JPH041221B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a foldable shift lever device for an automatic transmission in which a floor shift type shift lever of an automobile or the like can be bent at a predetermined position. This invention relates to a slide cover that displays the gear shift position and also has a sealing function.

[Prior Art] In recent years, so-called floor shift type shift levers, in which the shift lever of an automatic transmission is disposed on the vehicle floor between the driver's seat and the passenger seat, have become popular in automobiles and the like. A shift lever that stands upright from the vehicle floor inside the vehicle cabin is used to switch gears of the automatic transmission via a remote control link system (control cable, etc.).

In automobiles and the like equipped with this floor shift type shift lever, the driver often gets in and out of the vehicle from the passenger seat in places where parking spaces are narrow or where traffic is heavy. In this case, when moving from the driver's seat to the passenger's seat, or from the passenger's seat to the driver's seat, the shift lever that stands upright from the vehicle floor becomes a protrusion that gets in the way, making it difficult to move from the driver's seat to the passenger's seat.

Therefore, the shift lever conventionally installed on the vehicle floor was divided into upper and lower parts, and the two parts were connected with a pin to make the shift lever bendable. This made it easier to change seats. type shift lever device (for example, Utility Model 56-
32887) has been proposed.

However, in the above conventionally proposed folding shift lever device for automatic transmission,
When the seat is moved, the shift lever is bent and tilted in the direction of the gear change operation (vehicle longitudinal direction). Moreover, no means is taken to restrict the bending operation position of the shift lever.

For this reason, when the shift lever is bent toward the front of the vehicle and laid down, the tilted shift lever tends to get in the way, especially in cab-over type vehicles.
Furthermore, when the shift lever is bent toward the rear of the vehicle and laid down, it tends to interfere with the parking brake lever, making it impossible to lower the shift lever to a sufficiently low position, and the shift lever tends to get in the way. Also,
When the shift lever is bent, the bent portion is exposed and forms a protrusion, and it is conceivable that clothing may be caught on the bent portion when moving the seat in the vehicle interior.

Moreover, if you bend the shift lever in the neutral position with the engine running while the car is stopped and accidentally touch the shift lever when moving from the driver's seat to the passenger's seat, the transmission will inadvertently shift into drive range. There are concerns about the problems that are likely to be shifted.

Furthermore, due to its bending structure, the upper lever part on the shift knob side is pushed down once against the spring along the J-shaped pin groove formed in the lower lever part.
Next, in this state, the upper lever part is rotated around the axis, and after being pulled up by the spring, the upper lever part is bent and brought down. For this reason, there was a problem in that the shift lever was located below the side of the driver's seat, making it difficult to bend and operate it in a normal driving position.

Therefore, the applicant first developed a cover that is fixed to the vehicle floor side and covers the bent part of the shift lever.
We propose a foldable shift lever device for automatic transmissions that has a bending guide groove that is visually exposed to the outside and allows the upper lever to be bent in one direction approximately perpendicular to the direction of gear shift operation only in the parking range. (Actual Application No. 60-091385).

With this foldable shift lever device for automatic transmissions, the folded shift lever does not get in the way when moving the seat, making it extremely easy to move the seat inside the vehicle. It is safe because the transmission will not operate inadvertently even if any part of the body touches it. In addition, excellent performance was obtained, with the shift lever being easy to bend and operate.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

Usually, the cover member attached to the fixed member has a curved upper wall. A flexible resin slide cover that slides in conjunction with the upper lever part is provided along the inner circumferential surface of the upper wall. Configured to seal the opening.

By the way, in the above-mentioned foldable shift lever, a bending guide groove is formed to allow the upper lever portion to be bent in one direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of shift operation, and the slide cover also has a bending guide groove that allows the upper lever portion to be bent in one direction substantially perpendicular to the shift operation direction. It is necessary to form a notch groove to allow bending. For example, as shown in FIG.
It is possible to form a

However, the slide cover S has a flexible, ultra-thin plate shape (for example, about 0.8 mm thick) made of resin material, and is attached by being elastically deformed along the curved inner circumferential surface of the upper wall of the cover member. Moreover, due to the existence of the notch groove U, the support condition of the opening end side of the notch groove U (lower side in FIG. 16) is poor.

