US3043392A - Door locking system - Google Patents

Description

July 10, 1962 w. c. RIESTER DOOR LOCKING SYSTEM Filed Dec. 22, 1958 INVEN TOR. WILLIAM C- R/ESTER ATTORNEYS 3,043,392 DOOR LOCKING SYSTEM William C. Riester, Williamsville, N.Y., assignor to Trico Products Corporation, Buffalo, N .Y. Filed Dec. 22, 1958, Ser. No. 782,111 6 Claims. (Cl. 180-82) The present invention relates to a door lock actuating system for an automotive vehicle.

It is one object of the present invention to provide an amproved automatic locking systemfor a vehicle which will cause locking of the doors incidental to the normal operation of the vehicle without any requirement for deliberate action on the part of the vehicle operator and which will maintain the doors of the vehicle in a locked condition until they are manually unlocked by a person within the vehicle or by the use of a door key from outside of the vehicle.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved automatic door locking system for an automotive vehicle wherein the apparatus which causes automatic door locking incidental to normal operation of the vehicle also inherently prevents the operation of the automatic door locking arrangement when the vehicle is left unattended with its engine in operation.

Another object of the present invention'is to provide an improved automatic door locking system for a motor vehicle which utilizes extremely few parts and therefore can be added to a vehicle at very little expense. Other objects and attendant advantages of the present invention will readily be perceived hereafter.

The present invention relates to a door locking system for a vehicle wherein fluid pressure motors are used for actuating the door locks. Manifold vacuum is used to evacuate a storage tank which may be placed in communication with the door locking motors through a manually actuated control for the purpose of locking or unlocking the door locks from within the vehicle. In addition, the door locking motors are in communication with a portion of the vehicle carburetor through which air passes in an amount which varies directly with the speed of the vehicle engine. Upon an increase of vehicle engine speed, as occurs during acceleration or running of the engine above idling, increased air flow through the carburetor will cause an 'aspirating effect on the door lock motors to cause them to actuate the door locks to a locked condition. This aspirating effect causes the motors to exert a locking influence on the vehicle doors as long as the vehicle engine is being operated above a predetermined minimum speed. This, in turn, acts as a safety feature for preventing the opening of the vehicle doors when it is operated with the engine running above the above-mentioned predetermined speed. However, when the vehicle is brought to a stop with its engine idling, the vacuum produced by the aspirating efiect of the air passing through the carburetor is no longer of a sufiicient magnitude to prevent the doors from being manually opened from within the vehicle. However, the door locks are of the construction which causes the doors to remain locked until they are manually unlocked. This feature obviates the requirement for locking each of the doors individually upon leaving the vehicle, it being necessary to lock only those doors which were actually opened during the process of leavjing the vehicle. 7 V 4 The automatic locking of the vehicle usually occurs substantially on the starting of the vehicle engine because during this period sufficient air flow through the carburetor is experienced to effect sufficient aspiration of. the door lock motors. However, in order to preclude a vehicle operator or mechanic from locking himself out of the vehicle while working on an operating vehicle engine, a simple atent 'ice series valve is provided in the conduit leading between the carburetor and the door lock motor; this valve being closed whenever the vehicle engine hood is open. The present invention will be more fully understood when the following portions of the specification are read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of an automotive vehicle mounting the improved door locking system of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a view, partially in cross-section, of the valve which is used to interrupt evacuation of the door locking motors when the vehicle hood is raised;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a check valve which is utilized in the door locking system;

FIG. 4 is a view, partially in cross-section, of a manual control for actuating the door locking motors;

FIG. 5 is a view, partially in cross-section, of a door locking motor coupled to the door lock assembly, this figure being primarily for the purpose of illustrating the lock structure; and

FIG. 6 is a view, taken along line VIVI of FIG. 5.

A door locking system is installed in the vehicle 10 (FIG. 1) having an engine 11 with the usual intake manifold 12. As can be seen from FIG. 1, a vacuum tank 13 is coupled to manifold 12 by conduit 14 having check valve 15 therein. As is well-known in the art, vacuum tank 13 will be evacuated during periods of high manifold vacuum, and this vacuum will be retained within the tank during periods of low manifold vacuum due to the conventional operation of check valve 15.

