US3047326A

US3047326A - Closure latch

Info

Publication number: US3047326A
Application number: US36420A
Authority: US
Inventors: James D Leslie; Rehkugler Gerhard
Original assignee: Motors Liquidation Co
Current assignee: Motors Liquidation Co
Priority date: 1960-06-15
Filing date: 1960-06-15
Publication date: 1962-07-31
Anticipated expiration: 1979-07-31

Description

J. D. LESLIE ETAL July 31, 1962 CLOSURE LATCH 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 15, 1960 INVENTORS iwzsfllfe's 5 I? Z BY erhzm Wei/kyle)" h .iilliii ATTORNEY July 31, 1962 J. D. LESLIE ETAL 3,047,326

CLOSURE LATCH Filed June 15, 1960 4 Sheets$heet 2 IN VEN TORS r Arrow/5') y 1962 J. D. LESLIE ETAL 3,04

CLOSURE LATCH Filed June 15, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 x W //1 3' 50' I: ya 7i :7 I 4 2 .imiliiiiilf =4; /1

INVENTORS ATT ORA/E Y July 31, 1962 J. D. LESLIE ETAL CLOSURE LATCH 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed June 15, 1960 3,047,326 CLOSURE LATCH James 1). Leslie, Birmingham, and Gerhard Rehkugler,

Warren, Mich, assignors to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich, a corporation of Delaware Filed June 15, 1960, Ser. No. 36,420 11 Claims. (Cl. 292-34115) This invention relates to closure latches and more particularly to an improved vehicle body closure latch.

The closure latch of this invention is particularly useful for vehicle body deck lids and generally includes a latch assembly and bodily shiftable striker means movable between extended and retracted positions with respect to a supporting frame to move the deck lid between partially open and fully closed positions.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the latch assembly is supported on the closure and the striker means are movably supported on the body by linkage means, with detent means being provided to hold the striker means in either its extended or retracted positions. During movement of the closure from a 'fully open position to a partially open position, means are provided to store operating energy for moving the striker means from its extended to its retracted position, with the detent means holding the striker means in extended position against the force of the stored energy. Upon latching engagement of the latch assembly with the striker means in the extended position of the striker means and partially open position of the closure, the detent means is released to allow the stored operating energy to dissipate and move the striker means to retracted position to thereby move the closure from a partially open position to a fully closed position. During movement of the striker means from extended to retracted positions, further means are provided to store operating energy for moving the striker means from its retracted position to its extended position, with the detent means holding the striker means in retracted position against the force ,of the stored operating energy. Thereafter, upon disengagement of the latch assembly from the striker means, the detent means are released to allow the stored energy to dissipate and move the striker means from its retracted position to its extended position in engagement with the detent means as the deck lid moves from a fully closed position to a partially open position.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a new and improved vehicle closure latch. Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved closure latch for vehicle closure and body members which includes a latch assembly supported on one member and striker means supported on the other member for movement between extended and retracted positions, with detent means being provided to hold the striker means in extended position against the force of operating energy which is stored as the closure member moves from a fully open to a partially open position, latching engagement of the latch assembly with the striker means in the partially open position of the closure member causing the detent means to be released so as to allow the stored operating energy to dissipate and thereby move the closure member from a partially open to a fully closed position in engagement with the body member. A further object of this invention is to provide a new and improved closure latch for vehicle closure and body members which includes a latch assembly supported on one member, striker means supported on the other member for movement between extended and retracted positions, detent means for holding the striker means in either of its positions, with means being provided to store energy upon movement of the closure member from open to partially open positions and to dissipate this energy upon latching engagement of States Patent the latch assembly with the striker means and release of the detent means to move the striker means from an extended to a retracted position in engagement with the detent means and thereby move the closure member to fully closed position in engagement with the body member, and with further means being provided to store energy upon movement of the striker means from an extended to a retracted position in engagement with the detent means, with this energy being dissipated to move the striker means from a retracted to an extended position upon disengagement of the latch assembly from the striker means and release of the .detent means as the closure member moves from a fully closed to a partially open position.

These and other objects of this invention will be readily apparent from the following specification and drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a partial perspective view of a vehicle body having a deck lid swingably mounted thereon for movement between open and closed positions and embodying a closure latch according to this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a partially broken away elevational view of the striker assembly in extended position; 7

FIGURE 3 is an exploded perspective view of the striker assembly in extended position;

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 2 showing the striker assembly in retracted position;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken generally along the plane indicated by line 5.5 of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken generally along the plane indicated by line 6-6 of FIGURE 5, and;

FIGURE 7 is an exploded perspective View of the striker assembly in retracted position.

