Door latch device in a motor vehicle

• US 8,388,030 B2
• Filed: 03/25/2009
• Issued: 03/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsui Kinzoku Act Corporation (Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Mitsui Mining and Smelting Company Limited
• Inventors: Takahashi, Akira, Farris, Bryan
• Primary Examiner(s): Beach, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cumar, Nathan
• Application Number:
  US12/411,218
• Publication Number:
  US 20090241617A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,441 Days
• Field of Search: 292/201, 292/216, 292/DIG.23, 493/94
• US Class Current: 292/201
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 77/26 specially adapted for child safety
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 77/28 for anti-theft purposes, e.g. double-locking or super-locking
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 77/30 allowing opening by means of an inner door handle, even if the door is locked
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 81/06 using rotary motors
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 81/16 operating on locking elements for locking or unlocking action
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 81/34 of geared transmissions
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 292/1047 Closure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 292/1082 Motor
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 70/5978 With switch

Abstract

A door latch device in a motor vehicle comprises an engagement portion including a latch which engages with a striker of a vehicle body. The door latch device comprises an inner lever connected to an inside handle, a lock lever connected to a lock knob on a door inside the vehicle, a subsidiary lever connected to the lock lever, a childproof lock lever, a motor and an actuating member driven by the motor to actuate the childproof lock lever. Childproof locking and a double locking can be carried out by the single motor.

Claims

1. A door latch device in a door of a motor vehicle, comprising:

an engagement portion, comprising;

a latch which engages with a striker of a vehicle body of the motor vehicle;

a ratchet which engages with the latch; and

an opening lever which can rotate with the ratchet;

at least one lock lever moving between an unlocking position where the latch can be disengaged from the striker and a locked position where the latch cannot be disengaged from the striker with a lock knob on the door inside the vehicle;

a first subsidiary lever connected to the lock lever to move between an unlocking position where the latch can be disengaged from the striker with an outside handle on the door outside the vehicle or with the inside handle and a locked position where the latch cannot be disengaged from the striker;

a second subsidiary lever connected to the first subsidiary lever, the second subsidiary lever having a releasing-contact portion which comes in contact with the opening lever of the engagement portion when the second subsidiary lever is in the unlocking position, while the releasing-contact portion does not come in contact with the opening lever when the second subsidiary lever is in the locked position;

a first inner lever connected to an inside handle on the door inside the vehicle and pivotally mounted on a pivot shaft;

a second inner lever pivotally mounted on the pivot shaft;

a childproof lock lever connected to the first and second inner levers to move between a childproof unlock position where the inside handle moves the second subsidiary lever via the first and second inner levers to release the latch from the striker and a childproof lock position where the inside handle does not move the second subsidiary lever via the first and second inner levers;

a childproof-double-lock motor; and

a single actuating member driven by the childproof-double-lock motor to move the childproof lock lever between the childproof unlock position and the childproof lock position, the actuating member moving among a first position, a second position and a third position, the first position of the actuating member moving the childproof lock lever to the childproof unlock position, the second position of the actuating member moving the childproof lock lever to the childproof lock position, the third position of the actuating member holding the subsidiary lever in the locked position.

2. The door latch device of claim 1 wherein the actuating member comprises a blocking portion, the actuating member in the first and second positions going out of a moving path of a blocked portion of the second subsidiary lever to enable the second subsidiary lever to move to the unlocking position, the actuating member in the third position coming within the moving path of the blocked portion.

3. The door latch device of claim 1 wherein the actuating member is pivotally mounted and comprises a cam opening along which a projection of the childproof lock lever is in sliding engagement, the actuating member moving to the first position to move the childproof lock lever to the childproof unlock position;

moving to the second position to move the childproof lock lever to the childproof lock position; and

moving to the third position to hold the childproof lock lever in the childproof lock position.

4. The door latch device of claim 3 wherein the cam opening comprises a first opening portion and a second opening portion comprising an arc of a circle around a center of the actuating member, a projection of the childproof lock lever moving along the first opening portion from the first position to the second position and vice versa, the actuating member moving from the second position to the third position and vice versa to enable the projection to go along the second opening portion.

5. The door latch device of claim 1 wherein the first and second subsidiary levers are in the unlocking position to release the latch from the striker by releasing the first and second inner levers, the second subsidiary lever being connected to move together with the first subsidiary lever by a force of a spring acting between the second subsidiary lever and the first subsidiary lever, the lock lever and the first subsidiary lever moving from the locked position to the unlocking position against the force of the spring while the second subsidiary lever is held in the locked position when the actuating member is in the third position.