JP3425102B2 - Vehicle door latch device with child lock mechanism - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle door latch device with a child lock mechanism.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a latch engageable with a striker fixed to a vehicle body, a ratchet which engages with the latch and holds engagement with the striker, and an outside open handle of a door are connected to each other to rotate. An open lever for releasing the ratchet from the latch, an inner lever connected to an inner open handle of the door, a child lock mechanism provided between the inner lever and the open lever, and the latch for the striker A power closing unit that is activated when it is rotated from the unlatch position to the half latch position by engagement to rotate the latch from the half latch position to the full latch position by motor power, and the power closing unit is connected to the open lever. When the open lever rotates, it operates Serial child lock mechanism with a vehicle door latch apparatus having a safety mechanism to stop the rotation of the latch by motor power are known.

[0003]

In the known device, the safety mechanism is configured to operate by opening and rotating the open lever. However, in the open lever, the child lock mechanism is in the child lock state. Since the connection with the inner open handle of the door is released, the safety mechanism cannot be operated by the inner open handle in the child lock state.

[0004]

Therefore, according to the present invention, a latch 6 that can be engaged with a striker 2 fixed to a vehicle body, and a ratchet that engages with the latch 6 and holds the engagement with the striker 2 are provided. 7 and the outside open handle 22 of the door
The ratchet 7 is connected to the latch 6 when rotated.
An open lever 20 to be disengaged from the inner lever 42 and an inner lever 42 connected to an inner open handle 43 of the door,
When the child lock mechanism 45 provided between the inner lever 42 and the open lever 20 and the latch 6 rotate from the unlatched position to the half latched position by the engagement with the striker 2, the latch 6 operates to operate the latch 6. and a power closing unit 37 which may be rotated from the half latch position to the full latch position by the motor power, the motor power to the power closing unit 37 operates with the open lever 20 the open lever 20 is coupled to rotate in one it provided a safety mechanism 39 for stopping the rotation of the latch 6 by the
The rotation of the open lever 20 is transmitted to the safety mechanism 39 .
That the safety end of the wire 40 is also connected to the safety lever 33 as well as connected to the open lever 20, the child lock mechanism 45 of the child lock position and the child unlock position and the switched Child Link 46
It is, when in the child unlock position, said Lee
Rotating the door of the inner lever 42 causes the open lever 20 to rotate.
To engage with the open lever 20 so as to be able to transmit to the child lock position and switch to the child lock position.
Instead of being disengaged from the open lever 20, the inner lever 4 is opposed to the safety lever 33 so as to be engageable therewith.
This is a vehicle door latch device with a child lock mechanism configured to be able to transmit the door opening rotation of 2 to the safety lever 33 .

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. A vehicle door latch device 1 according to the present invention comprises a striker 2 fixed to a vehicle body (not shown) and the striker 2 attached to a vehicle door (not shown). And a latch unit 3 that keeps the door closed.

A wide concave portion 5 is formed on the front surface of the synthetic resin latch body 4 of the latch unit 3, and the concave portion 5 is formed.
A latch 6 and a ratchet 7 are rotatably mounted therein by a latch shaft 8 and a ratchet shaft 9, respectively. In FIG. 1, the latch 6 is biased in the clockwise direction by the elastic force of the latch spring 10, and the ratchet 7 is biased in the counterclockwise direction by the elastic force of the ratchet spring 11. When the door is manually moved in the closing direction, the striker 2 relatively enters into the horizontal passage 12 formed in the latch body 4, and the U of the latch 6 (position in FIG. 1) in the unlatched position is moved. It abuts against the mold groove 13 and rotates the latch 6 counterclockwise. When the latch 6 rotates from the unlatch position to the half-latch position due to the contact with the striker 2, the ratchet 7 is engaged with the half-latch step portion 14 of the latch 6, and the door is initially closed. When the half-latch position (state) is reached and the latch 6 is rotated to the full-latch position, the ratchet 7 is engaged with the full-latch step portion 15 of the latch 6, and the door is completely closed to the full-latch position (state). Becomes

The ratchet 7 includes the latch body 4
It has a ratchet pin 17 protruding to the back side of the latch body 4 through the opening 16 of the. A metal cover plate 18 that closes the recess 5 is fixed to the front surface of the latch body 4, and a metal back plate 19 is fixed to the back surface of the latch body 4 as shown in FIG. The back plate 1
The indoor side edge of 9 is bent backward at a right angle to form a sub-plate 19A.