Referring now particularly to FIGURE 1 of the drawings, a vehicle body 10 includes a deck compartment 12 which is opened and closed by a deck lid 14 swingably mounted on body It) by a pair of spaced counterbalance hinges 16. An offset lever 18 is pivotally mounted at 20 on body 10 and includes a roller 22 at one end thereof which is adapted to be contacted by the deck lid 14 upon movement of the deck lid from its fully open position, as shown, to a partially open position. A coil tension spring 24 has one end thereof hooked to the other end of the lever 18, with the other end of the spring being secured to a flexible cable 26. Cable 26 extends over a plurality of pulleys 28, each of which is pivotally supported at 30 on an oltset bracket 32 secured to the body 10 so as to guide the cable 26 along one side of the compartment 12 and partially across the rear side of the compartment to a striker assembly 34 mounted on the rear wall of compartment 12 at approximately the centerline thereof of the body so as to be engageable by a latch assembly mounted on the deck lid 14.

Referring now particularly to FIGURES 2 through 7 of the drawings, the striker assembly will be described. A centrally offset support frame 36 i suitably mounted within the compartment 12 as by a number of bolts, not shown, which extend through apertures 38 in frame 36 and like apertures in the rear wall of compartment 12. A bell crank lever 4t) pivoted at 42 on frame 36 is continually biased in a clockwise direction by a coil tension spring 44 having one end hooked within a notch in lever 44 and the other end hooked over a notched lanced out tab 46 of frame 36. The other end of the cable 26 is looped over a headed stud 48 secured to the lever 40.

An offset link 50 is pivoted at 52 to lever 40 and includes a lateral foot 54. Link St} is pivotally pinned at 56 to a detented lever 58, with the pin 56 being movable in an arcuate closed slot 59 of frame 36 having its center at a pivot 69 on the frame. Pivot 6% provides the pivot for lever 58 on the frame 36 whereby the lever 58 will swing 3 about pivot 66 as pin 56 which interconnects the lever and the link i. moves within the slot 59. Lever 58 is further pivoted at 62 to one end of a link 64. The other end of link 64 is pivoted at 66 to one end of a link 68 having its other end pivoted at 76 on frame 36.

The striker frame 72 is located adjacent to frame 36, with the lower end of the frame 72 being connected to the frame 36 by a link 74 having one end pivoted at 76 to the frame 36 and the other end pivoted at 78 to the frame 72. A pair of detent levers 8t and 82 are coaxially mounted at 84 on the frame 72. A coil torsion spring 86 mounted on the pivot 84 has one end thereof hooked under one of the legs of lever 32 and the other end 99 thereof hooked over an offset of one leg of lever 80 so as to hold the one leg of lever 82 in engagement with the offset of the one leg of the lever 89. Lever 82 includes a detent foot 92 which is adapted to engage a detent shoulder 94 of the lever 58 when the striker assembly is in a retracted posi-' tion, as shown in FIGURES 4 and 7, and lever 80 includes a detent foot 96 which is adapted to engage a detent shoulder 98 of lever 53 when the striker assembly is in an extended position, as shown in FIGURES 2 and 3. A spring 106 having one end hooked within an opening 102 of frame 72 and the other end hooked over a notched lateral tab 104 of lever 80 biases the

levers

80 and 82 counterclockwise at all times.

As best shown in FIGURES 5 and 6 of the drawings, a U-shaped striker support bracket 106 includes an offset base wall 108 which is apertured so as to receive the legs therethrough of a striker 110, with these legs being welded or otherwise rigidly secured to wall 108 to each side of the apertures therein. Bracket 106 has its side walls stacked to the frame 72 at 112, FIGURES 3 and 7. The detent lever 80 further includes a laterally extending flange 114 which is normally located immeditaely below the opening of the striker 110. As shown in FIGURE 7, a cover 116 extends around

frames

72 and 36 and includes side walls 118 bolted at 120 to offset tabs 122 of frame 36 and an apertured upper wall 124 bolted at 126 to offset flanges 128 of the frame 36. The upper wall of cover 116 is apertured to allow the striker 110 to extend upwardly therethrough, with the bracket 106 including a flanged upper wall 130 which locates the cover.

