US2751242A - Lift bolt door lock remote locking mechanism - Google Patents

Description

J1me 1956 B. D. PRIESTMAN 2,751,242

LIFT BOLT DOOR LOCK REMOTE LOCKING MECHANISM F2 led Nov. 5, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l :4 L 54 V a as A T TORNEYS June 19, 1956 B. D. PRIESTMAN LIFT BOLT DOOR LOCK REMOTE LOCKING MECHANISM F1 led Nov. 5, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR fizz/4 1? flies/m2:

/ ATTORNEYS nite Patented June 19, 1956 2,751,242 LIFT BOLT DOOR LOCK REMOTE LOCKING MECHANISM Bewley D. Priestman, Livonia, Mich, assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Application November 5, 1952, Serial No. 318,851 8 Claims. (Cl. 292-229) This invention relates to a. door lock, and more particularly to an automobile door lock.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a safety device which will insure that the door of an automobile is closed and latched properly when the door is closed through force which is exerted through the inside door handle. The invention is applicable when conventional turn handles are used, although the invention is particularly adapted for use when sliding door handles are used, and the invention is therefore illustrated in connection with a sliding door handle.

In a commonly used type of lock the lock bolt is pivoted on the lock frame and is cammed into latched position by means of a striker on the door pillar when the door is closed. A detent lever in the lock mechanism holds the latch bolt in its latched position, and in order to release the latch to open the door the detent lever is pivoted by means of force exerted either through an outside door opening mechanism or through the inside door handle. When the inside door handle is grasped to pull the door shut, it often happens that force is exerted inadvertently on the handle to pivot the detent lever to its release position, in which event there is no means to hold the lock bolt in latched position after it has been cammed into latched position by the striker. Particularly if the door is slammed hard, the force of the door will very often cause the door to open, at least to its safety latch position. If a sliding door handle is used, and if there is no separate pull-to device on the inner surface of the rovided with teeth, one of which is shown at 30, which door, the sliding handle may be moved inadvertently during the closing operation to pivot the detent lever to release position.

The invention provides a novel means for preventing lock actuation by the inside door handle whenever the lock bolt is in released position, i. e., whenever the door is open, and also whenever the door is being closed so that the latch is cammed from release position to latched position while at the same time force is being exerted on F the inside door handle which would normally pivot the detent lever to its release position and permit the latch to move back to its released position and the door to open.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and from the drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of an automobile interior showing a portion of a door together with the door lock and inside door handle, parts being shown in one position in dotted lines and in another position in dash and dotted lines;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of a door lock incorporating the invention and showing the position of the parts when the door is closed, the bolt being in position where it is engaged with the striker, but the lock being unlocked so that the bolt can be released by actuation of the outside control means or the inside handle;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary enlarged view similar to a portion of Figure 2, but with the bolt in released position aswhen the door is open, parts being broken away to show underlying structure;

Figure 4 is a section taken along the line 4--4 of Figure 3; and

Figure 5 is an enlarged section taken along the line 5-5 of Figure 1.

A lock which is generally similar in construction and operation to the lock illustrated in Figure 2 is described in detail in the copending application of James D. Leslie and Clyde H. Schamel entitled, Door Lock, filed November 28, 1947, as S. N. 788,534, which issued June 9, 1953, as Patent 2,641,495, and reference may be made to that disclosure for a detailed discussion of all of the operating parts of the lock, if desired. In this description the parts associated with the invention will be described in detail, and other operating parts of the lock will be described more briefly.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, an automobile is provided with a door which is hingedly mounted in conventional manner, not shown here. As shown in Figures 1 and 5, the automobile body includes a door pillar 11 which carries a striker comprising parts 12 and 13 secured by screws on the pillar 11. The two spaced parts 12 and 13 have between them a dog-leg channel with a portion 14 which extends inwardly from the outside of the body and slightly upwardly, and a portion 15 which extends upwardly at an acute angle to the vertical. The lower face of the channel is designated as 16 and the upper face is designated as 17.

The lock bolt is formed as a lever 18 pivoted to the lock frame 20 on a pin 21. The body portion of the bolt is preferably a stamping, and the head 22 is made of. a rolled section and is secured to the body of the bolt by rivets 23. A roller 24 is journaled on the free end of the slot being defined by a punched-in bolt head 22, and an outwardly facing flange 25 on the lock frame 20 is provided with a vertical slot in which the bolt head 22 swings vertically, the periphery of the flange 26.

