JP3249882B2 - Foldable shift lever device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a reversible shift lever device used for a vehicle having an automatic transmission.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A shift lever device for an automobile having an automatic transmission has a lever body pivotally attached to a base so as to be able to swing back and forth, and a lock member operated by a push button inside the shift body. By incorporating the lock member into a guide plate on the base side, the lever main body is not accidentally moved to a specific position such as a back or parking position. However, such a conventional shift lever device protrudes from the console on the side of the driver's seat, so that, for example, when trying to get out of the door on the passenger's seat side, the lever body is in the way.

[0003] In order to solve this problem, a retractable shift lever device has been developed in which the lever body can be tilted in the lateral direction of the vehicle body in a parking position. However, since a lock member that is raised and lowered by a push button is incorporated inside such a lever body, the rotation center when the lever body is tilted and the rotation center of the operation shaft of the lock member must be aligned. If the lever body cannot be defeated. For this reason, it is usually necessary to depress the lever body after releasing the push button.

However, there is a driver who pushes the push button to put the lever body in the parking position and, at the same time, tries to depress the lever body while holding down the push button.
In such a conventional retractable shift lever device, in such a case, an excessive force is applied to the operation shaft of the lever body or the lock member, and there is a possibility that the device is deformed or damaged.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and enables the lever body to be tilted without any trouble even when the push button is kept pressed or the push button is released. This is to provide a shift lever device.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a reversible shift lever device according to the present invention comprises a lower body pivotally attached to a base so as to be swingable in a front-rear direction with respect to a base. A slider is provided which is divided into a lever and an upper lever pivotally attached to the upper end of the lower lever so as to be tilted laterally, and which has a lock member which is engaged with a guide plate on the base side inside the lower lever. A long groove in the lateral direction is formed at the upper end of the slider, and an elevating rod operated by a push button is provided inside the upper lever, and the lower end thereof is engaged with the long groove. It is.

[0007]

According to the retractable shift lever device of the present invention, the upper lever can be tilted in the horizontal direction when the lever body is in the parking position, which is the same as the conventional retractable shift lever device. However, in the present invention, a lateral long groove is formed at the upper end of the slider provided with the lock member on the lower lever side, while the lower end of the lifting rod on the upper lever side is engaged with this long groove. By sliding the lower end of the elevating rod inside the long groove as shown in (1), the lever body can be tilted without any trouble even when the push button is kept pressed or the push button is released.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in more detail with reference to the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 is a front view of the retractable shift lever device, and FIG. 2 is a right side view thereof. In these figures, reference numeral 1 denotes a base having a pair of left and right vertical walls 1a and 1b, and reference numeral 2 denotes a lever body supported by the base 1. The lever body 2 is divided into a lower lever 3 and an upper lever 4.

The lower lever 3 has an inverted T-shape as shown in FIG. 2. The lower lever 3 is formed by pivotally supporting a horizontal shaft portion 5 at a lower end portion between vertical walls 1a and 1b of the base 1. Base 1
Is swingable in the front-rear direction. A shift arm 6 as shown in FIG. 1 protrudes from the lower end of the lower lever 3 so as to transmit the movement of the lower lever 3 to an automatic transmission.

The vertical shaft 7 of the lower lever 3 is hollow, and accommodates a slider 9 which is always upwardly repelled by a spring 8 as shown in FIG. The slider 9 is provided with a bar-shaped lock member 10 that protrudes to both sides in the horizontal direction. The lock member 10 penetrates outside through vertical long grooves 11 formed on both sides of the vertical shaft portion 7 of the lower lever 3, and a guide plate 13 formed on the upper end of the vertical wall 1 b of the base 1. Is engaged.

The guide plate 12 formed at the upper end of the vertical wall 1a of the base 1 has a substantially circular arc shape as shown in FIG. 1, and the lever main body 2 (lower lever 3) is used for the parking shown in FIG. The upper part is cut out so that the upper lever 4 can be tilted only when in the position.

The guide plate 13 has a general shape as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, and a plurality of engaging portions 15 corresponding to respective positions such as parking, reverse, neutral, and drive are provided with window holes. Is formed. FIGS. 5 and 6 show a state in which the lock member 10 has entered the parking engagement portion 15 of the guide plate 13.

A cylindrical body 16 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 is integrally provided on the outer surface of the lower lever 3, and a box-shaped receiving member 17 is provided at the upper end thereof. The L-shaped metal fitting 18 provided at the lower end of the upper lever 4 is used as this metal fitting.
17 is supported by a shaft 19. The box-shaped bracket 17 is cut out in only one direction, and the upper lever 4 can be tilted about the shaft 19 only in that direction. A ball spring 16a as shown in FIG. 4 is incorporated in the cylindrical body 16, and the upper lever 4 is stabilized in the vertical position and the horizontal position by engaging with the notch of the L-shaped bracket 18. It is devised to make it happen.

