US3178212A

US3178212A - Closure latch

Info

Publication number: US3178212A
Authority: US
Inventors: James D Leslie
Original assignee: Motors Liquidation Co
Current assignee: Motors Liquidation Co
Priority date: 1962-10-24
Filing date: 1962-10-24
Publication date: 1965-04-13
Anticipated expiration: 1982-04-13

Description

April 3, 1965 J. D. LESLIE 3,178,212

CLOSURE LATCH Filed 001:. 24, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet l a? I z -INVENTOR. $7, 1 f davesfl&9e

ATTORNEY April 1965 J. D. LESLIE 3,178,212

CLOSURE LATCH Filed Oct. 24, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INV EN TOR.

ATTORNEY I I; I

United States PatentO "ice 3,178,212 CLOSURE LATCH games D. Leslie, Birmingham, Mich, assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich, a corporation of Delaware Filed Oct. 24, 1962, Ser. No. 232,821 Ciaims. (Cl. 292-280) This invention relates to closure latches and more particularly to vehicle body door latch assemblies.

One feature of this invention is that it provides a door latch assembly including a rotary bolt located inside the door. Another feature of this invention is that it provides a door latch assembly including a rotary bolt located inside the vehicle door and engageable with a striker assembly projecting into the door to hold the door in closed position. A further feature of this invention is that it provides a door latch assembly wherein the majority of the parts of the assembly are mounted within an enclosed housing of minimum depth. Yet, another feature of this invention is that it provides a door latch assembly including a rotary toothed bolt mounted inside the door adjacent the jamb face thereof and engageable with a toothed striker bar projecting inside the door through an opening in the door inner panel. Yet, a further feature of this invention is that it provides a door latch assembly including a rotary gear type bolt engageable with a toothed striker, and a generally U-chaped spring located in the plane of the bolt for engagement with the striker to urge the striker into engagement with the bolt. Still another feature of this invention is that it provides an improved door latch assembly having the features of keyless locking and automatic undogging.

These and other features and advantages of the closure latch of this invention will be readily apparent from the following specification and drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a partial side elevational view of a vehicle body embodying a closure latch according to this invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged partially broken away sectional view taken generally along the plane indicated by line 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a view taken generally along the plane indicated by line 33 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a view taken generally along the plane indicated by line 4-4 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a View similar to FIGURE 3 showing the closure latch in unlatched position;

FIGURE 6 is a view similar to FIGURE 3 showing the latch in locked position, and

FIGURE 7 is a view taken generally along the plane indicated by line 77 of FIGURE 3.

Referring now particularly to FIGURE 1 of the drawings, a vehicle body 10 includes a front door 12 mounted on the body by suitable hinge means, not shown, adjacent its forward edge 14 for swinging movement between a closed position, as shown, and an open position, not shown.

I Door 12 is held in its closed position by a closure latch 16,

according to this invention, which includes latching means .mounted within door 12 adjacent the rear free swinging edge portion thereof and engageable with striker means mounted on a body pillar 18.

As shown in FIGURE 2, door 12 includes a door outer panel 2! and a door inner panel 22 which are located in spaced relationship and connected adjacent their rear edge portions by a rear door wall or jamb face 24 formed integral with panel 22 and hem flanged to panel 28. The latchingmeans includes a latch frame 26 which abuts wall 24 and is secured thereto by bolts 28 extending through wall 24 into tapped embossments of the frame. Frame 26 includes anyinner, discontinuous flange extension 30 which abuts the inner panel 22 of door 12 and an outer discon- 3,173,212 Patented Apr. 13, .1965

tinuous flange extension 32 which lies in spaced relationship to the outer panel 2%) and merges into a partial lower flange extension 34. The inner panel 22 and flange 30 are provided with aligned apertures 36, with the material from the aperture 36 of flange 30 being bent inwardly of the flange, as shown in FIGURES 3, 5 and 6, to provide a striker bar guiding flange 38 for a purpose to be described. A cover plate 40 lies in closely spaced parallel relationship to the frame 26, being secured thereto in a manner to be described, and cooperates with the frame 26 in providing a housing for the majority of parts of the latching means.