Therefore, when shifting from the parking range to the drive range (sliding to the right in the figure), when the front end face (left end face in the figure) of the notch groove U of the slide cover S passes through the bending guide groove of the cover member, It is conceivable that the cover member may be elastically deformed and displaced toward the outer circumferential side, and may interfere with the end face of the bending guide groove of the cover member.

If interference occurs between the slide cover S and the cover member, there is a risk that the slide cover S may be damaged, or in some cases, the slide cover S may not be able to slide, making it impossible to perform a gear shift operation.

In addition, instead of the slide cover, it is possible to cover the bending guide groove along with the detent groove with slitted rubber, but the method of attaching the rubber is not easy, and the resistance to shift operation increases and the seat feeling deteriorates. , cannot necessarily be said to be an effective method.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to enable the slide cover to slide smoothly without getting caught on the cover member while maintaining the above-mentioned effective seat mobility.

[Means for solving problems]

Therefore, the present invention adopts the following configuration as a means for solving the above-mentioned problems.

That is, the present invention provides the folding shift lever device for an automatic transmission described above, in which a bending guide groove is formed in the cover member to allow the upper lever portion to be bent toward the passenger seat only in the parking range, and the cover member A flexible resin slide cover that slides in conjunction with the upper lever part along the inner circumferential surface of the upper wall having a curved shape is formed with a cutout groove that opens toward the passenger seat, and the cutout groove is further opened. It is characterized by a shape that widens toward the end.

Specifically, using FIGS. 1 to 4 as an example, the foldable slide cover device for an automatic transmission has a shift lever 10 disposed between a driver's seat and a passenger seat that is connected to a shift knob 21. Upper lever part 20 on the side
and a lower lever portion 30 on the transmission side,
Both lever portions 20 and 30 are foldably connected by a joint means 40.

Cover members 70 and 90 that are attached to the fixed member and cover the bent portion of the shift lever include
Bending guide grooves 76 and 96 are formed that allow the upper lever portion 20 to be bent toward the passenger seat only in the parking range.

Further, a slide cover 100 is provided which slides in conjunction with the upper lever portion 20 along the inner circumferential surface 90d of the upper wall having a curved shape of the cover member. A notch groove 101 is formed in the slide cover 100 and opens toward the passenger seat side. Moreover,
The front end surface of the notched groove 101 of the slide cover is an inclined surface 103 that becomes wider toward the opening end thereof.

[Effect]

According to the above-mentioned means, in a shift position other than the parking range, the upper lever portion 20 of the shift lever 10 and the bending guide grooves 76, 96 formed in the cover members 70, 90 do not match, and the shift lever 10 is bent. I can't operate it.

Then, when the shift lever 10 is shifted to the parking range, the slide cover 100 also slides in conjunction with the inner peripheral surface 90d of the upper wall of the cover member, and the bending guide grooves 76, 9 formed in the upper lever part 20 and the cover member and the notch groove 101 of the slide cover coincide with each other, and the upper lever part 20 can be folded and folded down to the passenger seat along the guide grooves 76 and 96.

When the shift lever is in the tilted state, the driver's seat is moved, that is, from the driver's seat to the passenger seat, or from the passenger seat to the driver's seat.

In addition, the shift lever 10 is returned to its original state by placing the upper lever portion 20 in an upright state along the bending guide grooves 76 and 96 of the cover member, contrary to the above.

Furthermore, when shifting the shift lever 10 from the parking range to the reverse range, the open end of the notch groove 101 of the slide cover is elastically deformed toward the outer circumference, but the bending guide groove 96 of the cover member
The slide cover 100 is guided along the inner circumferential surface 90d of the upper wall of the cover member by the inclined surface 103 of the notch groove that contacts the end surface of the cover member.

Therefore, the slide cover 100 is
It slides smoothly without getting stuck at 0.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

First, a foldable shift lever device for an automatic transmission according to an embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 2 to 5 will be described.

The foldable shift lever device can be roughly divided into a shift lever 10, a torsion spring 50 attached to the shift lever 10, a lower bracket 60 supporting the shift lever 10, and a shift lever 10.
a detent plate 70 that regulates the shift position of the
A slide stopper that prevents the shift lever 10 from being bent, and a dust cover 9 that covers the day tent mechanism.
0. Slide cover 1 that displays the gear shift position
00, dust boots 110, etc.

