US3563588A

US3563588A - Fastening means for a motor vehicle door

Info

Publication number: US3563588A
Application number: US765334A
Authority: US
Inventors: Peter U Putsch; Karl D Schoerken
Original assignee: Fritz Keiper KG
Current assignee: Fritz Keiper KG
Priority date: 1968-10-07
Filing date: 1968-10-07
Publication date: 1971-02-16
Anticipated expiration: 1988-02-16

Abstract

A latch, particularly for vehicle doors, includes a keeper for mounting on a door frame and provided with a recess. A catch for mounting on a door which is associated with a door frame includes a catch pin receivable in the recess and adapted for rotation about its axis. The catch pin includes an abutment face which cooperates with the keeper upon penetration of the catch pin into the recess to thereby prevent opening of the door.

Description

United States Patent lnventors Peter U. Putsch Mannweiler Pl'alz; Karl D. Schoerken, Wuppertal-Ronsdorf, Germany Appl. No. 765,334 Filed Oct. 7, 1968 Patented Feb. 16, 1971 Assignee Fritz Keiper Remscheid-Haston, Germany Priority May 24, 1968, June 28, 1967 Germany 1,703,463 and 62,666

Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 667,717, Sept. 14, 1967, now Patent No. 3,416,826.

FASTENING MEANS FOR A MOTOR VEHICLE DOOR 13 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 292/198, 292/340 Int. Cl. E05c 3/00 Field of Search 292/340, 198, 216, 5

[56] References Cited UN lTED STATES PATENTS 2,458,751 1/1949 Voight 292/198 2,952,487 9/1960 Roethel 292/198 3,130,997 4/1964 Kirk 292/280 3,388,939 6/1968 Colell 292/198 PrimaryExaminer-Richard E. Moore Attorney-Michael S. Striker ABSTRACT: A latch, particularly for vehicle doors, includes a keeper for mounting on a door frame and provided with a recess. A catch for mounting on a door which is associated with a door frame includes a catch pin receivable in the recess and adapted for rotation about its axis. The catch pin includes an abutment face which cooperates with the keeper upon penetration of the catch pin into the recess to thereby prevent opening of the door.

FASTENING MEANS FOR A MOTOR VEHICLE DOOR CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to latches, and more particularly to latches for use in connection with vehicle doors.

It is known to provide latches for vehicle doors consisting of a keeper which is connected with the door frame and provided with projections, and a catch which is connected to the door and provided with a catch pin which enters into a recess of the keeper when the door is closed and is provided with abutment faces cooperating with the projections on the keeper so as to prevent undesired opening of the door. The catch pin is tumable about its axis and for this purpose is tumably mounted in a bushing. A portion of the catch pin is located exteriorly of the bushing and it is this portion which cooperates with the projections on the keeper for maintainingthe latch in closed condition. This portion has a larger diameter than the portion of the catch pin which is mounted for rotation in the bushing.

This known construction requires a relatively significant expenditure of material for its construction and this of course increases the expense of such latches, particularly in view of the fact that relatively high quality materials must be used in their construction.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a latch of the type under discussion which requires a lesser expenditure of materials while providing a safety factor which is at least equal to that of known constructions.

'SUMMARYOF THE INVENTION In accordance with the above object, and others which will become apparent hereafter, one feature of our invention resides in the provision of a latch, particularly a latch suitable for vehicle doors, which comprises akeeper which is to be mounted on the door frame and is provided with a recess. A catch is provided which is to be mounted on the door associated with the door frame and includes a catch pin receivable in the recess and adapted for rotation about its axis. The catch pin includes an abutment face which cooperates with the keeper upon penetration of the catch pin into the recess to thereby prevent opening of the door.

The portion of the catch pin which is receivable in the recess and cooperates with the keeper is substantially cylindrical and has a larger diameter than the portion or portions of the catch pin which are mounted for rotation, for instance in a bushing provided for this purpose. In accordance with the invention this portion which cooperates with the keeper is provided with an inclined face which substantially semicircularly surrounds it and is produced by material removal; the central axis of this portion is eccentric relative to the axis of rotation of the pin. With this construction the material required for construction of the catch is reduced but the lever arm for the inclined face, that is the face which abuts against the projections on the keeper when the door is being closed so that, as a result of the forces acting to introduce the catch pin into the recess of the keeper and bringing this inclined face into contact with the projections on the keeper, the catch pin is rotated until it can snap into locking engagement with the projections on the keeper.