A multiplier lever 28 is mounted upon the lock frame 20 beneath the bolt 18, said lever being pivoted about a different axis than is the bolt 18. The lever 28 has an eccentric connection 29 with the bolt 18, and lever 28 is are adapted to interengage a tooth 32 of a detent lever 34 which is pivoted on the lock frame 20 on a pin 35. A coil spring 36 has one end anchored to bolt 18 in an opening 37, and the other end anchored to detent lever 34 at 38 so that the spring 36 biases both bolt 18 and detent lever 34 in a clockwise direction. The construction of the lock is such that when teeth and 32 are interengaged so that the bolt is held in locked position as shown in Figure 2, a counterclockwise movement of detent lever 34 will free the multiplier lever 28 and the bolt 18 for pivotal movement to the released position shown in Figure 3 under the force of spring 36. The construction and arrangement preferably is such that the only force necessary to operate detent lever 34 is a force sufiicient to overcome the friction between the engaging faces of the teeth 30 and 32 without swinging multiplier lever 28 in a counterclockwise direction.

In order to operate the lock from outside the automobile door a push button (not shown) is provided, and

means are provided to release the lock when the push button is actuated. The means for operating the lock from the outside, which means are more fully described in application S. N. 788,534, comprises a longitudinally shiftable device designated generally as 40, having at its free end a lug 41 which is adapted to engage a lug 42 on an upstanding arm 43 of. the detent lever 34 to pivot said detent lever in a counfterclockwise direction when the outside push button is actuated. This outside operating means also includes a member 45 by means of which the outside door opening mechanism may be rendered inoperative through an inside garnish molding button 50.

The mechanism 40 is not only longitudinally shiftable, but is also pivotal and when pivoted to locked or out of the way position the lug 41 is swung downwardly so that upon longitudinal shifting of the mechanism 40 the lug 41 does not engage, but moves freely past, the lug 42 on the detent lever 34. In order to lock the door from the inside the garnish molding button 58 is connected by means of an actuating rod51 to an olfset portion 54 of a locking lever 52, which is pivotally mounted on the lock frame by means of a stud 53. In addition to the offset portion 54 to which the actuating rod 51 is connected the lever 52 has lug portions 55 and 56 which engage opposite sides of the arm 54, so that when the garnish molding button 50 is psuhed down the locking lever 52 is pivoted in a clockwise direction to pivot the outside operating mechanism 40 to its out of the way or locked position. When the garnish molding button Sit is pulled up the locking lever 52 pivots in a counterclockwise direction to return the parts to the position of Figure 2 where the outside push button is effective to release the lock bolt.

Means are also provided to unlatch the door from the inside. While a turn handle of conventional type may be provided on the inside of the door 11 if desired, the present invention is particularly adapted'for use with a sliding door handle for reasons that will hereinafter appear, and therefore a sliding door handle is illustrated in Figure 1. This handle may be of the type disclosed in the copending application of Frederick G. Phinney and Everett B. Arnold, Jr., entitled, Sliding Door Handle, filed September 26, 1952 as S. N. 311,722 now Patent No. 2,769,102. The door handle comprises a slidably mounted handle member 58 which is movable between the positions shown in solid lines and broken lines in Figure l, sliding movement of the handle 58 from its solid line position to its dotted line position causing pivotal movement of a link 59 between the two positions shown in Figure l to move an actuating rod 61 axially to release the door from the inside.

Referring particularly to Figures 2 and 3, the actuating rod 60 is connected to an ofiset portion 61 of an actuating lever designated generally as 62. This lever is formed as a bell crank and is pivotally mounted on the lock frame 20 on the stud 53. The free arm 63 of the actuating lever 62 carries a lug 64 (Figure 3) which engages an car 66 projecting from the detent lever 34. When the actuating rod 60 is shifted axially to the left to pivot the actuating lever in a clockwise direction the detent lever 34 will be pivoted in a counterclockwise direction to release the multiplier lever 28 and the lock bolt 18.