In these figures, reference numeral 10 indicates the entire shift lever, which is disposed substantially upright between a driver's seat and a passenger seat (not shown). The shift lever 10 has an upper lever portion 2 on the shift knob 21 side.
0 and a lower lever portion 30 on the transmission side, both of which are foldably connected by a joint means 40.

That is, the lower end of the upper lever part 20 has a third
As shown in the figure, a pipe-shaped rotating shaft 22 is welded. On the other hand, the lower lever portion 30 is comprised of a fork-shaped shift lever support 31 and a pipe-shaped rotating shaft 32, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and both are integrated by welding. A bolt 41 passes through a hole formed in the support 31 and is fastened with a nut 42 via a spring washer. The pipe-shaped rotating shaft 22 of the upper lever portion is concentrically arranged on the outer periphery of the bolt 41 via a collar 43 and a pair of resin flanged bushes 44, 44.
0 is coupled rotatably about the axis Z-Z of the bolt 41 in the left-right direction (vehicle width direction) in the paper of FIG.

Further, a torsion spring 50 is wound around the outer periphery of the pipe-shaped rotating shaft 22, and its protruding intermediate portion 51 and both end portions 52, 52 are connected to the upper lever portion 20 and the support 31 of the lower lever portion, respectively. It is locked. The torsion spring 50 moves the upper lever portion 20 in the right direction in the paper of FIG. 4 (shift lever bending direction).
is energized.

Reference numeral 60 denotes a lower bracket, which is integrally fixed to a chassis frame cross member on the vehicle frame side (not shown) with a plurality of bolts and nuts, along with a cable bracket 61 fastened to the lower surface thereof with a plurality of bolts and nuts. has been done.
And the shift lever 1 is attached to the lower bracket 60.
0 is rotatably supported in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.

That is, the upper surface of the lower bracket 60 has a pair of left and right upright portions 62a, 62a, as shown in FIG.
A shift lever retainer 62 is integrally fixed by welding. a pair of upright parts 62a,
A detent plate 70 that regulates the shift position of the shift lever 10 is arranged on the outside of the shift lever 10, and one bolt 63 is inserted through these holes.
is fastened with a nut 64 via a spring washer. In addition, a pair of upright portions 62a, 62
A collar 65 and a pair of resin flanged bushes 66, 6 are attached to the outer periphery of the bolt 63 located inside a.
A pipe-shaped rotating shaft 32 of the lower lever portion 30 is arranged concentrically with the lower lever portion 30 interposed therebetween. This results in
The shift lever 10 is rotatably supported in the left-right direction (vehicle front-rear direction) in the paper of FIG. 3 about the axis XX of the bolt 63. As shown in FIG. The shift positions of the shift lever 10 are parking range (P range), reverse range (R range), neutral range (N range), drive range (D range), third range (3 range), and second range (from the front of the vehicle). They are arranged in a line in 7 positions: 2 range) and low range (L range).

Further, a bevel gear 33 is fixed to the pipe-shaped rotating shaft 32 by means such as welding, caulking, press-fitting, or the like. Then, the lower bevel gear 34 that engages with the fast bevel gear 33 is fitted into a hole in the horizontal base 62b of the shift lever retainer 62 and rotated by the nut 35 via a plate washer and a spring washer on a welded pin shaft 67. It can be installed freely. A control lever 36 is welded to the lower bevel gear 34 and is rotatable about the axis YY of the pin shaft 67. 37, 37 are resin flanged bushes interposed between the pin shaft 67 and the lower bevel gear 34. Furthermore, a pin 38 is fixed to the tip of the control lever 36, and the end of the control cable is fitted onto this pin 38 via a rubber bushing (not shown). As a result, the rotational movement of the shift lever 10 around the axis XX is converted into the rotational movement of the control lever 36 around the axis YY by the pair of bevel gears 33 and 34, and the control cable is further moved in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. The automatic transmission is configured to perform reciprocating motion to switch the automatic transmission to a predetermined gear position. Note that the dashed dot line C in FIGS. 2, 3, and 5 indicates the central axis of the control cable.

The detent plate 70 has the bolts 6 passing through a pair of holes 71, 71 formed in the side walls 70a, 70a in the vehicle width direction, as shown in FIGS. 6 to 8.
3, and a hole 72 formed in the vehicle front wall 70c.
The shift lever retainer 6 shown in FIG.
It is attached by a bolt 69 that is fastened to a nut 68 welded to the front upright portion 62c of No. 2.

