US2674482A - Automobile door lock - Google Patents

Description

April 6, 1954 H. E. MESERVY AUTOMOBILE DOOR LOCK 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 21 1951 INVENTOR. E. Meservg Ana/mm.

April 6, 1954' H. E. MESERVY 2,674,482

AUTOMOBILE DOOR LOCK Filed March 21 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 JNVENTOR. Ho Ward 5 Meserc/z 76W Wu f W April 6, 1954 H. E. MESERVY 2,674,482 AUTOMOBILE DOOR LOCK Filed March 21, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 J 2 9 IO i .1 4 F. 9 I v IN VEN TOR.

Hbward Maser 1/4 1 A 7 TORNEVJ.

Patented Apr. 6, 1954 t eir AUTOMOBILE DOOR LOCK Howard E. Meservy,

General Motors Cor corporation of Delaware Detroit, Mich, assignor to poration, Detroit, Mich, 21.

Application March 21, 1951, Serial No. 216,761

18 Claims. 1 This invention relates to an automobile door look.

It is old to lock an automobile door by disconnecting the outside handle or push button from the loci: bolt so that the handle or push button is ineffective to retract the bolt, see Anderson-Bowlus 2,039,873.

It is also old to arrange an automobile door look so that locking of the outside door handle also looks the inside door handle. This is particularly desirable as a safety feature in the rear door locks of an automobile where children are being transported. Thus, children are prevented from opening the doors and the dangers incident thereto, while the car is in motion, are avoided. It is quite essential from the safety standpoint that in those cases Where the inside door handle is locked or rendered ineffective to retract the bolt, that it should be readily, and with certainty, returned to unlocked or operative condition where it will be eiiective to retract the latch bolt.

Some of the locks heretofore used which were arranged to lock the inside door handle or disconnect the same from the latch bolt were undesirable because under some conditions the lock would become jammed and thereafter the inside handle, and in many instances also the outside door handle or push button, would be ineffective to retract the latch bolt. This undesirable jamming of the lock occurred in one known make of lock wherein the door was locked from within the automobile body by disconnecting the inside handle from the bolt, when the inside handle was held in bolt retracting position and simultaneously the garnish molding push button was lifted in the attempt to again restore the connection between the inside handle and the bolt.

It is an object of this invention to produce an automobile door loci: in which the door can be locked from the inside by disconnecting the inside handle from the latch bolt and wherein the V inside door handle can again be restored to operative position where it is effective to retract the bolt with complete assurance and without jamming regardless of the conditions under which restoring of the connection between the inside handle and lock bolt m attempted.

Fig. l is an elevation of the lock, which is the subject of this invention, as viewed from within the vehicle body.

Fig, 2 is a section along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section along the line 33 of Fig. 1.

Figs. 4 and 5 are elevational views similar to Fig. 1 and illustrating the operation of the lock.

Figs. 6 and 7 are fragmentary elevations of the lower portion of the look also illustrating its operation.

Fig. 8 is a section along the line 8-8 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 9 is a section along the line 9-43 of Fig. 8.

The present invention is concerned with that type of lock wherein the door is locked by disconmeeting the inner and outer bolt retracting mechanisms from the bolt. The basic structure of the lock shown in the drawings is the same as that shown in the eopending application of Kenneth P. Smith, Serial No. 212,891, filed February 2'7, 1951.

As shown in Fig. 1, the various elements of the look are mounted upon a lock frame or plate I. Frame I is mounted along the inner face of the inside door panel (not shown) and is provided with a portion 2 which extends along the inner face of the door lock pillar (not shown). The overlap flange of the door is designated 3. A combination bolt housing and wedge member is fixed upon the frame portion 2. A bolt 5 is pivoted within housing l upon a stud 5 which is riveted to the frame portion 2 (Fig. 8). Bolt 5 is provided with an offset extension or tail 5 which .is provided with a socket portion to positioned inwardly of the lock frame portion I. The bolt head is designated H and is adapted to interengage with either the safety step 52 or the final step is of the lock keeper it which forms the lower member of the dovetail socket. The upper member of the dovetail socket is designated I5 and is provided with a conventional sliding shoe Iii backed up by a compression spring ll. Dovetail socket it, it will be mounted upon the body lock pillar (not shown). Lock frame portion I, Fig, 1, is positioned at approximately right angles to frame portion 2.

