JPH041225B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a foldable shift lever device for automatic transmissions, and more specifically, to a foldable shift lever device for an automatic transmission, and more specifically, a shift lever device for a floor shift type of an automobile etc. that can be bent at a predetermined position. This invention relates to a foldable shift lever device for an automatic transmission configured as follows.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related 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 a driver's seat and a 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 equipped with this floor shift type shift lever, the driver often gets in and out of the vehicle from the passenger side 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, which 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 in the passenger compartment. 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, including good bending and operability of the shift lever.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, according to one embodiment, in the above-mentioned folding shift lever device for an automatic transmission having the configuration of the prior application, a stopper is provided for blocking the bending guide groove and preventing the upper lever portion from bending. The stopper is designed to be operated manually when returning the shift lever to the normal parking range state.

That is, after the shift lever is returned from the tilted state to the upright state, it is necessary to turn the stopper that is in the released state (released state) into the closed state (locked state) by operating the stopper release knob each time. Furthermore, depending on the driver's posture, the shift lever may get in the way and make it difficult to operate the stopper release knob.

In addition, the structure is not designed to securely hold the upper lever when it is tilted down, and in some cases, the shift lever may not be held sufficiently in the tilted position, and if the shift lever is tilted down while the engine is running. It is also possible that a rattling sound may occur.

Therefore, it has been desired to improve the ease of returning the shift lever and the ability to hold the shift lever in the tilted position.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to further improve the shift lever return operability and the shift lever retainability in the folded state while maintaining the above-mentioned good 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 above-mentioned folding shift lever device for an automatic transmission, in which a slide stopper for blocking a bending guide groove formed in a cover member is placed on a rotating shaft provided in the cover member and moved to a blocking position by a return spring. In addition to being biased and attached, a stopper release knob is provided on the outer periphery of the stopper.
In addition, by bending the end surface of the slide stopper that comes into contact with the upper lever portion when the shift lever is returned to its original position, the slide stopper is bent against the return spring when the shift lever is returned. It is characterized by having a rotatable structure.

Specifically, using FIGS. 1 to 4 as an example, the folding shift lever device for an automatic transmission has a shift lever 10 disposed between a driver's seat and a passenger's seat, and a shift knob 21. Upper lever part 20 on the side
and a lower lever portion 30 on the transmission side,
Both lever parts 20, 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 have detent grooves 73 and 93 on which the upper lever portion 20 contacts and slides.
, and bending guide grooves 76 and 96 extending toward the passenger seat are formed continuously from the parking range grooves 75 and 95 in the detent groove.

Further, a slide stopper 80 for blocking the bending guide grooves 76 and 96 is attached to a rotating shaft 77 provided on the cover member and biased to the blocking position by a return spring 87, and a stopper release is attached to the outer periphery of the slide stopper 80. A knob 89 is provided.

The end surface of the slide stopper 80 that comes into contact with the upper lever portion 20 when the shift lever is returned is an inclined surface 80c that is inclined with respect to the center line A of the bending guide grooves 76, 96. The slide stopper 80 is configured to be rotatable against the return spring 87.

[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.

When the shift lever 10 is shifted to the parking range, the upper lever portion 20 and the bending guide grooves 76, 96 formed in the cover member align, and the shift lever 10 is placed in a bendable position. However, the bending of the upper lever portion 20 is prevented by the slide stopper 80 which is urged to the blocking position by the return spring 87.

Therefore, when the stopper release knob 89 is moved against the return spring 87, the slide stopper 80 rotates around the rotating shaft 77, the bending guide grooves 76 and 96 are released, and the upper lever portion 20 is bent and guided. It can be folded down to the passenger seat side along the grooves 76 and 96.

When the upper lever part 20 is pushed down, the slide stopper 80 rotates around the rotating shaft 77 due to the action of the return spring 87, and the bending guide groove 76,
Return to the blocking position where 96 is closed. In this shift lever tilted state, the upper lever portion 20 bends between the guide grooves 76 and 96 and the inclined surface 80 of the slide stopper.
c, and is biased by the return spring 87 and held securely.

With the shift lever 10 tilted toward the passenger seat, the driver's seat can be moved very easily, that is, from the driver's seat to the passenger seat, or from the passenger seat to the driver's seat.

