EP0133602A2 - Mechanical device for holding a door in the open position, especially a vehicle door - Google Patents

Abstract

The device consists of an arm (6) sliding in a guiding component (9) fitted with runners capable of being moved apart during the passage of the arm, and means producing an elastic restoring force tending to bring the runners together. The guiding component (9) has at least one surface element (18, 19) with an external cylindrical shape connected mechanically to the runners (13, 14) and radially deformable. The means producing the restoring force consist of at least one helical spring (16, 17) mounted coaxially around the said surface element (18, 19) and in contact with it. <IMAGE>

Description

The present invention relates to a mechanical device for maintaining a door in the open position.

The invention applies in particular to the doors of motor vehicles.

For the sake of clarity of the following description, only this application will be considered, it being understood that this is a preferential example which is in no way limiting.

The devices of the type under consideration, which for the most part also serve as an opening angle limiter, essentially comprise an arm pivotally mounted at one end on the lateral upright of the frame where the articulation of the door is located. The arm, left free at its other end, is capable of sliding in a guide which, for its part, is fixed in the blank of the door while facing the attachment end of the arm on the frame.

This functional arrangement, which is the most commonly adopted, does not, however, exclude, of course, the possibility of reversing the assembly, the guide then being fixed on the frame and the arm pivotally mounted on the door leaf. .

The guide constitutes a more or less complex mechanical assembly according to the different technologies proposed, but which generally has, in one way or another, two pads (also called rollers) placed facing each other and at a short distance from one of the 'other so as to define between them a space for the passage of the arm. Antagonistic action means are provided to allow elastic spacing of the pads under the action of an external force.

Most often, these means are constituted by a return spring system ensuring the mobility of at least one shoe, the spring being able to be of the torsion type working in compression or in traction, or of the flexion type, such as a spiral or helical spring with extended ends.

The spreading force of the pads is transmitted, during the movements of the door, by the arm itself which, for this purpose, com relates to at least one face opposite the pads, spacers, generally extra thicknesses, such as bosses or any other similar arrangement, constituting an obstacle to be crossed by the pads.

These extra thicknesses, of asymmetrical profile, have a ramp, the rise of which, during the opening of the door, provides a progressive spacing of the pads, this ramp being followed by a locking notch in which a pad is housed, thus ensuring that the door is kept in the open position.

Conversely, during the closing of the door, after an initial effort sufficient to allow the shoe to cross the locking notch, the path of the ramp in the direction of the downward slope provides assistance in closing.

Such devices have been widely known for a long time, and descriptions of different models can be found by referring to the numerous patents filed on the subject, for example to French patent applications No. 2,280,778 and 2,284,740 (ELECTRIC PAUMELLERY) , No. 2 124 915 (DAIMLER) or French Patents No. 1 601 092 (ED. SCHARWACHTER KG) and US No. 2 860 369 (GALLA).

As will be seen, all of these known devices are relatively complex in their design and construction, which in particular penalizes the manufacturing cost.

In addition, these devices are intended to be very busy and experience shows statistically a limited reliability leading to their replacement often well before reaching the numbers of high work cycles requested by the customers, in particular by the automobile construction (60,000 cycles opening-closing and even beyond).

The present invention aims to provide a simple, economical and reliable over time.

To this end, the subject of the invention is a mechanical device for holding a door in the open position, in particular a motor vehicle door, comprising a sliding arm in a guide having two pads placed facing each other and at short distance l one of the other so as to provide a space between them for the passage of the arm, the latter being provided on at least one of its faces facing the pads with means for spacing said pads, means with elastic antagonistic action being provided in the guide to oppose the spacing of the pads by the sliding arm, device characterized in that the guide has at least one support surface element of cylindrical external shape, mechanically linked to the pads and radially deformable by expansion and contraction, respectively during the spacing and the approximation of the pads, and in that the means with elastic counteracting action consist of at least one helical spring mounted coaxially around and in contact with said surface surface element support.