For retracting bolt 5 there is provided a retraetor lever Iii pivoted upon frame I by means of a stud it which is riveted to frame I as at 29. Stud i ii is provided with a head 2! upon which is mounted a coil spring 522. One arm 23 of the spring is interengaged with a lug 2t struck out of frame 2 and the other arm 25 of spring 22 is interengaged with a lug 2S turned out of lever 18. Spring 22 at all times acts through lug 25 to bias or apply torque to lever H8 in a counterclockwise dircction, Fig. l. Lever H3 is provided with a pair of fingers 2"? which engage on opposite sides of bolt tail is and form a socket therefor. Spring it acts at all times through lever 68, fingers 2'! on bolt extension 9 to bias bolt 55 clockwise, or in a keeper engaging direction, as viewed in Fig. '7. Lever it; can be actuated from within the vehicle by means of a draft link 28 which may be connected to any conventional inside remote crank handle 8.

For retracting the bolt 5 from without the door there is provided a channel guide member provided with an arm 3I and pivoted upon the lock frame I by rivet 32. A tumbler 33 is pivoted upon channel guide 33 by means of pin 34. An intermittent lever 35 is pivoted to one arm of tumbler 33 by means of pin 36 and the other end 31 of intermittent lever 35 pivotally interengages extension 9 in socket Id. The intermittent lever 35 is guided within the side walls of channel guide 30 by means of bumps 38 so that intermittent lever 35 can slide longitudinally within channel guide 3!] and can also pivot or swivel with channel guide 38 about rivet 32. Channel guide 30 can be pivoted about pin 32 from within the vehicle body by means of a control mechanism which includes a control lever 39 pivoted to frame I by rivet 4E! and pivotally connected to arm 3i by rivet 4|. The outer end of lever 39 is pivotally connected to a push and pull rod 43 by means of a bell crank lever 42 and link 44. The upper end of rod 43 projects through an opening in the garnish molding 45 which extends around the window opening. An over-center spring 46 acts upon lever 39 to yieldably hold it in either its unlocked position, Fig. 1, or in its locked position, Fig. 4, that is, when the push button Bil is raised, the lock is unlocked, and when it is lowered, the lock is locked.

A pawl 41 is journalled in the lock frame I and is operatively connected with channel guide 30 so that pawl 47 can be rotated in one direction to swing guide 30 and intermittent lever 35 to locked position, Fig. 4, or pawl 41 can be rotated in the opposite direction to swing guide 30 and intermittent lever 35 to unlocked position, Fig. 1. Pawl 41 can be rotated from the outside of the door by means of a key acting through a combination torque rod and plunger (not shown) which can be pushed inwardly of the door to pivot tumbler 33 against spring 5| to thereby project the intermittent lever 35 downwardly, as viewed in Fig. 1. When intermittent lever 35 is projected downwardly, the lower end 35 contacts the tail 9 of the bolt in socket I0 and rotates the bolt 5 counterclockwise, Fig. 8, to retract the bolt from its keeper. A cylinder lock push button and push rod for operating tumbler 33 form no part of this invention and are shown in the copending application of James D. Leslie and Clyde H. Scharnel, Serial No. 788,534, filed November 28, 1947.

