Automobile roof panel lock
AssigneeComfort Auto Industries, Inc.
InventorWilliam D. Richards
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A lock for a vehicle sunroof panel including a handle for effecting rotation of the shaft and parts mounted to the shaft and handle cooperable by positioning of one relative to the other by means of a key-operated lock cylinder to on the one hand enable the handle and on the other hand to disable the handle.
Claims13
In combination, a rotatable shaft, handle and means mounting the handle to the shaft and wherein the handle contains adjacent parallel openings, a first part fixed to the shaft within one of the openings, a second part rotatably mounted to the handle within the other opening, said first part containing an arcuate recess and said second part having diametrically-opposed arcuate shoulders of the radius of curvature of the arcuate recess and diametrically-opposed flat sides at right angles thereto and wherein the parts are positioned within the adjacent openings in the handle for rotation about spaced, parallel axes so that by rotation of the parts relative to each other, one of the arcuate shoulders of the said second part can be positioned in the arcuate recess in the first part, in which position rotation of the handle will rotate the parts in orbit about the axis of the first part and, hence, rotation of the shaft and, alternatively, positioned to dispose one of the flat sides opposite the recess, in which position the handle is disabled and, hence, can be rotated about the axis of the first part without rotating the first part and, hence, without rotating the shaft, and a means comprising a detent in the first part concentric with the recess therein and an annular shoulder on the second part which, by engagement with the detent, prevents the handle from rotating freely in its disabled position.
The combination comprising a shaft, a handle and means mounting the handle to the shaft and wherein the handle contains adjacent parallel openings, a first cylindrical part fixed to the shaft within one of the openings, said first cylindrical part containing a peripheral groove and at one side of said groove an arcuate recess, a second cylindrical part rotatably mounted to the handle within the other opening, said second cylindrical part having diametrically-positioned arcuate shoulders corresponding in radius of curvature to the recess in the first cylindrical part, diametrically-opposed flat surfaces at right angles thereto and an annular shoulder at one end and wherein the second cylindrical part can be rotated relative to the first cylindrical part to on the one hand position an arcuate shoulder of the second cylindrical part in the arcuate recess in the first cylindrical part and on the other hand to position one of the flat surfaces of the second cylindrical part opposite the recess in the first cylindrical part, and wherein said annular shoulder is of greater axial length than the width of the groove in the first cylindrical part and contains a recess such as to extend beyond the groove in the first cylindrical part to receive a portion of the first cylindrical part in overlapping relation and a flat side which clears said portion of the first cylindrical part such that when the cylindrical parts are positioned so that the annular shoulder of the second cylindrical part occupies the recess, the handle cannot be removed from the shaft, but when the flat side is positioned opposite the recess, the handle can be removed from the shaft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.