Precision linear mechanical lock device
AssigneePorter Systems Inc.
InventorsEdward Poulos, Richard T. Oliver
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention is a linear mechanical lock of the type used in vehicle seating. The linear mechanical lock uses a housing, rod, sleeve, bushings, release lever, clutch springs, and return spring. The present invention is an improved precision linear mechanical lock device using a two-piece clamshell housing. The two-piece clamshell housing has formed projections that locate and align the bushings within the housing. The two-piece clamshell housing has additional design features improving manufacturability, cost and reliability such as lanced tabs to align the internal components, lanced bumps to act as a return spring perch, cable mounts, and an extruded mounting hole.
Claims21
In a precision linear mechanical lock device comprising:
- a rod with a substantially cylindrical rod shaft and an integral mounting feature located at one end of the shaft;
- a sleeve with an integral release lever;
- a return spring;
- at least one cylindrical clutch spring;
- at least one cylindrical bushing;
- and
- a housing;
- wherein the rod fits through the at least one bushing and housing;
- wherein the improvement comprises:
- using the at least one cylindrical bushing;
- fabricating the housing out of a two-piece clamshell, wherein the two-piece clamshell housing is progressively stamped out of sheet steel, the two pieces of the two-piece clamshell housing are a substantially symmetrically opposite pair, each piece of the two-piece clamshell has at least two formed projections per bushing, and the two pieces of the two-piece clamshell are durably bonded together during fabrication;
- wherein the formed projections align the at least one cylindrical bushing and the rod within the two-piece clamshell housing;
- wherein the formed projections locate the at least one cylindrical bushing within the two-piece clamshell housing;
- wherein the formed projections are used for resistance welding the at least one cylindrical bushing to the two-piece clamshell housing, fixing the at least one cylindrical bushing within the two-piece clamshell housing;
- and
- wherein the interior of the two-piece clamshell housing is sized to closely encompass the at least one coiled clutch spring so that, when the least one coiled clutch spring is unwound with the integral release lever, the slack in the unwound coil of the at least one coiled clutch spring contacts the inside of the two-piece clamshell housing, and the two-piece clamshell housing evenly distributes the slack in the unwound coil of the at least one coiled clutch spring, allowing the-precision linear mechanical lock device to uniformly unlock the rod.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.