TH8742Y - A car gear shift lever locking device that is activated by a solenoid. - Google Patents

Abstract

DC60 (12/06/56) A solenoid-activated gear shift lever locking device as described in this invention. The locking mechanism is designed to lock or unlock upon activation of the solenoid, and includes an emergency release mechanism to release the gear shift lever, allowing normal operation of the vehicle's gears in the event of electrical or mechanical locking failure. When the emergency release mechanism is activated, the user does not need to remove the locking device from the vehicle.

Claims (1)

1. A solenoid-activated gear shift lever locking device that contains an electrical system to activate and control the solenoid. It consists of a solenoid (1) that activates a mechanical part to lock and unlock the gear shift lever, preventing normal gear operation when commanded by a control box (2). The end of the shaft (1a) is fabricated to match the size and shape of the groove (12a) of the connecting rod (12), and also has a hole (1b) for a locking pin (18) to secure the connecting rod (12) to the shaft (1a) of the solenoid. This design ensures that when an emergency release is performed with a key (9), the shaft (1a) of the solenoid moves back to the unlocked position, just as it would when commanded to unlock by the control circuit. The control box (2a) is the electrical circuit that connects to the signal wires of the solenoid (1) to control the locking and unlocking operation. The control box receives electrical signals to power the vehicle's battery circuit. When the control box receives a command signal, The actuation mechanism (1a) moves the connecting rod (12) to lock it, where the movement of the connecting rod (12) causes the locking rod (13) to move along with the locking bolt (43) until its end (43a) is jammed in the locking hole (8a) of the connecting rod (8). This action constitutes complete locking. The gear shift locking mechanism, designed to prevent the normal operation of the vehicle's gear, consists of a front cover (4) fabricated to the size and cross-section of the housing (3) to close the front end of the housing, and a body fabricated with a protruding tube (41) which is bent to avoid obstructing the operation of the vehicle's components. The end of the tube (41) is fitted with an inverted U-shaped steel plate (42) to span the connecting rod (8) to prevent the thief from removing the grub screw (8d). The housing (3) encloses the locking mechanism and electrical wiring to prevent damage and is fabricated as a double-ended box. One side of the body is fabricated with a hole (3a) to accommodate the insertion of the lock sleeve (15) and the lock (10), respectively. The other side of the body is fabricated with a groove (3b) to accommodate the insertion of the end (7c) of the screw cover (7) into the rear cover (5), which is fabricated to be the same size and cross-section as the housing tube (3) to close the rear end of the tube. The bracket (6) is fabricated with a hole (6c) at the end (6a) to accommodate the threading of the screw (14) to mount the bracket to the vehicle, and the body of the bracket (6) is welded to the housing tube (3). It is also fabricated with a two-level groove (6b) to accommodate the insertion of the pin (7b) of the screw cover (7) into the first level and to lock into the pin (7b) in the second level. The screw cover (7) is designed to be the same shape as the bracket (6), with its end (7a) provided to cover the head of the screw (14) to prevent its removal without damage. The end of the shaft is fabricated with a pin (7b) for insertion into the two-level groove (6b) of the cam (6). In addition, the end of the shaft (7c) is fabricated with a groove (7d) for the insertion of the arm (16c) of the cam (16) to lock the screw cover so that it cannot be removed unless the padlock (10) is fully unlocked. The mounting shaft (8) for attachment to the gear linkage rod is fabricated with a groove (8c) on the upper body, the size of which is sized to fit the gear linkage rod, and on the side of the groove (8c) is fabricated with a threaded hole (8b) for the insertion of a worm screw (8d) to force the mounting shaft (8) to be firmly attached to the gear linkage rod. In addition, on the side (the same or opposite side to the threaded hole (8b) is fabricated with at least one locking hole (8a) for the insertion of a locking pin (43) to prevent the gear linkage rod from moving. The locking pin (43) whose body is fabricated from a thick wire rope to be threaded into the tube (41) and can bend to conform