MOTOR VEHICLE LOCK, IN PARTICULAR MOTOR VEHICLE DOOR LOCK

Abstract

A motor vehicle lock, in particular a motor vehicle door lock, comprising a locking mechanism consisting essentially of a rotary latch and a pawl, further comprising an actuation lever chain for the locking mechanism, and comprising a locking element, at least one securing element, and exactly one spring element that cooperates with both the locking element and the securing element. The actuation lever chain can be controlled via the locking element to be put at least into the functional states “unlocked” and “locked” and can be additionally controlled via the securing element to be put into the functional states “non-secured” and “secured.” According to the invention, the spring element additionally cooperates with the actuation lever chain.

Claims

1. A motor vehicle lock comprising: a locking mechanism having a rotary latch and a pawl, an actuation lever chain for the locking mechanism, and a locking element, a securing element, and exactly one spring element that cooperates with both the locking element and the securing element, wherein the actuation lever chain is controlled via the locking element to be put at least into one of a functional unlocked state or a functional locked state and additionally is controlled via the securing element to be put into one of a functional non-secured state and a functional secured state, and wherein the spring element also cooperates with the actuation lever chain.

2. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 1, wherein the spring element is connected to an actuation lever of the actuation lever chain.

3. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 1, wherein the spring element is a leg spring having a leg base to which two spring legs are connected, and the leg base is connected to the actuation lever.

4. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 3, wherein the leg base surrounds a bearing portion of the actuation lever.

5. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 1, wherein the spring element has a lever spring leg that bears against a stop of the actuation lever.

6. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 1, wherein the spring element has a spring leg element that interacts with both with the locking element and with the securing element.

7. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 6, wherein the spring leg element secures a respective position of both the locking element and the securing element.

8. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 7, wherein the spring leg element is equipped with two lugs, and each of the two lugs cooperates with an associated cam on each of the locking element and the securing element to secure the respective position.

9. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 8, wherein a respective one of the functional states of the locking element or the securing element corresponds to a position of the associated cam on either side of a respective one of the two lugs.

10. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the locking element and the securing element is equipped with a toothed segment and/or an actuating arm for a rotational actuation.

11. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 8, wherein the functional locked state of the locking element corresponds to a position of the cam on the locking element on a first side of an associated one of the two lugs, and the functional unlocked state of the locking element corresponds to a position of the cam on the other side of the associated one of the two lugs.

12. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 10, further comprising a drive having a drive motor and a worm gear that engages with the toothed segment.

13. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 10, wherein the actuating arm is manually actuatable.

14. The motor vehicle lock according to claim 1, wherein the actuation lever chain includes an external actuation lever and a release lever mounted about a common axis.

Description

[0027] The invention is explained in greater detail below with reference to drawings which show only one exemplary embodiment. In the drawings:

[0028] FIG. 1A, 1B, to 4 show the motor vehicle lock or motor vehicle door lock according to the invention in the functional positions “unlocked”, “locked”, “non-secured,” and finally “secured.”

[0029] In the figures, a motor vehicle lock and in particular a motor vehicle door lock is shown. This has, in its basic structure, a locking mechanism (not shown in detail) consisting of a rotary latch and a pawl and an actuation lever chain 1, 4. According to the exemplary embodiment and for reasons of clarity, the actuation lever chain 1, 4 is reduced to an external actuation lever 1 and a release lever 4 to be described in more detail below. The external actuation lever 1 is mounted in a lock housing 3 such that it can rotate about an axis 2.

[0030] The release lever 4 is also rotatably mounted in the lock housing 3 in question about the same axis 2.

[0031] The external actuation lever 1 and the release lever 4 can be connected to one another in a quasi-rigid manner via an only partially recognizable coupling lever 5 in its “engaged” state. This corresponds to the “unlocked” state of a locking element 6 which in turn is also mounted in the lock housing 3 such that it can rotate about an axis 7.

[0032] The locking element 6 serves to transfer the coupling lever 5 into its “engaged” and “disengaged” position. The first-mentioned state corresponds to the functional position “unlocked” (FIG. 1A) of the locking element 6, whereas the second-mentioned state “disengaged” of the coupling lever 5 corresponds to the functional position “locked” (FIG. 2) of the locking element 6. In fact, the coupling lever 5 is shown only in the front view of FIG. 1A. The rear view of FIG. 1B and the other FIGS. 2 to 4 correspond to this. In FIG. 1A and 1B, the “unlocked” state is shown as a solid line and is assigned to the “engaged” position of the coupling lever 5. The “locked” state, which is assigned to the “disengaged” state of the coupling lever 5, is shown in dash-dotted lines.

[0033] If the locking element 6 is in its “unlocked” functional state, the external actuation lever 1 and the release lever 4 are coupled to one another in a quasi-rigid manner via the coupling lever 5, so that an application of force to the external actuation lever 1 in the counterclockwise direction indicated results in the release lever 4 following the external actuation lever 1 counterclockwise about the common axis 2 in its movement. As a result, a stop 4a on the release lever 4 can move against the pawl (not shown in detail) which is thereby lifted from its engagement with the rotary latch, so that a locking pin previously caught by the locking mechanism is released. The associated motor vehicle door can be opened (cf. FIG. 1A).