On the rear side of the latch unit 3, an open lever 20 for disengaging the ratchet 7 from the latch 6 and a lock lever 21 for switching the latch unit 3 between a locked state and an unlocked state are provided. . The open lever 20 is the ratchet shaft 9
It is rotatably attached to the door, and the outdoor end thereof is connected to the outer open handle 22 of the door via a rod 23 with a lost motion. The lock lever 21 is pivotally supported on the back plate 19 by a lock shaft 24. The indoor end of the lock lever 21 is connected to the inner lock button 25 of the door.

If desired, a motor type actuator 26 is fixed to the sub-plate 19A, and an output lever (not shown) of the actuator 26 is attached to the lock lever 21.
It engages with the connection hole 27 formed at the indoor end of the.

A lock link 28 extending in the vertical direction of the latch body 4 is provided between the lock lever 21 and the open lever 20. A lock pin 30 slidably engaged with an elongated hole 29 formed in the open lever 20 is provided on the lock link 28.
The lower part of is connected to the lock lever 21 by a shaft 31.

A ratchet lever 32 is pivotally supported on the ratchet shaft 9. The ratchet lever 32 is located on the back surface side of the latch body 4, and the ratchet pin 17 of the ratchet 7 is engaged with the outer arm 32A that extends to the outside of the latch body 4 so that the ratchet lever 32 is integrated with the ratchet 7. To rotate.

The lock lever 21 is switched between an unlock position X and a lock position Y by rotating the lock button 25 or the actuator 26, as is well known. When the lock lever 21 rotates counterclockwise from the position of FIG. 2 and is displaced to the unlock position X, the lock pin 30 moves downward in the elongated hole 29 and can engage with the contact arm 32B of the ratchet lever 32. Confront. In this unlocked state, the open lever 20
However, when the door opening operation of the outer open handle 22 rotates counterclockwise, the lock pin 30 contacts the contact arm 32B to rotate the ratchet lever 32 counterclockwise. As a result, the ratchet 7 has the ratchet pin 17
The latch 6 is disengaged from the striker 2 by rotating through the door and the door is opened.

On the other hand, when the lock lever 21 is in the lock position Y in FIG. 2, the lock pin 30 is separated from the contact arm 32B and the facing state is released.
Therefore, in the locked state, even if the outer open handle 22 rotates the open lever 20 counterclockwise, the ratchet lever 32 does not rotate, so the door does not open.

Although not shown in FIG. 2, a safety lever 33 that overlaps the open lever 20 is rotatably attached to the ratchet shaft 9 as shown in FIG. The upper end of the wire link 35 is connected to the outdoor end of the safety lever 33 by a connecting pin 34, and the end of the connecting pin 34 is slidably engaged with an arc slot 36 formed on the outdoor side of the open lever 20. Let

As shown in FIG. 1, the latch unit 3 is connected to a motor type power closing unit 37 which supplies power for moving the door from the half latch position to the full latch position. Close unit 3
The motor power of 7 is transmitted to the latch 6 of the latch unit 3 via a flexible power wire 38. The power closing unit 37 operates when the door is manually moved from the open position to the half-latch position and is initially closed, and rotates the latch 6 in the full-latch direction via the power wire 38. Therefore, even if the force for closing the door is not enough to fully latch the door, the door is completely closed by the power of the motor after the door is half latched.

The closing unit 37 includes a safety mechanism 3
9 is provided. A flexible safety wire 40 leading to the safety mechanism 39 is connected to the lower part of the wire link 35, preferably via a crank lever (not shown). The safety mechanism 39 operates when the door open handle 22 is operated to open and the wire link 35 moves downward while the door is being moved from the half-latch position to the full-latch position by the motor power of the closing unit 37. Then, the motor of the power closing unit 37 is stopped and the power wire 38 is released. Therefore, if an unexpected situation occurs while the door is being closed by power, this can be avoided by operating the open handle 22 to open the door.

An L-shaped inner lever 42 is pivotally supported by a shaft 41 on the sub-plate 19A, and one arm 42A of the inner lever 42 is connected to an inner open handle 43 of the door through a wire 44 or the like.

A child lock mechanism 45 is provided between the inner lever 42 and the open lever 20. The child drink 46, which is long in the vertical direction of the child lock mechanism 45, has an upper end that is located at the inner lever 42.
The other arm 42B is pivotally supported by a pin 47, and a vertical slot 48 is formed in the lower portion of the child drink 46. A switching pin 50 of a child lock operating lever 49 is slidably engaged with the slot 48, and the child lever 46 swings around the pin 47 by the operation of the operating lever 49 so that the child lock position (FIG. 6) and the child lock position are set. It is configured to be displaced to the unlock position (FIG. 5).