When the deck lid 14 is in an open position as shown in FIGURES l, 2 and 3, the striker 110 and frame 72 will be in an extended position. In this position of the striker 110, the foot 96 of lever 80 engages the shoulder 98 of lever 58 under the action of spring 160 and the pin 56 which interconnects lever 58 with link 50 will be at the upper end of the arcuate slot 59, with the foot 54' of link 50 being in engagement with a bumper 132 secured to frame 36. The spring 44 interconnecting lever 40 and frame 36 is under very slight tension and biases the lever 40 clockwise so as to hold link 50 in engagement with the bumper 132 and to locate lever 58 so that the shoulder 98 thereof will be in position in engagement with the foot 96 of lever 80. Cable 26 which extends between the spring 24 and lever 49 will be taut in the sense that there will be no slack in the cable, although the spring 24 will be in free position and will not be under tension.

Assume now that the deck lid 14 is moved toward closed position. As the deck lid moves toward closed position, it will engage the roller 22 to swing lever 18 clockwise as viewed in FIGURE 1 about its pivot on the body. This will tension the spring 24 between the lever and the cable 26. The tension in spring 24 will gradually be built up against lever 58 as the deck lid 14 moves toward its closed position so as to store operating energy for moving frame 72 and striker 110 to retracted position upon latching engagement of the latch assembly on deck lid 14 with striker 110 and release of lever 80 from lever 58.

Although not shown in detail in the drawings, a suitable latch assembly is mounted on the rearward edge of the deck lid 14 in a position so as to engage the striker 110. This latch assembly generally includes a rotary type bolt which is spring biased to unlatched position and is held in a latched position against the action of the spring bias by a detent lever. This is a common type of latch assembly, and reference may be had to Patent 2,886,365 issued May 12, 1959, Fox et al. for a showing of the details of such a latch assembly. The bolt of such an assembly is indicated schematically at 134 in the drawings.

When the deck lid 14 has been moved to a partially open position adjacent its fully closed position, the bolt 134 of the latch assembly will engage the striker 110 to move the bolt to a latched position in engagement with the striker. When the bolt moves from an unlatched position adjacent striker 110, as shown in FIGURE 2, to a latched position in engagement with the striker, as shown in FIGURES 4 and 5, the bolt engages the flange 114 of detent lever 80 to swing this lever and lever 82 clockwise about the pivot 84 against the action of the spring 100. This moves the foot 96 of lever 80 out of engagement with the shoulder 98 of lever 53. The tension which has been built up in spring 24 upon closing of the deck lid is now dissipated so as to shift the cable 26 forwardly of the body and thereby swing lever counterclockwise about pivot 42 and tension spring 44 as link shifts downwardly and swings lever 58 counterclockwise about its pivot on plate 36, since lever 58 is now released from lever 80. As lever 53 swings counterclockwise, it will partially fold links 64 and 68 to shift frame 72 downwardly as link 74 swings about its pivot 76 on frame 36 to fold relative to frame 72 and guide movement thereof. The vertical shifting movement of the frame 72 to its retracted position will move the deck lid 14 from partially open to fully closed position in sealing engagement with body 10 since the latch bolt 134 is in latching engagement with the striker 110.

As the frame 72 shifts downwardly and lever 53 swings counterclockwise, the shoulder 94 of the lever will move into engagement with the foot 92 of lever 82. Approximately at the same time that the frame 72 reaches its retracted position, the energy stored in the spring 24 is dissipated. However, prior to this dissipation of the energy stored in the spring 24, spring 44 will have been tensioned to store operating energy for returning frame 72 to extend position and the lever 58 will have moved into engagement with the lever 82. The tension in spring 44 will have been built up gradually as frame 72 moves to retracted position, with this tension tending to bias the lever 40 in a clockwise direction to in turn tend to shift link 50 upwardly. This action of the spring 44 is resisted by the detent engagement of the levers 53 and 82 and the engagement of bolt 134 with flange 114 which prevents counterclockwise swinging movement of levers and 82.

If the detent which holds the bolt 134 is thereafter tripped to allow the bolt to be moved to an unlatched position, the movement of the bolt out of engagement with the flange 114 of lever 80 will allow spring to bias

levers

80 and 82 counterclockwise about the pivot 84 so as to move the foot 92 of lever 82 out of engagement with the shoulder 94 of lever 58. The tension in spring 44 is now dissipated to swing lever 40 clockwise about pivot 42 and shift link 50 upwardly as lever 58 swings clockwise about its pivot 60 on plate 36 to unfold links 64 and 68 and thereby shift the frame 72 upwardly and move the striker to its extended position as the link 74 now swings clockwise about its pivot 76 on frame 36. This movement of frame 72 and striker 110 to extended position occurs as the deck lid 14 moves to a partially open position. As the frame 72 shifts upwardly and lever 58 swings clockwise, the edge of the lever 58 will engage the foot 96 of lever 80 to cam the detent lever 80 clockwise about the pivot 84 against the action of spring 100 until the shoulder 98 of the lever 58 engages the foot 96 as the foot 54 of link 50 comes into engagement with the bumper 132 to thereby limit upward movement of the'frame 72 and locate the frame 72 and striker 110 in extended position.

