JP6825979B2 - Vehicle door latch device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a vehicle door latch device, and more particularly to a ratchet stopper that elastically supports the ratchet of the latch device.

A conventional door latch device includes a latch that engages with a striker and a ratchet that engages with the latch, and the ratchet is urged in a direction of engaging with the latch by the elasticity of a ratchet spring. When the ratchet urged by the ratchet spring is in the closed state (half-latch state / full-latch state), it rotates to a position where it can engage with the latch, and then stops hitting the elastic ratchet stopper, and the rotation by the ratchet spring finish.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-223355 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-067655 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2016-056550

The conventional ratchet stopper is simply attached to the latch body, and only measures are taken to prevent the ratchet stopper from falling off from the latch body, and the improvement in mountability and assembling property has been delayed. In particular, the current vehicle door latch device is assembled by an automatic assembly machine at a speed of "thousands per hour", and when the ratchet stopper is supplied to the automatic assembly machine in an inappropriate direction, time loss and strong The improvement in mounting the elastic ratchet stopper to the storage part of the latch body in a short time was not sufficient.

Therefore, in the present invention, on the front side of the latch body 12 fixed to the vehicle door, a ratchet 14 that engages with the striker 10 fixed to the vehicle body is ratcheted by the latch shaft 13 and a ratchet 16 that engages with the latch 14 is ratcheted. A ratchet spring 20 that is rotatably supported by a shaft 15 and urges the ratchet 16 in the engagement direction with the latch 14 is fastened to the ratchet 16, and the ratchet spring is attached to the front side of the latch body 12. An elastic ratchet stopper 25 that hits the contact piece 24 of the ratchet 16 rotated with the elasticity of 20 to stop the ratchet 16 is provided , and a stopper to which the ratchet stopper 25 is assembled is provided on the front side of the latch body 12. In the vehicle door latch device in which the storage portion 26 is formed , the ratchet stopper 25 includes an elastic receiving portion 28 that repels the abutting piece 24, and a mounting portion 27 on the opposite side of the elastic receiving portion 28. The mounting portion 27 is inserted into the stopper accommodating portion 26 by an automatic assembling machine so as to have a T-head shape with respect to the pair of partition walls 30 of the stopper accommodating portion 26, and the elastic receiving portion 27 is inserted into the stopper accommodating portion 26. 28 is also configured to be in contact with the other side surface of the partition wall 30, and the tip of the stopper storage portion 26 on the front side is inclined inward to increase the amount of variation when the mounting portion 27 is inserted by the automatic assembling machine. This is a vehicle door ratchet device having a corresponding inclined guide surface 31 formed therein.

In the invention according to claim 1 of the present invention, since the inclined guide surface 31 is formed at the front end of the stopper accommodating portion 26, the ratchet stopper 25 is inserted toward the stopper accommodating portion 26 while finely adjusting its position. It can be assembled smoothly by the automatic assembly machine.
Further, in the inventions according to claims 2 and 4 of the present invention, the attachment portion 27 and the elastic receiving portion 28 can exchange (complement) the functions of each other, and the ratchet stopper 25 is attached to the stopper storage portion 26. At that time, the ratchet stopper 25 can be attached to the stopper storage portion 26 without impairing its function even if the ratchet stopper 25 is turned upside down or upside down.
Further, in the invention according to claim 3 of the present invention, since the ratchet stopper 25 is lower than the inclined guide surface 31, it can contribute to the prevention of the ratchet stopper 25 from coming off.
Further, in the invention according to claim 5 of the present invention, since the slit 29 arranged in a cross shape is formed in the ratchet stopper 25, the ratchet stopper 25 can be attached to the stopper accommodating portion 26 even when the ratchet stopper 25 is rotated 90 degrees.
Further, in the invention according to claim 6 of the present invention, even if the ratchet stopper 25 malfunctions, the spare stopper 34 can prevent dangerous excessive rotation of the ratchet 16 in advance.
Further, in the invention according to claim 7 of the present invention, since the spare stopper 34 can be arranged in the vicinity of the elastic receiving portion 28 of the ratchet stopper 25, the change in the operability of the door latch device can be suppressed.

The front view of the latch unit of the door latch device by this invention. Partially enlarged perspective view of the latch body of the latch unit. Front view of the ratchet stopper of the latch unit. Perspective view of the ratchet stopper. Enlarged sectional view of the stopper housing of the latch body and the ratchet stopper. Front view of another embodiment of the ratchet stopper. A partially enlarged perspective view of the abutment portion of the striker passage of the latch body. Front view of the striker stopper of the latch unit. The outdoor side view of the outdoor housing case of the latch unit.