Furthermore, without operating the stopper release knob 89, the upper lever portion 20 that has fallen down is bent and the guide groove 7 is removed.
6, 96 to return to the upright state, the slide stopper 80 moves as the upper lever portion 20 moves.
is rotated around the rotating shaft 77 by the inclined surface 80c, and the bending guide grooves 76, 96 are released.

Then, as soon as the upper lever section 20 passes, the slide stopper 80 automatically returns to its original state where the bending guide grooves 76 and 96 are blocked by the action of the return spring 87, and the shift lever 10 is maintained in its original upright state. be done.

〔Example〕

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

1 to 5 show a foldable shift lever device for an automatic transmission according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 6 to 15 show a day tent, which is one of the component parts. The plate, slide stopper, dust cover, and slide cover are shown respectively.

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 that supports the shift lever 10, a daytent plate 70 that regulates the shift position of the shift lever 10, and a shift lever. It is comprised of a slide stopper 80 that prevents the lever 10 from being bent, a dust cover 90 that covers the detent mechanism, a slide cover 100 that displays the gear shift position, a dust boot 110, and the like.

In these figures, 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.
The lower bracket 60 is the shift lever 10.
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, from the front of the vehicle, parking range (P range), reverse range (R range), neutral range (N range), drive range (D range), third range (3 range), and second range (2 range). They are arranged in a line in seven positions: 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 fastening bevel gear 33 is mounted on a pin shaft 67 that is fitted into a hole in the horizontal base 62b of the shift lever retainer 62 and welded to it by a nut 35 via a plate washer and a spring washer. It is rotatably mounted. Lower bevel gear 34
A control lever 36 is welded to the
It is rotatable around 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.
Furthermore, the control cable is configured to reciprocate in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle to switch the automatic transmission to a predetermined gear position. In addition, Figure 2,
A chain line C in FIGS. 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 corresponding to the surfaces 73 _R , 73 _N , 73 _D ,
73 ₃ , 73 ₂ and 73 _L are formed respectively.
In this way, the N range, D range and 3 range are obtained on the same plane, and the R range and 2 range are obtained at the position where the shift lever 10 is operated around the axis Z-Z toward the driver's seat (upper part of FIG. 2). Further, the P range and the L range can be obtained by similarly operating the shift lever 10 further toward the driver's seat side.

In addition, the portion of the upper lever portion 20 that contacts the detent groove 73 comes into contact with each of the step portions 74 _P , 74 _R , 74 _N , 74 ₃ , 74 ₂ , and 74 _L of the detent groove to control the shift operation position. A parallel width across flats 23 is formed for accurate setting. The width W ₂ of the P range groove 75 in the detent groove 73 is
It 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 .

Further, 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 an axis A obtained by extending its center line extends 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 front and _rear surfaces of the vehicle are shaved 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 portion is set to be substantially the same as the width W ₂ of the P range groove 75 . Further, on the side wall 70a of the detent plate 70 on the passenger seat side, a pin 77 forming a rotating shaft of a slide stopper (described later) and one end of a return spring of the slide stopper (described later) are disposed on the inner circumferential side closer to the axis X-X. A pin 78 to be locked is press-fitted parallel to the axis XX and integrally fixed by welding. Further, the axis O of the pin 77 is attached to the outer circumferential side of the pin 77, to which a release knob of a slide stopper, which will be described later, is attached.
A circular arc groove 79 centered at -O is formed.

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 has an upper wall 80b bent at a right angle, which blocks the guide groove 76 at the outer peripheral edge of a side wall 80a and comes into contact with the upper lever portion 20. It has a substantially L-shaped cross section, and a pipe-shaped rotating shaft 81 that fits into the pin 77 is integrally provided at the lower end by welding. 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 upper wall 70 of the detent plate 70 has a curved shape centered at O).
It is adapted to slide along the inner circumferential surface 70d of b. In addition, the side wall 8 of the slide stopper 80
0a, a knob mounting shaft 82 that fits into the circular arc groove 79 of the detent plate on its outer peripheral edge, and a pin 83 on its inner peripheral edge to which one end of a return spring (to be described later) is locked, are respectively aligned with the axis O- It is press-fitted parallel to O and fixed integrally by welding.

Furthermore, the front end surface (left end surface in FIG. 10) of the slide stopper 80 that comes into contact with the upper lever portion 20 when the shift lever is returned is aligned with the axis O-O and the upper wall 8.
It is formed as an inclined surface 80c forming an angle θ _B with respect to a plane B connecting the front end surface of 0b.