As the operating energy stored in spring 44 is dissipated to move-frame 72 and striker 110 to extended position, the clockwise swinging movement of lever 40 maintains cable 26 taut and thereby swings lever =18 to its generally upright position, as shown in FIGURE 1, preparatory to the start of another'cycle of operation.

Thus, this invention provides a new'and improved vehicle closure latch which includes striker means movable between extended and retracted positions, with the striker means cooperating with a latch assembly to move a vehicle closure between partially open and fully closed positions.

What is claimed is:

1. In a vehicle body having a body member, a closure member swingably mounted thereon for movement between opened and closed positions, a latch assembly mounted on one of said members, and striker means mounted on the other of said members for movement between extended and retracted positions,'the combination comprising, means operative to store operating energy as said closure member moves from a fully open position to a partially open position, means applying said stored operating energy to said striker means, means for holding said striker means in said extended position against the force of said operating energy, and means for releasing said holding means upon latching engagement of said latch assembly with said striker means in the partially open positionof said closure to allow said stored operating energy to dissipate and move said striker means to said retracted position thereof to move said closure from said partially open position to a fully closed position in engagement with said body member.

2. In a vehicle body having a body member, a closure member swingably mounted thereon for movement between opened and closed positions, a" latch assembly mounted on one of said members, and striker means mounted on the other of said members for movement between extended and retracted positions, the combination comprising, means operative to store operating energy as said closure member moves from a fully open position to a partially open position, means applying said stored operating energy to said striker means, means for holding said striker means in said extended position against the force of said operating energy, means for releasing said holding means upon latching engagement of said latch assembly with said striker means in the partially open position of said closure to allow said stored operating energy to dissipate and move said striker means to said retracted position thereof to move said closure from said partially open position to a fully closed position in engagement with saidbody member, and means for holding said striker means in said retracted position thereof upon movement of said striker means from said extended to said retracted position by said stored operating energy.

3. In a vehiclebody having a body member, aclosure member swingab-ly mounted thereon for movement between opened and closed positions, a latch assembly mounted on one of said members, and striker means mounted on the other of said members for movement between extended and retracted positions, the combination comprising, means operative to store operating energy as said closure member moves from a fully open position to a partially open position, means applying said stored operating energy to said striker means, means for selectively and alternately holding said striker means in said extended position against the force of said operating energy or for holding said striker means in said retracted position thereof, and means for releasing said holding means upon latching engagement of said latch assembly with said striker means in the extended position thereof and partially open position of said closure to allow said stored operating energy to dissipate and move said striker means to said retracted position thereof to move said closure from said partially open position to a fully closed 6 position in engagement with said body member, said holding means being engageable with said striker means in said retracted position thereof to hold said striker means therein. A

4. In a vehicle body having a body member, a closure member swingably mounted thereon for movement between opened and closed positions, a latch assembly mounted on one of said members, and striker means mounted on the other of said members for movement between extended and retracted positions, the combination comprising, means operative to store operating energy as said closure member moves from a fully open position to a'partially open position, means applying said stored operating energy to said striker means, detent means engageable with said striker means in said extended position thereof for holding said means in said extended position against the force of said operating energy, and means, for releasing said detent means upon latching engagement of said latch assembly with said striker means in the partially open position of said closure to allow said stored operating energy to dissipate and move said striker means from said extended to said retracted position thereof to move said closure from said partially open position to a fully closed position in engagement with said body member, said detent means being engageable with said striker means in said retracted position thereof to hold said closure in said fully closed position.

5. In a vehicle body having a bodymember, a closure member swingably mounted thereon for movement between opened and closed positions, a latch assembly mounted on one of said members, and striker means mounted on the other of said members for movement between extended and retracted positions, the combination comprising, means operative to store operating energy as said closure member moves from a fully open position to a partially open position, detented means mounted on said striker means, means applying said stored operating energy to said striker means, detent means mounted on said striker means and engageable with said detented means for holding said striker means in said extended position against the force of said operating energy, and means for releasing said detent means from said detented means upon latching engagement of said latch assembly with said striker means in the partially open position of said closure to allow said stored operating energy to dissipate and move said striker means to said retracted position thereof to move said closure from said partially open position to a fully closed position in engagement with said body member.

