JPH0142175Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention mainly relates to the structure of a shift lever that is provided in an automobile or other vehicle so as to protrude above the floor surface at a position to the side of the driver's seat.

[Conventional technology]

Conventional shift levers protrude above the floor of the vehicle, which can get in the way when the shift lever is not being operated, such as when parking. Therefore, various shift levers have been proposed which are designed to be foldable when not in use, thereby securing space inside the vehicle.

6 to 8 all show conventional folding shift levers.

The device shown in Fig. 6 is related to Utility Model Application Publication No. 57-9844, in which an upper lever 4 is assembled via a pin 3 to a lower lever 2 that can swing around the swing axis. It has a structure in which a cylindrical locking member 6 is arranged around the connecting part, and by sliding the locking member 6 to a position above the pin 3, the outer periphery of the connecting part of the pin 3 is released, and the upper lever 4 is moved to the pin position. It is designed so that it can be rotated three times.

The device shown in Fig. 7 is related to Utility Model Application Publication No. 58-155015, in which the upper lever 14 is connected to the lower lever 12 via the pin 13, and the upper and lower levers are fixed at a fixed position at the connecting portion of the upper and lower levers. If you want to assemble the fixing mechanism 16 and fold the lever, use the fixing mechanism 1.
The upper lever 14 is rotated around 13 by operating 6.

The one shown in Fig. 8 is another conventional technique related to Utility Model Publication No. 56-32887, in which Fig. 8a is a front view of the shift lever, and Fig. 8b is a plan view of the lever in a folded state. This shows the cylindrical lower lever 1.
The upper lever 14 is inserted into the lower lever 1.
A pin 13 protruding from the upper lever 14 is assembled into a hook-shaped groove 12A formed in the upper lever 12 in an engaged state, and the upper part of the lower lever 12 has a U-shaped cross section as shown in FIG. 8b. It is formed in the shape of 1
The upper lever 14 can be folded as shown in FIG. 8B at the position where the upper lever 14 is slid upward so that the upper lever 14 is in the position shown by reference numeral 13' in FIG. 8A. .

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

Among the conventional techniques described above, the technique shown in FIG. 6 requires the locking member 6 to be slid upward when folding the lever, making the lever folding operation that much more troublesome.

Next, in the technique shown in FIG. 7, since the fixing mechanism 16 is provided protruding from the side of the lever, the volume protruding above the floor is correspondingly large, and the fixing mechanism 16 becomes a hindrance. Moreover, the release operation of the fixing mechanism 16 is essential for the folding operation of the lever, which makes the operation that much more troublesome.

In the technique shown in FIG. 8, the upper lever 14 is always urged in the direction of extending the lever length by a spring member (not shown), and the pin 13 is pushed into the groove 12A.
Although the lever 14 is prevented from protruding by being locked by the hook portion 12B, the pin 13 can be disengaged from the hook 12B by pressing the lever 14 downward. For this reason, if the lever 14 is unnecessarily pressed downward when operating the shift lever while the vehicle is running, the engagement of the pin 13 may be released and the lever 14 may move to a state where it can protrude upward. It was hot.

The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the prior art described above, and the object is to provide a shift lever that has a very simple structure and can be folded only when the shift lever reaches a predetermined position such as P range. .

[Means for solving problems]

The foldable shift lever according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1 showing an embodiment of the present invention. has a swing axis 30
It has a first lever 32 that can rotate and swing, and a pin that engages with the opposing hook-shaped groove 35, and the sliding of this pin in the hook-shaped groove 35 causes the first lever 3 to rotate.
2, and a spring member 38 that is interposed between both levers 32 and 34 and biases both levers 32 and 34 in the direction of extension. This is a folding shift lever consisting of two pins (36, 37) separated by a predetermined distance in the longitudinal direction of the lever. It is characterized by being guided to maintain a constant lever length.

[Effect]

When the second lever 34 is pushed in against the spring member 38, the lower pin 37 reaches the entrance of the horizontal groove 35B at the lower end of the vertical groove 35A. Here, when the second lever 34 is slightly tilted forward (leftward in FIG. 1), the spring member 3
8, the lower pin 37 moves into the horizontal groove portion 35B.
At the same time, the second lever 34 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. 1 about the upper pin 36. Until a predetermined range position is reached, the pin 36 is guided by a stopper member 42, and the upper and lower levers are held at a constant length.