As shown in FIG. 4, this slide stopper 80 has a pipe-shaped rotating shaft 81 fitted onto a pin 77 provided on the side wall 70a of the detent plate via a pair of resin flanged bushes 84, 84. By fitting together, the pin 77 is rotatably supported around the axis O--O, and is further held in the axial direction by a snap ring 86 fitted into the feel groove of the pin 77 via a spacer 85. and,
The rotation angle of the slide stopper 80 is regulated within a certain range of angles 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 (vehicle direction), and the knob mounting shaft 82 is in the position shown in FIG. 3 in contact with the end of the circular arc groove 79 of the detent plate. 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 daytent mechanism, and is made of 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 XX, similar to the detent plate 70, and the inner peripheral surface 90d has a pair of parallel protrusions 91, 91 along the curved shape. is formed. Both protrusions 91, 91 are connected to the outer circumferential surface 70e of the detent plate upper wall 70b and the inner circumferential surface 90 of the dust cover upper wall 90b, both of which have a curved shape.
Slide cover 100 inserted in the gap between d
(Figures 3 and 4). and,
This dust cover 90 has its left and right side walls 90
It is attached to the detent plate 70 with four screws 94 tightened into holes 92 formed in holes 90a and 90a. Further, a stopper release knob 89 made of resin is screwed to the tip of the knob attachment shaft 82 that protrudes through the arcuate grooves 79 and 99. 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.

The slide cover 100 has an outer peripheral surface 70e of the detent plate upper wall 70b and a dust cover upper wall 9.
It slides together with the shift lever 10 along the inner circumferential surface 90d of 0b, and has the function of displaying the gear shift position and covering and sealing the guide groove 76 in modes other than the P range. This slide cover 1
00 is in the shape of a flexible, ultra-thin plate manufactured from a resin material, and fits into the width across flats 23 of the upper lever portion, and has a 15th plate in order to allow the upper lever portion 20 to be bent. A cutout groove 101 is formed in the end face (lower face in the figure) on the passenger seat side shown in the figure.

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.

In this manner, when the above-mentioned components are assembled, the slide stopper 80
The rotation center axis O-O of is located on the axis connecting the center line A of the guide groove 76 formed in the detent plate and the shift operation rotation center axis X-X of the shift lever, and the inclination of the slide stopper is Surface 80
c forms an angle θ _A with respect to the center line A of the guide groove 76 . In addition, in FIG. 1, the upper lever part 20 is shown in a state in which it is folded down, and the upper lever part 20 is cut in the middle.

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 upper lever part 20 tries to fall down due to the spring force of the torsion spring 50, but it comes into contact with the slide stopper 80 in the guide groove 76 and stops at that position, and is bent. is prevented. At this time,
Upper lever part 2 by torsion spring 50
The load in the tilting direction of 0 is mainly received by the detent plate 70 via the plate washer 88 fitted to the knob mounting shaft 82.

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 provided on the side surface of the dust cover 90 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, since the upper lever part 20 is subjected to a force in the direction of tilting by the torsion spring 50, 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 about the axis OO by the action of the return spring 87 and returns to the original state shown in FIG. 1 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 in the direction of arrow J in FIG. 1 while resisting the torsion spring 50 along the guide groove 76 of the detent plate centering on the axis Z-Z. move it to Then, as the upper lever part 20 moves, the slide stopper 80 also rotates in the direction of arrow G in FIG. 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, the shift lever 10 is reliably held in its normal upright position by the slide stopper 80. 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.

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 only be bent when shifted to the P range, in the unlikely event that the shift lever 1 is bent while the engine is running while the vehicle is stopped.
0 and leave the driver's seat, or if a part of your body accidentally touches the shift lever 10 while moving the seat, the shift lever 10 is 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 clockwise, 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 slide stopper 80 that comes into contact with the upper lever portion 20 when the shift lever is returned is an inclined surface 80c that is inclined with respect to the center line A of the guide groove 76, it is difficult to operate the stopper release knob 89. By simply returning the upper lever part 20 that has fallen down to an upright position, the slide stopper 80 automatically returns to the original state in which the guide groove 76 is blocked, so there is no complication and the shift lever return operability is extremely good. It is.