to the shape of the tube (41). One end (43a) is fabricated to be the size and shape to conform to the locking hole (8a) of the mounting rod (8), and the other end is welded to the end (13a) of the locking rod (13). A special feature of this automotive gear shift link locking mechanism is that it also includes a housing (16) to accommodate the threading of the locking rod (13), one end of which is attached to the inside of the housing tube (3). It is also fabricated with a hole (16a) to receive the locking rod (13) and a notch (16b) to accommodate the connecting rod (12). The locking rod (13) is fabricated to conform to the hole (16a) of the housing (16), and its body is fabricated with a square groove (13b) to fit the connector (12c) of the connecting rod (12). The groove (13b) was fabricated to allow the connecting rod (12) to move back and forth after the coupling (12c) was fitted. In addition, the groove (13b) was fabricated to have a hole (13c) for threading the pin to fit the coupling (12) onto the connecting rod. The other side of the body was fabricated to have a long groove (13b) extending from the groove (13b) almost to the end of the body (not through) to accommodate the connecting arm (12d) of the connecting rod (12). Near the end of this long groove (13d) was fabricated to have a hole (13e) for fitting the spring (17). The connecting rod (12) is the component that connects the coupling (13) to the end (1a) of the solenoid (1), to which the coupling (12c) is fabricated to fit into the groove (13b) of the coupling. (13) The fabrication has an extension arm (12d) protruding from the connector (12c), in which the extension arm (12d) is shaped and sized to fit the long groove (13b) of the locking rod (13). The end (12e) of the extension arm is fabricated to be stepped to prevent the locking rod (13) from moving and unlocking itself when an external force is applied to the vehicle or the locking device other than the force of the solenoid (1) release. The other end is fabricated to have a groove (12a) for fitting onto the end (1a) of the solenoid (1), and a hole (12b) is fabricated to thread the bolt (18) into it for securing. The connecting arm (12) is attached to the shaft (1a) of the solenoid (1). A spring (17) is provided to push the connecting arm (12d) out of the long groove (13d) of the locking arm (13) after the solenoid has been commanded to lock, and this causes the locking arm (13) to move and push the locking pin (43) to lock. This action causes the end (12e) of the connecting arm (12) to sit on the notch (16b) of the housing (16), preventing the locking arm (13) from moving to unlock itself when an external force is applied to the vehicle or locking device. A pin (18) is provided to secure the connecting arm (12) to the shaft (1a) of the solenoid (1) by threading it through hole (12b) on one side of the connecting arm (12), through hole (1b) of the solenoid (1), and then through hole (12b) on the other side, respectively. In addition, the end of (18a) of the aforementioned bolt (18) is provided for assembly with a small wire rope (11) for emergency release in case of electrical or mechanical failure, and an emergency release mechanism to allow normal use of the vehicle's gears in case of electrical or mechanical failure, which consists of a padlock (10) for emergency release by turning key (9), whose body (10b) is fabricated to fit the hole (15a) of the lock body (15) and whose end is provided with a shaft (10a) protruding for assembly into the hole (16a) of the cam (16); the lock body (15) which is fabricated to accommodate the assembly of the padlock (10) into the housing (3), with the body of the lock body (15) being fitted into the hole (3a) of the housing and fabricated with a hole (15a) along the length of the lock body for the padlock (10) to fit into; and the cam (16) which is provided for emergency release, whose body is perforated. (16b) for the swivel point of the cam and to fit into the shaft (10a) of the padlock (10), a pin (16b) is fabricated to protrude near the edge of the cam for fitting into the end (11b) of the small wire rope (11) for emergency release in case of electrical failure or locking mechanism failure. In addition, the cam (16) is fabricated to have an arm (16c) extending out to prevent the screw cover (7) from being removed until the padlock (10) is fully unlocked. The small wire rope (11) at one end is fabricated to have a hole (11a) for fitting into the end (18a) of the shaft (18) and at the other end is fabricated to have a hole (11b) for fitting into the pin (16b) of the cam (16).