The upper wall 70b of the detent plate 70 has a curved shape centered on the central axis (axis X-X) of the pair of holes 71, and the upper wall 70a has the shift lever 10 as shown in FIG. A step-shaped detent groove 73 is formed that extends in the shift lever speed change operation direction (vehicle longitudinal direction) for regulating the shift position of the shift lever. The above-described upper lever portion 20 is pressed against the end surface 73a of the detent groove 73 on the passenger seat side by the spring force of the torsion spring 50. This day tent groove 73
At the R range, N range, D range, 3 range, 2 range, and L range positions on the end surface 73a of Arc-shaped grooves 73 _R , 73 _N , 73 corresponding to the surfaces
_D , 73 ₃ , 73 ₂ and 73 _L are formed, respectively. In this way, N range, D range and 3
The ranges are obtained on the same plane, and the R range and 2 range are set when the shift lever 10 is operated around the axis Z-Z toward the driver's seat (upper part of Fig. 2).
Range and L range can be obtained by similarly operating the shift lever 10 further toward the driver's seat side.

Further, in the portion of the upper lever portion 20 that comes into contact with the detent groove 73, there are step portions 74 _P , 74 _R , 74 _N , 74 ₃ , 74 ₂ and 7 of the detent groove.
4. A parallel width across flats 23 is formed to abut on _L and accurately set the gear change position. Then, the P range groove 75 in the detent groove 73
The width W ₂ is set to be smaller than the outer diameter D ₁ of the upper lever portion 20 shown in FIG. 3, and slightly larger than the width W ₁ between the widths across flats 23.

Furthermore, the detent plate 70 has a bending guide groove 76 (hereinafter referred to as the guide groove 76) extending to the passenger seat side continuously from the P range groove 75.
is formed. This guide groove 76 is substantially perpendicular to the shift lever speed change operation direction, and has an axis extending from its center line A in a direction passing through the axis XX, and the front surface of the vehicle is located at the step of the P range groove 75. The _rear surface of the vehicle is cut so that the width W ₃ of the intermediate portion is set to be slightly larger than the outer diameter D ₁ of the upper lever portion 20 shown in FIG. The width W ₄ of the lower end is the above P range groove 75
The width is set to be approximately the same as the width _W2 . Also,
Side wall 70a of the daytent plate 70 on the passenger side
, a pin 77 forming a rotating shaft of a slide stopper (to be described later) and a pin 78 to which one end of a return spring of the slide stopper (to be described later) is locked are located on the inner circumferential side closer to the axis X-X. It is press-fitted parallel to the main body and fixed integrally by welding.
Further, an arcuate groove 79 centered on the axis O-O of the pin 77 is formed on the outer circumferential side thereof, to which a release knob of a slide stopper to be described later is attached.

The rotation center axis O-O of the pin 77 forming the rotation axis of the slide stopper is located on the axis connecting the speed change operation rotation center axis X-X of the shift lever 10 and the center line A of the guide groove 76. It is arranged like this.

As shown in FIGS. 9 to 11, the slide stopper 80 blocks the guide groove 76 at the outer peripheral edge of the side wall 80a, and also stops the upper wall 80b, which is bent downward at a right angle and comes into contact with the upper lever part 20. It has a substantially L-shaped cross section, and a pipe-shaped rotating shaft 81 that fits into the pin 77 is integrally welded to the lower end thereof. The outer peripheral surface 80d of the upper wall 80b is aligned with the central axis (axis O-) of the pipe-shaped rotating shaft 81.
The detent plate 70 has a curved shape centered on the detent plate 70, and is adapted to slide along the curved inner circumferential surface 70d of the upper wall of the detent plate 70. Further, the side wall 80a of the slide stopper 80 has a knob mounting shaft 82 on its outer circumference that fits into the circular arc groove 79 of the detent plate, and a pin on its inner circumference on which one end of a return spring to be described later is locked. 83 are press-fitted parallel to the axis O-O and integrally fixed by welding. Note that the front end surface (left end surface in FIG. 10) 80c of the slide stopper 80 is formed as an inclined surface forming an angle θ with respect to a plane B connecting the axis O-O and the front end surface of the upper wall 80b. .