In a preferred embodiment, the spring support surface member and the pads form a one-piece body.

Advantageously, this body is a hollow cylinder crossed perpendicularly by the arm in its middle part and equipped with a spring on each of its end parts, the axis of the springs being collinear with the longitudinal axis of the body. More preferably, the pads are placed inside the cylinder.

According to a preferred variant, the turns of the spring or springs have their internal surface, in contact with the support surface, of planar shape, in order to obtain a maximum contact surface with the support surface element.

Advantageously, the turns are of quadrangular section, such as square or rectangular.

As will no doubt already be understood, the invention consists, in its fundamental characteristics, in making a helical type spring in swelling, in other words in an "anti-mechanical" manner, totally foreign to the usual specific deformation modes of this type of spring.

This simple basic arrangement, which may surprise straight away due to the fact that it is the opposite, if not in opposition, with the practice in common use of this type of spring, directly underlies the design of the mechanism according to the invention which has, compared to known mechanisms, many advantages both in terms of manufacturing and its use.

In this regard, there may be mentioned in particular a low manufacturing cost, a relatively simple tool as well as great ease of mounting of the constituent elements.

Similarly, there is a very low fatigue rate of moving parts, in particular springs, in use, as well as great consistency over time in the quality of the results.

• - la figure 1 est un schéma représentant vu du dessus une portière de véhicule automobile équipée du mécanisme selon l'invention,
• - la figure 2 est une vue en coupe longitudinale médiane du mécanisme,
• - la figure 3 est une vue en perspective du dessus et partiellement arrachée du mécanisme,
• - la figure 4 est une vue en perspective partiellement arrachée d'une variante de réalisation du mécanisme.

The invention will be well understood and other aspects and advantages will appear more clearly in the light of the description which follows, given with reference to the accompanying drawing plates, in which:

• FIG. 1 is a diagram representing, viewed from above, a door of a motor vehicle equipped with the mechanism according to the invention,
• FIG. 2 is a view in median longitudinal section of the mechanism,
• FIG. 3 is a perspective view from above and partially cut away of the mechanism,
• - Figure 4 is a partially cutaway perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the mechanism.

In the figures, the same elements are designated by identical references.

Furthermore, it can be considered that FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 represent mechanisms according to the invention in their real size.

In Figure 1, we see in 1 the side amount of the door frame, in a recess which is mounted a yoke 2 of the door hinge. This has been shown in the closed position 3A, in broken lines, and in the open position 3B towards the outside of the vehicle, in solid lines. The vertical articulation axis has been symbolized in 4.

As can be seen, the device 5 according to the invention comprises an arm 6, formed of a flat metal rod, and pivotally mounted at one of its ends around an axis 7 parallel to the axis of articulation 4 of the door and housed in a recess 8 of the upright 1. This arm, left free at its other end slides in a guide body 9 which, for its part, is fixed on the internal face of the upright 10 of the door, opposite the recess 8 when the door is closed.

In order not to unnecessarily overload the figure, only the references relating to the guide 9 shown in the door in the open position 3B have been indicated.

Referring now also to Figures 2 and 3, it can be seen that the guide body 9 is a hollow cylindrical body, with a long axis tudinal L, provided at each end with an ear 11, 11 'for fixing on the door.

In the embodiment shown, the body 9 is a metallic piece of sheet metal wound with non-contiguous edges so as to provide a longitudinal slot 12 allowing a radial deformation of the piece.

Furthermore, in the middle part of the body are provided two pads 13, 14 formed by folding inwardly edge tabs initially provided for this purpose when cutting the sheet before winding.

These pads are placed facing each other and at a short distance from each other so as to provide space between them 15 for the passage of the arm 6.

In addition, two helical springs 16, 17 of internal diameter equal to the external diameter of the body are fitted respectively on each end 18, 19 of the latter on either side of the pads.