The invention comprises an improvement in the structure and operation of the lock above described, which improvement resides in means for preventing operation of the inside door handle when the lock bolt is in released position and also when the door is being closed by force exerted through the handle 58. In the structure as described above, when the door is eloscd from the inside and the closing force is applied through the inside door handle 58 it sometimes happens that force is applied not only to pull the door closed, but also to shift the actuating rod 60 axially so that the detent lever 34 is pivoted to an out of the way position. When this happens and the door is closed the roller 24 on the end of the bolt enters the striker channel 14 and the bolt is cammed from the released position of Figure 3 to the locked position of Figure 2 by the face 16 of the keeper member 12, this cumming action'being illustrated in Figure 5. However, since the detent lever 34 is held in out of the way or look release position during this camming action, there are no means for holding the lock bolt 18 in its locked position and the rebound force, particularly when the door is slammed, may cause the door to pop open, at least to its safety catch position. This action may occur whether a turn handle is used or whether a sliding door handle of the type illustrated in Figure l is used, but is more likely to occur with a sliding handle. When a turn handle is used, it is conventional practice to provide a separate pull-to device on the door so that it is not necessary to close the door by grasping the turn handle. However, when a sliding door handle of the type illustrated in Figure l is used, the handle will not twist in the grasp of the operator, and therefore, it is not necessary to provide a separate pull-to device, and the handle itself normally is grasped in order to close the door from the inside.

The invention provides a novel means for preventing actuation of the lever 62 when the door is open and also when the door is being closed from the inside. As shown in Figure 4 a spacer washer 79 is mounted on the pin 21 adjacent the lock bolt 18, and a control lever 71 and a hook lever 72 are both pivotally mounted on said pin, a drum 7?- being fixed to the pin 21 at the free end thereof to prevent the removal of the pivotally mounted parts and to provide a mounting device for spring means as hereinafter described. The hook lever 72 has at its free end a hook 74 adapted to engage a shoulder 61a of the lever 62, and the hook lever 72 is spring biased in a clock: wise direction by a spring 75 which is mounted on the drum 73 and which has one end anchored on a tab 76 on the lever 72 and the other end anchored on a tab 77 on the control lever 71. The hook lever 72 is also provided with a tab '78 for abutting an offset shoulder on the lock frame 20 to limit counterclockwise pivotal movement of the hook lever 72, and an offset portion 80 on said lever terminates in a shoulder 81 which engages a cooperating shoulder 82 provided by an car 83 on the control lever '71. The control lever has at its opposite end 85 a shoulder portion 36 adapted to abut a shoulder 87 on the lock bolt 18.

The control lever 71 is biased in a counterclockwise direction by means of a spring 88 which is mounted on the drum 73 and which has one end anchored on the tab 77 on the control lever and the other end anchored in the opening 37 on the lock bolt 18. The spring 88 is stronger than the spring 75 so that the counterclockwise bias on the control lever overcomes the clockwise bias on the hook lever 72, and therefore, the levers 71 and 72 assume the position shown in Figure 2 where the hook 74 is out of path of the movement of the shoulder 61a of the actuating lever 62. With the parts in this position the inside door handle 58 may be grasped and operated to move the actuating rod 60 axially to open the door from the inside, movement of the actuating rod 60 causing counterclockwise pivotal movement of the detent lever 34 in the manner above described to permit the bolt 18 to pivot in a clockwise direction under the force ofthc spring 36 to released position. The released position of the bolt 18 is shown in Figure 3, wherein it may be seen that the clockwise pivotal movement of the bolt 18 brings the shoulder 87 into abutment with the shoulder '86 on the control lever 71, so that the control lever 71 pivots in a clockwise direction against the force of the spring 88.- The hook lever 72 follows the movement of the control lever in a clockwise direction under the force of the spring 75. i

Thus when the latch is released the parts assume'th position of Figure 3, wherein the hook 74 of the hook lever 72 is in the path of movement of the shoulder 61a of the actuating lever 62. When the inside handle is released the actuating lever 62 is cammed in a counterclockwise direction to the position shown in Figures 2 and 3 by the force of the spring 36 acting through the detent lever 34, engagement of the car 66 on said detent lever with the tab 64 on the actuating lever 62 causing this movement. During counterclockwise movement of the lever 62 the hook lever 72 is'cammed in a counterclockwise direction to permit passage of the shoulder'fla past the hook 74. v

With the parts in the position of Figure 3itwill be seen that operation of the locking lever 62 is prevented by the hook 74. Therefore, if the inside door handle 58 is grasped in order to close the door from the inside, the locking lever 62 will be held against clockwise pivotal movement by the hook 74 even though axial force be exerted on the actuating rod 60. Once the door has been closed and the inside handle is released so that pressure is taken ofi the hook 74 the spring 88 causes the control lever 71 to pivot in a counterclockwise direction, and the hook lever 72 is carried in a counterclockwise direction to the position of Figure 3 by engagement of the shoulder 82 on the control lever with the shoulder 81 on the hook lever.