Advantageously, the central axis is offset relative to the axis of rotation to that side of the pin on which the abutment face is provided which will engage the projections on the keeper in the closed or locked condition of the latch. Thereby the abutment face and that portion of the inclined face which respectively cooperate with the projections of the keeper are located in the positions of greatest eccentricity and are thus located farthest spaced from the axis of rotation of the catch pin.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims.

The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing. I

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic section of one embodiment of the invention as taken on the line 1-1 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a somewhat diagrammatic section taken on the line lI-Il of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a somewhat diagrammatic section of another embodiment of the invention as taken on the line III-III of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 4 is a section taken on the line IV-IV of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Discussing now the drawing in detail, and firstly the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, it will be seen that our latch consists of a catch 10 and a keeper 11-. The catch 10 is to be mounted on a door which is not illustrated because it is not believed to be essential for an understanding of the invention, and the keeper 11 is to-be mounted on a door frame which has similarly been omitted.

The catch 10 is provided with a closure plate 12 from which there projects at right angles a catch pin 13 which is rotatably mounted in a bearing bushing 14 extending to the free end of the catch pin 13. At the free end, the catch pin 13 is stepped so that an annular shoulder 17 is formed, and at the front end of the bearing bushing 14 there is provided a bore 16 corresponding to the free end 15 of the catch pin 13 and conically configurated so as to obtain an annular shoulder 18. The annular shoulder 17 does not abut against the annular shoulder 18 because of the conical configuration of the latter.

At its other or rearward end, identified with reference number 19, the catch pin 13 is also stepped and a ring 20 is placed over the stepped end 19, this ring 20 having an outer diameter in excess of that of the catch pin 13. This measure simplifies the manufacture of the bushing 14 because the bore diameter increases in the direction towards the rearward end. Furthen'nore, the catch pin 13 can be introduced together with the ring 20 from the rearward end into the bushing 14 whereupon the ring 20 is secured in the bushing 14, advantageously by press fitting it and offsetting an edge portion 21 of the bushing 14.

The width of the ring 20 corresponds to the spacing between the annular shoulder 22 provided at the stepped end 19 of the catch pin 17 and a release lever 23 provided rigidly and nonrotatably at the rearward end of the catch pin 13. The middle portion of the bushing 14 is provided with a cutout 24 through which the

projections

25 and 26, or rather the

abutment surfaces

27 and 28 provided on the

projections

25 and 26 of the keeper 1] can engage the catch pin 13. The cutout 24 is provided in the half of the bushing 14 which is in the drawing the uppermost half and extends transversely of the longitudinal extension of the bushing 14.

The portion 44 of the catch pin 13 which is located in the region of the cutout 24 has a diameter which is larger than the diameter of the steps of the

stepped ends

15 and 19 of the catch pin 13; it is provided with an inclined face 29 by material removal so that the portion 44 has a substantially semicircular cross section. As FIG. 2 shows particularly clearly, the face 29 is somewhat inclined to the direction of closure. To open the latch from a closed position the catch pin 13 is turned by the release lever 23 in such a manner that the inclined face 29 extends in parallelism with the direction of closure whereby the catch pin 13 is released by the

projections

25 and 26 of the keeper 11. A spring provided in operative engagement with the release lever 23 and not illustrated in detail, permanently biases the catch pin 13 to its basic or closure position so that, when the door is closed and the catch pin enters into the keeper 1], the inclined face 29 will abut against the shoulder or lead-in

faces

30 and 31 of the

projections

25 and 26, respectively, and will effect rotation of the catch pin 13 until the latter can snap behind the

projections

25 and 26 so that the latch is secured.

The inclined face 29 is, as shown clearly in FIG. 2, concavely curved whereby a relatively large component of force in direction of rotation of the catch pin 13 is obtained when the

shoulders

30 and 31 of the

projections

25, 26 abut against the inclined face 29. On the other hand, the manufacture of the catch pin 13 with the inclined face 29 is simplified by this because the inclined face 29 can be produced in this manner by the use of a milling cutter.

The portion 44 of the catch pin 13 abuts with a surface portion 32 of its circumferential surface against one of the abutment faces 27, 28 of the

projections

25 and 26 of the keeper 1]. These abutment faces 27 and 28 are arranged concentric with reference to the axis of rotation of the catch pin 13 and the shoulder or lead-in

faces

30, 31 of the

projections

25 and 26 are convexly configurated, the turning of the catch pin 13 on closing of the latch being thereby facilitated.

