JPS6140612Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to a steering block device for an automobile that is integrated with a switch such as an ignition switch or a starter switch.

As is well known, the steering lock device of an automobile is designed so that the rotor cannot be rotated to the steering lock position unless a push button is pressed, in order to prevent the risk of the steering locking due to malfunction while driving.

Figure 1 shows the main parts of its structure. In the figure, 3 is a body which houses a rotor case 1 in which a rotor 2 is rotatably built in, a camshaft 7 connected to the rear end of the rotor 2, and a space between the body 3 and the rotor case. A safety lever 5 is housed in the body 3 and is swingably supported on the body 3 by a pivot 9. The camshaft 7 rotates together with the rotor 2, and is adapted to operate a switch (not shown) (such as an ignition switch or a starter switch) as well as a lock bar for locking the steering wheel. The safety lever 5 is constantly biased by a spring 6 so that its engaging end 5a faces inward in the radial direction, and rotates the rotor 2 together with the camshaft 7 from the on position of the ignition switch to the off position. At this time, the engaging end 5a of the safety lever 5 comes into contact with the stopper surface 7a of the camshaft 7 in the off position. Then, in order to rotate the rotor 2 to the steering lock position, the push button 4 provided on the body 3 so as to be slidable in the radial direction is pushed in, and the other end 5b of the lever 5 is pushed down radially inward. The engagement end 5a is removed from the stopper surface 7a by swinging the engagement end 5a.

By the way, in the case of the above structure, the pushing operation of the push button 4 and the rotating operation of the rotor 2 need to be performed simultaneously. That is, it is necessary to rotate the rotor 2 together with the camshaft 7 while pushing the push button 4 and disengaging the engaging end 5a of the safety lever 5 from the stopper surface 7a. Start like this,
The engaging end 5a of the safety lever 5 can ride on the peripheral surface 7b of the camshaft.

However, the simultaneous operation described above requires the use of both hands depending on the position of the push button, and even if one-handed operation is possible, it is difficult to perform the operation.

The present invention has been developed in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, and allows the operation of the safety lever release means such as the push button described above and the rotation operation of the rotor and camshaft to be performed in stages rather than simultaneously, and therefore extremely easily. To provide a steering lock device for an automobile having a novel structure that allows one-handed operation.

Below, regarding the embodiments shown in FIGS. 2 to 7,
The present invention will be specifically explained.

First, the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 to 4 will be described.

The general structure of this device is the same as the conventional device shown in FIG. The rotor 17 is housed in the body 13 and is connected to the rear end of the rotor 12 to rotate integrally with the rotor, and is connected to switches (not shown, such as an ignition switch and a starter switch) and a steering wheel. A camshaft 15 operates the lock bar, a safety lever 15 is housed between the body 13 and the rotor case 11, and is supported by a pivot 19 fixed to the body 13;
A spring 14 biases the safety lever 5a so that it faces inward in the radial direction, and a spring 14 is used to release the engagement end of the safety lever 15 from the camshaft, and is slidable into a hole 13a provided at a predetermined position in the body 13. This is a safety lever release means, that is, a push button provided in the safety lever.

The camshaft 17 has a cam surface on the side facing the rotor 12. The cam surface includes pushing surfaces 17c, 17c for pushing the safety lever 15 toward the rotor, a stopper surface 17d that engages with the engagement shaft 15a of the safety lever 15, and a circumference on which the engagement end 15a slides. It is curved from surface 17a. One of the pushing surfaces 17c is an inclined surface that projects in the rotor direction from the end surface 17b of the camshaft 17, and the other 17e is a surface along a cross section perpendicular to the axis.

On the other hand, in order to make the safety lever 15 slightly movable in the longitudinal direction with respect to the pivot shaft 19,
The hole 15c through which the hole 15c passes is formed into a long hole that is long in the longitudinal direction.

Further, the push button 14 has an end 15b opposite to the engaging end 15a of the safety lever 15 at its lower part.
When the push button 14 is pushed in, the safety lever 15 swings around the pivot 19 and moves in the direction of the camshaft.