〔Example〕

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

1 and 2 show a first embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a front view of a shift lever, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line - shown in FIG. 1. In these figures, the shift lever according to the present embodiment includes a lower lever 3 made up of a pair of rectangular plates 31, 31 integrally fixed to a swing shaft 30.
2, and an upper lever 34 assembled to the lower lever 32 so as to be slidable in the longitudinal direction of the lever.

The pair of plates 31, 31 have continuous vertical grooves 3.
A hook-shaped groove 35 consisting of a horizontal groove part 35A and a horizontal groove part 35B is formed, and the upper lever 3
4. A pin protruding from the outer peripheral surface is in an engaged state. A compression spring 38 is interposed between the lower end of the upper lever 34 and the swing shaft 30.
4 is always pressed upward.
Two pins (upper pin 36 and lower pin 37) are protruded apart from each other by a predetermined distance in the longitudinal direction of the lever, and when these pins 36 and 37 slide in the groove 35, the upper lever 34 It is possible to slide and swing. However, the swinging is performed when the lower pin 37 slides within the horizontal groove portion 35B.

The reference numeral 40 is a shift knob provided at the upper end of the upper lever 34, and the reference numeral 42 is a shift knob that always guides the upper pin 36 from below during shift operation of the shift lever (when the shift lever swings around the swing axis 30). The distal end of the stopper member 42 extends to a position where it is released from contact with the upper pin 36 when the shift lever is in the P range position. That is, when the shift lever is in a range position other than the P range, the upper pin 36 is supported by being sandwiched between the upper edge of the vertical groove 35A and the stopper member 42, and the length of the lever is maintained constant.

Next, the folding operation of the shift lever according to this embodiment will be explained.

First, shift the shift lever to the P range position shown in FIG. Then, the upper pin 36 of the upper lever 34 is released from the stopper member 42. In this state, when the knob 40 is turned to push the upper lever 34 downward, the lower pin 37 is positioned at the entrance of the lateral groove 35B, as shown in FIG. From this state, as shown by reference numeral A in FIG.
When the pin 37 is tilted forward, the elastic force of the compression spring 38 causes the pin 37 to move along the horizontal groove 35B. At this time, the upper lever 34 is connected to the upper pin 36.
It will rotate as shown by the arrow B in FIG. 4 using the fulcrum as the fulcrum.

To return the shift lever to its original state, first move the upper lever 3 in the opposite direction of arrow B from the state shown in Fig. 4.
4 to the state shown in Fig. 3. Then, the upper lever 34 slides upward due to the elastic force of the compression spring 38 and returns to its original position as shown in FIG.

According to this embodiment, the shift lever can be folded by simply rotating the upper lever 34 slightly forward in addition to pushing the upper lever 34. Also P
The length of the shift lever can be kept constant by preventing the upper and lower levers from extending and retracting at positions other than the range position.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which a compression spring 38 is tilted between the upper lever 34 and the swing shaft 30 so that a biasing force also acts in the folding direction of the upper lever 34. When the shift lever is in the state shown in Fig. 3, the elastic force of the spring 38 acts even if the lever 34 is not rotated forward, so that the shift lever becomes more flexible. Folding operation becomes smooth.
Note that the reference numeral 39 is a spring receiver. Since the other parts are the same as those in the first embodiment, the same reference numerals are given and the explanation thereof will be omitted.

[Effect of idea]

As is clear from the above description, the present invention provides a shift lever that has a simple structure, is very easy to fold, and can be folded only at a predetermined range position.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a front view of the first embodiment of the present invention;
The figure is a sectional view along the line shown in Figure 1, Figures 3 and 4 are explanatory diagrams explaining the folding operation, Figure 5 is a front view of the second embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 6 -FIG. 8 are schematic diagrams of conventional folding levers. 30... Swing shaft, 31... Rectangular plate, 32
... lower lever which is the first lever, 34 ... upper lever which is the second lever, 35 ... hook-shaped groove,
35A... Vertical groove part, 35B... Horizontal groove part, 36...
Upper pin, 37... Lower pin, 38... Compression spring, 42... Stopper member.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] The first member has an opposing surface in which a hook-shaped groove consisting of a continuous longitudinal groove and a horizontal groove is formed, and is capable of swinging around the swing axis.
and a pin that engages with the opposing hook-shaped groove, and is assembled so that the pin can slide and swing relative to the first lever by sliding in the hook-shaped groove. The foldable shift lever is comprised of a second lever, which is inserted between the two levers, and a spring member that is interposed between the two levers and biases the two levers in the extension direction. A folding shift lever characterized in that the pin is guided by a stopper member to maintain a constant lever length until it reaches a predetermined range position.