As shown in FIG. 4, this slide stopper 80 is constructed by fitting a pin 77, which fixes a pipe-shaped rotating shaft 81 to a detent plate, through a pair of resin flanged bushes 84, 84. The pin 77 is rotatably supported about the axis O--O of the pin 77, and further held in the axial direction by a snap spring 86 fitted into an annular groove of the pin 77 via a spacer 85. And slide stopper 80
The rotation angle is regulated within a certain angular range by the contact relationship between the knob mounting shaft 82 and the circular arc groove 79 of the detent plate.

87 is a return spring (torsion spring) for the slide stopper 80, the middle part of which is wound around the pipe-shaped rotating shaft 81, and both ends of which are connected to the pin 78 of the detent plate and the pin 83 of the slide stopper, respectively. It is locked to. This return spring 87 is designed so that the slide stopper 80 is connected to the guide groove 7 so that the shift lever 10 does not fall even when it is in the P range.
6 is biased in the direction of closing. That is, the slide stopper 80 is biased to the left in the paper of FIG. 3 (towards the front of the vehicle), and the knob mounting shaft 82 is in the position shown in FIG. to hold. In this way, the guide groove 76
The slide stopper 80 that blocks the shift lever 10 from bending during normal operation functions as a part of the detent plate 70. At the same time, align the outer circumferential surface 80d of the slide stopper with the inner circumferential surface 70d of the detent plate so that the guide groove 7
6 is closed to ensure sealing performance. A plate washer 88 is fitted onto the knob mounting shaft 82 and interposed between the detent plate 70 and the slide stopper 80.

Note that FIG. 4 is partially cut away along a plane including the knob attachment shaft 82 so that the attachment relationship of the slide stopper 80 and the stopper release knob can be easily understood.

The dust cover 90 has a box shape that covers the aforementioned detent mechanism, and is manufactured from a resin material. And the dust cover 90 is
As shown in FIGS. 12 to 14, the detent groove 73 (P range groove 7
5), a detent groove 93 (P range groove 95) having a similar shape corresponding to the guide groove 76 and the arcuate groove 79;
It is provided with a guide groove 96 and an arcuate groove 99 (FIG. 5). The upper wall 90b of the dust cover 90 has a curved shape centered on the axis X-X like the detent plate 70, and a pair of parallel protrusions 91, 91 along the curved shape are formed on the inner surface 90d. has been done. Both protrusions 91, 91 are arranged on the outer circumferential surface 70e of the detent plate upper wall 70b and the inner circumferential surface 90d of the dust cover upper wall 90b, both of which have a curved shape.
It serves as a guide for the slide cover 100 (FIGS. 3 and 4) inserted in the gap between the two. This dust cover 90 has left and right side walls 90a, 9.
Four screws 9 tightened into the hole 92 formed in 0a
4, it is attached to the detent plate 70. In addition, the knob mounting shaft 8 protruding from the circular arc groove 99
A stopper release knob 89 made of resin is screwed to 2. A plate washer 98 is fitted onto the knob mounting shaft 82 and interposed between the detent plate 70 and the dust cover 90. Note that the lower inner circumferential surface 90c of the dust cover 90 is formed as an inclined surface (draft angle during injection molding) from the viewpoint of sealability and assemblability with a dust boot 110, which will be described later.

As shown in FIG. 3, the dust boot 110 includes a rubber base 112 in which a reinforcing metal plate 111 having an L-shaped cross section is embedded, and a rubber seal that is fitted and attached to an outer peripheral groove 113 formed in the base 112. 114. base 112
is attached to the lower bracket 60 in advance by fastening three screws 115 shown in FIG. 2 to nuts 116 (FIG. 5) welded to the lower bracket 60. Then, the upper outer circumferential surface of the base 112 is tightly fitted into the inner circumferential surface 90c of the dust cover, thereby sealing the space between them. Although the dust boot 110 is shown in a free state in FIGS. 3 and 5, when it is actually mounted on a vehicle, the seal portion 114 is pushed down by the vehicle floor F shown by the imaginary line in FIG. , its seal portion 114
The edge 117 seals between the vehicle floors F. The dust cover 110 is installed between the lower bracket 60, the dust cover 90, and the vehicle floor F, and prevents water, mud, dust, etc. from entering the vehicle interior, and also blocks noise from outside the vehicle interior.