One aspect of the present invention is to automatically lock the vehicle doors as soon as possible after the placing of the vehicle engine in operation in order to safeguard the occupants of the vehicle against unauthorized intrusion. More specifically, whenever the vehicle engine is in operation and the accelerator is depressed, the throttle valve 16 of carburetor 17 is opened to permit increased air flow to the vehicle engine. increased air flow, in passing through the induction passage of the carburetor housing, creates an aspirating effect on conduit 18 which normally communicates intelligence of the rate of air flow through the carburetor to distributor 19 for the purpose of adjusting the engine spark. Such an arrangement is well known in the automative field and a disclosure of the same may be seen in the Bryant Patent No. 2,096,158. Coupled to conduit 18 as by T 20, is one end of conduit 21, the other end of which is coupled to nipple 22 (FIG. 2) of valve 23. One end of a conduit 24 is coupled to nipple 25' extending from valve 23, and the other end of conduit 24 is coupled to one side of check valve 25 (FIGS. 1 and 3). Conduit 26 has one end thereof coupled to check valve 25 and the other end thereof coupled to T 27 which is in communication with conduit 28 leading to conduits 29 and 30 which are in communication with fluid pressure door locking motors 31. Conduit 28 is also in communication with conduit 32 which, in turn, is in communication with conduits 33 and 34 leading to motors 31 in the rear doors of the vehicle.

Valve 23 (FIGS. 1 and 2) is for the purpose of permitting vacuum induced in conduit 18 by the aspirating effect of airflow in the induction passage of the carburetor 17 to actuate door locking motors 31 through the above described path'when the vehicle engine hood 35 is closed. More specifically, when hood 35 is closed, plunger 36 of valve 23 assumes the solid line position shown in FIG. 2 wherein poppet valve 37 isunseated from valve seat 38. This permits communication between conduits 21 and 24 through the valve. On the other hand, when the vehicle engine hood is raised, spring 39 will bias poppet valve 37 into engagement with its seat 38 to prevent communication between conduits 21 and 24. It will be readily appreciated that whenever the vehicle engine hood is opened,

vacuum which is induced in conduit 18 by the air flow through carburetor 17 will be inefiective for actuating door locking motors 31. This prevents a person, such as an automobile mechanic, from loclc'ng himself out of the vehicle while manipulating the engine from underneath the hood. It will, of course, be understood that a suitable mounting arrangement (not shown) is provided for affixing valve 23 to the automobile body.

Whenever the vehicle engine is accelerated with hood 35 closed, the aspirating elfect of air passing through the carburetor will cause evacuation of chamber 40 (FIG. of door locking motors 31 through the above-described path, including check valve 25. More specifically, check valve (FIG. 3) includes a housing containing valve element 41' normally biased by spring 42 against its seat 43. Upon the initial experiencing of vacuum in the valve chamber proximate conduit 24, valve element 41 will unseat against the bias of spring 42 to permit conduit 26 and the other conduits in communication therewith leading to the door locking motors to be evacuated for thepurpose of actuating the door locking motors. When the vacuum in conduits 24 and 26 is approximately equal, spring 42 will return valve element 4-1 to the position shown in FIG. 3 whereby the latter tends to maintain the vacuum in chamber of motor 31 for a sufficiently long time to insure the actuation of motor 31. It will be noted that a bleed 44 is provided in the valve seat for permitting the pressure within conduit 26 ultimately leading to chamber 40 of motors 31 to equalize with the pressure existing within the chamber of valve 25 in communication with conduit 24. In addition to serving the foregoing purpose, check valve 25 serves additional purposes as described in in detail hereafter.

The operation of latch lock 46, which is coupled to motor 31 (FIGS. 1 and 5) will now be described, it being understood that the other latch locks may be of same construction. More specifically, when chamber 40 of motor 31 is evacuated in the above-described manner, diaphragm 45 will be pulled downwardly to the position shown in FIG. 5, and shaft 45 which is suitably attached thereto will be moved downwardly a corresponding amount to actuate latch lock 46 to a locked condition.

Latch lock 46 operates in the following manner: A bell crank lever 47 is pivotally mounted on housing 48 by pin 49. The shaft 51 of a conventional manual door locking and unlocking pin 50 extends through the molding (not shown) of the vehicle door. Shaft 51 is fastened to one end of hell crank lever 56 (FIGS. 5 and 6) which is adapted to pivot about pin 57, the other end of lever 56 fitting within notched recess 58 within link 52. Link 52 is pivotally mounted on pin 53 which extends from flange 54 positioned at a right angle to plate 55 of housing 48.