An engaging piece 51 is provided below the child drink 46. The engaging piece 51 is a child drink 46.
When is in the child unlock position, as shown in Figure 5,
The open lever 20 faces the indoor end 20A so as to be engageable with the open lever 20. Therefore, when the child is unlocked, the inner open handle 43 causes the inner lever 4 to move.
When 2 is rotated, the child drink 46 moves upward and the engaging piece 51 contacts the open lever 20 to rotate the open lever 20 to open the door.
If is unlocked, the door will open.

When the child drink 46 is displaced to the child lock position by the operation lever 49, the engaging piece 51 is opened by the open lever 20 as shown in FIG.
Away from the indoor end 20A of the safety lever 3 instead.
It faces the indoor end 33A of No. 3 so that it can be engaged. Therefore, in the child lock, if the inner lever 42 is rotated by the inner open handle 43 to move the child drink 46 upward, the engaging piece 51 cannot rotate the open lever 20 (the door cannot be opened. ), The safety lever 33 can be rotated.

FIG. 7 shows another child lock mechanism 45. The child drink 46 of the child lock mechanism 45 is provided with two engaging pieces 51A and 51B. When the child drink 46 is in the child unlock position, the engagement piece 51A faces the indoor end portion 20A of the open lever 20 so as to be engageable with it.
When the child drink 46 is in the child lock position, it separates from the indoor end 20A of the open lever 20. When the child drink 46 is in the child lock position, the engagement piece 51B faces the indoor end portion 33A of the safety lever 33 so as to be engageable, and when the child drink 46 is in the child unlock position, the safety is achieved. It is separated from the indoor side end portion 33A of the lever 33.

[0022]

When the door is manually moved in the closing direction, the striker 2 relatively moves into the horizontal passage 12 and contacts the U-shaped groove 13 of the latch 6, and rotates the latch 6 counterclockwise in FIG. When the latch 6 is moved to the half-latch position by manually closing the door, the power closing unit 37 operates, and thereafter, the power wire 38 is pulled by the motor power to displace the latch 6 to the full latch position.

When an unexpected situation occurs while the latch 6 is being rotated by the motor power, the outer open handle 22 or the inner open handle 43 is operated to open the door. When the outer open handle 22 is operated to open the door, the open lever 20 rotates through the rod 23 (counterclockwise rotation in FIGS. 2 and 4), whereby the end of the arc slot 36 is immediately connected. Since the pin 34 is pressed to move the wire link 35 downward, the safety mechanism 39 operates without delay via the safety wire 40,
An unexpected situation can be avoided by stopping the motor of the power closing unit 37 and releasing the power wire 38.

When the inner open handle 43 is operated to open the door, the inner lever 42 is rotated via the wire 44. At this time, the child lock mechanism 45
Is in a child lock state, child drink 4
The engagement piece 51 of 6 is separated from the indoor side end portion 20A of the open lever 20, and instead faces the indoor side end portion 33A of the safety lever 33 so as to be engageable. Therefore, in the child lock, if the inner open handle 43 rotates the inner lever 42 to move the child drink 46 upward, the engagement piece 51 cannot rotate the open lever 20, but the safety lever 33 rotates. Since the safety mechanism 39 operates via the safety wire 40 as described above, the motor of the power closing unit 37 is stopped and the power wire 38 is released to avoid an unexpected situation.

In the embodiment of FIG. 7, when the inner open handle 43 is opened, the inner lever 42 is rotated via the wire 44. At this time, when the child lock mechanism 45 is in the child lock state, the engagement piece 51A causes the indoor end 20 of the open lever 20 to move.
Although separated from A, the other engagement piece 51B faces the indoor end 33A of the safety lever 33 so as to be engageable therewith, and therefore the open lever 20 cannot be rotated, but the safety lever 33 can be rotated, which activates the safety mechanism 39 via the safety wire 40 as described above to stop the motor of the power closing unit 37 and release the power wire 38, in case of an unexpected situation. It can be avoided.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, the latch 6 that can be engaged with the striker 2 fixed to the vehicle body, and the ratchet 7 that engages with the latch 6 and holds the engagement with the striker 2 are provided. An open lever 20 which is connected to an outer open handle 22 of the door and rotates to release the ratchet 7 from the latch 6, an inner lever 42 connected to an inner open handle 43 of the door, the inner lever 42 and the open lever. The child lock mechanism 45 provided between the lever 20 and the lever 20 is actuated when the latch 6 rotates from the unlatch position to the half latch position due to the engagement with the striker 2, and the latch 6 is moved from the half latch position by the motor power. And a power closing unit 37 capable of rotating to a full latch position. In those in 37 are provided a safety mechanism 39 for stopping the rotation of the latch 6 by the motor power operated with said coupled to the open lever 20 open lever 20 is rotated, the open-les
The end of the safety wire 40 that transmits the rotation of the bar 20 to the safety mechanism 39 is connected to the open lever 20 and also to the safety lever 33, so that the child lock mechanism 45 has a child lock position and a child unlock position. The child drink 46, which is switched to, is the inner lever when the child unlock position is set.
The door opening rotation of 42 can be transmitted to the open lever 20.
When facing the open lever 20 and being switched to the child lock position as described above, the open lever is opened.
-20, the door is rotated by opening the inner lever 42 by facing the safety lever 33 so that the inner lever 42 can be disengaged.
Since the vehicle door latch device with a child lock mechanism is configured to be transmitted to the safety lever 33, even if the child lock mechanism 45 is in the child lock state, the safety mechanism 3 can be operated by opening the inner open handle 43.
9 can be activated and the structure is rational. Also, the present invention provides the safety lever 33 in the device.
Since the vehicle door latch device with a child lock mechanism is pivotally supported by the same shaft 9 at a position where it overlaps with the open lever 20, it is possible to prevent the latch unit from increasing in size.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a latch assembly.

