Motor vehicle door lock

Abstract

A motor vehicle door lock having a locking mechanism substantially comprising a rotary latch and pawl as locking mechanism components. In addition, at least one lever is implemented as a constituent part of an actuating and/or locking lever chain. The motor vehicle door lock also has at least one bearing pin for supporting the relevant locking mechanism component and/or the lever in a housing. Also provided is a bearing sleeve, which can be inserted into an opening in the locking mechanism component and/or the lever and is built up from at least two sleeve elements for the bearing pin. According to the invention, one sleeve element has a socket reaching through the opening. The socket engages in a substantially dimensionally stable manner in a plug receptacle of the other sleeve element.

Claims

1. A motor vehicle door lock comprising: a locking mechanism having a catch and a pawl as locking mechanism components, a bearing pin for pivotable accommodation of one of the locking mechanism components in a housing, and a bearing sleeve insertable into an aperture of the one of the locking mechanism components, the bearing sleeve having at least two sleeve elements for the bearing pin, wherein one of the at least two sleeve elements has a socket passing through the aperture which engages in a dimensionally stable manner into a plug receptacle of another one of the at least two sleeve elements, wherein the socket has a rounded regular polygonal external profile and wherein the plug receptacle has a rounded regular polygonal internal profile that is complementary to the rounded regular polygonal external profile of the socket, wherein the one of the at least two sleeve elements has a first base area having an outer first sleeve element perimeter that is equal in shape and size relative to an outer second sleeve element perimeter of a second base area of another one of the at least two sleeve elements.

2. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1, wherein the socket is formed as a cuboid having a central boring and standing on a base area of the one of the at least two sleeve elements.

3. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1, wherein the socket has rounded edges in corner areas on the rounded regular polygonal external profile.

4. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1, wherein the socket has a central boring to accommodate the bearing pin.

5. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1, wherein the plug receptacle is formed as a rectangular fitting in a base area of the one of the at least two sleeve elements.

6. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1, wherein the plug receptacle has rounded edges in corner areas.

7. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1, wherein the at least two sleeve elements are coupled by a connecting bridge.

8. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 7, wherein the at least two sleeve elements and the connecting bridge form a single-component constructional element.

9. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 8, wherein the single-component constructional element is a carbon injection-molded component.

10. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 4, wherein the central boring has a shape that is different than a shape of the rounded regular polygonal external profile and the rounded regular polygonal internal profile.

11. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1, wherein the socket is formed of a plurality of side surfaces that are connected by rounded corners to define the rounded regular polygonal external profile.

12. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 11, wherein the plurality of side surfaces form a closed boundary around a central boring that receives the bearing pin, the central boring being closed to outside the side surfaces.

13. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 11, wherein all of the plurality of side surfaces have a same shape and size.

Description

(1) The invention is explained in further detail hereafter on the basis of a drawing which only constitutes an exemplary embodiment. The following are shown:

(2) FIG. 1 a perspective view of sections of a motor vehicle door lock according to the invention,

(3) FIG. 2 the bearing sleeve to be installed on the locking mechanism component in detail constructed from the two sleeve elements and

(4) FIG. 3 a cross-section through the pawl with the bearing sleeve according to FIG. 1.

(5) A motor vehicle door lock is diagrammatically illustrated in a perspective view in FIG. 1. This has a housing 1 which, in the present case, is designed as a metallic latch case and in which in the exemplary embodiment a locking mechanism 2, 3 consisting of a catch 2 and a pawl 3 is accommodated. In addition, further levers may also be accommodated in the housing 1 which is not illustrated, however. Furthermore, instead of the metallic latch case as a housing 1 a plastic housing lid can also be used. This is also not shown. The non-illustrated lever may be designed as a component of an operating and/or locking lever chain.

(6) In the exemplary embodiment, a bearing pin 4 is provided for for the pivotable accommodation of the relevant locking mechanism component 3 in the housing 1. The locking mechanism component 3 within the scope of the example is, in the present case, the pawl 3. In principle, the catch 2 can also be accommodated, as described in further detail below.