As can be seen from FIG. 6, when shaft 51 is depressed, link 56 Will pivot in a clockwise direction, and link 52 will pivot in a counterclockwise direction about its pivot pin 53 to cause the portion 58' of link 52 to move downwardly and carry prong 59 of lever 60 (FIG. 5) downwardly with it, prong 59 fitting within the slotted portion 61 of link '52 (FIG. 5). It will be noted that a snap spring 62 has one end 63 anchored on flange 54 and the other end 64 anchored in link 52. Thus, when manual locking pin 50 is depressed to a locked condition, it is the snap spring 62 which maintains link 52 in a locked position.

Shaft 45 of fluid pressure motor 40 is coupled to shaft 65 (FIGS. 5 and 6) which is, in turn, coupled to hell crank lever 56. Thus the downward movement of shaft 45' in response to the existence of vacuum in chamber 40 of fluid pressure motor 31 will cause a downward movement of shaft 65 which, in turn, will cause a downward movement of the leg of hell crank lever 56 to which shaft 65 is attached to thereby pivot link 52 to the position shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

After link 60 has been pivoted in a clockwise direction about pin 66 in the above-described manner, the movement of pin 67 to the right, as occurs when the outside door handle (not shown) is manipulated, will cause lever 60 to pivot clockwise about pin 61' and cause link 6% (attached to lever 60 by pin 66) to move to the right in FIG. 5. However, the end 68 of link 60 will not engage flange 69 of bell crank lever 47. Thus, the manipulation of the outside door handle will be ineffective for unlocking the door lock.

It is only after link 60 has been pivoted about pin 66 in a counterclockwise direction that the end 63 thereof may engage flange 69 when the outside door handle is manipulated. When end 68 of link 60 abuts flange 69 of bell crank lever 47 in response to the movement of pin 67 to the right during a door opening operation, lever 47 will pivot in a clockwise direction about pin 49, and the leg 79 of lever 47 which is within the recessed portion 71 of lever 72 will cause the latter to pivot in a counterclockwise direction about its pivot pin 73 against the bias of spring 74. This, in turn, will cause the tongue 75 to cease engagement with ratchet wheel 77 which is, in turn, coaxially mounted on shaft 78 with the rotary door latch 79. When the above-described locking arrangement for the rotary door latch 79 is released, latch 79 is free to move relative to the striker plate (not shown) on the door jamb to permit the vehicle door to be pulled to an open position.

As described in detail above, it can readily be seen that when throttle valve 16 of carburetor 17 is opened in response to the depressing of the accelerator of the vehicle while the engine is operating, vacuum will be induced in chamber 40 of. motor 31 to thereby effect a door locking operation in response to an act performed during the initial phase of operation of the vehicle. It will further be appreciated that. whenever the accelerator is depressed during vehicle operation, the opening of throttle valve 16 with the corresponding relatively high passage of air through carburetor 17 will cause a sufficiently great vacuum to exist within chamber 40 of motor 31 to prevent the lifting of pin 50 of lock 46. This action, in effect, prevents the unlocking of the vehicle doors from within the vehicle while the vehicle is in motion. It will further be appreciated that Whenever the vehicle is left unoccupied with the engine in operation, the impossibility of obtaining a sufiicient flow of air through the carburetor to actuate motors 31 will preclude the vehicle operator from being locked out of the vehicle. It will be understood, of course, that the engine speed may be increased by manipulating the throttle valve from within the engine compartment. But since this must be done when the engine hood is up, valve 23 will prevent motor chamber 40 from being aspirated in response to increased air flow through the carburetor.

If it is desired to unlock the vehicle door from within the vehicle, inside door handle (FIG. 1) is pivoted in a clockwise direction about the axis of pin 86'. This will cause link 87 to move to the right. As can be seen from FIG. 5, link 87 is connected to lever 88 which is, in turn, pivotally mounted to flange 54 as by rivet 89. The

upper end 90 of lever 88 extends across lip 91 of hell crank lever 47. The movement of link 87, as described above, will cause end 90 of lever 88 to pivot about pin 89 into the plane of the drawing to thereby engage lip 91 of lever 47. This will cause lever 47 to pivot clockwise and cause lip 75 of lever 72 to be disengaged from ratchet wheel 77 to permit the door to be opened.