Camshaft 17 that rotates together with rotor 12
The rotational position of is as shown in Figure 3,
LOCK indicates the steering lock position, OFF indicates the ignition switch off position, ON indicates the ignition switch on position, and START indicates the starter switch on position.

Rotor 12 and camshaft 17 start
When rotating from the OFF position to the OFF position, the engaging end 15a of the safety lever 15 moves without contact along the circumferential surface 17f, and is pushed toward the rotor by the inclined pushing surface 17c just before the OFF position, turning OFF. At this position, as shown in FIGS. 2 to 5, it comes into contact with the pushing surface 17e and engages with the stopper surface 17d.

Turn the camshaft 17 from the above OFF position.
To rotate to the LOCK position, first push the push button 14 and release the safety lever 15 from the spring 1.
The engaging end 15a is swung against the force of 6.
is moved radially outward to remove it from the stopper surface 17d, and the inclined surface 14a of the push button 14 is removed from the stopper surface 17d.
to move the safety lever 15 in the direction of the camshaft. Then, the engaging end 15a of the safety lever 15 rides on the circumferential surface 17a of the camshaft 17. Therefore, press your finger here and press button 14.
The safety lever 15 does not return to its original state even if it is released further. Therefore, the next step is to rotate the camshaft 17 by the rotor 12 in the direction of the LOCK position, that is, counterclockwise in FIG. 3. Safety lever 15
The engaging end 15a of can slide on the circumferential surface 17a without any trouble. The above two operations, that is, pushing the push button 14 and rotating the rotor 12 to the LOCK position, can be performed step by step with one hand very easily.

Contrary to the above, the rotor 12 and camshaft 1
7 from the LOCK position to the OFF position, ON position, and
When the safety lever 15 is rotated to the START position, the engaging end 15a of the safety lever 15 slides on the circumferential surface 17a from the right to the left in FIG. Due to the force, the end surface 17b
It falls radially inward along , that is, in the direction of the circumferential surface 17f. Therefore, when rotating the rotor 12 and camshaft 17 in this direction, it is not necessary to operate the push button 14.

In the first embodiment described above, the push button 14 was used as the safety lever release means, but the push button 14 in FIGS.
It may be configured as in the embodiment.

In this embodiment, a ring 24 is fitted around the outer periphery of the front end of the rotor case 11 so as to be rotatable within a certain range. This ring has stopper portions 11e and 11 formed on the outer periphery of the rotor case at predetermined positions inside the ring.
d, and the return spring 18 is housed in a recess 11b formed on the outer periphery of the rotor case.
One end of the spring 18 is connected to the seat surface 11 of the recess 11b.
The other end of the ring is brought into contact with the stopper 24a of the ring, thereby biasing the ring in the clockwise rotation direction in FIG. When the ring 24 is not in use, the stopper 24a of the ring is in contact with the stopper portion 11e of the rotor case 11 in the state shown in FIG.

The ring 24 further has a cam surface on which one end 15b of the safety lever 15 slides in contact with the right side of the stopper 24b in FIG. This cam surface includes a surface 24e that positions one end 15b of the safety lever 15 on the outside in the radial direction, and a surface 24e that positions the one end 15b of the safety lever 15 when the ring 24 is rotated to the left in FIG.
radially inwardly, and a protruding surface 24d that pushes one end guided in this direction into the camshaft 17. Therefore, in FIG. 6, the ring 24 is rotated to the left and one end 15b of the safety lever is pushed radially inward by the inclined surface 24c into the recess 11a formed in the rotor case, and the end 15b of the safety lever is pushed into the recess 11a formed in the rotor case. When pushed toward the camshaft side by the surface 24d, the engaging end 15a of the safety lever comes off the stopper surface of the camshaft 17 and rides on the circumferential surface 17a. Once the engaging end 15a of the safety lever rides on the circumferential surface 17a of the camshaft in this way, it will remain in that state even if you release your finger from the ring 24 and the ring is returned to its original state by the force of the spring 18. Therefore, the same effects as in the first embodiment can be obtained.