An assembly is thus produced whose axes of the springs are collinear with the axis L of the body 9.

The similarity of shape between the springs and the body, combined with the agreement of their respective diameters, means that the springs bear perfectly on their support surface elements constituted by the ends 18 and 19.

A lumen 20 is also provided in the middle part of the body 9 in a position diametrically opposite that of the space 15 between the pads, in order to define with this space a corridor for the passage of the sliding arm 6.

Thus, the arm 6 crosses the body 9 in its middle part perpendicular to the longitudinal axis L of the body.

As can be seen in the figures, the arm 6 has, on its large faces opposite the pads of the body 9, opposite bosses 21 and 22 whose inter-vertex distance is slightly greater than the nominal spacing of the pads.

In the example described, the bosses 21, 22 located in the vicinity of the free end of the arm are produced simply by an operation of cold deformation of the material, usually called "breakdown" operation, and which consists schematically after notching, stamping the central part and the two edge parts in opposite directions.

Bosses are thus obtained which form ramps with an asymmetrical longitudinal profile having, in the direction going from the anchoring end 55 of the arm towards its free end, a gentle uphill slope followed, after the top of the boss, by a steep downhill slope forming a locking notch in which a shoe is housed, thus ensuring the maintenance of the door in the open position.

The function of holding the door in the open position is thus ensured when the arm 6 moves, during the opening of the door, in the body 9: the bosses 21, 22 of the arm separate the pads 13, 14, which retransmit this movement to the whole of the body 9 which tends to take place by widening the slot 12, causing the springs 16 and 17 to swell.

After crossing the high points of the bosses, the reverse process takes place: the antagonistic action of the springs tends to close the body 9 which contracts radially thus causing a tightening of the pads 13, 14 as they travel the downward slope.

Once the pads have reached the base of the bosses, the door is kept in the open position 3B thanks to the stiff front which the boss opposes to the pads in the direction of closing the door.

Furthermore, in accordance with an advantageous variant, provision may be made for folding at the end of the arm 6 so as to form bent end portions 23, 24 which constitute stops for stopping the pads and consequently limiting the angle of door opening.

As will have been clearly understood, the invention therefore essentially consists in operating a helical spring in swelling by unwinding of the turns under the effect of the spacing of the pads.

Apart from the unwinding forces due to the springs themselves, the contact between the body 9 and the springs generates frictional forces which interfere with the relative movement of the parts present.

The friction forces F are of the type F = T (e -1) where T corresponds to the unwinding force of about half a turn of the spring; c is the coefficient of friction spring-body and θ is the angle of winding of the spring, (⊖ is thus worth in radians 2π N where N is the number of turns of the spring).

It is immediately observed that when the number of turns increases, the friction forces very quickly take precedence over the efforts of unwinding the spring (bending force). This makes it possible to generate, at the level of the pads, significant forces with very small springs, only the winding angle e varying the spacing force of the pads.

Similarly, if we want to keep a minimum number of turns for a given spacing force, it will be advantageous to maximize the coefficient of friction, which can be achieved by using springs with flat or flat turns at least on their inner surface in contact with the body (more simply square or rectangular coil springs) and / or contiguous coil springs.

In the example above, a preferred variant embodiment of the invention has been described, according to which, by means of their body - support 9, the springs can be mounted so that their axis is oriented perpendicularly to the axis of the arm 6.

Of course, other variants can be envisaged in which, for example, the springs are mounted collinearly with the arm.

One of these variants is precisely illustrated in FIG. 4.

In this embodiment, the guide body 40 of the sliding arm 41 is a short cylinder, this time coaxial with the arm and formed of two half-moon pellets 42, 43 applied against one another by their base of so as to present between them a spacing slot 44 having a function similar to the slot 12 described above.

The central part of the body 40 is hollowed out in order to provide a passage 45 for the arm, the lips of this passage being constituted by beads forming the pads.