Intermittent lever 35 is provided with a cam projection 52 which extends inwardly from lever 35 toward frame I. Flange 53 on tail 9 overlies the lower end 31 of lever 35. Spring 5I acts between tumbler 33 and intermittent lever 35 not only to hold intermittent lever 35 downwardly within channel guide 30 but also to yieldably bias or hold tumbler 33 against pawl 41 and thus yieldably maintain lever 35 in retracted position, Fig. 1. When lever 35 is in the position shown in Fig. 1, downward movement of lever 35 acts upon tail 9 of bolt 5 to retract the same. Lever 35 is moved downwardly by pivoting tumbler 33 about its pivot 34 as above described. Thus, tumbler 33 and lever 35 are actuated from outside the door for retracting the bolt. When lever 35 and guide 3!] are shifted to the position shown in Fig. 4, then end 31 of lever 35 is ofiset from, and rides by, socket ID on the bolt tail and therefore the lever 35 is ineffective to retract the bolt, Fig. 4.

Retraction of the lock bolt from the inside of the door is effected by clockwise rotation of retractor lever I8, Fig. 1. Lever I8 is actuated from within the body by means of inside door handle 8 in the form of a crank pivoted as at and connected by draft link 23 with an actuator lever BI which is pivoted on stud I9, Fig. 2. The lower end of lever I8 is provided with a radial slot 62 and the lower end of lever BI is provided with a radial slot 63. Lever 6| pivots freely on stud I9 independently of lever I8. Levers I8 and GI are arranged to be tied or clutched together to pivot as a unit and to this end there is provided a connector link 64 having its lower end turned inwardly at a right angle as at toward frame I to form a key and then turned at a right angle as at 63 substantially parallel to plate I. When slots 62 and 53 coincide, then key portion 65 of link 64 can be drawn upwardly into said notches to thereby lock or tie levers i8 and GI together so that they pivot as a unit. Thus, key 65 cooperates with slots I52 and 33 to provide a clutch between levers I8 and iii. The upper end 61 of link 64 is turned inwardly toward frame I where it passes through an L-shaped slot 88 in lever 39 and then turned upwardly as at 69 between lever 39 and frame I. A coil spring In is mounted on pivot post iii and has one leg II anchored in lug I2 on lever 39. The other leg I3 of spring 'H) is provided with a hump l4 and a valley I5. Leg I3 is positioned beneath end 61 of link 64 and at all times biases link 64 upwardly, Fig. l.

The operation of the instant lock is as follows: In the dotted line showing, Fig. 1, link 64 is in raised position with its key portion 65 looking levers SI and IS together and with its upper end 6? positioned in the end of slot 63 closest to pivot 4i With the link in this position, the inside handle 8 is effective to retract the bolt, that is. clockwise rotation of handle 8, Fig. 1, acts through draft link 28, lever GI, key 65 of link 54 and lever IE to retract the bolt. If the garnish molding push button is moved downwardly into garnish molding 4-5 to swing lever 39 counterclockwise from the position shown in Fig. 1 to that shown in Fig. 4 with link 64 in the dotted line position Fig. 1, then intermittent lever 35 will be disconnected from socket E0 and ineffective to retract the bolt as shown in Fig. 4, but the key 65 of link 64 will still be positioned in both slots 62 and 63 (Fig. 7) thereby tying levers BI and I8 together and the bolt can be retracted from the inside of the automobile by rotation of inside handle 8. Thus, the outside bolt retracting mechanism, such as the outside push button or door handle, is ineffective to retract the bolt but the inside handle 8 is effective to retract the bolt.

If it is desired to make the inside door handle 8 ineffective to retract the bolt, this can be accomplished by withdrawing the key end 65 of link 64 from slot 62 to thereby disengage levers BI and I8 so that rotation of lever 6| by handle 8 will not rotate lever I8. Preferably, as shown in the drawings, withdrawal of key 65 of link 64 from radial slot 62 is effected simultaneously with the shifting of intermittent lever 35 from operative position, Fig. l, with link 64 in full line position to inoperative position, Fig. 4, where it is ineffective to retract the bolt.