Now, the slide cover 100 has an outer circumferential surface 7 of the detent plate upper wall 70b, both of which have a curved shape.
It is elastically deformed and slidably inserted into the gap between Oe and the inner circumferential surface 90d of the dust cover upper wall 90b. The slide cover 100 slides in conjunction with the upper lever portion 20 of the shift lever, and has the function of displaying the gear shift position and covering and sealing the detent groove 73 (note that in ranges other than the P range, the guide groove 76 is also seal).

As shown in FIG. 1, the slide cover 100 has a flexible, ultra-thin plate shape (for example, about 0.8 mm in thickness) made of a resin material, and has a width across flats 23 of the upper lever portion. A notched groove 101 opened in the end surface on the passenger seat side (lower surface in the figure) to allow the upper lever portion 20 to be bent.
is formed.

Furthermore, the front end surface of the notch groove 101 is a plane 102 in the center that is parallel to the axis (the guide groove center line) A orthogonal to the shift lever speed change operation direction.
and an inclined surface 103 that becomes wider toward the opening end. and,
According to this embodiment, the inclined surface 103 is formed as a curved surface with a radius R. Note that a rear end surface (right end surface in the figure) 104 of the notched groove 101 is a straight plane parallel to the axis A. This is because the slide cover 100 does not slide further forward beyond the P range and does not interfere with the guide groove end face of the dust cover 90.

In the foldable shift lever device for an automatic transmission configured as described above, the shift lever 10 is operated around the axis Z-Z along the detent groove 73 of the detent plate 70, and the shift lever 10 is operated around the axis Z-Z along the detent groove 73 of the detent plate 70.
Operate around X. As a result, the control lever 36 is rotated around the axis Y-Y via the pair of bevel gears 33 and 34, and the control cable (not shown) is reciprocated in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, thereby achieving an automatic transmission (not shown). Operate the machine's manual valve lever to switch to the specified gear.

Shift position other than P range (shift position)
In this case, the upper lever portion 20 and the guide groove 76 formed in the detent plate do not match, and the shift lever 10 cannot be bent. and,
When the shift lever 10 is shifted to the P range, the slide cover 100 also slides along the inner peripheral surface 90d of the upper wall of the dust cover, and the upper lever part 20, the bending guide grooves 76 and 96, and the notch groove 101 of the slide cover. The upper lever portion 20 tends to fall down due to the spring force of the notice spring 50. However, the guide groove 76
It comes into contact with the slide stopper 80 inside and stops at that position, preventing bending. At this time, the load applied by the torsion spring 50 in the direction of tilting the upper lever portion 20 is mainly applied to the knob mounting shaft 8.
2 is received by the detent plate 70 via a plate washer 88 fitted to the detent plate 70.

When folding the shift lever 10,
It is operated as follows.

First, the shift lever 10 is shifted to the P range. At this shift position, the upper lever portion 20 of the shift lever and the guide groove 76 provided in the detent plate 70 align, and the shift lever becomes a bendable position. However, the shift lever bending operation is prevented by the slide stopper 80.

Next, the stopper release knob 89 is moved clockwise (in the direction of arrow G) in FIG. 5 along the arcuate groove 79 while resisting the return spring 87. Then, the slide stopper 80 also rotates around the axis OO at the same time, releasing the guide groove 76.

When the slide stopper 80 is released from the locked state, the torsion spring 50 is acting on the upper lever section 20 to force it in the direction of tilting, so it falls down naturally at the same time as the slide stopper 80 completes its movement, and the guide groove 76 It stops when it comes into contact with the lower end surface of.
Note that when the shift lever is tilted, the outer diameter _D1 portion of the upper lever portion 20 is the groove width of the guide groove 76.
After passing through the W ₃ portion, the width across flats 23 of the upper lever portion engages with the groove width W ₄ portion of the guide groove 76 .
Therefore, even when the shift lever is in the tilted state, the upper lever portion 20 is held within the guide groove 76 with a slight gap.

When the upper lever portion 20 falls, the slide stopper 80 rotates around the axis O--O by the action of the return spring 87 and returns to the original state shown in FIG. 3 in which the guide groove 76 is closed. When the shift lever 10 is in the tilted state, the upper lever part 20 is roughly held by the guide groove 76 of the detent plate and the inclined surface 80c of the slide stopper, and is further biased by the return spring 87 of the slide stopper to push the upper lever part 20. The part 20 is held securely, and safety is high. Furthermore, even if the shift lever is tilted down while the engine is running, the gap between the upper lever portion 20 and the guide groove 76 is small and is biased by the return spring 87, so the rattling noise between the two will be suppressed. It's hardly a problem.

