Anti-panic vehicle door latch device

• US 6,126,212 A
• Filed: 05/12/1999
• Issued: 10/03/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mitsui Kinzoku Act Corporation (Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Mitsui Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: Fujihara, Yoshihiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Wilson, Neill
• Assistant Examiner(s): ESTREMSKY, GARY WAYNE
• Application Number:
  US09/310,201
• Time in Patent Office: 510 Days
• Field of Search: 292/216, 292/DIG. 23, 292/DIG. 27, 70/262, 70/264
• US Class Current: 292/216
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 85/243 with a bifurcated bolt
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 292/1047 Closure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 70/65 Central control

Abstract

A vehicle door latch device comprises a connecting member for connecting a lock pin with a lock lever. The connecting member has a lever side member connected to a lock lever, a pin side member connected to a lock pin, and a connecting spring for elastically connecting the lever side member with the pin side member. The connecting member changes length thereof against the elasticity of the spring to allow the lock lever to be displaced to an unlocked position from a locked position, when the lock pin cannot be displaced from a disengagement position to an engagement position by a displacement of the lock lever from a locked position toward an unlocked position while the open lever is in a door-opening position.

Claims

1. A vehicle door latch device comprising:

a latch engageable with a striker fixed to a vehicle body;

a ratchet for holding an engagement between the latch and the striker by engaging with the latch;

an open lever rotatable from an initial position to a door-opening position by an operation of a door-opening handle of a vehicle door;

a lock pin movable in a given direction when the open lever is rotated from the initial position to the door-opening position;

a lock lever adapted to be connected to a lock button of the door and displaceable between an unlocked position and a locked position;

an over-center spring for holding the lock lever by elasticity thereof at either the unlocked position or the locked position with respect to a dead-center point thereof;

a connecting member shifting the lock pin to an engagement position in which a movement of the ratchet when the lock lever is displaced to the unlocked position, and said connecting member shifting the lock pin to a disengagement position in which the movement of the lock pin in the given direction cannot be transmitted to the ratchet when the lock lever is displaced to the locked position;

wherein said connecting member has a lever side member connected to the lock lever, a pin side member connected to the lock lever, a pin side member connected to the lock pin, and a connecting spring for elastically connecting the lever side member with the pin side member;

wherein said connecting member changes length thereof against elasticity of the connecting spring to allow the lock lever to be displaced to the unlocked position from the locked position, when said lock pin cannot be displaced from the disengagement position to the engagement position by a displacement of the lock lever from the locked position toward the unlocked position while said open lever is in the door-opening position; and

the vehicle door latch device further comprising a main block portion for preventing the lock pin from being shifted from the engagement position to the disengagement position when said ratchet is in contact with an unlatching portion of the latch and said open lever is in the initial position, and a sub block portion for preventing the lock pin from being shifted from the engagement position to the disengagement position when said ratchet is in contact with the unlatching portion and said open lever is in the door-opening position.

2. The vehicle door latch device according to claim 1, wherein said lock pin is shifted from the disengagement position to the engagement position by the elasticity of the connecting spring, when said open lever is restored from the door-opening position to the initial position.

3. The vehicle door latch device according to claim 1, further comprising a ratchet lever rotated with the ratchet as one piece, wherein said ratchet lever has a concave portion with which said lock pin positioned in the engagement position is engaged and said main block portion, wherein one side of said concave portion is closed by the main block portion excluding an opening portion through which the lock pin passes, and wherein said sub block portion is arranged at a position to close the opening portion of the concave portion when said ratchet is in contact with the unlatching portion of the latch.