To have push button 8!] look both the inside and outside bolt actuating mechanism, the upper end of link 64, which is yieldably retained in the right hand end of slot 68 by the valley 15 of spring Hl, dotted line showing Fig. 1, is moved to the left over hump I4 to a point adjacent the outer end of spring leg I3, full line showing Fig. 1, so

that end 61 is positioned at the corner 8| of the right angled slot or opening 68. In this position, full line showing Fig. 1, if the control mechanism lever 39 is rotated counterclockwise by depressing push button 80 downwardly, intermittent lever 35 will be swung to inoperative position where it is inefiective to retract the bolt, Fig. 4, and simultaneously therewith link 54 will be moved downwardly so that key 65 passes out of slot 62 thereby disengaging retractor lever it from actuator lever 6|, Fig. l. Thus, by manipulation of push button 80, both the inner and outside bolt operating mechanisms are rendered inefiective to retract the bolt. The position of upper end 51 of link 64 either to the left of hump M or to the right of hump 14, full and dotted line showings Fig. 1, can be selected by the owner of the vehicle. Link 64 can be shifted to its selected position by means of a instrument, such as a screw-driver or wire with a hook on the end, which can be passed through an opening in the door lock pillar and engaged with link 64 to move it to one or the other of its selected positions.

With link 64 shifted to the position shown in Fig. 1, full lines, where both the inside and outside bolt actuating mechanisms are locked (i. e., arranged to freewheel) or unlocked simultaneously, it is impossible to jam the lock mechanism so that the bolt cannot be retracted by either the inside door handle 3 or the outside push button or door handle through tumbler 33 and lever 35.

As shown in Fig. 4, both the outside mechanism and inside mechanism are ineiTective to retract the bolt. If inside handle 8 is rotated to draw draft link 28 to the left, then lever 6! simply freewheels relative to lever is and the bolt cannot be retracted by handle 8. The position of actuator lever 6| when retracted is shown in the dotted lines Fig. (l, and if, While lever BI is retracted, button Si! is raised to restore lever 35 to effective position, then the key end 65 of link 64 simply remains upon the lower edge 90 of lever l8 (the vertical leg 95 of slot 63 and spring 73 provide a yieldable or lost motion connection between link (54 and lever 39 and permit relative travel between lever 39 and upper end 6'! of link 64) and no jamming occurs (Fig. 5). If handle 8 is restored to normal position (Fig. 1), then key 65 of link 64 rides along edge 90 of lever 35 until end 65 reaches slot 62 (Fig. 6) whereupon spring 73 raises link 66 and key 65 into slot 52 thereby clutching or tying levers 6|, H3 together again (Fig. 1).

From the above it is evident that as long as link 64 is in the dotted line position Fig. 1, then operation of the control mechanism by depressing garnish molding push button 8!! swings lever 35 to the ineffective position and the outside handle or push button mechanism is ineifective to retract the bolt whereas inside handle remains effective to retract the bolt. However, if link be is moved to the full line position Fig. 1, then depressing of the push button 83 simultaneously renders not only the outside bolt retracting mechanism 33, 35 ineffective but also disconnects actuator lever 5| from retractor lever is and renders the inside handle 8 ineffective to retract the bolt. When the inside handle 3 is ineffective to retract the bolt then, even though the inside handle is swung to bolt retracting position, push button 89 can be raised to restore lever 35 to operative position (Fig. 1) and turning of handle 8 in a reverse direction will restore the connection between levers GI and I8.

I claim:

1. In a door look, a bolt, a pivoted retractor for said bolt, a pivoted actuator for actuating said retractor to retract the bolt, a clutch beween said actuator and retractor in the form of a slot in said actuator and a slot in said retractor extending inwardly from the periphery of said retractor toward its pivot, said actuator being swingable to a position where one of said slots overlies the other, and a key shiftably positioned in the slot in said actuator for interengaging the retractor and actuator in said slots when the slots coincide, a control mechanism including a connection with said key and operatable to disengage said key from the slot in said retractor whereby said actuator can pivot in a bolt retracting direction independently of said retractor and offset the key from the slot in said retractor to a position where it overlies the peripheral edge of said retractor, and a yieldable connection between the control mechanism and the key whereby the control mechanism can be returned to its clutch engaging position while the said peripheral edge of the retractor holds the key disengaged from the slot in the retractor whereby when the actuator is moved in bolt projecting direction the key upon reaching the slot in said retractor is moved into said slot by said yieldable means to restore the driving connection between the actuator and the retractor.