Then, with the shift lever in the tilted state, the driver's seat is moved, that is, from the driver's seat to the passenger seat, or from the passenger seat to the driver's seat.

Next, return the shift lever 10 to its original state (regular P
To return to the range (range), proceed as follows.

That is, without operating the stopper release knob 89, the fallen upper lever portion 20 is moved along the guide groove 76 of the detent plate around the axis Z-Z while resisting the torsion spring 50. Then, as the upper lever portion 20 moves, the slide stopper 80 also moves along the axis O due to the inclined surface 80c.
- Rotate the O in to release the guide groove 76. Then, at the same time as the upper lever part 20 passes, the return spring 87 automatically returns to the original position of blocking the guide groove 76 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Therefore, from now on, slide stopper 80
This ensures that the shift lever 10 is held in its normal upright position. Note that a tension spring may be used as the spring that presses the upper lever portion 20 against the detent groove end surface 73a of the detent plate.

When the shift lever is in the tilted state, the driver's seat is moved, that is, from the driver's seat to the passenger seat, or from the passenger seat to the driver's seat.

Furthermore, when the shift lever 10 is shifted from the P range to the D range, the guide groove 9 of the dust cover
6, the notch groove 101 of the slide cover
The open end side is elastically deformed toward the outer periphery. This amount of elastic deformation is larger toward the open end in terms of rigidity.

Then, the guide groove rear end surface 96b of the dust cover
The contact with the front end surface of the notch groove of the slide cover 100 starts from a plane 102 (point H shown in FIG. 2) at the center of the notch groove 101, which is hardly elastically deformed, and gradually moves along the slope 103 toward the opening end side. Then, the slide cover 100 is smoothly guided between the inner peripheral surface 90d of the dust cover upper wall and the outer peripheral surface 70e of the detent plate upper wall. thus,
The contact point that starts sliding from point H is always the final end point of the line that is firmly held by the dust cover 90 and detent plate 70.
Smooth sliding is always possible.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the shift lever 1
0 is bent and tilted toward the passenger seat side in the vehicle width direction, which is substantially orthogonal to the direction of the gear change operation, making it easy to move the seat within the vehicle interior.

In particular, in the case of a cab-over type vehicle as shown in FIG. By folding the shift lever 10 toward the front, the shift lever 10 that is folded down does not get in the way when moving from the driver's seat to the passenger seat, making it extremely easy to move the seat. Note that F indicates the vehicle floor and H indicates the steering wheel.

Furthermore, since the shift lever 10 can be bent only when shifted to the P range, in the unlikely event that the shift lever 10 is folded while the engine is running while the shift lever 10 is
Even if you move away from the driver's seat by tilting down the shift lever 10, or if a part of your body accidentally touches the shift cover 10 while moving the seat, the shift lever 10 will be securely held in the P range, so the vehicle will not accidentally shift. There is no risk of it starting to move, so it is safe.

Further, from the appearance, the fact that the shift lever 10 is foldable and the direction in which it is folded can be intuitively recognized. Moreover, by simply moving the stopper release knob 89 of the slide stopper 80 toward the front of the vehicle, the spring force of the torsion spring 50 pressing the upper lever portion 20 against the detent groove end surface 73a of the detent plate is activated. Since the upper lever part 20 automatically falls down when the shift lever is turned, the shift lever bending operation is extremely easy.

Moreover, since the front end surface of the notch groove of the slide cover 100 is formed into an inclined surface 103 that becomes wider toward the opening end, the slide cover 100 slides smoothly without being caught by the rear end surface 96b of the guide groove of the dust cover. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the slide cover 100 from being damaged or becoming unable to shift.

According to this embodiment, the spring force of the torsion spring 50 for the day tent is used to tilt the upper lever portion 20, so there is no need for a new spring for tilting the upper lever portion 20. , can be manufactured at low cost. In addition, no excessive force is applied to the connecting portion (bending portion) of the shift lever 10, and the shift lever 10
It is also possible to improve the durability of Furthermore, since the bent portion of the shift lever 10 is covered by the detent plate 70 and the dust cover 90, it is difficult to hang clothing on the bent portion or apply grease for lubrication when the shift lever is tilted down. There is no risk of it getting dirty.