As described above, the unlocking of the vehicle doors may be effected by means of manual unlocking pin 50 or door handle 85'. However, the vehicle operator may desire to unlock a vehicle door from a remote position to permit a passenger to enter the vehicle. To this end, a remote control is provided within the vehicle. This control consists of a manually actuable valve 95 (FIGS. 1 and 4) which may he mounted on the vehicle dashboard, as shown, or on any other convenient part of the vehicle, such as the drivers door. Valve 95 consists of a housing 96 having a lever 97 pivotally mounted thereon by pin 98. When it is desired to unlock the doors from a rcmoteposition, lever 97 is pivoted in a counterclockwise direction (FIG. 4) and the end 99 thereof will depress valve 100 against the bias of spring 101. This will permit the vacuum in tank 13 to communicate with chamber 102 (FIG. 5) of fluid pressure motor 31 through conduit 103 (FIGS. 1 and 4), valve chamber 104, conduit 105, T 106, and conduit 107 (FIGS. 1 and 5). Other conduits (not numbered) which are analogous to conduit 107 are shown in FIG. 1 for providing fluid pressure to the other door locking motors; The existence of vacuum in chamber 102 of motor 31 (FIG. 5) will cause diaphragm 45 to move upwardly and cause a corresponding upward movement of shaft 45' and link 65 attached thereto. The upward movement of link 65 will move bell crank lever 56 (FIG. 6) in a counterclockwise direction about pivot pin 57 to cause link 52 to move to position whereby it places latch lock 46 in an unlocked condition, as described above. When latch lock 46 is placed in an unlocked condition, the vehicle door may be opened from the outside by manipulating the door handle (not shown) which, in turn, causes pin 67 to move to the right (FIG. 5) to cause the end 68 of link 60 to engage flange 69 to effect an unlocking of the vehicle door, as described in detail above.

It will, of course, be appreciated that chamber 40 of motor 31 (FIG. 5) must be vented to the atmosphere during the upward movement of diaphragm 45 as described above. This venting is effected through conduit 29 (FIGS. 5 and 1), conduit 28 in communication therewith, conduit 26, check valve 25, vent 44, conduit 24, valve 23, conduit 21, T 20, and conduit 18 which is in communication with the inside of carburetor 17.

If, for any reason, it is desired to manually look all of the doors from a remote position, it is merely necessary to pivot lever 97 of valve 96 in a clockwise direction to cause valve 108 (FIG. 4) to unseat against the bias of spring 109. This will permit vacuum to communicate between tank 13 and chamber 40 of motor 31 (FIG. 5) through conduit 103 (FIGS. 1 and 4), valve chamber 119, conduit 28, and conduit 29. It will, of course, be appreciated that the'conduits which are analogous to conduit 29 provide vacuum to the other door locking motors.

Whenever door locking is effected in the aforegoing manner by the use of control 95, chamber 102 of motor 31 must be vented to the atmosphere. This venting is achieved through conduit 107 (FIG. 1), T 106, conduit 105 (FIGS. 1 and 4), chamber 111 of control 95, the inside of hollow valve stem 112, the space 113 between the outside of hollow shaft 112 and the inside of valve stem 114, chamber 115, and vent 116 to the atmosphere. It will, of course, be appreciated that the above described parts which permit venting of motor chamber 102 assume the position shown in FIG. 4 Whenever the handle 97 of control valve 95 is either in the neutral position shown in FIG. 4 or in a position wherein it opens valve 108. It will, of course, be appreciated that chamber 102 is vented in the above-described manner whenever the air flow through the carburetor evacuates chamber 40. of motor 31 to effect automatic door locking.

Whenever control valve 95 is manually manipulated to cause remote locking of all the vehicle door locks, check valve 25 (FIG. 3), prevents the venting of vacuum tank 13 to the atmosphere. More specifically, whenever handle 97 of control 95 is pivoted in a clockwise direction to permit communication between vacuum tank 13 and conduit 28 leading to the door locking motors, conduit 26, which is in communication with both conduit 28 and check valve 25, will be evacuated. However, conduit 24, which is in communication with the other side of check valve 25, is vented to the atmosphere which exists in carburetor 1 7. Since the vacuum in conduit 26 is greater than the vacuum in conduit 24 (see FIG. 3), check valve element 41 will be drawn to a closed position to prevent venting of tank 13 to the atmosphere. It will be noted, however, that bleed 44 in valve 25 is sufliciently small to prevent the undesirable venting during a manual remote lock actuating operation.

