DOOR LOCK, IN PARTICULAR MOTOR VEHICLE DOOR LOCK

Abstract

A door lock, in particular a motor vehicle door lock. This lock is provided with a locking mechanism substantially formed by a rotary latch and at least one pawl. A lever chain is also provided for directly or indirectly acting on the locking mechanism. The lever chain has at least one actuation lever and an actuated lever optionally acted upon by the actuation lever. In addition, at least one damping element is created for the lever chain. According to the invention, the damping element is arranged on the actuation lever and/or the actuated lever.

Claims

1. A door lock comprising: a locking mechanism including a rotary latch and at least one pawl, a lever chain for directly or indirectly acting on the locking mechanism, the lever chain having at least one actuation lever and an actuated lever acted upon by the actuation lever, and a damping element for the lever chain, wherein the damping element is arranged on one of the actuation lever or the actuated lever.

2. The door lock according to claim 1, wherein the damping element is formed having a cavity and the cavity is compressed in an actuation direction during actuation contact between actuation lever and the actuated lever.

3. The door lock according to claim 2, wherein the cavity is concavely curved with respect to the actuation direction.

4. The door lock according to claim 2, wherein the cavity forms part of a buffer pocket.

5. The door lock according to claim 1, wherein the damping element is arranged at an edge of a metallic contact surface.

6. The door lock according to claim 5, wherein the damping element projects beyond the metallic contact surface counter to the actuation direction.

7. The door lock according to claim 5, wherein the damping element interacts with a damping stop, while a contact stop moves against the metallic contact surface.

8. The door lock according to claim 7, wherein the damping stop and the contact stop are at a distance from one another in the actuation direction.

9. The door lock according to claim 8, wherein the damping element projects beyond the metallic contact surface by an amount which is greater than the distance between the damping stop and the contact stop.

10. The door lock according to claim 1, wherein the damping element is part of a plastics casing which completely or partially encloses a metal core of the actuation lever and/or of the actuated lever.

11. The door lock according to claim 1, wherein the damping element is arranged at an edge of a contact surface, and the damping element projects beyond the contact surface counter to the actuation direction.

12. The door lock according to claim 11, wherein the damping element interacts with a damping stop while a contact stop moves against the contact surface, and the damping stop and the contact stop are at a distance from one another in the actuation direction.

13. The door lock according to claim 12, wherein the damping element projects beyond the contact surface by an amount which is greater than the distance between the damping stop and the contact stop.

14. The door lock according to claim 1, wherein the damping element is made of a plastic material that elastically deforms.

15. The door lock according to claim 2, wherein the cavity is defined between two longitudinal walls of the damping element.

Description

[0022] The invention is explained in greater detail below with reference to drawings which show only one exemplary embodiment and in which:

[0023] FIGS. 1 and 2 show the door lock according to the invention, and in particular the motor vehicle door lock, reduced to the components essential to the invention and

[0024] FIG. 3 is an enlarged view from FIGS. 1 and 2 in the region of a contact surface between the two primarily shown levers.

[0025] The drawings show a door lock, which is not limited to a motor vehicle door lock. This door lock has a locking mechanism (not shown in greater detail) consisting substantially of a rotary latch and at least one pawl. A lever chain 1, 2 operates on the locking mechanism (not shown). The lever chain 1, 2 can generally be an actuation lever chain for acting on the locking mechanism in a manual and/or motorized manner. In principle, the lever chain 1, 2 shown in particular in FIGS. 1 and 2 in different perspectives can also be designed as a locking lever chain and in this case ensures that the locking mechanism is indirectly acted upon, as has been explained in the introduction to the description.

[0026] The basic design of the door lock or motor vehicle door lock in this case also includes at least one damping element 3 for the lever chain 1, 2. The damping element 3 can in this case be arranged on the actuation lever 1 and/or on the actuated lever 2 as part of the lever chain 1, 2. In fact, the design according to the exemplary embodiment is such that, by means of the actuation lever 1, the actuated lever 2 interacting therewith is acted upon, specifically pivoted. For this purpose, the actuation lever 1, for example in the view according to FIG. 1, can be pivoted about the axis thereof in the indicated counterclockwise direction. As a result, the end damping stop 1a and the contact stop 1b of the actuation lever 1 approaches an, in particular metal, contact surface 4 or counter-contact surface on the actuated lever 2.

[0027] The damping element 3 between the two levers 1, 2 is equipped with a cavity 7 which can be compressed in the indicated actuation direction B. The cavity 7 is in this case defined between two longitudinal walls 5, 6 of the damping element 3. The cavity 7 in question can be compressed in the actuation direction B, as indicated in particular in FIG. 3, which shows the compressed state of the cavity 7 in a dash-dotted line.