While I have shown and described one embodiment of my invention, it is capable of many modifications. Changes, therefore, in the construction and arrangement may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A door lock of the character described, including: a lock bolt movable between latched and released position; actuating means for releasing said bolt, including an actuating lever; a handle for operating said actuating lever; a hook lever adapted to engage said actuating lever when the bolt is in released position for preventing operation of said bolt by said handle; first spring means urging said hook lever toward said actuating lever; a control lever having a shoulder engaging said hook lever; second spring means operative through said control lever to move said hook lever away from said actuating lever when the bolt is in latched position, said second spring means being stronger than said first spring means; and shoulder means on said bolt adapted to engage said control lever and to move said control lever against the force of said second spring means when the bolt moves to released position, said hook lever moving into position to engage said actuating lever under the force of said first spring means.

2. Apparatus of the character claimed in claim 1, wherein said hook lever has a hook portion adapted to be engaged by said actuating lever when force is exerted on said actuating lever through said handle and to remain in engagement until such force is released.

3. A door lock of the character described, including: a bolt movable between latched and released positions, detent means for holding said bolt in latched position, actuating means including an actuating lever for moving said detent means to free the bolt for movement from latched to released position, control means mounted for movement between an inoperative position and an operative position in which the control means engages and prevents movement of said actuating lever, means holding said control means in operative position whenever the bolt is in released position and said actuating lever is in its normal inoperative position, and means holding said control means in inoperative position whenever the bolt is in latched position, said control means at all times permitting movement of the bolt between latched and released positions.

4. A door lock of the character described, including: a movable bolt, detent means for holding the bolt in latched position, actuating means for moving said detent means to free the bolt for movement from latched to released position, a first control lever mounted for movement between an inoperative position and an operative position in which it renders the actuating means ineffective to move the detent means, a second control lever having means holding said first control lever in operative position whenever the bolt is in released position and said actuating means is in its normal inoperative position, and spring means holding said control levers in inoperative position whenever the bolt is in latched position, said control levers at all times permitting movement of the bolt between latched and released positions.

5. A door lock of the character described, including: a movable bolt, detent means for holding the bolt in latched position, actuating means for moving said detent means to free the bolt for movement from latched to released position, a first control lever mounted for move- .ent between an inoperative position and an operative position in which said first control lever renders the actuating means ineffective to move the detent means when said actuating means is in its normal inoperative position, a second control lever having means engaging said first lever when said bolt is in latched position to hold said first lever in inoperative position, and yieldable means between said first and second control levers tensioned by said second control lever for moving said first lever to its operative position when said bolt is in its released position.

6. A door lock of the character described, including: a movable bolt, detent means for holding the bolt in latched position, actuating means for moving said detent means to free the bolt for movement from latched to released position, a first control lever mounted for movement between an inoperative position and an operative position in which said first control lever renders the actuating means inefiective to move the detent means, a second control lever having a shoulder engaging said first lever when said bolt is in latched position to maintain said first lever in inoperative position, and spring means between said first and second control levers and tensioned by said second control lever to move said first lever to its operative position when said bolt is in its released position.

7. A door lock of the character described, including: a movable bolt, detent means for holding the bolt in latched position, actuating means for moving said detent means to free the bolt for movement from latched to released position, a first control lever mounted for movement between an inoperative position and an operative position in which said first control lever renders the actuating means ineffective to move the detent means, a second control lever having a shoulder engaging said first lever when said bolt is in latched position to maintain said first lever in its inoperative position, means on said bolt engaging said second lever and to move said second lever to a position where it is operative to hold said first lever in its inoperative position when said bolt is in its released position, and yieldable means connected between said first and second levers and tensioned by said second lever when said bolt is in its released position to move said first lever to its operative position when said bolt is in its released position.

8. A door lock of the character described, including: a movable bolt, detent means for holding the bolt in latched position, actuating means for moving said detent means to free the bolt for movement from latched to released position, a first control lever mounted for movement between an inoperative position and an operative position in which said first control lever renders the actuating means ineffective to move the detent means, a second control lever having a shoulder engaging said first lever when said bolt is in latched position to maintain said first lever in its inoperative position, shoulder means on said bolt engaging said second lever to move said second lever with its shoulder to a position where it is inoperative to hold said first lever in its inoperative position when said bolt is in its released position, and spring means between said first and second levers tensioned by said second lever when said bolt is in its released position to move said first lever to its operative position when said bolt is in its released position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,302,409 Wells Nov. 17, 1942 2,569,042 Endter Sept. 25, 1951 2,603,516 Roethel July 15, 1952 2,637,580 Roethel May 5, 1953 2,641,495 Leslie et al. June 9, 1953

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