A shouldered pin 42 is journaled within wall 24 and frame 26 and within the cover plate 40 and rotatably mounts a rotary gear type latch bolt 44. A detent member 46 is pivoted at 48 to the frame 26 and includes a foot 50 adapted to engage an adjacent pair of teeth of the bolt 44, as shown in FIGURES 3 and 6, to hold the bolt against counterclockwise movement and thereby retain the door in closed position. A coil torsion spring 52 mounted on the pin 43 has one end thereof engaging an arcuate tab 54 of the detent and the other end thereof engaging the hooked inner end of flange 38 to bias the detent 46 in a counterclockwise direction and hold foot 50 in engagement with bolt 44.

An outside operating member or lever 56 has the lower bent end thereof, FIGURE 7, overlying plate 40 and pivoted on a pin 58 secured to the frame 26 and to plate 40. The upper end of lever 56 is formed into a lateral tab structure 60 which is engageable by the push rod member 62 of a conventional push button arrangement 64 mounted within an outside handle member 66 secured to the outer panel 26 of door 12. A coil torsion spring 68 surrounds the pin 58 and has one end thereof engaging member 56 and the other end thereof hooked over an opening in flange 32 to continuously bias lever 56 counterclockwise, as viewed in FIGURE 3. An intermittent lever or member 70 has one end thereof pivoted at 72 to member 56 and is provided with a lateral tab 74 adjacent the other end thereof which is received within a generally arcuately shaped slot 76in a locking lever 78 to pivotally and slidably couple these members. The locking lever 78 is pivoted at 80 on the cover plate 40 and is movable between an unlocked position, vas shown in FIGURE 3, and a locked position, as shown in FIGURE 6, with the locking lever being selectively and alternately held in either of these positions by an over center type coil torsion spring 82 hooked between the locking lever and the cover plate 46. When the locking lever is in its unlocked position, as shown in FIGURE 3, it locates a shoulder 84 of the intermittent member 76 adjacent a lateral tab 86 of the detent 46 and when the locking lever is in its locked position, as shownin FIGURE 6, it locates the shoulder 84 of the (intermittent member below the tab 86.

When the locking lever is in its unlocked position, as

shown in FIGURE 3, operation of the push button assemwith the tab 86 of the detent 46 will swing the detent clockwise about its pivot 48 to its position, as shown in FIG- URE 5, wherein the foot 50 of the detent is out of engagement with the teeth of the bolt 44 so that the bolt may freely rotate. When the locking lever is in its locked position, as shown in FIGURE 6, shifting movement of the intermittent member 7 0 to the right will cause the shoulder 84 of the intermittent member to pass below the tab 86 so that the detent will remain in engagement with theteeth of the bolt and prevent rotational movement of the bolt.

The locking lever 78 is moved between its locked and unlocked positions from the interior of the body by a garnislimolding button as, FIGURE 1, connected thereto moved between its locked and unlocked positions from the exterior of the body by a conventional key cylinder assembly 92, FIGURES l, 2 and 4, having secured thereto a lever 96 which is coupled to the locking lever by a vertically shiftable rod 98.

The detent 46 may be operated from the interior of the body to move it out of engagement with the teeth of bolt 44 by an inside operating handle 1%, FIGURE 1, coupled to an inside release lever 102, FIGURE 4, by a rod 104. Lever 102 is pivoted at 106 on flange 30 of frame 26 and has one leg thereof extending through an opening in plate 40 so as to overlie the lateral tab 54 of the detent.