As already pointed out, the portion 44 of the catch pin 13 is substantially cylindrical in its configuration. However, the central axis 45 of the portion 44 is located eccentrically with reference to the axis of rotation 46 of the catch pin 13, and the central axis 45 is offset towards that side at which the surface portion 32 is located. Thereby the surface portion 32 is farthest spaced from the axis of rotation 46 and the joumaled end portions and 19 of the catch pin 13 may thus have a relatively small diameter. Also, the portion 44 may have a relatively small diameter and require relatively little material while it is nevertheless still assured that the surface portion 32 is relatively far spaced from the axis of rotation 46 of the catch pin 13.

The joumaled

end portions

15 and 19 are joumaled in the bore 16 of the sleeve 14 and in the ring 20, respectively. The portion 44 of the pin 14 located intermediate the

end portions

15 and 19 is located in an enlarged bore portion 47 of the bushing 14 which in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 is eccentric with respect to the axis of rotation 36 of the catch pin 13, the center point being in the open position of the catch pin 13 approximately in coincidence with the center axis 45 ofthe portion 44.

The forward or free end of the catch pin 13, rotatably secured in the bushing 14, extends into a recess 34 of the keeper 1]. The

projections

25 and 26 of the keeper are provided on a plate 48, which may for instance consist of steel, which is secured at the outer side of the keeper 11 and is slotted in the region of the recess 34. The width of the recess 34 is greater than the distance of the slot 49 and the upper edge of the latter is provided with the

projections

25 and 26. At that side of the bushing 14 which is opposite the cutout 24 the bushing is provided with groove 37 into which the lower portion of the slotted plate 48 can extend. The depth of this groove 37 is greater than the wall thickness of the bushing 14 and the width of the cutout 24 and the width of the groove 37 is greater than the thickness of the slotted plate 48. Thus, the slotted plate 48 can extend into the bushing with the edges of the slot 49 which face each other. The wider front end of the bushing 14 in part projects behind the slotted plate 48 so that the latch is able to withstand strong stresses in a longitudinal direction of the catch pin 13. The groove 38 provided in the catch pin 13 and by means of which the inclined face 29 is provided, is wider than the cutouts 24 in the bushing 14 so that only the wider front end of the bushing 14 abuts against the rear side of the slotted plate 48 to serve as a safeguard against stresses acting in longitudinal direction of the catch pin 13, which latter is freely turnable. The forward end of the bushing 14 abuts against the side surfaces 39 and 40 of the recess 34 in the keeper 11, for guidance purposes. In the closure position of the latch the forward end of the bushing 14 abuts against a cam face 41 provided on the side surface 40 whereby the closure movement of the door on closing of the latter is terminated. It should be noted that the cam face 42 is of commashaped configuration so that the closure movement of the door, that is of the pin 13 into the recess 34, is opposed with an increasing resistance as a result of this particular configuration of the cam face 41.

The lower side surface 39 of the recess 34 is constituted by a strip 50 of sheet material which may consist of naturally hardened steel and/or have a hard chrome-coated surface. The keeper 11, which advantageously consists of cast material, is thus reinforced at' the engagement surface and damage and material removal as a result of friction is avoided or at least reduced. As shown in the drawing, the strip 50 is pro vided with a stepped rear portion 51 which is introduced into a slot 52 provided in the keeper 11, and a bent over front end portion 53 which is snapped into a slot 54 also provided in the keeper 11. This provides for a very simple connection of the strip 50 with the keeper 11.

The slotted plate 48 is provided with cutouts 42 through which screws may be threaded which serve to connect the plate 48 with the keeper 11 and the latter with the door frame. The screws are not illustrated. The cutouts 42 are countersunk so that the heads of the mounting screws may be recesses. Necks 43 are provided in the region of the cutouts 42 of the slotted plate 48 which extend into the cutouts 42 and are bent over so that in this manner the plate 48 is connected with the keeper 11 even before the screws are placed through the eutouts 42 and threaded into the door frame.

