Vehicle door latch device
AssigneeMitsui Kinzoku Act Corporation
InventorsShintaro Okawa, Keiichiro Okuyama
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle door latch device comprises a latch engaging with a striker on a vehicle body, a ratchet provided with a pawl which blocks the latch from pivoting by respectively engaging with a half-latched engagement portion and a fully-latched engagement portion of the latch, a holding lever blocking the pawl from pivoting in a releasing direction by abutting with the ratchet, and a third latch lever which engages with a third engagement portion provided on the latch when the latch is in a third latch position which is between a half-latched position and an open position to block the latch from pivoting from the third latch position, wherein a pivot shaft of the third latch lever is provided at a position close to a pivoting locus of the latch outside the pivoting locus.
Claims4
A vehicle door latch device comprising:
- a body fixed to a vehicle door;
- a latch which is pivotably supported to the body at a predetermined angle to pivot in a closing direction from an open position by engaging with a striker on a vehicle body side when the vehicle door is closed, and to move to a fully-latched position via a half-latched position;
- a ratchet pivotably supported to the body at a predetermined angle and provided with a pawl which blocks the latch from pivoting in an opening direction by respectively engaging with a half-latched engagement portion and a fully-latched engagement portion of the latch engaged with the striker;
- a holding lever pivotably supported to the body at a predetermined angle to block the pawl from pivoting in a releasing direction to be released from the half-latched engagement portion or the fully-latched engagement portion by abutting with the ratchet when the pawl engages with the half-latched engagement portion or the fully-latched engagement portion;
- and
- a third latch lever pivotably supported to the body at a predetermined angle to engage with a third engagement portion provided on the latch when the latch is in a third latch position which is between the half-latched position and the open position so that the third latch lever blocks the latch from pivoting in the opening direction from the third latch position;
- wherein the latch, the ratchet, the holding lever, and the third latch lever are provided on the same plane on the body, and a pivot shaft of the third latch lever is provided at a position close to a pivoting locus of the latch outside the pivoting locus,
- wherein the third latch lever has a pawl portion engaged with the third engagement portion of the latch and is biased towards a standby position where the pawl portion enters into a moving locus of the third engagement portion by a biasing force of a biasing member,
- wherein the vehicle door latch device further comprises:
- a biasing lever pivotably supported to the body at a predetermined angle to be coupled with the third latch lever via a pivot shaft such that the biasing lever biases the third latch lever in a direction to engage with the third engagement portion by the biasing force of the biasing member, and
- a release transmission lever pivotably supported to the body at a predetermined angle to abut with the biasing lever such that the release transmission lever pivots based on a releasing operation of a door-release-operation lever and makes the biasing lever pivot in a retreating direction against the biasing force of the biasing member to make the third latch lever pivot in the retreating direction,
- wherein the biasing lever and the release transmission lever are arranged on a plane on the body opposite to the plane where the latch, the ratchet, the holding lever, and the third latch lever are arranged.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.