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the latch assembly in the locked state.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the open lever.

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the main part.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing the child lock mechanism in a child unlocked state.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing the child lock mechanism in a child lock state.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of another embodiment of the child lock mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Vehicle door latch device, 2 ... striker, 3 ... latch unit, 4 ... latch body, 5 ... recessed part, 6 ... latch,
7 ... Ratchet, 8 ... Latch shaft, 9 ... Ratchet shaft, 1
0 ... Latch spring, 11 ... Ratchet spring, 12 ... Horizontal passage, 13 ... U-shaped groove, 14 ... Half latch step, 15 ... Full latch step, 16 ... Opening, 17 ... Ratchet pin, 1
8 ... Cover plate, 19 ... Back plate, 19A ...
Sub plate, 20 ... Open lever, 20A ... Indoor end, 21 ... Lock lever, 22 ... Outer open handle, 23 ... Rod, 24 ... Lock shaft, 25 ... Inner lock button, 26 ... Motor type actuator, 27 ... Connection Hole, 28 ... Lock link, 29 ... Long hole, 30 ... Lock pin, 31 ... Shaft, 32 ... Ratchet lever, 32A ... Outer arm, 32B ... Abutment arm, 33 ... Safety lever,
33A ... Indoor end, 34 ... Connecting pin, 35 ... Wire link, 36 ... Arc slot, 37 ... Motor type power closing unit, 38 ... Power wire, 39 ... Safety mechanism,
40 ... Safety wire, 41 ... Shaft, 42 ... Inner lever, 42A, 42B ... Arm, 43 ... Inner open handle, 44 ... Wire, 45 ... Child lock mechanism,
46 ... Child drink, 47 ... Pin, 48 ... Slot, 49 ... Child lock operating lever, 50 ... Switching pin, 51, 51A, 51B ... Engaging piece.

Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-11-81771 (JP, A) JP-A-7-82939 (JP, A) JP-A-8-42224 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int .Cl. ⁷ , DB name) E05B 65/20 B60J 5/00

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A latch 6 that is engageable with a striker 2 fixed to a vehicle body, a ratchet 7 that engages with the latch 6 and holds engagement with the striker 2, and an outer open handle 22 of a door. An open lever 20 which, when connected and rotated, disengages the ratchet 7 from the latch 6.
An inner lever 42 connected to an inner open handle 43 of the door, a child lock mechanism 45 provided between the inner lever 42 and the open lever 20, and the latch 6 engaging the striker 2. and a power closing unit 37 to the latch 6 operates and rotates from the unlatched position to the half-latched position can be rotated from the half latched position by the motor power to the full latch position by, <br/> to the power closing unit 37 the open lever 20 is connected in what the open lever 20 is provided with a safety mechanism 39 for stopping the rotation of the latch 6 by the motor power operated to rotate, said rotation of the open lever 20 safety mechanism 39 wherein an end portion of the safety wire 40 for transmitting the open lever 2 Also connected to the safety lever 33 as well as connected to, the child lock position and the child unlock position and the switched child link 46 of the child lock mechanism 45, Oh the child unlock position
When the inner lever 42 is opened,
It opposes so that it can be engaged with the open lever 20 so that it can be transmitted to the punch lever 20, and it is in the child lock position .
When switching, the open lever 20 is disengaged.
Warini said safety lever 33 engageable with the opposed to the i
The rotation of the door opening of the inner lever 42 is transmitted to the safety lever 33.
A vehicle door latch device with a child lock mechanism that can be reached . 2. The safety lever 33 according to claim 1,
Is a vehicle door latch device with a child lock mechanism pivotally supported by the same shaft 9 at a position where it overlaps with the open lever 20.