[0034] In addition to the locking element 6, a securing element 8 is also shown in the figures, which is an anti-theft securing element 8 or a child-protection securing element within the scope of the exemplary embodiment and not restrictively.

[0035] The securing element 8 is mounted in relation to the lock housing 3 such that it can be pivoted about an axis 9 comparable to the locking element 6.

[0036] The locking element 6 has an actuating arm 6a on which a drive 10 (only indicated) can act and ensures that the locking element 6 is pivoted about the axis 7 when changing its respective functional state. In principle, the locking element 6 can also be pivoted manually about the axis 7, but this is not shown (cf. FIG. 1B).

[0037] The securing element 8 also has an associated drive 11. For this purpose, the securing element 8 in the exemplary embodiment is equipped with a toothed segment 8a, in which a worm gear 12 driven by the drive 11 engages. As a result, the securing element or anti-theft securing element 8 can pivot about its axis 9 in order to be able to assume the different functional states “secured” and “non-secured” (cf. FIG. 1A).

[0038] The actuation lever chain 1, 4 can now be controlled via the locking element 6 in the already described functional states “unlocked” and “locked” and additionally via the securing element 8 in the functional states “non-secured” and “secured.” In addition and according to the invention, both the locking element 6 and the securing element 8 are assigned a spring element 13 that cooperates therewith. In the context of the exemplary embodiment, the design is such that the spring element 13 in question serves to secure the position of both the locking element 6 and the securing element 8 and, according to the invention, also cooperates with the actuation lever chain 1, 4, i.e., takes on a triple function.

[0039] For this purpose, the spring element 13 is connected to the actuation lever or external actuation lever 1 of the actuation lever chain 1, 4. It can be seen that the spring element 13, as a leg spring, is equipped with a leg base 13a and two spring legs 13b and 13c. The two spring legs 13b and 13c are mostly connected tangentially to the leg base 13a.

[0040] The leg base 13a is in turn connected or coupled to the actuation lever or external actuation lever 1. For this purpose, the design within the scope of the exemplary embodiment is such that the leg base 13a surrounds a bearing portion of the actuation lever 1 in question, this bearing portion in turn accommodating a bearing pin for mounting the actuation lever 1 (not expressly shown) in its interior.

[0041] The spring element 13 rests with its one lever spring leg 13b on a stop 14 of the actuation lever 1. As a result, the lever spring leg 13b of the spring element 13 in question is tensioned during the indicated opening movement of the actuation lever or external actuation lever 1 in the counterclockwise direction. After the actuation of the actuation lever 1 has ended, the tensioned lever spring leg 13b consequently ensures that the actuation lever 1 is returned to the starting position with its help (cf. FIG. 1A).

[0042] In addition, the spring element 13 rests with its other element spring leg 13c on both the locking element 6 and the securing element 8, or in this way can cooperate with both elements 6, 8 with its element spring leg 13c. That is, the element spring leg 13c serves to secure the respective position of the associated respective element 6, 8, i.e., both the locking element 6 and the securing element 8.

[0043] For this purpose, the element spring leg 13 is equipped with two lugs 15, 16. The two lugs 15, 16 cooperate with respectively associated cams 17, 18. The cam 17 is arranged on the locking element 6, whereas the other cam 18 is on the securing element 8. The cooperation between the two lugs 15, 16 and the associated cams 17, 18 ensures that the relevant element 6, 8, i.e., the locking element 6 or the securing element 8, is secured in position.

[0044] In fact, the respective functional state of the element 6, 8 corresponds, on the one hand, to a position of the associated cam 17, 18 on this side and, on the other hand, to a position of the associated lug 15, 16 on the other side. This can be seen in the figures. As a result, the associated functional element 6, 8 can assume bistable functional states in the sense of “unlocked” and “locked” for the locking element 6 on the one hand and “non-secured” and “secured” on the part of the securing element 8 on the other.

[0045] The two elements 6, 8 can in each case assume the previously mentioned functional states independently of one another and reproduce these functional states. This is ensured by the respectively associated and differently controllable respective drives; on the one hand the drive 10 for the locking element 6 and on the other hand the further drive 11 for the securing element 8. As a result, the functional states shown in the individual figures can basically be realized and implemented in a combined manner in terms of “unlocked” and “non-secured” (FIG. 1A, 1B) and “secured” (FIG. 4) and also “locked” in conjunction again with “non-secured” (FIG. 2) and “secured” (FIG. 3).

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0046] 1, 4 Actuation lever chain

[0047] 1 Actuation lever

[0048] 4 Release lever

[0049] 2, 7, 9 Axis

[0050] 3 Lock housing

[0051] 5 Coupling lever

[0052] 6 Locking element

[0053] 6a Actuating arm

[0054] 8 Securing element

[0055] 8a Toothed segment

[0056] 10, 11 Drive

[0057] 12 Worm gear

[0058] 13 Spring element

[0059] 13a Leg base

[0060] 13b Spring leg

[0061] 13c Spring leg

[0062] 14 Stop

[0063] 15, 16 Lugs

[0064] 17, 18 Cam