SE541510C2 - A gear lever assembly for wire gearchange of a vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

A gear lever assembly for wire gearchange of a vehicle comprises a housing (9) in which the gear lever is supported. The housing (9) comprises a first housing part (10) and a second housing part (11) adapted to be removably connected to each other, a first sealing surface (19) at the first housing part (10) and a second sealing surface (20) at the second housing part (11) adapted to face each other at a connected state and a seal (18) adapted to be arranged between the first sealing surface (19) and the second sealing surface (20). The first sealing surface (19) and the second sealing surface (20) has an oval shape and the seal (18) is an O-ring.

Description

A gear lever assembly for wire gearchange of a vehicle TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a gear lever assembly for wire gearchange of a vehicle and a vehicle comprising a gear lever assembly.

BACKGROUND Vehicles, such as for example trucks and buses comprising a manual transmission may have a gear changing system comprising wires to transmit shifting movements from a gear lever to a gearbox. The gear lever may be supported in a housing in which the gear lever is connected to the wires via a link system. The housing may comprise a space for the connection and a lid adapted to close the space. A seal may be arranged between the housing and the lid to prevent dust and dirt from entering the space. It is often the case that the seal is a flat seal and designed to be pressed into sealing effect between two flat surfaces, one on the housing and one on the lid. The lid may be pressed against the seal and the housing by several screws extending through holes in the lid and into corresponding threaded holes in the housing. During assembly there might be a risk that the seal is dislodged and that the sealing effect therefore might be impaired. Further, the use of several screws may complicate and prolong the assembly of the lid to the housing.

SUMMARY An object of the present invention is to address and at least alleviate the above mentioned problem. A further object is to propose a gear lever assembly which is advantageous in terms of production technology and therefore is economic.

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a gear lever assembly for wire gearchange of a vehicle, the assembly comprises a housing in which the gear lever is supported, the housing comprises a first housing part and a second housing part adapted to be removably connected to each other, a first sealing surface at the first housing part and a second sealing surface at the second housing part adapted to face each other at a connected state and an O-ring adapted to be arranged between the first sealing surface and the second sealing surface. The circumference of the first sealing surface and the second sealing surface has an oval shape. The first housing part comprises a protrusion with an opening, the second housing part comprises an extending lug adapted to extend into the opening and the second housing part is adapted to be pressed against the first housing part by a locking member. Further, one housing part comprises at least one projection along a dividing line. The at least one projection defines a gap between the first housing part and the second housing part. Hereby a tight, robust an reliable sealing which is relatively easy to assemble is achieved wherefore dust and dirt is prevented from entering the housing. Further, the housing parts may be connected to each other in a relatively easy and secure way and a tool may be inserted into the gap to pry off the second housing part from the first housing part.

According to an optional aspect of the invention at least one sealing surface comprises a groove adapted to accommodate and support the seal. The groove has an oval shape.

According to an optional aspect of the invention the second sealing surface comprises the groove . Hereby the seal is fixed to the sealing surface in a relatively easy and secure way.

According to an optional aspect of the invention the second housing part comprises the at least one projection. Hereby a tool may be inserted into the gap to pry off the second housing part from the first housing part.

In accordance with the present invention there is also provided a vehicle comprising a gear lever assembly according to what is mentioned above.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. Further features of, and advantages with, the present invention will become apparent when studying the appended claims and the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a side view of a vehicle having a gear lever assembly.

Fig. 2 is an bottom view of a housing part.

Fig. 3 is a bottom view of a housing.

Fig. 4 is a cross-section of a housing.

Fig. 5 is a locally enlarged view of a seal in fig. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The invention will now be described with reference to the drawings in which some exemplary embodiment are shown. Well-known functions or constructions will not necessarily be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity.

Fig. 1 shows a side view of a vehicle 1 having a cab 2, a gearbox 3 and a gear lever 4. The gear lever 4 is adapted to transmit shifting movements from a driver to the gearbox 3. The vehicle 1 is shown as a truck but it may for example be a passenger car or a bus. Further, the vehicle 1 may be a commercial vehicle or a constructional vehicle or the like.

Fig. 2 shows a gear lever assembly 5 for wire gearchange of the vehicle, whereby gearchange movements are conveyed from the gear lever 4 to two gearchange wires 6, 7 which runs substantially horizontally from a location under the cab 2 and into the gearbox 3 (fig. 1). The gear lever assembly 5 comprises a housing 9 in which the gear lever 4 is supported and in which the gear lever 4 is connected to the wires 6,7 via a link system 8. The housing 9 comprises, with reference to fig. 2, 3, 4 and 5, a first housing part 10 and a second housing part 11 adapted to be removably connected to each other along a mutual dividing line 17. The second housing part 1 1 has an external connecting portion 13 adapted to be pushed into an internal connecting portion 14 of the first housing part 10 to achieve a connected state.

Between the first housing part 10 and the second housing part 11 there is provided a ringshaped seal 18 for sealing between the housing parts 10,11. The seal 18 may be an O-ring. At some embodiments the seal 18 may be made of rubber or rubber- like materials such as elastomers. At some embodiments the seal 18 may be circular in cross section.

