use of the stay 3a described above, for example, when the headrest 3 receives a load in the rearward direction, the driving cam 70 is rotated in a direction opposite to its urging direction due to the impact caused by this load. There is a case where the pull-in by the portion 71 is dropped (a state where the driving cam 70 is shown by a solid line in FIG. 8). Even in this drop-off state, the long hole 72 of the driving cam 70 is formed in the circumferential direction of the driving cam 70, so that the inner wall surface 72 b in the biasing direction of the pole 40 among the inner wall surfaces of the long hole 72. The hook portion 41 of the pole 40 is engaged with the engaging groove 32 of the latch 30 until the protrusion 42 of the pole 40 is pressed (the driving cam 70 is indicated by an imaginary line in FIG. 8). Are held together.

  Therefore, even when the headrest 3 receives a load in the rearward direction, the locked state of the locking device is not immediately released. This description is described in the claims “The latch in the locked state to which the pressing force is applied by the backlashing cam rotates the backlashing cam in the locking direction by receiving a load in the locking direction. Even in this case, the locked state of the latch by the pole is maintained ”.

(Example 2)
Next, Example 2 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of the locking device according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and shows the headrest being tilted forward. FIG. 10 shows a pressing state of the driving cam in the locked state of the headrest in FIG. In the following description, members having the same or equivalent configuration as those of the first embodiment described above are denoted by the same reference numerals in the drawings, and redundant description is omitted.

  The second embodiment is a form in which the latch 30 and the pawl 40 are engaged with each other in a reverse configuration as compared with the first embodiment. That is, in the first embodiment, the configuration in which the hook portion 41 of the pole 40 is engaged with the engagement groove 32 of the latch 30 has been described. However, in the second embodiment to be described, the engaging protrusion 232 of the latch 30 is configured to engage with the engaging groove 241 of the pole 40. Therefore, in the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, an engagement protrusion 232 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the latch 30 instead of the engagement groove 32. Similarly, an engaging groove 241 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the pole 40 in place of the hook portion 41.

  The locking device according to the second embodiment of the present invention is configured as described above. According to this configuration, the width L1 of the engaging groove 241 of the pawl 40 is set to be larger than the width L2 of the engaging protrusion 232 of the latch 30 as in the description of the first embodiment. Is ensured (see a partially enlarged view of FIG. 10). At this time, the driving cam 70 also rotates in the same direction as the biasing direction of the pole 40, as described in the first embodiment (see FIG. 10). As a result, the latch 30 is pulled in the locking direction, and the side surface 232a of the engagement protrusion 232 of the latch 30 presses the inner wall surface 241a of the engagement groove 241 of the pole 40 (see a partially enlarged view of FIG. 10). Become. Therefore, play that occurs in the circumferential direction of the latch 30 when the stay 3a is in use (locked state of the locking device) can be suppressed.

The contents described above are only related to one embodiment of the present invention, and do not mean that the present invention is limited to the above contents.
In the embodiment, the configuration in which the rotation axes of the pole 40 and the driving cam 70 coincide with each other has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the rotation axes of the pole 40 and the driving cam 70 may be inconsistent.

  In the embodiment, the configuration in which the headrest 3 is urged forwardly with respect to the seat back by the third torsion spring 83 has been described. However, the configuration is not limited thereto, and the headrest 3 may be configured not to be biased forward with respect to the seat back. In that case, the third torsion spring 83 is not necessary.

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view showing an application example of a locking device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the locking device of FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the operation of the locking device of FIG. 1 and shows the headrest in a forward-turned state. FIG. 4 shows a state in which the headrest is released from the forward movement in FIG. FIG. 5 shows a state immediately before the headrest is locked in FIG. FIG. 6 shows a locked state of the headrest in FIG. FIG. 7 shows a pressing state of the driving cam in FIG. FIG. 8 shows a state in which the pressure by the pushing cam is dropped in FIG. FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of the locking device according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and shows the headrest being tilted forward. FIG. 10 shows a pressing state of the driving cam in the locked state of the headrest in FIG. FIG. 11 is a view showing a retractable rear seat. FIG. 12 is a schematic view showing the operation of the lock device of the prior art, and shows the locked state of the headrest.

Explanation of symbols

10 base member 30 latch 40 pole 70 driving cam 80 first torsion spring (first spring)
86 Second torsion spring (second spring)

Claims (3)

A latch that is pivotally supported by the base member, and a direction that is slidably adjacent to the latch and is pivotally supported by the base member, and is engaged with the latch by the first spring. A locking device comprising a pole that is biased to engage the latch and holds the latch in a locked state,
A locking device comprising a driving cam that is pivotally supported by a base member and applies a pressing force in a locking direction by a second spring to a latch in a locked state. The locking device according to claim 1,
An engagement groove is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the latch,
On the outer peripheral surface of the pole, a hook portion that can be engaged with the engagement groove of the latch is formed,
When the latch is locked by engaging the hook portion with the engagement groove, the latch is rotated by the pressing force of the driving cam, and the inner wall surface of the engagement groove is the side surface of the hook portion by the rotation. A locking device characterized by pressing. The locking device according to claim 1, wherein
Even if the latch in the locked state to which the pressing force is applied by the backlashing cam rotates the driving cam in the locking direction by receiving a load in the locking direction, the locked state of the latch by the pole is maintained. Locking device characterized by being made.

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