US3612207A

US3612207A - Vehicle door lock safety latching systems

Info

Publication number: US3612207A
Application number: US36113A
Authority: US
Inventors: Alain Cabanes; Andre Lefeuvre
Original assignee: Renault SAS
Current assignee: Renault SAS; Regie Nationale des Usines Renault
Priority date: 1969-05-19
Filing date: 1970-05-11
Publication date: 1971-10-12
Anticipated expiration: 1988-10-12
Also published as: FR2093909A1; GB1270903A; DE2022941B2; DE2022941A1; DE2022941C3

Abstract

This latching system comprises a control member with, for each door, a coil movable axially between a pair of ferrite disks, the reversal of current in the coil causing the reversal of the direction of travel thereof, all the coils being connected in parallel to the output terminals of at least one four-pole reversing switch of the transistory action, front-contact type, connected to a source of current, the control member constituting a compact unit independent of the door lock, said reversing switch being adapted to be actuated by means of either an external key for the front door lock or a control member accessible from the interior of the vehicle.

Description

United States Patent Inventors Alain Cabancs;

Andre Leteuvre, both of Billancourt,

France Appl. No. 36,113

Filed May 11, 1970 Patented Oct. 12, 1971 Assignees Regie Nationale des Usines Renault Billancourt (Hauts de Seine), France; Automobiles Peugeot Paris, France Priority May 19, 1969 France 69/ 16090 VEHICLE DOOR LOCK SAFETY LATCHING SYSTEMS 7 Claims, 7 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 180/112, 70/264, 335/229 Int. E05b /36 Field /264; 292/l44,20l; l/103, 104, [12;317/134; 335/229, 230

mean; Cited Primary Examiner-Albert G. Craig, Jr. Attorney-Stevens, Davis, Miller 81 Mosher ABSTRACT: This latching system comprises a control member with, for each door, a coil movable axially between a pair of ferrite disks, the reversal of current in the coil causing the reversal of the direction of travel thereof, all the coils being connected in parallel to the output tenninals of at least one four-pole reversing switch of the transistory action, frontcontact type, connected to a source of current, the control member constituting a compact unit independent of the door lock, said reversing switch being adapted to be actuated by means of either an external key for the front door lock or a control member accessible from the interior of the vehicle.

1 VEHICLE DOOR LOCK SAFETY LATCHING SYSTEMS This invention relates to electromagnetic latching devices for simultaneously locking aid releasing all the doors of a motor vehicle, while permitting the automatic unlatching orreieae ofall door loclts in case ofcrash.

Safety latching systems are already known, notably in the freld of automotive vehicles, which comprise electromagnets built in the door control locks and are adapted to actuate the safety latch of said locks. However, these known systems are attended by the following inconveniences:

As the electromagnet strokes are relatively short, the locks associated therewith must be specially designed and have extremely close manufacturing tolerances, and the electromagnet must be incorporated in the lock to avoid the faulty operation likely to be caused by the usually broad tolerances admitted in coachworlt construction. Assemblies based on these principles are rather cumbersome and therefore difficult to accommodate in the doors of conventional vehicles.

It is also known loose, as a means for controlling the door release action, a pair of coaxial coils provided with cores and having disposed therebetween a permanent magnet (or ferrite) connected to a safety latch bolt. However, in these systems the magnetic force exerted on the bolt decreases during the movement, due to the asymmetric arrangement of the elements creating the electromagnetic fields of which the interaction produces said force.

It is the essential object ofthe present invention to provide a simple and economical solution to the problems set forth hereinabove while avoiding the inconveniences explained in the foregoing. The arrangement according to this invention is capable, interalia:

of latching or releasing all the doors of the vehicle from within, by actuating a lever mounted on one or the other of the front doors, this lever controlling a switch incorporated in the lock means and thus adapted to provide a safety action against crimin'al attempts and referred to as antitheft device" in certain countries.

of providing an additional safety against tampering by children, since none of the reissue control means are accessible from the rear seats.

This invention is applicable to a system for electromagnetically latching and unlatching or releasing all the door locks of a motor vehicle wherein at lent one of the doors is locked by means of an external key, each door being provided with a pivoting member for latching the door opening control device. This latch member is connected through a link to a control member comprising a coil having a magnetic yoke orspool guided between a pair of coaxial ferrite disks or permanent magnets axially magnetized and so directed that their action on the coil is additive, the reversal of the current flow through the coil being attended by the reversal of the direction of movement of this coil.