Two pads 46 and 47, similar to the pads 14, 15 seen previously, are thus produced in the same mass of each pellet

42 and 43 in the middle part of their base.

The cohesion of the assembly of the pellets is ensured by a helical spring 48 placed around and in contact with the exterior surface of the pellets.

The whole is housed in a protective casing 49 comprising a main receptacle 50 and a flap closure plate 51, the receptacle and the plate being provided with ears for the installation of the fixing means on the door.

In addition, in this variant the bosses 52 of the arm, as well as the stop 53 limiting the opening angle of the door, are produced, as can be seen, from an arm in two strands folded one against the other and forming at one end a ring 54 for receiving the hinge pin.

It will be understood that the operating principle of such a device is perfectly the same as that explained above.

The only notable difference lies in the fact that the embodiment according to FIGS. 2 and 3 requires fewer parts to be assembled than that which has just been described.

Furthermore, on a more functional level, it could also be observed that the variant according to FIG. 4 offers fewer possibilities than that seen at the beginning with regard to the length of the spring, therefore the winding angle, although a such a handicap can be overcome without too much difficulty.

It is for example possible to produce a body 50 slightly in the form of a diabolo, that is to say of external length desired to receive the spring but whose thickness decreases from the periphery to its central part to avoid the functional drawback too wide skates.

Whatever the embodiment chosen, the device according to the invention has numerous advantages compared to its current competitors on the market.

Some, relating to manufacture and use, have already been indicated on the preceding pages.

• - le fait que l'ensemble du dispositif est entièrement métallique, ce qui le rend pratiquement insensible aux variations de température, ainsi qu'aux effets de dilatation différentielle entre les éléments constitutifs assemblés;
• - une grande facilité d'assemblage de ces éléments, ceci même pour la variante moins compacte illustrée sur la figure 4;
• - une grande souplesse et une grande douceur de fonctionnement qui se traduisent notamment par une absence de bruits désagréables tant lors de l'ouverture que de la fermeture de la porte;
• - le fait encore que l'ensemble du dispositif est de type modulaire, donc parfaitement adaptable à tout type de portière. En particulier, le bras peut être aisément adapté à de nombreux type de véhicules par simple variation de sa longueur ou de la disposition des bossages. De même, pour un véhicule donné, le choix d'une longueur de bras ou de la disposition des bossages permet de régler l'angle d'ouverture de la porte à une valeur voulue;
• - enfin, pour rappel, la grande constance dans le temps des résultats obtenus, ainsi que la parfaite reproductibilité des performances d'un dispositif à l'autre.

Other advantages can be highlighted here among which we can cite for example:

• - the fact that the entire device is entirely metallic, this which makes it practically insensitive to temperature variations, as well as to the effects of differential expansion between the assembled constituent elements;
• - A great ease of assembly of these elements, this even for the less compact variant illustrated in Figure 4;
• - a great flexibility and a great smoothness of operation which are reflected in particular by an absence of unpleasant noises both during the opening and the closing of the door;
• - the fact that the whole device is modular, therefore perfectly adaptable to any type of door. In particular, the arm can be easily adapted to many types of vehicles by simply varying its length or the arrangement of the bosses. Similarly, for a given vehicle, the choice of an arm length or the arrangement of the bosses makes it possible to adjust the opening angle of the door to a desired value;
• - finally, as a reminder, the great consistency over time of the results obtained, as well as the perfect reproducibility of the performances from one device to another.

It goes without saying that the invention cannot be limited to the examples described, but extends to multiple variants or equivalents insofar as the appended claims are respected.

Thus, for example, in the case of the variant described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, the guide body 9 carrying the springs oriented perpendicularly to the sliding arm, can be produced by winding a sheet of commercially available steel sheet that subsequently subjected to a surface carbonitriding treatment in order to give it the desirable mechanical properties for work in fatigue by repetitive bending of small amplitude to which it must be subjected.