6. In a vehicle body having a body member, a closure member swingably mounted thereon for movement between opened and closed positions, a latch assembly mounted .on one of said members, and striker means mounted on the other of said members for movement between extended and retracted positions, the combination comprising, means operative to store operatingenergy as said closure member moves from a fully open position to a partially open position, means applying said stored operating energy to said striker means, first holding means for holding said striker means in said extended position against the force of said operating energy, means for releasing said first holding means upon latching engagement of said latch assembly with said striker means in the partially open position of said closure to allow said stored operating energy to dissipate and move said striker means to retracted position to move said closure member from said partially open position to a fully closed position in engagement with said body member, second means operative to store operating energy upon movement of said striker means from said extended position to said retracted position, second holding means holding said striker means in said retracted position thereof against the action of said second means, and means responsive to disengagement of said latch assembly from said striker means for releasing said sec- 0nd holding means to allow said operating energy stored by said second means to be dissipated to move said striker means from said retracted position to said extended position and thereby move said closure member from said fully closed position to said partially open position thereof.

7. A striker assembly comprising, a fixed support, striker means mounted on said fixed support for bodily movement relative thereto between extended and re tracted positions, detented means swingably mounted on said fixed support, detent means mounted on said striker meansfor selective and alternate engagement with said detented means in said extended and said retracted positions of said striker means, means for disengaging said detent means from said detented means in said extended and retracted positions of said striker means, first means for moving said striker means from said extended position to said retracted position upon release of said detented means, and second means for moving said striker means from said retracted position to said extended position upon release of said detented means.

8. A striker assembly comprising, a fixed support, striker means mounted on said fixed support for bodily movement relative thereto between extended and retracted positions, detented means swingably mounted on said fixed support, means operatively interconnecting said striker means and said detented means to move said striker means between said positions thereof upon swinging movement of said detented means, detent means mounted on said striker means for selective and alternate engagement with said detented means in said extended and said retracted positions of said striker means, means for disengaging said detent means from said detented means in said extended and retracted positions of said striker means, first means for swinging said detented means upon release of said detent means to move striker means from said extended position to said retracted position, and second means for swinging said detented means upon release of said detent means to move said striker means from said retracted position to said 'extended position.

9. A striker assembly comprising, a fixed support, a movable support mounted on said fixed support for bodily movement relative thereto between extended and retracted positions, striker means mounted on said movable support for movement therewith, detented means swingably mounted on said fixed support, means operatively interconnecting said detented means and said movable support to move said movable support between said position thereof upon swinging movement of said detented means, detent means mounted on said movable support for selective andalternat e engagement with said detented means in said extended and said retracted positions of said movable support, means for disengaging said detent means from said detented means in said extended and retracted positions of said movable support, first means for swinging said detented means upon release of said detent means to move said movable support from said extended position to said'retracted position, and second means for swinging said detented means upon re lease of said detent means to move said movable support from said retracted position to said extended position.

10. A striker assembly comprising, a fixed support, a movable support, means mounting said movable support on said fixed support for bodily linear movement relative thereto between extended and retracted positions, striker means mounted on said movable support for movement therewith, detented means swingably mounted on said fixed support, linkage means interconnecting said detented means and said movable support to move said movable support between said positions thereof upon swinging movement of said detented means, detent means mounted on said movable support for selective and alternate engagement with said detented means in said extended and said retracted positions of said movable support, means for disengaging said detent means from said detented means in said extended and retracted positions of said movable support, first means for swinging said detented means upon release of said detent means to move said movable support from said extended position to said retracted position, and second means for swinging said detented means upon release of said detent means to move said movable support from said retracted position to said extended position.

11. In a vehicle body having a body member, a closure member swingably mounted thereon for movement between opened and closed positions, and a latch assembly mounted on one of said members, the combination comprising, a fixed support mounted on the other of said members, a movable support mounted on said fixed support for bodily movement relative thereto between extended and retracted positions, striker means mounted on said movable support for movement therewith, detented means swingably mounted on said fixed support, means operative to store operating energy as said closure member moves from a fully open position to a partially open position, means applying said stored operating energy to said striker means, detent means mounted on said movable support and engageable with said detented means for holding said striker means in said extended position against the force of said operating energy, means for disengaging said detent means from said detented means upon latching engagement of said latch assembly with said striker means in the partially open position of said closure to allow said stored operating energy to dissipate and move said striker means to said retracted position thereof to move said closure from said partially open position to a fully closed position in engagement with said body member.

Garvey et al July 28, 1959 Du Bois Dec. 8, 1959