GB2395747A

GB2395747A - Door handle assembly

Info

Publication number: GB2395747A
Application number: GB0323655A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Sean Smart
Original assignee: Ford Global Technologies LLC
Current assignee: Ford Global Technologies LLC
Priority date: 2002-11-30
Filing date: 2003-10-09
Publication date: 2004-06-02
Anticipated expiration: 2023-10-09
Also published as: GB2395747B; GB0323655D0; GB0228021D0

Abstract

The door handle assembly includes a release lever 10 and a locking lever 11, both of which may be pivotably mounted to a backplate (not shown) by a pivot pin 13. A protuberance 17 on the release lever 10 abuts the driver member 12 to rotate the locking lever 11 when the locking lever is initially in an unlocked position from which movement of the locking lever 11 effects release of the latch mechanism. The locking lever 11 can be rotated in the opposite direction to a locked position in which the drive member 12 is clear of the patch or the protuberance 17 so that movement of the release lever 10 does not effect release of the latch mechanism 6. The assembly may form part of a lock system for a motor vehicle. The assembly may be mounted on the door remote from the latch mechanism and may be connected to the latch mechanism by a control cable. The locking lever 11 may be connected to the control cable and have a drive peg 14 engaged with a slot in the drive member 12 pivoted on the backplate by a pin 16.

Description

A door handle assembly This invention relates to a door handle assembly

for a motor vehicle.

It is well known from GB-A-2199363 to provide a vehicle door lock system having a handle assembly connected to a remotely mounted latch mechanism for selectively holding a door of the vehicle in a closed position. The handle assembly includes a blocking or 5 detent means to prevent movement of a release lever when a locking lever is placed into a locked position. Such a device is desirable for a vehicle for two reasons, firstly it is a requirement in some countries that an internal door handle of a motor vehicle becomes inoperable when the door is locked and secondly because, if the internal door handle remains operable, it could be used by a thief to gain access to an otherwise locked vehicle.

10 However, it is a problem with such a prior art arrangement that if an occupant

inadvertently tries to operate the release lever when the door is locked, in the belief that the release lever is jammed, then excessive force may be applied to the release lever. This may cause the release lever to fail or, more normally, the blocking mechanism to fail thus requiring the vehicle to be repaired. In addition, such a prior art device is potentially

15 overcome by a thief applying excessive force to the release lever.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved door handle assembly.

According to the invention there is provided a door handle assembly for a vehicle door lock system comprising a pivotally supported release lever for movement between a resting position and a release position, a pivotally supported locking lever for movement between 20 locked and unlocked positions, the locking lever being adapted for attachment to a link means used to connected the door handle assembly to a door latch mechanism, and a drive member arranged between the levers and connected with the locking lever so that, on the one hand, in an unlocked position of the locking lever, the drive member is moved with the release lever via an abutment surface arranged on the release lever and displaces the

À 1 - 2 locking lever to actuate the link means and release the latch mechanism and, on the other hand, in a locked position of the locking lever, the drive member is moved to a position in which contact between the release lever and the drive member will not occur when the release lever is moved to the release position.

5 The drive member may be an elongate member pivotally supported at one end and driveably connected to the locking member.

The locking member may have a drive peg for co-operation with a slot in the drive member to form the driveable connection therebetween.

The door handle assembly may further comprise a backplate used to pivotally support 10 the locking and release levers. The backplate may be in use fastened to part of a door of the motor vehicle.

The release lever and the locking lever may be rotatable about a common axis.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing of which: 15 Fig.1 is a schematic plan view of part of a handle assembly according to the invention in an unlocked state and with a release lever forming part of the assembly in a resting position; Fig.2 is an end view in the direction of arrow X on Fig.1; Fig. 3 is a view similar to that of Fig.1 but showing the release lever in a release position; 20 Fig.4 is a side view in the direction of arrow Y on Fig.3; Fig.5 is a view similar to that of Fig.1 with the release lever in a resting position but showing the assembly in a locked state; Fig.6 is an end view in the direction of arrow Z on Fig.5; and

Fig.7 is a scrap view of a vehicle door showing a lock system incorporating the door handle assembly showing Figs. 1 to 6.

