Cam-actuated electric door lock
AssigneeUnited Technologies Electro Systems, Inc.
InventorKenneth W. Stewart, Sr.
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A door lock system for a motor vehicle including a latching and locking means is disclosed. A cam means is driven about a pivot point by the engagement of gear projections with a slot in the cam means to effect locking and unlocking of the door lock. The cam means and the gear projections are separated once the door lock is in the locked or unlocked position to allow the door lock to be manually displaced without necessitating the rotational translation of the gear or the electric motor driving the gear.
Claims10
A door lock system for a motor vehicle which comprises:
- a latching and locking means having a lever which may be displaced between locked and unlocked positions to either a latch the door lock or place the door lock in a condition where the door may be opened;
- a cam means connected to displace said lever, said cam means being mounted for rotational displacement and defining only one fixed receiving slot formed within said cam means;
- a gear means mounted for rotational displacement and offset from the cam means to overlap therewith, said gear means including at least one projecting pin means extending axially outward from a radially extending surface of the gear means and sized to engage the cam means within the receiving slot such that rotational displacement of the gear means effects rotational displacement of the cam means and continued rotational displacement of the gear means disengages the projecting pin means from the slot;
- and
- means for driving the gear means to effect rotational displacement thereof whereby when the projecting pin means is not in the slot, the cam means may be displaced as a result of displacement of the latching and locking means lever without causing rotational displacement of the gear means or the means for driving the gear means.
An electric door lock actuator for driving a door latch locking means including means for allowing manual operation of the latch locking means with a minimum of force which comprises:
- a bidirectional electric motor drive including a pinion gear;
- a gear means mounted to engage the pinion gear such that rotation of the pinion gear causes rotation of the gear means, said gear means including at least one projecting pin means extending therefrom;
- a cam means mounted for rotational displacement and offset from the gear means to overlap therewith, said cam means defining only one receiving slot sized to receive the projecting pin means from the gear means whereby rotation of the gear means may effect rotation of the cam means;
- said projecting pin means including a pin extending axially outwardly from a radially extending surface of the gear means and being positioned to coact with the receiving slot to impart motion to the cam means upon selected rotation of the gear means to disengage from the slot upon continued rotation of the gear means to allow the gear means and cam means to be independently displaced;
- and
- coupling means for coupling the door latch locking means to the cam means such that rotation of the cam means acts to lock or unlock the door latch locking means and such that manual actuation of the door latch locking means is achieved with a minimum of force by allowing the cam means to be displaced without displacing the gear means or the motor drive when the projecting pin means is not engaged in the slot.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.