In their gap, the flux lines of the magnetic field created by the coil are strongly bent due to the presence of a soft-iron yoke or case enclosing the magnetic circuit of the ferrites. Thus, the value of the flux intersected by the coil is very considerable.

This invention is characterized in that all the coils are mounted in parallel to the two output terminals of at least one four-pole reversing switch of the transitory and front-contact type of which the two input terminals are connected to the two terminals of the DC source of the vehicle, said control member being designed as a compactunit independent of the door lock, said reversing switch being controlled on the one hand by the external lock key of one of the front doors and on the other hand by a control member accessible from the interior of the vehicle.

According to another feature characterizing this invention the reversing switch has three positions, namely one mechanically stable open position leaving all the coils deenergised, and

two closed positions controlling the energization ofall the coils and which cannot be maintained unless a voluntary action is exerted by the user, the direction of the energizing current through the coils depending on selected closed position of the reversing switch, one position being the door latching position and the other the door releasing position.

The fact of designing the control members in the form of a compact unit separate from the lock permits disregarding coachwork tolerances, and therefore this system is applicable to most of existing vehicle door lock mechanisms.

Finally, the rear doors Ieequipped with visual indicators displaying the latched or unlatched condition of the corresponding door, thcse indicators being controlled by the latch member of the corresponding door.

Other features and advantages of this invention will appear as the following description proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawing illustrating diagrammatically by way of example a typical form of embodiment of the safety door latching system of this invention, stress being laid on the fact that this system is applicable to all known vehicle door lock types, whether of the releasable pushbutton-type, roller lock, etc. Therefore, the exemplary door lock described hereinafter should not be construed as limiting the invention. In the draw- FIG. 1 illustrates the wiring diagram of the coil control system in the case of a four-door motor vehicle;

FIG. 2 is an axial section showing a control member and the relative arrangement of its component elements;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of a known and common lock type equipped with a latching member and a lock switch according to this invention;

FIG. 4 is a section taken across the front door of a vehicle to show the relative positions of the control member, reversing switch and means controlling this switch;

FIG. 5 is a separate view of the reversing switch, shown in the inoperative position, without the cover;

, FIG. 6 is a section taken along the line Vl-Vl of FIG. 5, showing the manual control member accessible from within the vehicle, and

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic illustration of the momentary actuation of the reversing switch by the release or unlatching member.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing it will be seen that each door has mounted therein an electromagnetic device I for actuating the safety latch. In this device a pair of

ferrite disks

2, 3 are mounted in aligned, coaxial relationship on a tubular plastic distance-piece and case 4, with the faces of same polarity turned towards each other. A coil 5 having a magnetic yoke or spool 6 is rigid with a nonmagnetic shaft 7 adapted to slide through central apertures 8 fonned in the pair of

ferrite disks

2,3. The two ends of the coil winding 5 are connected through flexible conductors 9, 10 to a pair of connecting terminals ll, 12. A soft-iron, yoke-forming case 13 closes the magnetic circuits of each

ferrite

2, 3.

When energin'ng current flows through the coil 5, assuming that terminal 11 is connected to the tenninal and terminal 12 to the terminal of the storage battery 14 of the motor vehicle (not shown), this coil is repelled by one ferrite disk 2 and attracted by the other ferrite disk 3. If the polarity of terminals I1 and 12 is reversed, the coil 5 is repelled by ferrite disk 3 and attracted by ferrite disk 2. The coil length is not greater than half the distance between the two ferrite disks; the axial distance between the two

ferrite disks

2, 3 being greater than their diameter. The resultant force exerted on the coil remains practically constant irrespective of its position between the two ferrite disks.

As clearly apparent from FIGS. 3 and 4 on the drawing the shaft 7 is adapted to actuate through a low-inertia link 15 the latch member 16 of the lock mounted in a door 17.

This latch member 16 is that or one of those also adapted to be actuated from the exterior of the vehicle by means of the usual key l8 engaging a pin tumbler cylinder 19 which, during its rotation, carries along a shaft 20 carrying a radial projection 21 adapted to engage an elongated hole 22 formed in the aforesaid latch member 16.

This latch member I6 is adapted to latch the lock control device as follows: a lever 23 adapted to be actuated by means of the external pushbutton 2.3 of door 17 is operatively connected to a bolt (not shown) so that when the lever 23 rotates about the axis 24 in the direction of the arrow f, (FIG. 4) the door [7 is unlocked and opened. A spring 25 associated with lever 23 constantly urges the latter to its door locking condition.