Although the present invention has been described above in detail with reference to specific embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and includes various embodiments within the scope of the claims. For example, it can also be applied to a type of shift lever in which, by pressing a push button provided on the shift knob of the shift lever, the detent rod is pushed down and disengaged from the cam hole of the detent plate, allowing the shift lever to perform gear shifting operations. It is possible.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the shift lever is tilted toward the passenger seat side perpendicular to the direction of gear change operation, so the folded shift lever does not get in the way when moving the seat, and the It becomes extremely easy to move.

Furthermore, since the shift lever can only be folded in P range, in the unlikely event that the shift lever is moved away from the driver's seat while the engine is running while the vehicle is stopped, or if a part of the body is accidentally touched by the shift lever while moving the seat. Even if touched, the transmission will not operate inadvertently, making it safe.

Moreover, since the front end surface of the notch groove of the slide cover is formed into an inclined surface that becomes wider toward the opening end, the dust cover slides smoothly without being caught by the rear end surface of the guide groove of the dust cover. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the slide cover from being damaged or from becoming unable to shift.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a slide cover applied to a foldable shift lever device for an automatic transmission according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 to 5 are according to one embodiment of the present invention. This shows a foldable shift lever device for an automatic transmission, and Figure 2 is a plan view with the shift lever shifted to the parking range;
Figure 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the main parts taken in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.
Figure 4 is a sectional view taken along the - line in Figure 3;
The figure is a side view of Figure 2, Figures 6 to 8 are enlarged views of the detent plate, Figure 6 is a plan view seen from the direction of the arrow in Figure 7, and Figure 7 is a side view. 8 is a view seen from the front of the vehicle, FIGS. 9 to 11 are enlarged views of the slide stopper, FIG. 9 is a plan view viewed from the direction of the arrow in FIG. 10, and FIG. Figure 10 is a side view, Figure 11 is a view seen from the front of the vehicle, Figures 12 to 14 show the dust cover, Figure 12 is a plan view, and Figure 13 is a view taken along the - line in Figure 12. Sectional view along the 14th
The figure is a cross-sectional view taken along the - line in Figure 12, Figure 15 is a schematic perspective view showing the interior of a cab-over type vehicle adopting the foldable shift lever device of the present invention, and Figure 16 is a comparison of slide covers. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an example. Explanation of symbols, 10...shift lever, 20...
Upper lever part, 21...Shift knob, 30...Lower lever part, 36...Control lever, 40
...Jointing means, 41...Bolt, 50...Torsion spring, 60...Lower bracket, 63
... Bolt, 67 ... Pin shaft, 70 ... Detent plate (cover member), 70e ... Upper wall outer peripheral surface of detent plate, 73 ... Detent groove, 73a ... Detent groove end surface, 75 ... Parking Microwave groove, 76...Bending guide groove, 7
7...Pin (slide stopper rotation axis), 79
...Circular groove, 80...Slide stopper, 80d
... Upper wall outer peripheral surface of slide stopper, 82 ... Knob mounting shaft, 87 ... Return spring, 89 ...
... Stopper release knob, 90 ... Dust cover (cover member), 93 ... Detent groove, 96 ... Bending guide groove, 96b ... Bending guide groove rear end surface, 100 ... Slide cover, 101 ... Notch groove, 103 ... Inclined surface, 110 ... Dust boot, X-X ... Gear shift operation rotation center axis of the shift lever, Y-Y ... Rotation center axis of the control lever, Z-Z ... Bending rotation center axis of the shift lever, O-O...Rotation center axis of the slide stopper, D...Driver's side seat, E...Passenger side seat, F...Vehicle floor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A shift lever disposed between the driver's seat and the passenger seat is divided into two parts: an upper lever part on the shift knob side and a lower lever part on the transmission side, and both lever parts can be bent by a joint means. In the folding shift lever device for an automatic transmission, the cover member is attached to a fixed member and covers the bent portion of the shift lever, and the upper lever portion is allowed to be bent toward the passenger seat only in a parking range. a flexible resin slide cover that slides in conjunction with the upper lever portion along the inner circumferential surface of the curved upper wall of the cover member; A folding shift lever for an automatic transmission, characterized in that a notch groove is formed in the front passenger seat side, and the front end surface of the notch groove is an inclined surface that widens as it approaches the opening end. Device.