(7) In fact, a bearing sleeve 5, 6, 7 is provided for which is illustrated in detail in FIG. 2. The bearing sleeve 5, 6, 7 has two sleeve elements 5, 6 for the bearing pin 4. According to the invention, a sleeve element 5 has a socket 5a which engages into a plug receptacle 6a of the other sleeve element 6 in a substantially dimensionally stable and frictionally engaged manner. The socket 5a is one with a polygonal external profile. In fact, according to FIG. 2 the socket 5a is formed as an open cuboid standing on a base area 5b of the pertaining sleeve element 5.

(8) It is apparent that the socket 5a has rounded edges in each instance on its external surface in the corner area. Furthermore, the socket 5a has a rectangular external profile which is quadratic according to the exemplary embodiment. The quadratic external profile is equipped with the already stated rounded edges in the respective corner area. Furthermore, the socket 5a has a central boring 8 which accommodates and leads the bearing pin 4. The central boring 8 is of a cylindrical design in the exemplary embodiment. Furthermore, the central boring 8 has an internal diameter which largely corresponds to the external diameter of the bearing pin 4 accommodated herein.

(9) The plug receptacle 6a is equipped with a polygonal internal profile adapted to the external profile of the socket 5a. The plug receptacle 6a is a rectangular and in particular a quadratic fitting in a base area 6b of the pertaining sleeve element 6. The plug receptacle 6a, like the socket 5a, has rounded edges respectively in its corner areas.

(10) Furthermore, it is apparent on the basis of FIG. 2 that the two sleeve elements 5, 6 are coupled by means of a connecting bridge 7. In the exemplary embodiment, the connecting bridge 7 is a film hinge. Thus, the two sleeve elements 5, 6 and the connecting bridge 7 or the film hinge 7 form a single-component constructional element. The present case in fact involves a plastic injection-molded component.

(11) In order to install the thus executed bearing sleeve 5, 6, 7 from the two sleeve elements 5, 6 and the connecting bridge or film hinge 7 a sleeve element or the upper sleeve element 5 is typically initially inserted with its socket 5a into an opening 9 of the locking mechanism component 3, in the present case the pawl 3. Simultaneously, the other or lower sleeve element 6 is folded over in a hinge-like manner so that both sleeve elements 5, 6 are adjacent on opposite surfaces of the locking mechanism component 3.

(12) As the socket 5a according to FIG. 3 has a length L which exceeds a material thickness S of the locking mechanism component or the pawl 3 the socket 5a protrudes over the lower surface of the locking mechanism component or the pawl 3 in FIG. 1. The pertaining protrusion Ü of the socket 5a with Ü=L−S thus has such dimensions that it corresponds as a maximum to the material thickness T of the base area 6b of the other or lower sleeve element 6 adjacent to this surface. Thus, the socket 5a can engage into the plug receptacle 6a in a dimensionally stable and frictionally engaged manner and is held by (adhesive) frictional forces as a result.

(13) Thus, as in the state of the art, the risk no (longer) exists of the sleeve elements 5, 6 leaving their functional position or “sliding” against one another in the attachment of the two sleeve elements 5, 6. Instead, it is ensured that the socket 5a is perfectly held in the opening 9 of the locking mechanism component or the pawl 3. Thus, the boring 8 is provided inside the socket 5a to accommodate the bearing pin 4. Furthermore, the respectively polygonal socket 5a with its external profile and the also polygonal plug receptacle 6a with its internal profile guarantee that any rotations are hereby caught between the two sleeve elements 5, 6. i.e. the two sleeve elements 5, 6 retain their described functional position by encompassing the locking mechanism component or the pawl 3 as described. Thus, the desired low-noise accommodation of the locking mechanism component or the pawl 3 is provided compared to the housing 1.