2. The door lock claimed in claim 1 wherein said retractor and actuator are pivoted on a common axis and the slots in said retractor and actuator are positioned radially thereof.

3. The door lock defined in claim 2 wherein said peripheral edge of said retractor forms a shoulder extending transversely from the open end of the slot in said retractor along which said key slides when the actuator is moved in bolt retracting direction with the clutch disengaged, said shoulder acting as a guide for guiding the key into the slot in the retractor when the actuator is moved in a bolt projecting direction after the control mechanism has been restored to clutch engaging position.

4. The door lock claimed in claim 3 wherein the retractor is pivotally connected to said bolt.

5. In a door look, a bolt, mechanism actuatable from outside the door including a member which is bodily shiftable for retracting the bolt, a pivotal support for said member whereby said member can be swung into and out of operative relation with said bolt, mechanism actuatable from the inside of the door for retracting the bolt, a control mechanism actuatable to swing said pivotal support and bodily shiftable member to inoperative position and thereby render the outside mechanism ineiiective to retract the bolt, said inside bolt retracting mechanism including a clutch and alost motion connection between said clutch and control mechanism whereby said clutch is arranged to be disengaged by said control mechanism to render the inside mechanism ineifective to retract the bolt, said lost motion connection between said control mechanism and clutch including a slot in said control mechanism in which. one end of the said connection is free to travel, and resilient means for biasing said connection toward one end of the slot whereby the control mechanism can be actuated to restore the outside bolt retracting mechanism to operative position without reengaging the clutch in said inside mechanism.

6. The door lock claimed in claim 5 wherein said resilient means is placed under tension when port and bodily shiftable member to inoperative position and thereby render the outside mechanism ineffective to retract the bolt, an inside retractor member actuatable to retract the bolt,

an actuator actuatable from inside the door for actuating said inside retractor to retract the bolt, means providing a clutch between said inside retractor and inside actuator, a connector between said clutch and said control mechanism lever whereby the control mechanism is actuatable to simultaneously render the outside mechanism ineffective to retract the bolt and to disengage said clutch thereby rendering the inside actuator inefiective to actuate said bolt retractor, and means providing a lost motion connection between said connector and said control mechanism lever whereby the control mechanism can be actuated to restore the outside bolt retracting mechanism to operative position without actuating said connector.

8. In a door look, a bolt mechanism actuatable from outside the door including a member which is bodily shiftable for retracting the bolt, a pivotal support for said member whereby said member can be swung into and out of operative relation with said bolt, mechanism actuatable from the inside of the door for retracting the bolt, a control lever actuatable to swing said pivotal support and bodily shiftable member to inoperative position and thereby render the outside mechanism ineffective to retract the bolt, said inside bolt retracting mechanism including a retractor lever for retracting the bolt and an actuating lever for swinging said retractor lever, means forming a clutch providing a driving connection between the bolt retracting lever and the actuating lever, a connector between said control lever and said clutch actuated by said control lever to disengage said clutch when the control lever is actuated to render the outside mechanism ineffective to retract the bolt, said clutch means being in the iorm of cooperating slots in said retractor and said actuating levers, said clutch means including a key carried by said connector for interengaging said retractor and actuator levers in said slots to thereby key the actuator and retractor levers together.

9. The door lock defined in claim 8 including means forming a yieldable connection between said control lever and connector whereby when the control lever and connector are actuated to disengage said key from said slots the control lever can be actuated to restore the outside bolt retracting mechanism to operative position while the key is retained out of engagement with said slots.

10. The door lock claimed in claim 9 wherein said yieldable connection acts to interengage the key in said. slots when the slots are placed in coinciding relationship one with the other.