Likewise, the force for unlocking the door with a view to closing it can be adjusted by adjusting the curvature of the pads so as to obtain an adequate angle of attack of the latter against the steep front of the bosses.

In this way, it is possible to adjust the locking force in the open position practically independently of the force desired for the spacing of the pads during opening, which is only a function of the characteristics of the springs and their cooperation with their support surface.

Likewise also, the simplicity of the device according to the invention and its small size allow multiple different implantation possibilities.

Thus, the arrangement of the mechanism, as shown in FIG. 1, according to which the arm is in a vertical plane and therefore has an anchoring end 55 turned 90 ° to be placed on its vertical articulation axis 7, is absolutely not limiting.

It is indeed perfectly conceivable to place the arm horizontally, the guide body 9, in this case being fixed according to the thickness of the door.

Likewise, it is not imperative that the arm slides flat in the guide body. It can, in fact, be envisaged to slide it on edge, in which case of course the bosses will have to be provided on the small faces which will then be placed facing the pads.

Similarly, the bosses have been retained here only as particular means of spacing the pads among many other possible without departing from the scope of the invention.

Similarly, the arrangement of the pads 13 and 14 inside the guide body 9 is in no way mandatory. It is indeed quite possible, without harming the essential qualities of the device, to perform the folds tie the rolled sheet, forming the guide body, towards the outside of the body, the important thing being, of course, to realize the two folds in the same direction to obtain two pads facing each other.

Likewise finally, it is not obligatory, as it will have been understood, that the arm be of flat shape, as well as rectilinear, any other provisions, in this regard, which may be suitable within limits that the skilled person will be able to determine according to his wishes or needs.

Claims (10)

1) Mechanical device for holding a door in the open position comprising an arm (6) sliding in a guide having two pads placed opposite and at a short distance from each other so as to provide a space for the passage of the arm, said arm being provided on at least one of its faces opposite the pads of means (21, 22) for spacing the pads; means with elastic antagonistic action being provided in the guide to elastically oppose the spacing of the pads by the sliding arm, device characterized in that the guide (9) has at least one support surface element (18, 19 ) of cylindrical shape, mechanically linked to the pads (13, 14) and radially deformable by expansion and contraction, respectively during the spacing and the approximation of the pads, and in that the means with elastic antagonistic action consist of at least one helical spring (16, 17) mounted coaxially around and in contact with said support surface element. 2) Device according to claim 1 characterized in that the pads (13, 14) and the support surface element (18, 19) of the spring are part of the guide (9) forming a single body. 3) Device according to claims 1 or 2 characterized in that the surface element (18, 19) supporting the spring (16,17) has its longitudinal axis (L) oriented perpendicular to the axis of the arm (6) . 4) Device according to claim 3 characterized in that the guide body of the arm (6) is a hollow body (9) having an elongated cylindrical shape comprising in its median part a lumen (20) diametrically opposite the pads (13, 14 ) and cooperating with the space (15) between said pads to provide a passage passage for the arm. 5) Device according to claim 4 characterized in that the cylindrical outer surface of said body carries a helical spring (16, 17) on each of its ends (18, 19), the sliding arm (6) passing between these two springs through of the middle part of said body. 6) Device according to claims 4 or 5 characterized in that said body (9) is formed by a metal sheet wound on itself and left open according to a generator (12) between the two edges, the pads (13, 14) being made in the middle part of said generator by local folding of each of said edges in the same direction. 7) Device according to claim 2 characterized in that the cylindrical outer support surface (42, 43) of the spring (48) that comprises the body (40) at its longitudinal axis collinear with the axis of the arm. 8) Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the helical spring has turns whose inner surface in contact with said support surface element is of planar shape. 9) Device according to claims 1 or 8 characterized in that the helical spring is with contiguous turns. 10) Device according to claims 1, 8 or 9 characterized in that the helical spring has turns of right rectangular quadrangular section.

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