Motor vehicle door lock

Abstract

The invention relates to a motor vehicle door lock, having at least one housing (3) and at least one lever (5) mounted rotatably about an axis (4) in the housing (3), wherein the lever (5) can be coupled to an actuating element (6) disposed outside the housing (3) and for this purpose passes through an opening in the housing (7), and the lever (5) has a cover (8) which substantially completely closes the housing opening (7) when viewed over the entire travel path(s) thereof.

Claims

1. A motor vehicle door lock comprising: a housing; a pivotably accommodated lever that comprises an outside lever portion exposed outside the housing and configured to be connected to an actuating element arranged outside the housing, and an opposed inside lever portion that comprises a pivotal portion defining an axis of rotation and mounting the lever in the housing, the lever is configured to pass through a housing aperture, wherein the pivotal portion defines a cover that predominantly completely seals the housing aperture over its entire distance; wherein the cover and the housing aperture are arch-shaped; and wherein the cover and the housing aperture run radially compared to the axis for the lever.

2. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1, wherein the cover is connected to the lever roughly centrally compared to a lengthwise extension of the lever.

3. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1, wherein the cover subdivides the lever into an internal lever section inside the housing and an external lever section outside of the housing (3).

4. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 3, wherein the internal lever section interacts with a limiting stop as an open circular segment section.

5. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 4, wherein the external lever section is designed as a lug section protruding from the housing.

6. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1, wherein the cover and the housing aperture are equipped with a largely concurrent radius compared to the axis.

7. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1, wherein the housing aperture is formed as an arched slot, in particular a circular arched slot slit with a specified slot width and arch length.

8. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 7, wherein the cover is designed as an arched bar, in particular a circular arched bar with a specified bar width and bar length.

9. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 8, wherein the bar length of the arched bar exceeds the arch length of the arched slot by a specified amount.

10. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 9, wherein the specified amount at least takes into account permitted pivot angle of the lever.

11. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1, wherein the cover is arranged with roughly the same overhang on both sides of the housing aperture in each instance in the at rest position of the lever.

12. The motor vehicle door lock according to claim 1, wherein the lever including the cover is formed as a single-part plastic component.

13. The motor vehicle door latch according to claim 1, wherein the lever including the cover is formed as a single-part plastic injection-molded component.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The invention will be explained in greater detail below with reference to the drawing that shows just one exemplary embodiment, wherein:

(2) FIG. 1 shows the motor vehicle door lock according to the invention, and

(3) FIG. 2 shows a different view of the motor vehicle door lock according to FIG. 1 with a partially opened housing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(4) The figures show a motor vehicle door lock having a locking mechanism 1, 2. FIG. 2 only shows the locking pawl 1 of the locking mechanism 1, 2 whereas the associated rotary latch 2 is only hinted at. The motor vehicle door lock also comprises a housing 3 and a lever 5 that is mounted rotatably about an axis 4 in the housing 3. The lever 5 is not restrictively just an outside locking lever 5. In addition to the lever 5, other levers are disposed in the housing 3 but are not shown here for the sake of clarity.

(5) The lever 5 can be coupled with an actuating element 6 disposed outside the housing 3 and only hinted at in FIG. 1. The actuating element 6 in this embodiment is a locking cylinder by means of which the lever or outside locking lever 5 can be brought into the functional positions unlocked or locked, as described in detail in the prior art documents cited above.

(6) A housing opening 7 is provided so that the lever 5 can be coupled with the actuating element 6 disposed outside the housing 3. The lever 5 passes through the housing opening 7. According to the invention, the lever 5 comprises a cover 8 to prevent moisture or dirt from penetrating through the housing opening 7 into the housing 3. The cover 8 ensures that the housing opening 7 is substantially completely closed over the travel path of the lever 5.

(7) When comparing FIGS. 1 and 2, it becomes apparent that the lever 5 is largely configured in two parts. The lever 5 is actually composed of an inside lever portion 5a disposed inside the housing 3 and outside lever portion 5b disposed outside the housing 3. The above-mentioned and described mechanical connection to the actuating element 6 disposed away from the motor vehicle door lock is achieved via the outside lever portion 5b of the lever 5. This can typically be achieved using rods, Bowden cables, etc. Anyhow, a connecting element 9 only schematically shown in FIG. 1 located between the actuating element 6 and the lever 5 or its outside lever portion 5b is used at this point.

(8) The inside lever portion 5a is designed as an open circle segment part 5a and encompasses on its inside a limit stop 10. This limit stop 10 ensures together with the configuration of the inside lever portion 5a as a circle segment part 5a that the lever or outside locking lever 5, respectively, can cover a specific swing angle indicated in FIG. 2. This includes the travel path s of the lever 5 mentioned above. In contrast, the outside lever portion 5b is mostly designed as a tab part 5b projecting from the housing 3. The connecting element 9 can be coupled to the tab part 5b in question on the one hand and to the actuating element 6 on the other hand to achieve the desired mechanical connection between the actuating element or locking cylinder 6 and the tab part 5b or the lever or outside locking lever 5, respectively.

(9) When comparing FIGS. 1 and 2, it becomes apparent that the cover 8 is connected to the lever 5 approximately at the center of the longitudinal extension of the same. In this embodiment, the lever 5 is indeed an integral component 5, 8. In this example, the integral component 5, 8 is designed as an injection-molded plastic part 5, 8 that combines the lever 5 and the cover 8.

(10) The cover 8 divides the lever 5 into the inside lever portion 5a inside the housing 3 and the outside lever portion 5b outside the housing as described above. The cover 8 and the housing opening 7 are each generally arched. It becomes apparent from FIG. 2 that the cover 8 and the housing opening 7 each extend radially to the axis 4. The cover 8 and the housing opening 7 typically comprise a largely matching radius R relative to said axis 4.

(11) In this way, the housing opening 7 is designed in its entirety as an arched slit, in particular a circular arc slit 7. The housing opening 7 or circular arc slit 7, respectively, has a predetermined and constant slit width b, as becomes apparent from FIG. 1. The housing opening or circular arc slit 7 also has an associated arch length l.

(12) The cover 8 is designed corresponding to the housing opening 7 as an arched rib and in particular as a circular arc rib 8. The circular arc rib 8 has a predetermined rib width which is mostly constant over the length of the circular arc rib 8. The rib width of the circular arc rib 8 is approximately adjusted to the slit width b of the circular arc slit 7. In contrast, the arched rib 8 has a rib length t which exceeds the arch length l of the circular arc slit 7 by a predetermined measure M.

(13) It can indeed be seen in FIG. 2 that the lever 5, when brought into its resting position, or its cover 8 or circular arc rib 8, respectively, comprise approximately similar protrusions U on both sides relative to the housing opening 7 that is closed by means of the arched rib 8. The predetermined measure M by which the rib length t of the circular arc rib 8 exceeds the arch length l of the circular arc slit 7 is about equivalent to double the protrusion U, that is:
t=I+2U.

(14) This ensures that the housing opening 7 or the circular arc slit 7, respectively, is closed by means of the circular arc rib 8 when viewed over the entire travel path s of the lever 5. This is ensured by the protrusions U on both sides, which reflect the swing angle of the lever 5. In other words, the predetermined measure M is at least equivalent to the allowed swing angle of the lever 5 in one direction.