11. The door lock defined in claim 10 wherein said retractor and actuating levers are pivoted upon a common axis and the slots are positioned radially of said levers.

12. The door lock defined in-claim 11 wherein the retractor lever is provided with a guiding edge leading to the slot in said lever whereby when the clutch is disengaged and the control lever actuated to restore the outside bolt retracting mechanism to operative position then actuation of the actuating lever in a bolt projecting direction will cause the key to ride along said guide surface and into said slots to interengage the retractor and actuating levers.

13. The door lock defined in claim 12 wherein the bolt is a pivoted bolt and the retractor lever is pivotally connected to said bolt.

14. In a door lock, a bolt, mechanism actuatable from outside the door including a member which is bodily shiftable for retracting the bolt, a pivotal support for said member whereby said member can be swung into and out of operative relation with said bolt, mechanism actuatable from inside the door for retracting the bolt, a control lever actuatable to swing said pivotal support and bodily shiftable member to inoperative position and thereby render the outside mechanism ineffective to retract the bolt, said inside bolt retracting mechanism including means forming a clutch arranged to be disengaged by said control lever to render the inside mechanism ineffective to retract the bolt, an L-shaped slot in said control lever, a connector having one end engaging said lever in said slot and shiftable in said slot and the other end connected to said clutch, the one end of said connector being selectively positionable in either of two positions in said slot, in the one position of the connector wherein the end of the connector is positioned in the corner of said L-shaped slot the control lever is effective to simultaneously disengage said clutch and render the outside bolt retracting mechanism ineffective to retract the bolt and in the other position of said connector wherein the end of the connector is positioned in one leg of the L-shaped slot radially inwardly of its corner said control lever is ineffective to disengage said clutch.

15. The door lock claimed in claim 14 including resilient means for holding the end of said connector in either of its selected positions in said slot.

16. The door lock defined in claim 15 wherein the one leg of said L-shaped slot cooperates with an end of said connector to form a lost motion connection between the connector and control lever whereby the control lever, when said connector is set in one of its pre-selected positions, can be pivoted to restore the outside bolt retracting mechanism to operative position without moving said connector.

17. In a door look, a bolt, a pivoted retractor for said bolt, a pivoted actuator for pivoting said retractor to retract the bolt, 2. slot in said actuator and a slot in said retractor, said actuator and retractor being pivotable to a position in which said slots coincide, a control mechanism including a pivoted lever having an L-shaped slot therein, a shiftable key adapted in one position to interengage said retractor and actuator in said slots and key said members together for pivoting in unison, a connector between said key 'and said control lever, a part of said connector being adjustable in said L-shaped slot in the control lever, resilient means cooperating with said part of said connector for yieldably retaining said part in the corner of said L-shaped slot whereby said key interengages said retractor and actuator for movement in unison when said control lever is in operative position and said connector withdrawing the key from on of said slots to disengage the actuator from the retractor when the control lever is swung to inoperative position, a shoulder on said retractor adjacent the slot therein with which said key interchanges when said actuator is swung to bolt retracting position with the key removed from the slot in said retractor, the said part of said connector moving into one of the legs of said L-shaped slot when the control lever is returned to operative position with the key engaged with said shoulder thereby tensioning said resilient means, said resilient means serving to move the key into the retractor when the slots in the retractor' and actuator are again placed in coincidental relation.

18. The combination defined in claim 17 including mechanism operatable from without the door for retracting the bolt, said outsid mechanism including a pivoted support pivotally connected to said control lever and a bodily shiftable member mounted on said pivoted support and bodily shiftable when in operative position to retract said bolt, said control lever when swung to inoperative position serving to disengage said bodily shiftable member from the bolt and. render the shifting of said member ineffective to retract the bolt.

References Cited in the file Of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,234,810 Simpson Mar. 11, 1941 2,249,018 Marple July 15, 1941 2,411,941 Smith Dec. 3, 1946 2,608,429 Wise Aug. 26, 1952

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