Inside the upper lever 4 is provided a lifting rod 20 which is operated by a push button at the upper end.
The lifting rod 20 is always resiliently upwardly springed by a built-in spring (not shown) of the upper lever 4. The lower end 21 of the lifting rod 20 is bent in an L-shape. On the other hand, a vertical cam plate 22 is provided on the upper end surface of the slider 9 on the lower lever 3 side. This cam plate 22
As shown in FIG. 2, a long groove 23 is formed, and the lower end 21 of the lifting rod 20 is engaged with the long groove 23. Long groove
23 extends horizontally in the direction in which the upper lever 4 is tilted.
When the lifting rod 20 is repelled upward by the built-in spring, the lower end portion 21 of the lifting rod 20 is located on the same axis as the shaft 19 on which the upper lever 4 is pivoted.

The tiltable shift lever device constructed as described above can operate the lever body 2 in the front-rear direction similarly to the conventional one. When pushing the lever to a specific position such as parking, reverse, etc., push button
When the elevating rod 20 is pushed down by 30, the lower end 21 of the elevating rod 20 pushes down the slider 9 via the cam plate 22, and the rod-shaped locking member 10 protruding on both sides of the slider 9 engages with the engaging portion 15 of the guide plate 13. It has a structure that deviates from The normal operation method described above is not different from the conventional operation method at all, but the retractable shift lever device of the present invention is
The operation is very different from the conventional one.

First, as shown in FIG. 5, when the lever body 2 is put into the parking position and the hand is released from the push button 30, the lifting rod 20 is moved upward by the built-in spring of the upper lever 4. I take the. At this time, since the lower end 21 of the lifting rod 20 is located on the same axis as the shaft 19 of the upper lever 4, if a lateral force is applied to the upper lever 4 as it is, the upper lever 4 is tilted to the horizontal position as shown in FIG. be able to.

As shown in FIG. 7, when the push button 30 is pushed down while the lever body 2 is in the parking position, the lower end portion 21 of the elevating rod 20 is at a position lower than the shaft 19 of the upper lever 4. . However, since the lower end 21 of the lifting rod 20 is engaged with the long groove 23 of the slider 9, the lifting rod 20 does not hinder the rotation of the upper lever 4 about the shaft 19, and the lateral force is directly applied to the upper lever 4. , The upper lever 4 can be tilted to the horizontal position as shown in FIG. At this time, the lower end 21 of the lifting rod 20 is
It will slide inside 23.

[0018]

As described above, the tiltable shift lever device according to the present invention can tilt the upper lever without any trouble even when the hand is released from the push button or when the push button is pressed down. There is no fear that excessive force is applied to the operation shaft of the lever main body or the lock member as in the related art, and the device is deformed or damaged.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a retractable shift lever device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a right side view of the tiltable shift lever device of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a lower lever.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1;

Fig. 5 Put the lever body in the parking position,
It is a perspective view showing the state where the push button was released.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a state in which the lever body is tilted down with the push button released.

FIG. 7: Put the lever body in the parking position,
It is a perspective view showing the state where the push button was pushed.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a state in which the lever body is tilted down while pressing the push button.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Base 1a Vertical wall 1b Vertical wall 2 Lever main body 3 Lower lever 4 Upper lever 5 Horizontal shaft part 6 Shift arm 7 Vertical shaft part 8 Spring 9 Slider 10 Bar-shaped lock member 11 Long groove 12 Guide plate 13 Guide plate 15 Engagement part 16 Cylindrical body 16a Ball spring 17 Box-shaped bracket 18 L-shaped bracket 19 Shaft 20 Elevating rod 21 Lower end 22 Cam plate 23 Long groove 30 Push button

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-6-87345 (JP, A) JP-A 61-204217 (JP, U) JP-A 1-123220 (JP, U) JP-A 3- 9020 (JP, U) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B60K 20/00-20/08 F16H 59/00-59/12 G05G 1/00-25/04

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A lever body is divided into a lower lever pivotally attached to the base so as to be swingable in the front-rear direction, and an upper lever pivotally attached to an upper end of the lower lever so as to be tilted in a lateral direction. At the same time, a slider provided with a lock member to be engaged with the guide plate on the base side is provided inside the lower lever, and a long horizontal groove is formed at the upper end of the slider, while a push button is operated inside the upper lever. And a lower end portion thereof is engaged with the long groove.