In the position illustrated in FIG. 4 the latch member 16 is pivoted to extend across the path of the upper arm of lever 23 and thus prevent the pivotal movement of this lever and consequently the unlocking of door 17.

However, this lever 23 may also be actuated by means of another lever 26 operatively connected to an inner control member (not shown). The pivotal movement of this lever 26 about the pivot pin 27 in the direction of the arrow f, (FIG. 3) causes at the same time the unlocking and opening of the door 17 as a consequence of the sedan exerted by the upper arm of this second lever 26 on that of the first lever 23.

On the other hand, the lower arm of lever 26 carries a stud 28 adapted to engage a stop member 29 carried by the latch member 16 so that the latter is firstly moved outside the path of lever 23, the upper arm of lever 26 subsequently bringing the lever 23 to its door unlocking and opening position.

At its lower portion the latch member 16 comprises a heel 30 adapted during its angular excursion to engage a projection 31 carried by the outer end of a lever arm 32 controlling the operation of a four-pole reversing selector switch 33 of the transistory, front-contact type.

As shown in FIGS. and 6, the movable member of this switch 33 consists of a pivoting control shaft 34 of plastic material, rotatably mounted in a case 35 also of plastic material, the inner end of this shaft 34 carrying the lever arm 32 provided with said projection 31.

A spring 36 constantly urges the arm 32 to its intermediate, inoperative position. The shaft 34 carries a pair of

contact members

37 and 38 consisting each of a metal blade 39 supporting a pair of

contact studs

40, 41 In the inoperative position these contact studs lie intermediate the pair of

fixed input contacts

42, 43 and the pair of

fixed output contacts

44, 45 of reversing switch 33, without engaging these contacts, the latters having connecting terminal extensions.

A control member consisting of a handle 46 rigid with the splinded end 47 of shaft 34 is accessible from the interior of the vehicle.

The wiring diagram of FIG. 1 illustrates the general disposal of the door control coils 5 connected in parallel to the

terminals

44 and 45 of the pair of reversing switches 33 of the front doors of the vehicle.

The

terminals

42 and 43 of these reversing switches are connected to the terminals of the current source 14 of the vehicle.

When the reversing switch 33 is moved from its intermediate, inoperative position 32m to position 32: (or 324) of FIG. 7, the terminals 1 l and 12 of coils 5 are connected to the and -l-. terminals (or and of storage battery 14, the direction of flow of the current through the coils corresponding to the latching movement (or unlatching or release movement).

The electric circuit further comprises an inertia switch 48 adapted, when closed, to connect the output tenninals 44 and 45 of switch 33 to the and terminals of battery 14. All the coils 5 are thus energized with a current circulating in the door unlatching direction. This normally open switch 48 is adapted to close automatically when a relatively strong shock is applied to the vehicle.

It is clear that a short energization of coil 5 through any one of the switches 33 equipping the front doors of the vehicle permits latching or releasing all the door locks, according to the direction of flow of the energizing current, which direction depends on the direction in which said reversing switches 33 are rotated.

The two latched and unlatched or released positions of the lock system are maintained by the magnetic attraction produced between the magnetic spool 6 of coil 5 and the ferrite, 2 or 3.

The shafl 34 of reversing switch 33 may be actuated by anyone of the following procedures:

When the door lock key 18 is rotated, the latching member 16 is pivoted to its operative or latching position (or altemately to its unlatching position, according to the direction of rotation). The heel 30 of this latch member carries along the projection 31 rigid with shaft 34, thus causing the lever 32 to be tilted to position 32c (or 324) and closing the latching circuit (or the unlatching circuit). At the end of the movement of latch member 16 the projection 31 of lever 32 of reversing switch 33 escapes from the heel 30 of latch member 16 and the shaft 34 is restored to its inoperative position by the spring 36 of reversing switch 33, thus deenergizing the coils 5.

The same result is also obtained by turning one of the control handles 46 of reversing switch 33.

Of course, various modifications and variations may be brought to the specific form of embodiment of the present invention which is shown and described herein, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

I. A system for electromagnetically latching and unlatching the locked and unlocked condition of all the doors of a vehicle, at least one of the front doors being adapted to be locked by means of an external key, each door comprising to this end a pivoting latch member for latching the door opening control device, said latch member being connected through a link to a control member comprising a coil adapted to be energised from a current source of the vehicle and movable between a pair of coaxial aligned ferrite disks or permanent magnets having an axial magnetization and so directed that the action exerted by said fenites or permanent magnets on the coil is additive, the reversal of the current flow through the coil being attended by a reversal of the movement of said coil, this system being characterized in that all the coils are connected in parallel to the pair of output terminals of at least one four-pole reversing switch of the transitory-action, front-contact type, of which the pair of input terminals are connected to the two terminals of the source of current of the vehicle said control member constituting a compact unit separate from the lock, said reversing switch being adapted to be actuated on the one hand by means of the external key provided for locking one of the front doors, through the medium of the corresponding latch member, and on the other hand by means of a control member accessible from the interior of the vehicle.