According to this embodiment, the upper lever portion 20 is tilted down using the spring force of the torsion spring 50 for the detent, so a new spring is not required to tilt the upper lever portion 20. It can be manufactured at low cost. Also,
No excessive force is applied to the connecting part (bending part) of the shift lever 10, and the shift lever 1
It is also possible to improve the durability of 0. 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 in detail with respect to specific embodiments above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and includes various embodiments within the scope of the claims. For example, the inclined surface of the slide stopper that comes into contact with the upper lever portion when the shift lever is returned can be formed as a curved surface. It can also be applied to a type of shift lever where the push button on the shift knob of the shift lever is pushed down to disengage the detent rod from the cam hole of the detent plate, allowing the shift lever to perform gear shifting operations. It is possible. Further, a tension spring can also be used as a return spring for the slide stopper.

〔Effect of the invention〕

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

In addition, since the shift lever can only be bent in the 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 that a part of the body is accidentally touched by the shift lever while moving the seat. Even if touched, the transmission will not move inadvertently, making it safe.

Furthermore, the slide stopper can be automatically returned to the blocking position by simply returning the upper lever to the upright position without operating the stopper release knob, so there is no need to worry about the shift lever. The return operability is extremely good.

In addition, when the shift lever is in the tilted position, the upper lever part is held by the guide groove and the sloped surface of the slide stopper, and is biased by the return spring, so the upper lever part can be reliably held in that position. . Therefore, it is highly safe. Further, in this shift lever tilted state, the slide stopper blocks the guide groove, so that the sealing performance of the guide groove can be improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 5 show a foldable shift lever device for an automatic transmission according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 shows a shift lever device with the dust cover, slide cover and dust boot removed and Figure 2 is a side view showing the lever in the tilted state; Figure 2 is a plan view with the shift lever shifted to the parking range;
The figure is a vertical sectional view of the main part taken in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.
The figure is a sectional view taken along the - line in Figure 3, Figure 5 is a side view of Figure 2, Figures 6 to 8 are enlarged views of the detent plate, and Figure 6 is a side view of Figure 2. 7
7 is a side view, 8 is a view from the front of the vehicle, and 9 to 1
Figure 1 shows an enlarged view of the slide stopper, Figure 9 is a plan view as seen from the direction of the arrow in Figure 8, Figure 10 is a side view, Figure 11 is a view seen from the front of the vehicle, and Figure 11 is a view from the front of the vehicle. 12 to 14 show the dust cover, FIG. 12 is a plan view, FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view taken along line X-X in FIG. 12, and FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view taken along line X--X in FIG. Cross-sectional view along the X-ray, 1st
FIG. 5 is a plan view of the slide cover, and FIG. 16 is a schematic perspective view showing the interior of a cab-over type vehicle employing the foldable shift lever device of the present invention. 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, 70 ... Detent plate (cover member), 73 ... Detent groove, 73a ... Detent groove end surface, 75 ... Parking range groove,
76...Bending guide groove, 77...Pin (slide stopper rotation axis), 79...Circular groove, 80
...Slide stopper, 80c...Slide stopper slope, 82...Knob mounting shaft, 87...Return spring, 89...Stopper release knob,
90...Dust cover (cover member), 93...
Daytent groove, 95... Parking range groove, 9
6...Bending guide groove, 99...Circular groove, 10
0...Slide cover, 110...Dust boot, X-X...Shift lever shift operation rotation center axis, Y-Y...Control lever rotation center axis, Z-Z...Shift lever bending rotation center axis , O-O... Rotation center axis of the slide stopper, A... Center line of the bending guide groove, D...
Driver's side seat, E...Passenger's side seat, F...
Vehicle floor, θ _A ...The angle between the slope of the slide stopper and the center line of the bending guide groove.

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 attached to the fixed member and covering the bent portion of the shift lever is formed with a detent groove in which the upper lever portion contacts and slides;
A bending guide groove extending toward the passenger seat is formed continuously with the parking range groove in the day tent groove, and a slide stopper for blocking the bending guide groove is further blocked by a return spring on the rotating shaft provided on the cover member. At the same time, a stopper release knob is provided on the outer peripheral edge of the slide stopper, and the end surface of the slide stopper that comes into contact with the upper lever part when the shift lever is returned is bent so as to be aligned with the center line of the guide groove. 1. A retractable shift lever device for an automatic transmission, characterized in that the slide stopper is configured to be rotatable against the return spring when the shift lever is returned by forming an inclined surface.