In order to hold the door in closed position, bolt 44 engages striker means 119. As best shown in FIGURE 2, the striker means includes a generally U-shaped striker bar having one leg 112 thereof fitted against the pillar 18 and bolted thereto at 114. The other leg 116 of the striker bar includes a plurality of upwardly extending teeth which engage the teeth of the bolt 44 to retain the door in a closed position. The leg 116 of the striker bar projects inwardly of the door 12 through the apertures 36 in the flange 30 and panel 22, with movement of the leg 116 within the door being guided by the flange 38 of flange 30 and a lateral flange 118 of the plate 40 which is located in generally parallel spaced relationship to the flange 38 to define a guide passage therewith. A generally U-shaped flat spring .120 includes a lower leg seating on the flange 34 and an upper leg of generally wavy construction having the free end portion thereof seating under the flange 118 of the cover plate. One of the bends 122 of the upper leg of the spring engages the striker bar leg 116 to bias the striker bar into engagement with the bolt 44. It will be noted that the spring 120 lies generally in the plane of the bolt.

The leg 116 of the striker bar cooperates with the frame 26 and wall 24 of the door in providing an interlock be tween the door and the body so as to prevent shifting movement of the door longitudinally of the body in the event of an accident or otherwise.

As mentioned hereinbefore, the closure latch of this invention includes the features of keyless locking and automatic undogging which will now be described. Keyless locking is accomplished by first depressing the push button 88 to shift the rod 90 downwardly and thereby swing the locking lever 78 from its unlocked position, as shown in FIGURE 3, to its locked position, as shown in FIG- URE 6. Thereafter, the push button assembly 64 is depressed so as to shift the intermittent member 70 to the right to its position, as shown in FIGURE 6, and the door is then closed. When the door is closed, the volt 44 will rotate as it engages the teeth of the striker bar leg 116, and the detent 46 will ratchet past the teeth of the bolt. However, since a lateral tab 124 of the intermittent member is located to the right of and out of the path of movement of a shoulder 126 of .the detent, as shown in FIG- URE 5, the detent will merely ratchet past the teeth of the bolt and the locking lever will remain in its locked position. When the door is in a fully closed position and the push button assembly 64 is released, it can be seen that depression of the push button assembly 64 thereafter will have no effect on the detent 46 since the intermittent member 70 will merely shift past the detent, as previously described. Automatic undogging will occur if the push button 83 is depressed to move the locking lever 78 from its unlocked position of FIGURE 3 to its locked postion of FIGURE 6, and the door 12 is thereafter closed without depressing the push button assembly 64. As soon as the detent 46 ratchets past the first tooth of the bolt 44, the shoulder 126 of the detent will engage the tab 124 of the intermittent member to swing the intermittent member counterclockwise about its pivot 72 on the lever 56 and thereby swing the locking lever from its locked position of FIGURE 6 to its unlocked position of FIGURE 3.

It will be noted from the foregoing description, that the closure latch of this invention is a very compact construction, and, that further, the majority of the parts of the latching means are housed within the housing provided by the latch frame 26 and the cover plate 40, which is supported on the frame 26 by the pin 58 and another pin 128 staked to the frame and cover plate. Further, the latching means, including the latch bolt, are housed within the door 12 so that no portion of the latching means projects outwardly of the door. The projection of the striker bar Within the door 12 into engagement with the latch bolt not only holds the door in a closed position, but also provides an interlock between the door and the body.

Thus, this invention provides a new and improved closure latch.

What is claimed is:

1. In a vehicle body including a door having inner and outer panels joined at one side by a jamb wall, a closure latch comprising, a latch frame mounted in said door on the inner surface of said wall, a latch bolt movably mounted on said frame and located adjacent the inner surface of said frame, detent means adapted to engage said bolt to hold said bolt against movement in one direction, operating means for moving said detent means out of holding engagement with said bolt, and a striker member mounted on said body and including a first portion extending along the outer surface of said jamb wall and a second portion projecting through an opening in said door inner panel and extending along the inner surface of said latch frame and into engagement with said bolt, said striker member portions straddling said jamb wall and latch frame and cooperating therewith to provide an interlock.