An embodiment of the vehicle door latch device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The door latch device includes a striker 10 fixed to the vehicle body and a latch unit 11 fixed to the door and engaged with the striker 10. The latch 14 is pivotally fixed by the latch shaft 13 and the ratchet 16 is pivotally fixed by the ratchet shaft 15 on the front side of the latch body 12 formed of the synthetic resin of the latch unit 11. FIG. 1 shows the door open state.

When the door is closed and moved, the striker 10 relatively enters the striker passage 17 formed in the latch body 12 and comes into contact with the striker engagement groove 18 of the latch 14. In the case of a swing door, the striker passage 17 is a passage in the horizontal direction. When the striker 10 abuts on the striker engagement groove 18, the latch 14 is rotated from the unlatch position in FIG. 1 in the full latch direction (counterclockwise rotation direction) against the elasticity of the latch spring 19, and the latch 14 is in the half latch position. When the ratchet 16 reaches the full latch position, the ratchet 16 rotates counterclockwise due to the elasticity of the ratchet spring 20 to engage with the half-latch engaging portion 21 of the latch 14, and when the latch 14 reaches the full latch position, the full latch engaging portion of the latch 14 is reached. When the ratchet 16 engages with the full latch engaging portion 22, the latch 14 is held in the full latch position, and the door is kept in the closed state.

In the unlatch state (door open state), as shown in FIG. 1, the ratchet 16 is held in a state where its engaging claw 23 is in contact with the outer peripheral portion of the latch 14. On the other hand, when the latch 14 reaches the half-latch position or the full-latch position, the ratchet 16 rotates counterclockwise by the elasticity of the ratchet spring 20, and the engaging claw 23 becomes the half-latch engaging portion 21 or the full latch engaging portion 22. Extruded to an engageable position. The ratchet 16 rotated counterclockwise by the elasticity of the ratchet spring 20 is stopped when the contact piece 24 of the ratchet 16 hits the elastic ratchet stopper 25.

The ratchet stopper 25 is attached to a stopper accommodating portion 26 integrally formed on the front side of the latch body 12. The ratchet stopper 25 is provided with a mounting portion 27 that is inserted into the stopper accommodating portion 26. The mounting portion 27 is inserted into the stopper accommodating portion 26 from the front side, but is formed in a shape that does not easily come off from the stopper accommodating portion 26 in a direction orthogonal to the insertion direction, for example, a T-head shape. ..

An elastic receiving portion 28 is formed on the opposite side of the mounting portion 27. The contact piece 24 of the ratchet 16 comes into contact with the elastic receiving portion 28. The conventional elastic receiving portion 28 was designed with priority given to the function of supporting the contact piece 24 and space saving, but in the present invention, the elastic receiving portion 28 is formed to be the same (symmetrical) as the mounting portion 27. doing. As a result, the mounting portion 27 and the elastic receiving portion 28 can exchange (complement) the functions of each other, and when the ratchet stopper 25 is attached to the stopper storage portion 26, the ratchet stopper 25 is turned upside down or upside down or upside down. It can be attached to the stopper storage portion 26 as it is without impairing its function. This advantage improves the workability of assembling the door latch device by the automatic assembling machine. That is, in the past, if the ratchet stopper 25 was not in the proper orientation, an assembly failure of the ratchet stopper 25 by the automatic assembling machine would occur, which would require manual reassembly and visual assembly confirmation. This also led to a decrease in efficiency.

The ratchet stopper 25 is provided with a pair of left and right slits 29 at the boundary between the mounting portion 27 and the elastic receiving portion 28, and the pair of partition walls 30 of the stopper accommodating portion 26 are inserted into the slits 29. The shape of the slit 29 and the partition wall 30 may be any shape that can satisfy the condition that the ratchet stopper 25 can be used in the up-down direction or the front-back direction.

The size of the ratchet stopper 25 (vertical and horizontal outer diameters of each part) in the direction orthogonal to the insertion direction of the ratchet stopper 25 is substantially equal to the size of the corresponding stopper storage portion 26 (vertical and horizontal inner diameters of each part). , The ratchet stopper 25 can be smoothly inserted into the stopper storage portion 26. It is not preferable to press-fit (fit) the ratchet stopper 25 into the stopper storage portion 26, that is, to attach the ratchet stopper 25 to the stopper storage portion 26 while elastically crushing the ratchet stopper 25 because it impairs smooth assembling. It is also not preferable that a gap is formed between the ratchet stopper 25 and the stopper storage portion 26 after mounting.