Fig. 4 shows that the seal 18 is arranged at the dividing line 17 between the first housing part 10 and the second housing part 11. Fig. 3 and 5 shows that the seal 18 is adapted to be arranged between a first sealing surface 19 at the first housing part 10 and a second sealing surface 20 at the second housing part 11. The first sealing surface 19 faces radially inwards and extends around the circumference of the first housing part 10 which has an oval shape. The second sealing surface 20 faces radially outwards and extends around the circumference of the second housing part 11 which has an oval shape. The first sealing surface 19 and the second sealing surface 20 are adapted to face each other when the housing parts 10,1 1 are in a connected state and each sealing surface 19,20 has an oval shape which may correspond to the oval shape of the first- and second housing part 10,11 respectively.

With reference to fig. 5, at least one sealing surface 19,20 may be arranged in a groove 22 which may extend around the circumference of the first housing part 10 or the second housing part 11. The groove 22 is adapted to accommodate and support the seal 18. The seal 18 may be inserted in the groove 22 such that the seal 18 abuts the sealing surface 20 and protrudes above a surface 28 in which the groove 22 is shaped and upon assembling of the second housing part 11 to the first housing part 10 is effected by a limited compression against the sealing surface 19,20 of the opposite housing part 10,11. At some embodiment the groove 22 may have an oval shape which may correspond to the oval shape of the first- and second housing part 10,11 respectively. At some embodiments the second housing part 11 comprises the groove 22. At some embodiments the first housing part 10 comprises the groove 22. At some embodiments the first sealing surface 19 and the second sealing surface 20 extends in a vertical plane when the gear lever assembly 5 is mounted in a vehicle.

Fig. 2 shows that the first housing part 10 comprises a bottom 23 with an opening 24 for the gear lever 4 and a sidewall 25 perpendicular to the bottom 23. The free end of the sidewall 25 adapted to receive the second hosing part has a protrusion 26. The protrusion 26 comprises an opening 27. Fig. 3 shows that the second housing part 11, which may be a lid, comprises an extending lug 29 adapted to extend into the opening 27. At some embodiments the protrusion 26 may be part of the second housing part 11 and the lug 29 may be part of the first housing part 10. Further, the second housing part 11 may be adapted to be pressed against the first housing part 10 by a locking member 32, which may be a screw extending through a hole 33 in the second housing part 11 and into a corresponding threaded hole 31 in the first housing part 10 (fig 2). At some embodiments the locking member 32 may be arranged at an end of the second housing part 11 opposite to an end at which the extending lug 29 is arranged.

Further the second housing part 11 may comprise at least one projection 34 along the dividing line 17. The at least one projection 34 defines a gap 35 between the first housing part 10 and the second housing part 11. At some embodiments the projection 34 is arranged at the second housing part 11 at the end opposite to the end at which the extending lug 29 is arranged. The gap 35 is adapted to receive a tool, for example a screw driver, to facilitate the disassembly of the second housing part 11 from the first housing part 10.

During assembly the first housing part 10 and the second hosing part 11 are sealingly connected to each other along the mutual dividing line 17 by pushing the lug 29 into the opening 27 and by pressing the second housing part 11 against the first housing part 10 by the locking member 32.

During disassembly the locking member 32 is removed after which the second housing part 1 1 may be released from the first housing part 10 by pulling the lug 29 out of the opening 27. At some embodiments a tool may be inserted into the gap 35 to pry off the second housing part 11 from the first housing part 11.

Although the invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiments as mentioned above, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. It is therefore contemplated that the appended claims will cover such modifications and variations that fall within the true scope of the invention.

Claims (8)

1. A gear lever assembly (5) for wire gearchange of a vehicle (1), the assembly (5) comprises a housing (9) in which the gear lever (4) is supported, the housing (9) comprises a first housing part (10) and a second housing part (11) adapted to be removably connected to each other, a first sealing surface (19) at the first housing part (10) and a second sealing surface (20) at the second housing part (11) adapted to face each other at a connected state and an O-ring (18) arranged at a dividing line (17) between the first sealing surface (19) and the second sealing surface (20), wherein the circumference of the first sealing surface (19) and the second sealing surface (20) has an oval shape, characterized in that the first housing part (10) comprises a protrusion (26) with an opening (27), that the second housing part (11) comprises an extending lug (29) adapted to extend into the opening (27), that the second housing part (11) is adapted to be pressed against the first housing part (10) by a locking member (32) and that one housing part (10,11) comprises at least one projection (34) along the dividing line (17) and that the at least one projection (34) defines a gap (35), adapted to receive a tool between the first housing part (10) and the second housing part (11).

2. A gear lever assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that the first sealing surface (19) faces radially inwards and the second sealing surface (20) faces radially outwards.

3. A gear lever assembly according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that at least one sealing surface (19,20) comprises a groove (22) adapted to accommodate and support the O-ring (18) and in that the groove (22) has an oval shape.

4. A gear lever assembly according to claim 3, characterized in that the second sealing surface (20) comprises the groove (22).

5. A gear lever assembly according to any one of claim 1-4, characterized in that the first sealing surface (19) and the second sealing surface (20) extends around the circumference of the housing (9).

6. A gear lever assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that the second housing part (11) is a lid.

7. A gear lever assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that the second housing part (11) comprises the at least one projection (34).

8. A vehicle comprising a gear lever assembly according to any one of claims 1-7.