SHIFTER WITH ONE-TOUCH LOCKING KNOB

• US 20090007712A1
• Filed: 07/01/2008
• Published: 01/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GHSP Incorporated (JSJ Corporation)
• Original Assignee: GHSP Division of JSJ Corporation
• Inventors: Laming, Robert J., Ebenstein, Scott
• Granted Patent: US 8,256,324 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 74/473.300
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 59/0278 Constructional features of the selector lever, e.g. grip parts, mounting or manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 74/2014 Manually operated selector [e.g., remotely controlled device, lever, push button, rotary dial, etc.]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 74/20612 Hand

Abstract

A transmission shifter includes a shift lever, and a knob with attachment clip that mechanically locks the knob atop the lever with a single assembly motion. The clip is located inside a hole in the select knob, and the lever includes a notch near its top. The clip is positioned to flex to facilitate assembly as the lever is inserted into the hole, but then unflex to engage the notch and lock the knob to the lever. To remove the knob from the lever, a removal tool is used to depress the clip, pushing it out of the way and allowing the select knob to be pulled off the lever. The illustrated shifters include a mechanically-actuated pawl actuator system and an electrically-actuated pawl actuator system.

Claims

1. A shifter for a vehicle having a transmission, comprising:

a shift lever including a notch near its top; and

a knob with attachment clip that mechanically locks the knob atop the lever with a single assembly motion of the knob toward the shift lever, the clip being located inside an elongated hole in the knob and characteristically not removable from a lateral side of the knob, the elongated hole being shaped to receive the top of the lever and the clip being positioned to flex to facilitate assembly as the lever is inserted into the elongated hole, but then unflex to engage the notch and lock the knob to the lever.

2. The shifter defined in claim 1, wherein the knob further includes at least one access hole extending transversely to the elongated hole, the at least one access hole extending to the clip and located so that a removal tool can be extended through the access hole to depress the clip, pushing it out of the way and allowing the select knob to be pulled off the lever.

3. The shifter defined in claim 1, wherein the knob and clip are separate components.

4. The shifter defined in claim 1, wherein the clip is made of spring steel.

5. The shifter defined in claim 1, wherein the clip is C-shaped with opposing end sections extending from a center section and also reversely bent toward the center section.

6. The shifter defined in claim 1, wherein the knob includes a removable shroud engaging a bottom portion of the knob in a position that covers the spring, the shroud preventing removal of the spring until the shroud is removed.

7. The shifter defined in claim 6, wherein the bottom portion of the knob is tubular and the shroud is tubular and adapted to fit over the bottom portion of the knob.

8. The shifter defined in claim 1, including mating electrical contacts on the knob and the shifter lever that engage when the knob is installed on the shift lever, the knob further including a thumb button, an electrical switch operated by the thumb button, and conductors that electrically connect the mating electrical contacts to the switch.

9. An apparatus comprising:

an elongated lever having a first end and including a locking surface near its first end; and

a knob with an internal recess shaped to stably engage the first end and also having an attachment clip positioned in the recess to mechanically frictionally engage the locking surface to lock the knob atop the lever with a single assembly motion, the attachment clip being characteristically not removable from a lateral side of the knob.

10. The apparatus defined in claim 9, wherein the locking surface includes a notch.

11. The shifter defined in claim 9, wherein the knob includes a removable shroud engaging a bottom portion of the knob in a position that covers the spring, the shroud preventing removal of the spring until the shroud is removed.

12. The shifter defined in claim 11, wherein the bottom portion of the knob is tubular and the shroud is tubular and adapted to fit over the bottom portion of the knob.

13. The shifter defined in claim 9, including mating electrical contacts on the knob and the shifter lever that engage when the knob is installed on the shift lever, the knob further including a thumb button, an electrical switch operated by the thumb button, and conductors that electrically connect the mating electrical contacts to the switch.

14. A shifter for a vehicle having a transmission, comprising:

a shift lever including a notch near its top; and

a knob with attachment clip that mechanically locks the knob atop the lever with a single assembly motion of the knob toward the shift lever, the clip being located inside a lower tubular portion of the knob, the lower tubular portion being shaped to receive the top of the lever and the clip being positioned to flex to facilitate assembly as the lever is inserted into the tubular portion, but then unflex to engage the notch and lock the knob to the lever;

the knob further including a removable shroud engaging a bottom portion of the knob in a position that covers the spring, the shroud preventing removal of the spring until the shroud is removed.

15. The shifter defined in claim 14, wherein the bottom portion of the knob is tubular and the shroud is tubular and adapted to fit over the bottom portion of the knob.

16. The shifter defined in claim 14, including mating electrical contacts on the knob and the shifter lever that engage when the knob is installed on the shift lever, the knob further including a thumb button, an electrical switch operated by the thumb button, and conductors that electrically connect the mating electrical contacts to the switch.

17. A method of attaching a knob to a shifter for a vehicle having a transmission, comprising steps of:

providing a shift lever including a notch near its top;

providing a knob with an elongated hole shaped to stably receive a top of the shift lever;

providing an attachment clip in one of the notch and hole for engaging the other of the notch and hole; and

sliding the knob onto the top of the shift lever until the attachment clip mechanically locks the knob atop the lever with a single assembly motion, with the knob providing structure such that the attachment clip characteristically is not removable from a lateral side of the knob, the clip being positioned to flex to facilitate assembly as the lever is inserted into the elongated hole, but then unflex to engage lock the knob to the lever.

18. The method defined in claim 17, wherein the knob includes at least one laterally-extending transverse hole extending into the knob at a location aligned with the attachment clip, and including a step of removing the knob by extending a tool through the at least one laterally-extending transverse hole to compress the attachment clip and release the knob from the lever.