Patent GB-954592-A (GB)
Title: Apparatus for opening and closing the door of a vehicle
IPC: E05F15/12
Filed: 1962-01-11
Abstract: 954,592. Door operating appliances; remotely controlled fastenings. K. MARIYAMA. Jan. 11, 1962 [Jan. 11, 1961], No. 1138/62. Headings E2A and E2M. [Also in Division F2] Operating mechanism (Fig. 1) for a vehicle door comprises an electric motor 22 (not shown) driving the sun wheel 25 of an epicyclic gear 30 and a solenoid 43 adapted to place an obstruction 40 in'the path of rotation of one element 28 of the gear, the displacement of the obstruction by the gear element serving to withdraw the door latch (not shown) and the subsequent arrest of the gear element when the obstruction reaches the limit of its displacement causing the rotation in the opposite direction of another part 27 of the gear which imparts successive stages of opening movement to the door. The obstruction 40 can slide axially in a bush 41 in a lever 33 pivoted at 38, and is moved forward into the path of a claw 34 on the outer annulus 28 of the gear when the solenoid is energized by a lever 39 also pivoted at 38 and connected to the armature 44. The opening movement of the door is produced by a claw 36 carried by the planet cage 27 of the gear and adapted to engage in a series of notches 49, 50, 51 in a slidable push bar 35 connected by a rod 47 to a fixed part 46 of the vehicle body the mechanism being mounted within the door. When it is desired to open the door a switch (not shown) in the driver's compartment is operated to energize the solenoid and the motor, and the sun wheel 25, together with the planet cage 27 and annulus 28, begin to turn in the clockwise direction. As soon as the claw 36 engages the notch 51 the rotation of the cage 27 is arrested (since the door is latched) and the annulus at once begins to rotate in the anti-clockwise direction until the claw 34 meets the obstruction 40 and tilts it, together with the lever 33, to unlatch the door by pulling on a Bowden wire 32. When the door is unlatched the obstruction 40 abuts a fixed stop 54 and thereby arrests the rotation of the annulus 28, so that the cage 27 again rotates in the clockwise direction and opens the door in the three successive stages as the claw 36 enters the notches 51, 50, 49 in turn. When the door is to be closed the switch is set so that the solenoid is again energized and the motor is driven in the reverse direction, the anticlockwise rotation of the sun wheel 25 causing the cage and annulus to begin to rotate in the same direction. As soon as the claw 36 enters the notch 49 and takes the load of the door the rotation of the cage is temporarily arrested and the annulus rotates in the clockwise direction until the claw 34 meets the lower side of the obstruction 40 and tilts it upwards into engagement with a second fixed stop 53. The anti-clockwise rotation of the cage then recommences and the door is closed. The components of the epicyclic gear 30 have friction surfaces, but in a modification, Fig. 10, normal toothed gears are employed. In this embodiment the centre notch 63 of the push bar 35 is deeper than the notches 62, 64 so that the door moves further during the second stage of opening or closing movement, and shock-absorbing springs 84, 85 are provided in the connection between the push bar and the connecting rod 86. The latch-releasing wire 32 is pulled by a hook lever 60 pivoted on a fixed pin 77 slidable in a slot 76 in the lever, energization of the solenoid 43 causing the armature 44 to rise and tilt the lever about the pin 77 so that its hook end 75 engages in one of a series of notches 61 formed in the annulus 28 of the gear. The part 74 of the lever is flexible so that the hook 75 can remain in engagement with the notches as the annulus turns, the engagement being maintained by an outer frame 73. In either embodiment the push bar 35 may have more or less than three notches.