[0028] In fact, in the case of an interaction between the actuation lever 1 and the actuated lever 2 acted upon thereby, the cavity 7 in question is initially compressed, specifically until the two longitudinal walls 5, 6 rest against one another. In the case of longitudinal walls 5, 6 resting on one another, a further movement of the actuation lever 1 with respect to the actuated lever 2 in the actuation direction B, in addition to this initially macroscopic deformation of the damping means 3, leads to the plastics material used to provide the damping element 3 being intramolecularly elastically deformed, as has already been described in the introduction.

[0029] On the basis of the figures, it can be seen that the cavity 7 is concavely curved with respect to the actuation direction B; i.e. it is curved inward in the actuation direction B. In addition, the cavity 7 as a whole is designed as part of a buffer pocket. The entire damping element 3 is part of a plastics casing 8 which largely encloses a metal core 9 of the actuated lever 2 in the example. The metal contact surface 4, inter alia, is excluded from this. By contrast, the actuation lever 1 is preferably designed as a metal lever without such a plastics casing, such that both the damping stop 1a and the contact stop 1b of the actuation lever 1 are made of metal.

[0030] The damping element 3 is arranged on the edge of the, in particular metal, contact surface 4. In addition, on the basis of a comparison of FIGS. 1 and 3, it can be seen that the damping element 3 projects beyond the, in particular metal, contact surface 4 counter to the actuation direction B, specifically by an amount C. This amount C is in this case greater than a distance A between the damping stop 1a and the contact stop 1b on the actuation lever 1, specifically in the actuation device B.

[0031] The mode of operation is as follows. As soon as the actuation lever 1 is acted upon in a counterclockwise direction in accordance with the view in FIG. 1, specifically in a manual and/or motorized manner, for example, the end damping stop 1a moves in the direction of the damping element 3, while the contact stop 1b of the, in particular metal, contact surface 4 approaches the actuated lever 2. In this case, there is initially contact between the damping stop 1a on the actuation lever 1 and the damping element 3 or the longitudinal wall 5 thereof that faces outward and is concavely curved in the actuation direction B. This can be attributed to the fact that the damping element 3 projects beyond the, in particular metal, contact surface 4 of the actuated lever 2 by the amount C, which is greater than the distance A between the damping stop 1a and the contact stop 1b on the actuation lever 1. In any case, the damping stop 1a on the actuation lever 1 first moves counter to the damping element 3 or the concavely curved outer longitudinal wall 5 thereof.

[0032] If the actuation lever 1 is further acted upon in the counterclockwise direction, the damping stop 1a resting against the concavely curved outer longitudinal wall 5 results in the cavity 7 between the two longitudinal walls 5, 6 being compressed, as indicated by the dash-dotted line in FIG. 3. After the actuation lever 1 has completed a certain damped path, the end contact stop 1b of said actuation lever moves against the, in particular metal, contact surface 4 or counter-contact surface on the actuated lever 2. Only now is the actuated lever 2 acted upon by the actuation lever 1, according to the exemplary embodiment in such a way that the actuated lever 2 executes a counterclockwise movement about the axis thereof that is indicated in FIG. 1.

[0033] During the damped movement of the actuation lever 1 as well as of the actuated lever 2 that is achieved in this way, the cavity 7 of the damping element 3 is initially compressed, specifically until the concave longitudinal walls 5, 6 which enclose the cavity 7 therebetween rest against one another. In most cases, the contact stop 1b at the latest then reaches the, in particular metal, contact surface 4 on the actuated lever 2. In principle, however, the plastics material of the damping element 3 can initially be further intramolecularly elastically deformed until the contact stop 1b on the actuation lever 1 has reached the metal contact surface 4 on the actuated lever 2. However, this is not shown in detail.

[0034] After the actuated lever 2 has been acted upon by the actuation lever 1, the actuation lever 1 is generally reset, for example by spring force. The same may apply to the actuated lever 2. In this case, the actuated lever 2 can be moved toward the actuation lever 1, which, for example, is in the basic position thereof. Such a rebound is then additionally damped by means of the damping element 3 between the two levers 1, 2, as, during this rebound process, the damping element 3 again ensures that the damping element 3 or the outer longitudinal wall 5 thereof initially comes to rest against the damping stop 1a of the actuation lever 1 and said rebound movement is dampened as a result. Metal contact between the contact stop 1b on the actuation lever 1 and the metal contact surface 4 on the actuated lever 2 is therefore not observed and prevented.

REFERENCE SIGNS

[0035] Actuation lever 1 [0036] Damping stop 1a [0037] Contact stop 1b [0038] Lever chain 1, 2 [0039] Lever 2 [0040] Damping element 3 [0041] Contact surface 4 [0042] Longitudinal walls 5, 6 [0043] Cavity 7 [0044] Plastics casing 8 [0045] Distance A [0046] Actuation direction B [0047] Amount C