An inclined guide surface 31 is formed at the front end of the stopper accommodating portion 26, and is opened larger than the size of the ratchet stopper 25. The ratchet stopper 25, which is inserted by the automatic assembling machine into the stopper storage portion 26 formed to have the same size as the ratchet stopper 25 by forming the inclined guide surface 31, smoothly adjusts the position of the ratchet stopper 25. It is plugged into.

FIG. 5 shows a cross section of the ratchet stopper 25 and the stopper accommodating portion 26 in order to give priority to functional explanation. Therefore, the inclined guide surface 31 is drawn relatively large with respect to the depth (length) of the non-inclined surface 32 of the stopper accommodating portion 26, but the inclined guide surface 31 is a ratchet stopper 25 by an automatic assembling machine. The size according to the amount of variation in the insertion position may be used as a guide, and even if the insertion position varies, the assembly by the automatic assembling machine will be good. Further, the height of the ratchet stopper 25 is preferably equal to or lower than the height of the non-inclined surface 32, so that the ratchet stopper 25 does not easily come off from the stopper storage portion 26.

A vent 33 is formed at the bottom of the stopper storage portion 26 to exhaust the internal air that is compressed (extruded) when the ratchet stopper 25 is inserted into the stopper storage portion 26.

The ratchet stopper 25 can be used upside down or upside down, but if the slits 29 are arranged in a cross shape as shown in FIG. 6, it can be used even in a state of being rotated 90 degrees. In this case, a rib corresponding to the partition wall 30 may be added to the stopper accommodating portion 26 in accordance with the cross shape (in this case, of course, the slit of the elastic receiving portion 28 must not be provided with the rib).

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a spare stopper 34 is integrally provided on the latch body 12. When the rubber ratchet stopper 25 exceeds the resistance limit and becomes dysfunctional, the spare stopper 34 comes into contact with the contact piece 24 of the ratchet 16 instead of the elastic receiving portion 28, and the ratchet 16 is excessive. Prevent rotation. If the ratchet 16 rotates excessively, the tip of one leg of the ratchet spring 20 comes off from the ratchet 16, and there is a fear that the ratchet 16 will malfunction. Further, when the ratchet 16 is excessively rotated, there is a fear that the engaging claw 23 of the ratchet 16 comes into contact with the outer periphery of the latch 14 at an unexpected place.

The spare stopper 34 is preferably formed in series with the rib-shaped bulging portion forming the stopper accommodating portion 26. As a result, the strength of the spare stopper 34 can be rationally improved, and the ratchet 16 can be brought into contact with the ratchet 16 in the same manner as the elastic receiving portion 28 because the spare stopper 34 can be arranged close to the side of the elastic receiving portion 28 so as to extend in parallel. It can come into contact with the piece 24 and suppress changes in the operability of the door latch device.

An elastic striker damper 35 is provided in the striker passage 17 of the latch body 12. The striker damper 35 is arranged at the end of the striker 10 in the approach direction. The striker passage 17 is located so as to be recessed behind the surface on which the latch 14 and the ratchet 16 are arranged, and the upper side of the striker passage 17 is a ceiling wall 36 integrally formed with the latch body 12 and is flexible with respect to the latch body 12. It is formed on a wall that is strong enough to withstand. The bottom wall 37 on the lower side of the striker passage 17 is also integrally formed with the latch body 12, but unlike the ceiling wall 36, the bumper 38 whose end side in the approach direction of the striker 10 is a free end with respect to the latch body 12. It is formed so as to bend in the vertical direction to some extent.

The striker damper 35 is attached so as to hold the bumper 38 of the bottom wall 37 from above and below, thereby elastically supporting the vertical movement of the bumper 38. The upper side of the striker damper 35 is formed at a contact portion 39 that elastically contacts the striker 10 that has entered the striker passage 17, and elastically absorbs the inertial force of the striker 10 in the closing direction.

The outer surface of the contact portion 39 is not orthogonal to the length direction of the striker passage 17 (striker approach direction), but is inclined downward, that is, toward the bumper 38. As a result, the striker 10 that comes into contact with the contact portion 39 is pushed downward and pressed against the bumper 38. Due to the strong pressure welding between the striker 10 and the bumper 38, the operation sound quality of the latch unit 11 when the door is closed is improved.