2. In a vehicle body including a door having inner and outer panels joined at one side by a jamb wall, a closure latch comprising, a latch frame mounted in said door on the inner surface of said wall, a latch bolt movably mount on said frame and located adjacent the inner surface of said frame, detent means adapted to engage said bolt to hold said bolt against movement in one direction, operating means for moving said detent means out of holding engagement with said bolt, a striker member mounted on said body and including a first portion extending along the outer surface of said jamb wall and a second portion projecting through an opening in said door inner panel and extending along the inner surface of said latch frame and into engagement with said bolt, said striker member portions straddling said jamb wall and latch frame and cooperating therewith to provide an interlock, and resilient means mounted on said latch frame and engaging said striker member second portion to bias said striker member second portion into engagement with said bolt.

3. In a vehicle body including a door having inner and outer panels joined at one side by a jamb Wall, a closure latch comprising, a latch frame mounted in said door on the inner surface of said wall, a plate member located in spaced relationship to said frame and defining a housing therewith, a latch bolt movably mounted on said frame and plate member and located within said housing, detent means adapted to engage said bolt to hold said bolt against movement in one direction, operating means for moving said detent means out of holding engagement with said bolt, and a striker member mounted on said body and including a first portion extending along the outer surface of said jamb wall and a second portion projecting through an opening in said door inner panel and extending into said housing and into engagement with said bolt, said striker member portions straddling said jamb wall and latch frame and cooperating therewith to provide an interlock.

4. In a vehicle body including a door having inner and outer panels joined at one side by a jamb wall, a closure latch comprising, a latch frame mounted in said door on the inner surface of said wall, a plate member located in spaced relationship to said frame and defining a housing therewith, a latch bolt movably mounted on said frame and plate member and located Within said housing, detent means adapted to engage said bolt to hold said bolt against movement in one direction, operating means for moving said detent means out of holding engagement with said bolt, a striker member mounted on said body and including a first portion extending along the outer surface of said jam'o Wall and a second portion projecting through an opening in said door inner panel and extending into said housing and into engagement with said bolt, said striker member portions straddling said jamb wall and latch frame and cooperating therewith to provide an interlock, and means on said frame and plate member located on opposite sides of the opening in said door inner panel and providing a guide passage for said striker member second portion within said housing.

5. A closure latch as recited in claim 4 including resilient means mounted within said housing within the plane of said bolt and striker member second portion and 10- References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 875,747 1/08 Streng. 1,908,344 5/ 3 3 Haberstump. 2,629,618 2/53 Roethel. 2,806,369 9/57 Chanaryn 292280 X FOREIGN PATENTS 68,760 1/58 France.

M. HENSON WOOD, IR., Primary Examiner.

Claims

1. IN A VEHICLE BODY INCLUDING A DOOR HAVING INNER AND OUTER PANELS JOINED AT ONE SIDE BY A JAMB WALL, A CLOSURE LATCH COMPRISING, A LATCH FRAME MOUNTED IN SAID DOOR ON THE INNER SURFACE OF SAID WALL, A LATCH BOLT MOVABLY MOUNTED ON SAID FRAME AND LOCATED ADJACENT THE INNER SURFACE OF SAID FRAME, DETENT MEANS ADAPTED TO ENGAGE SAID BOLT TO HOLD SAID BOLT AGAINST MOVEMENT IN ONE DIRECTION, OPERATING MEANS FOR MOVING SAID DETENT MEANS OUT OF HOLDING ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID BOLT, AND A STRIKER MEMBER MOUNTED ON SAID BODY AND INCLUDING A FIRST PORTION EXTENDING ALONG THE OUTER SURFACE OF SAID JAMP WALL AND A SECOND PORTION PROJECTING THROUGH AN OPENING IN SAID DOOR INNER PANEL AND EXTENDING ALONG THE INNER SURFACE OF SAID LATCH FRAME AND INTO ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID BOLT, SAID STRIKER MEMBER PORTIONS STRADDLING SID JAMB WALL AND LATCH FRAME AND COOPERATING THEREWITH TO PROVIDE AN INTERLOCK.