Regarding the safety lever release means, various other changes can be made; for example, if a spring means is provided that always biases the safety lever toward the camshaft side,
The safety lever release means is one end 15 of the safety lever 15.
It is sufficient to simply push b inward in the radial direction, and the first
The inclined surface 14a of the push button 14 of the embodiment and the protruding surface 24b of the ring 24 of the second embodiment are no longer necessary.

As is clear from the above detailed description of the embodiments, the present invention has a configuration in which a long hole is formed in the safety lever so that the safety lever can be moved in the longitudinal direction, and a safety lever release means is used to release the safety lever. The engaging end swings in a direction away from the stopper surface of the camshaft and is moved toward the camshaft side so that the engaging end rides on the circumferential surface of the camshaft. The safety lever can therefore remain in its position, so that the rotor can be rotated together with the camshaft into the steering lock position as a next step. Therefore, the steering lock operation can be performed extremely easily with one hand, and is much easier to operate than conventional devices.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of the main part of a conventional steering lock device, Figs. 2 to 4 show a first embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the main part of the steering lock device.
Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along the - line in Figure 2, and Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view of Figure 3.
5 to 7 show a second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the main part of the steering lock device, and FIG. 6 is a plan view of FIG.
7 is a sectional view taken along the - line in FIG. 6. 1...Case, 2...Rotor, 3...Body,
4... Button, 5... Safety lever, 5a... Engaging end, 7... Camshaft, 7a... Stopper surface, 9... Spring, 11... Rotor case,
11b... recessed part, 11d, 11e... stopper part, 11f... seat surface, 12... rotor, 13...
Body, 14... Push button, 14a... Inclined surface, 15... Safety lever, 15a... Engaging end, 1
5b... end, 15c... hole, 16... spring, 17... camshaft, 17a... peripheral surface, 1
7b... End face, 17c... Inclined surface, 17d... Stopper surface, 17c... Inclined pushing surface, 17f...
Circumferential surface, 18...Return spring, 19...Pivot, 24...Ring, 24a, 24b...Stopper portion, 24d...Protruding surface.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] (1) The pivot entrance of the safety lever is made into a longitudinally long elongated hole so that the safety lever is movable in the longitudinal direction with respect to the pivot, and the camshaft has a structure in which the camshaft is mounted together with the rotor. When the ignition switch rotates from the on position to the off position, the safety lever comes into contact with the engaging end of the safety lever that is biased radially inward by the biasing spring when the ignition switch is in the off position, and the safety lever is rotated into the rotor. A push surface that moves the safety lever to the side, a stopper surface that engages with the engagement end of the safety lever moved by the push surface, and a safety lever release means are operated to swing the safety lever and release it. When the engaging end is removed from the stopper surface and the safety lever is moved toward the camshaft side, a cam surface is formed that has at least a circumferential surface on which the engaging end rides, and the camshaft moves from the ignition switch off position to the steering wheel. When rotating between the lock positions, the engaging end of the safety lever slides on the circumferential surface of the camshaft, while rotating the camshaft together with the rotor from the ignition switch off position to the ignition switch on position. 2. A steering lock device for an automobile, characterized in that, when the safety lever is turned off, the engaging end of the safety lever is disengaged from the circumferential surface of the camshaft and swings radially inward by the force of the biasing spring. (2) The safety lever release means comprises a push button, and the push button has an inclined surface at its bottom that slides on the end opposite to the engaging end of the safety lever, and when the push button is pushed, The device according to claim (1) of the utility model registration, characterized in that the safety lever is configured to both swing and move in the longitudinal direction. (3) The safety lever release means includes a ring rotatably fitted around the front end of the rotor case, and the ring has a cam surface on which the end opposite to the engagement end of the safety lever slides. the cam surface has a surface that engages the upper opposite end of the safety lever radially outward, and an inclined surface that pushes the opposite end of the safety lever radially inward when the ring is rotated; A steering lock device for an automobile according to claim (1), which is characterized by having a protruding surface that pushes the opposite end pushed in the direction toward the camshaft.