The upper portion of the striker damper 35 is engaged with the holding piece 40 formed on the latch body 12 to prevent the striker damper 35 from falling off to the front side.

FIG. 9 shows the outdoor side surface of the latch unit 11, and the latch body 12 is housed in the front side of the outdoor housing case 41. The outdoor surface 42 of the outdoor housing case 41 is placed downward on each pallet of the automatic assembly machine, and in this state, well-known parts such as a lock mechanism, an open mechanism, and an actuator mechanism of the door latch device are installed in the outdoor housing case. It is assembled to the indoor side of 41 by an automatic assembly machine.

Positioning holes 43 and 44 for the automatic assembling machine are provided on the outdoor surface 42. One positioning hole 43 is formed in a round hole shape so that the outdoor housing case 41 can be positioned and mounted on the automatic assembly machine at high speed, and the other positioning hole 44 is formed in an elongated hole shape. As a result, the outdoor housing case 41 can be stably placed on the pallet at high speed.

10 ... striker, 11 ... latch unit, 12 ... latch body, 13 ... latch shaft, 14 ... latch, 15 ... ratchet shaft, 16 ... ratchet, 17 ... striker passage, 18 ... striker engagement groove, 19 ... latch spring, 20 ... Ratchet spring, 21 ... Half latch engaging part, 22 ... Full latch engaging part, 23 ... Engagement claw, 24 ... Contact piece, 25 ... Ratchet stopper, 26 ... Stopper storage part, 27 ... Mounting part, 28 ... Elastic receiver Part, 29 ... slit, 30 ... partition wall, 31 ... inclined guide surface, 32 ... non-inclined surface, 33 ... vent, 34 ... spare stopper, 35 ... striker damper, 36 ... ceiling wall, 37 ... bottom wall, 38 ... Bumper, 39 ... abutment part, 40 ... holding piece, 41 ... outdoor housing case, 42 ... outdoor surface, 43 ... positioning hole, 44 ... positioning hole.

Claims (7)

On the front side of the ratchet body (12) fixed to the vehicle door, a latch (14) that engages with the striker (10) fixed to the vehicle body is also engaged with the ratchet (14) by the latch shaft (13). A ratchet spring (20) that rotatably supports the ratchet (16) with a ratchet shaft (15) and urges the ratchet (16) in the engagement direction with the latch (14). The ratchet (16) is stopped by landing on the front side of the latch body (12) with the contact piece (24) of the ratchet (16) rotated by the elasticity of the ratchet spring (20). In a vehicle door latch device in which an elastic ratchet stopper (25) is provided and a stopper storage portion (26) to which the ratchet stopper (25) is assembled is formed on the front side of the latch body (12) .
The ratchet stopper (25) includes an elastic receiving portion (28) that repels the contact piece (24), and a mounting portion (27) on the opposite side of the elastic receiving portion (28).
The stopper accommodating portion (27) is left with the elastic receiving portion (28) by an automatic assembling machine so as to have a T-head shape with respect to the pair of partition walls (30) of the stopper accommodating portion (26). The elastic receiving portion (28) is also inserted into (26) and is brought into contact with the other side surface of the partition wall (30).
At the front end of the stopper accommodating portion (26), an inclined guide surface (31) is formed which is inclined inward and corresponds to the amount of variation when the mounting portion (27) is inserted by the automatic assembling machine . Vehicle door latch device. The vehicle door latch device according to claim 1, wherein the mounting portion (27) and the elastic receiving portion (28) have the same shape or a symmetrical shape. The vehicle door latch device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the ratchet stopper (25) has a thickness that does not reach the inclined guide surface (31). The vehicle door latch device according to claim 2, wherein a pair of slits (29) to be inserted into the partition wall (30 ) are formed at a boundary portion between the mounting portion (27) and the elastic receiving portion (28). The vehicle door latch device according to claim 4, wherein a cross-shaped slit (29) into which the partition wall (30) can be inserted is formed in the mounting portion (27) and the elastic receiving portion (28). In any one of claims 1 to 5, the latch body (12) extends toward the contact piece (24) of the ratchet (16), and when the ratchet (16) excessively rotates A vehicle door latch device integrally formed with a spare stopper (34) capable of contacting the contact piece (24) and stopping the ratchet (16). In claim 6, the spare stopper (34) is a vehicle door latch device connected to the stopper accommodating portion (26).

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