In the event that the vehicle doors have been unlocked by the use of control 95, these locks will be immediately reloc'ked as soon as the vehicle engine has its speed increased from an idling condition whether this increase in engine speed is experienced either during acceleration of a moving vehicle or the racing of the vehicle engine when the vehicle is at a standstill. Furthermore, in the event that a passenger has departed from a vehicle and has merely unlocked one vehicle door from within the vehicle, upon an increase in engine speed in the above described manner, the door will be relocked,

It can thus be seen that the arrangement of the present invention is manifestly capable of achieving the above enumerated objects. While the aspirating effect for causing automatic locking of the vehicle doors during vehicle acceleration is shown as being obtained from the conduit which is normally used for advancing the engine spark, it will readily be appreciated that the aspirating of the door locking motors may be achieved by causing them to be in communication with any portion of the carburetor through which there is a suiiicient air flow tocreate the required aspirating efiect. I

It will be especially realized that except for a few simple controls which are utilized in the system, the door locking motors are directly coupled to the vacuum sources which actuate them. This direct coupling, without the use of expensive intermediate controls, permits the present door locking system to be added to an existing vehicle at a relatively low expense. I

While a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been disclosed, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited thereto but may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A door locking system for a vehicle having an engine therein, comprising a door in said vehicle, a door lock operatively associated with said door, a fluid pressure motor for actuating said door lock to a locked or an unlocked condition, a source of vacuum operatively associated with the intake manifold of the vehicle engine, control means for selectively coupling said source of vacuum to said motor means for causing lockingor unlocking of said door look, a carburetor for said engine, and aspirating means operatively associated with said carburetor for creating a vacuum supply for said motor means to cause locking of said door lock when the air flow through said carburetor is increased to a value above the normal air flow experienced while the engine is idling.

2. A locking system for an automotive vehicle having an engine therein comprising a door in said vehicle, a door lock for said door, motor means, a source of vacuum produced by the engine intake manifold, control means for selectively coupling said source to said motor means for causing locking or unlocking of said door lock, and aspirating means operable incidental to increased engine speeds above idling for automatically evacuating said motor means for causing locking of said door lock.

A door locking system for a vehicle having an engine therein comprising a door in said vehicle, a door lock for said door, a vacuum motor,- a source of vacuum, manual control means for coupling said vacuum motor to said source of vacuum for causing selective unlocking of said vehicle door lock, a carburetor in said vehicle, and means coupled to said carburetor and independent of said source of vacuum for providing vacuum in response to the aspirating effect of airflow therethrough for causing automatic actuation of said door locking motor to a door locking condition when said engine operates at speeds above its idling speed.

4. In an automotive vehicle, an engine, an intake manifold for said engine, a carburetor for said engine 7 having an induction passage, a vacuum Operated door lock, means for selectively causing vacuum produced by said engine intake manifold to operate said door lock, and means responsive to the aspirating effect produced by air flow through the induction passage of said carburetor at speeds above engine idling speed for providing a second source for producing a vacuum for operating said door lock.

5. A door locking system for a vehicle having an engine therein comprising a door in said vehicle, a door lock for said door, motor means for actuating said door lock, a carburetor in said vehicle having an induction passage, and conduit means coupling the induction passage of said carburetor to said door locking motor Whereby the aspirating efiect produced by the passage of air through said carburetor at speeds above engine idling speed aotuates said motor thereby causing locking of said door lock.

6. A door locking system for a vehicle comprising a door in said vehicle, a latch lock for said door, fluid pressure motor means for actuating said latch lock, a carburetor in said which having an induction passage, conduit means coupling the induction passage of said 8 carburetor to said door locking motor whereby the aspirating effect produced by the passage of air through said carburetor at increased engine speeds above idling actuates said motor which in turn causes locking. of said door lock, means for maintaining said latch lock locked against opening from outside the vehicle when the aspirating efiect no longer actuates said motor, and manual means within said vehicle for unlocking said latch lock when said aspirating effect no longer actuates said motor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,096,158 Bryant Oct. 19, 1937 2,198,862 Chesler Apr. 30, 1940 2,204,208 Craig June 11, 1940 2,369,713 Burgard Feb. 20, 1945 2,418,031 Horton Mar. 27, 1947 2,471,111 Mallory May 24, 1949 2,473,170 Ostling June 14, 1949 2,530,628 Pivero Nov. 21, 1950 2,609,665 Rappl Sept. 9, 1952 2,848,057 Forster Aug. 19, 1958

Images