2. Electromagnetic latching system according to claim 1, characterized in that the distance between said ferrite disks is greater than the diameter of said ferrite disks, and that the length of said coil is less than half the distance between said ferrite disks.

3. Electromagnetic latching system according to claim 1, characterized in that the reversing-switch is of the three-position type, that is, an open, mechanically stable position in which all the coils are deenergized, and a pair of closed positions in which energizing current is supplied to all the coils, said last-named two closed positions being maintained only by a voluntary action of the user, the direction of flow of the energizing current through the coils depending on the selected closed position of said reversing switch.

4. Electromagnetic latching system according to claim 3, wherein said reversing switch comprises a pivoting control shaft urged by spring means to its inoperative position, characteriaed in that said control shaft is rigid on the one hand with a lever arm carrying a projection extending into the path of a corresponding heel carried by the latch member actuatable by means of said lock key, and on the other hand with a pair of movable contacts each comprising a metal blade supporting a pair of contacts adapted, in the inoperative position, to lie between two pairs of fixed contact studs, without touching them, said fixed contact studs comprising two current input studs and two current output studs and being connected in parallel to all the coils, said movable contacts being adapted, in either of their transistory contact positions, to interconnect said input contact studs to said output contact studs.

5. Electromagnetic latching system according to claim 3, characterized in that said control shaft of said reversing switch and said control member are rigid with each other.

6. Electromagnetic latching system according to claim 1, characterized in that an inertia switch having normally open contacts is connected in parallel to said control coils and adapted to energize said coils with a current flowing in the door unlatching direction in case of crash or severe shock applied to the vehicle.

7. Electromagnetic latching system according to claim 1, characterized in that said control member incorporates bodies of magnetic material in order to distribute the lines of force of the magnetic field in such a manner as to produce the maximum power in said assembly, said bodies comprising on the one hand the entire yoke or spool of the coil,

on the other hand a yoke-forming case adapted to close the magnetic circuits of each ferrite disk.

Claims

1. A system for electromagnetically latching and unlatching the locked and unlocked condition of all the doors of a vehicle, at least one of the front doors being adapted to be locked by means of an external key, each door comprising to this end a pivoting latch member for latching the door opening control device, said latch member being connected through a link to a control member comprising a coil adapted to be energized from a current source of the vehicle and movable between a pair of coaxial aligned ferrite disks or permanent magnets having an axial magnetization and so directed that the action exerted by said ferrites or permanent magnets on the coil is additive, the reversal of the current flow through the coil being attended by a reversal of the movement of said coil, this system being characterized in that all the coils are connected in parallel to the pair of output terminals of at least one four-pole reversing switch of the transitory-action, front-contact type, of which the pair of input terminals are connectEd to the two terminals of the source of current of the vehicle said control member constituting a compact unit separate from the lock, said reversing switch being adapted to be actuated on the one hand by means of the external key provided for locking one of the front doors, through the medium of the corresponding latch member, and on the other hand by means of a control member accessible from the interior of the vehicle.

4. Electromagnetic latching system according to claim 3, wherein said reversing switch comprises a pivoting control shaft urged by spring means to its inoperative position, characterized in that said control shaft is rigid on the one hand with a lever arm carrying a projection extending into the path of a corresponding heel carried by the latch member actuatable by means of said lock key, and on the other hand with a pair of movable contacts each comprising a metal blade supporting a pair of contacts adapted, in the inoperative position, to lie between two pairs of fixed contact studs, without touching them, said fixed contact studs comprising two current input studs and two current output studs and being connected in parallel to all the coils, said movable contacts being adapted, in either of their transistory contact positions, to interconnect said input contact studs to said output contact studs.

7. Electromagnetic latching system according to claim 1, characterized in that said control member incorporates bodies of magnetic material in order to distribute the lines of force of the magnetic field in such a manner as to produce the maximum power in said assembly, said bodies comprising on the one hand the entire yoke or spool of the coil, on the other hand a yoke-forming case adapted to close the magnetic circuits of each ferrite disk.