With particular reference to Fig.7 there is shown a vehicle door 5 to which is attached a door latch mechanism 6 and an internal door handle assembly 7. The door handle 5 assembly 7 is mounted on the door remotely from the latch mechanism 6 and is operatively connected to the latch mechanism 6 by a link means in the form of control cable 8.

The door latch mechanism 6 is provided to keep the door 5 in a closed position and has three operating states, a latched state in which the door 5 is held closed, an unlatched state in which the door 5 is able to freely open and close and a locked state in which the 10 door 5 is held closed and cannot be opened by operation of an internal or external release mechanism. With reference to Figs. 1 to 6 there is shown in greater detail the primary parts of the door handle assembly 7. The door handle assembly as shown is for use within the vehicle but it will be appreciated that the inventive aspects of the door handle assembly could be 15 applied to a door handle assembly for use on an external surface of a vehicle door. The door handle assembly 7 comprises a release lever 10 pivotally supported towards one end by a pivot pin 13, a locking lever 11 pivotally supported by the pivot pin 13 and a drive member 12 drivingly engaged with the locking lever 11. The pivot pin 13 has a central longitudinal axis which forms a common axis of rotation or pivot axis for the release and 20 locking levers 10 and 11. The pivot pin 13 is engaged with a backplate (not shown) which is used to support the pivot pin 13 and to attach the handle assembly 7 to part of the structure of the door 5.

The release lever 10 has a hand grip portion 10a offset from the pivot axis of the release lever 10 which can be used by an occupant of the motor vehicle to move the 25 release lever 10 from a resting position, as shown in Fig.1, to a release position, as shown

in Fig.3. A protuberance 17 is formed on the release lever 10 towards the opposite end of the release lever 10 to the end at which the hand grip portion 10a is formed. The protuberance 17 has a surface facing towards the drive member 12 which forms an abutment surface for contact with the drive member 12 as will be described in greater detail 5 hereinafter. The release lever 10 has a longitudinal axis extending from one end through the pivot axis of the release lever 10 to an opposite end of the release lever 10.

The locking lever 11 is substantially T-shaped and has an elongate body portion 20a rotatably connected to the pivot pin 13 and an arm portion 20b extending away from the body portion 20a for cooperation with the drive member 12. The locking lever 11 is 10 moveable, or to be more precise rotatable, between two positions, a first or unlocked position in which the body portion 20a is substantially aligned with the longitudinal axis of the release lever 10 and a second or locked position in which the body portion 20a is arranged at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the release lever 10.

The locking lever 11 has a slot 21 formed therein for use in attaching one end of the 15 control cable 8 to the handle assembly 7. In practice a nipple (not shown) attached to one end of an inner cable (not shown) of the control cable is engaged with the slot 21 so as to secure the inner cable to the locking lever 11.

The drive member 12 is pivotally connected at one end by a pivot pin 16 to the backplate and has an elongate aperture 15 therein extending from a position close to the 20 pivot pin 16 to a position near to the opposite end of the drive member 12. A drive pin 14 is fastened to the locking lever 11 and is engaged within the elongate aperture 15 so as to form in combination a driveable connection between the locking lever 11 and the drive member 12.

Operation of the handle assembly 7 is as follows. In the position shown in Figs 1 and 25 2 the release lever 10 is in the resting position and the locking lever 11 is in the unlocked

position. In this position no load is transferred from the locking member to the control cable 8 and so the latch mechanism is not actuated or released and the door is held in a latched state. By applying a release force to the release lever 10 an operator is able to cause anti 5 clockwise rotation of the release lever 10 from the resting position causing the release lever to move towards the release position shown in Figs. 3 and 4. As the release lever 10 is moved from the resting position to the release position the abutment surface formed on the protuberance 17 will eventually come into contact with the drive member 12. Further rotation of the release lever 10 towards the release position will then cause the drive 10 member 12 to be rotated about the pivot pin 16 and in this case the drive member 12 will be rotated in a clockwise direction. Because of the driveable connection between the drive member 12 and the locking member 11, formed by the elongate aperture 15 and the drive pin 14, the rotation of the drive member 12 will cause a consequential anticlockwise rotation of the locking member 11 about the pivot pin 13. This rotation of the locking 15 member causes the inner cable of the control cable to be displaced thereby actuating the latch mechanism 6 and moving it into its unlatched state. The door 5 can then be freely opened or closed.