Coming now to the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, it will be seen that this corresponds substantially to that of FIGS. 1 and 2. Identical components are identified with identical reference numerals. In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, however, the bore portion 47 of the bushing 14 is concentric with the axis of rotation 46 of the catch pin I3, rather than eccentric as in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2. This makes the portion 44 of the pin 13 freely turnable in the bore portion 47.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a latch which is particularly suitable for vehicle doors, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made with departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge, readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention.

We claim:

1. A latch, particularly for vehicle doors, comprising a keeper for mounting on a door frame, said keeper being provided with a recess having an inner end and at least one projection extending into said recess and having a lead-in face and an abutment face extending inclined to said lead-in face and facing said inner end of said recess; and a catch for mounting on a door associated with said door frame, said catch including a catch pin rotatable about its axis and being intennediate its ends provided with a cutout so as to form an intermediate pin portion of substantially semicircular cross section having an outer cylindrical face with a central axis eccentrically arranged with respect to said axis of rotation and a contact face transverse to said face, said catch pin being biased about its axis to a first position in which said contact face is arranged to contact said lead-in face in response to movement of said catch into said recess, turning thereby said catch pin to a second position permitting movement of said catch pin past said projection into said recess, said catch pin returning after passing said projection to its first position so that a portion of said cylindrical face of said intermediate portion of said catch pin engages said abutment face of said projection and prevents movement of said catch pin out of said recess.

2. A latch as defined in claim 1, wherein said abutment face of said projection is concentric with said axis of rotation of said latch pin.

3. A latch as defined in claim 2, wherein said keeper has two such projections arranged spaced from each other in the direction of movement of said catch toward said inner end of said recess.

4. A latch as defined in claim 1, and including a bearing bushing mounting said catch pin at opposite end portions for rotation, said bushing being provided with a cutout exposing said intermediate portion of said catch pin.

5. A latch as defined in claim 4, wherein said intermediate portion has a larger diameter than said end portions.

6. A latch as defined in claim 5, wherein said bushing has an enlarged bore portion housing said intermediate portion of said catch pin.

7. A latch as defined in claim 6, wherein said enlarged bore portion is concentric with said axis of rotation of said latch pin.

8. A latch as defined in claim 6, wherein said enlarged bore portion is eccentric with respect to said axis of rotation of said latch pin and substantially coincides with said central axis of said intermediate portion of said catch pin when the latter is in said second position.

9. A latch as defined in claim 1, said central axis being eccentric relative to said axis of rotation on that side of said catch pin which engages said abutment face.

10. A latch as defined in claim 4,, at least that part of said bearing bushing which mounts one end portion of said catch pin being receivable in said recess of said keeper; and further comprising a strip of metallic material received in said recess and connected with a snap action to said keeper, said strip abutting against said part of said bearing bushing when the same is received in said recess.

11. A latch as defined in claim 10, said keeper being provided with a pair of slots and said strip having end portions each snapped into one of said slots.

12. A latch as defined in claim 11, said strip consisting of naturally hardened steel.

13. A latch as defined in claim 11, said strip having a hardchrome coated surface adapted to engage said part of said bearing bushing.

Claims

1. A latch, particularly for vehicle doors, comprising a keeper for mounting on a door frame, said keeper being provided with a recess having an inner end and at least one projection extending into said recess and having a lead-in face and an abutment face extending inclined to said lead-in face and facing said inner end of said recess; and a catch for mounting on a door associated with said door frame, said catch including a catch pin rotatable about its axis and being intermediate its ends provided with a cutout so as to form an intermediate pin portion of substantially semicircular cross section having an outer cylindrical face with a central axis eccentrically arranged with respect to said axis of rotation and a contact face transverse to said face, said catch pin being biased about its axis to a first position in which said contact face is arranged to contact said lead-in face in response to movement of said catch into said recess, turning thereby said catch pin to a second position permitting movement of said catch pin past said projection into said recess, said catch pin returning after passing said projection to its first position so that a portion of said cylindrical face of said intermediate portion of said catch pin engages said abutment face of said projection and prevents movement of said catch pin out of said recess.

10. A latch as defined in claim 4, at least that part of said bearing bushing which mounts one end portion of said catch pin being receivable in said recess of said keeper; and further comprising a strip of metallic material received in said recess and connected with a snap action to said keeper, said strip abutting against said part of said bearing bushing when the same is received in said recess.

13. A latch as defined in claim 11, said strip having a hard-chrome coated surface aDapted to engage said part of said bearing bushing.