As soon as the force being applied by the operator to the release lever 10 is removed the release lever 10 will return to its resting position aided by various springs (not shown) 20 located in the latch mechanism or handle assembly or both, thereby returning the latch mechanism to its latched state.

Referring now to Figs 5 and 6 the release lever 10 is shown in its resting position but the locking lever 11 has been moved, or to be more precise rotated in a clockwise direction, to a locked position. The rotation of the locking lever 11 to its locked position has 25 caused a corresponding anti-clockwise rotation of the drive member 12 about the pivot pin

16 from the position shown in Figs 1 to 4 to a position in which it is more inclined with respect to the release lever 10.

When the release lever 10 is now moved from its resting position to its released position the locking lever 11 will not be moved by the release lever 10 because the 5 protuberance 17 on release lever 10 is unable to make contact with the drive member 12.

The dotted line 25 indicates the path of an end of the protuberance 17 as the release lever is moved from the resting position shown to a release position. It can be seen that the end of the protuberance 17 misses the drive member 12 and so no force can be transmitted from the release lever 10 to the drive member 12 and consequently no movement of the 10 locking lever 11 will occur. Therefore, even if the release lever 10 is moved fully to its released position no rotation of the locking lever 11 will occur and so the latch mechanism 6 will remain latched and the door 5 cannot be opened. In this state the latch mechanism 6 is said to be locked because operation of the handle assembly will not effect release of the latch mechanism and so there is no way of releasing the door 5.

15 It will be appreciated that because the movement of the locking lever 11 disengages the drive between the release lever 10 and the control cable 8 there is no way of forcing the mechanism to produce actuation of the latch mechanism 6 and so a high degree of security is provided. In addition, movement of the release lever 10 when the locking lever 11 is in the locked position will not cause any damage to the handle assembly because the release 20 lever is allowed to freewheel and is not prevented from movement as was the case in the prior art.

Although the embodiment described relates specifically to a door handle assembly for use within the passenger compartment of the motor vehicle it will be appreciated that the invention is equally applicable for use in relation to an externally mounted door handle 25 assembly. However in this case, the locking lever would not be accessible to a person wishing to gain entry to the vehicle and would be moved by remotely controlled means.

For example, the locking lever could be moved by an electric solenoid controlled by a remote transmitter forming part of a security system of the motor vehicle. Such actuation is often referred to a central door locking.

In the case of a door assembly fitted with both internal and external door handle 5 assemblies according to the invention the latch mechanism would be connected by a first control cable to the external door handle assembly and a second control cable to the internal door handle assembly either of which could release the latch mechanism.

Although the locking lever and the release lever as described herein are located on a common axis it will be appreciated that this need not be the case and they could be 10 rotatable about separate axes.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention has been described by way of example and that alternative constructions or modifications to the provided embodiment could be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

- 8 CLAIMS

1. A door handle assembly for a vehicle door lock system comprising a pivotally supported release lever for movement between a resting position and a release position, a pivotally supported locking lever for movement between locked and unlocked positions, the locking lever being adapted for attachment to a link means used to connected the door handle assembly to a door latch mechanism, and a drive member arranged between the levers and connected with the locking lever so that, on the one hand, in an unlocked position of the locking lever, the drive member is moved with the release lever via an abutment surface arranged on the release lever and displaces the locking lever to actuate the link means and release the latch mechanism and, on the other hand, in a locked position of the locking lever, the drive member is moved to a position in which contact between the release lever and the drive member will not occur when the release lever is moved to the release position.

2. A door handle assembly as claimed in claim 1 in which the drive member is an elongate member pivotally supported at one end and driveably connected to the locking member.

3. A door handle assembly as claimed in claim 2 in which the locking member has a drive peg for co-operation with a slot in the drive member to form the driveable connection therebetween.

4. A door handle assembly as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3 and further comprising a backplate used to pivotally support the locking and release levers.

5. A door handle assembly as claimed in claim 4 in which the backplate is in use fastened to part of a door of the motor vehicle.

6. A door handle assembly as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5 in which the release lever and the locking lever are rotatable about a common axis.

- 9 -

7. A vehicle door lock system substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

8. A door handle assembly substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

9. A vehicle door assembly substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.