Patent Publication Number: US-8540293-B2

Title: Handle configuration

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF INVENTION 
     The invention concerns a gripping device for a door, especially for a vehicle door, comprising a pivotally mounted external grip, which is provided on the exterior side on an outer door shell designed with a grip recess in an inwardly directed, curved fashion, whereby the external grip has an internal first and second bearing arm. The first bearing arm is located on an axis of rotation, the external grip has an abutting face in each area of the first and second bearing arm, the abutting face is turned toward the outer shell of the door, and there is a gap between the abutting face and the outer shell of the door. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART 
     Such gripping devices are basically known from practice. With the aid of such gripping devices especially side doors on vehicles can be opened and closed. The external grip can be designed as a pull grip for this purpose that opens an attached vehicle door lock by means of a release lever. 
     This works of course only when the closing cylinder of the gripping device is not in locked position. Alternatively the external grip will be blocked or a no-load stroke will be carried out with regard to the release lever. The associated vehicle door lock can also be activated by a signal instead of a release lever. 
     Problems of tolerance always occur with known gripping devices that are particularly negative during the assembly of the gripping device on the door and also in a built-in configuration of the gripping device. Temperature and moisture are two of many influences that can cause material expansion of the individual components in the gripping device. Beyond that, the individual elements of the gripping device have their own individual tolerances that also must be considered during assembly. If the exterior grip is already assembled on the door, it has been observed that due to material expansion the external grip can jam inside the grip recess, which negatively influences the function of the gripping device. 
     The invention makes available a gripping device that avoids the above-named disadvantages and can be assembled without considerable effort, whereby existing or future tolerances will not essentially disturb the function of the gripping device. 
     According to the invention, it is provided that the external grip is rotatably mounted in a guide that is essentially fitted to the contour of the curve of the grip recess, whereby tolerance compensation is achievable through motion of the external grip along the guide without the external grip coming into contact with the outer shell of the door. 
     As for tolerances occurring possibly inside the gripping device, tolerance compensation can be achieved by means of the guide according to the invention without there being a functional disturbance of the gripping device during assembly or when it is already built in. The external grip is always held at a distance from the outer shell of the door, whereby tolerance compensation can preferably be achieved by the motion of the external grip and the gap between the surface and the outer shell of the door remains essentially constant. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, there is a gap in the range of between 0.5 mm and 3 mm. It is especially advantageous that the external grip is simultaneously supported to be rotatable with its first bearing arm for tolerance compensation in the guide, whereby a compact gripping device can be achieved. Depending on the given tolerance compensation there is relative displacement of the axis of rotation along the guide. The first bearing arm is advantageously located around the axis of rotation on a floating bearing, whereby the second bearing arm is attached inside the vehicle door on a fixed bearing. The second bearing arm can simply be activated from the vehicle door by manually pulling on the external grip, whereby the second bearing arm is kept immovable in the direction of the vehicle inside the door construction. According to the invention the guide may not be a reproduction on the grip recess of the contour of the outer shell of the door. It is sufficient that the direction of the guide runs nearly parallel to the curved outer shell of the door. The angle between an imaginary tangent applied to a relevant area of the outer shell of the door that is turned toward the abutting face at the first bearing arm and the direction of the guide is preferably less than 20°, more preferable less than 10°, and especially preferred when less than 5°. The above-mentioned relevant area of the outer shell of the door may in this connection be bowed but also linear. A seal is advantageously provided in the area of the passage of the first bearing arm in the outer shell of the door particularly in order to avoid penetration of moisture into the vehicle door. 
     In a further advantageous embodiment of the invention the second bearing arm is guided on a counter bearing that is provided on a bearing construction on the door side so that for tolerance compensation only the abutting face of the first bearing arm is displaceable along the outer shell of the door. The gripping device is designed in this embodiment of the invention such that essentially only the abutting face of the external grip on the first bearing arm moves along the curved outer shell of the door for tolerance compensation. There is for the most part no movement on the abutting face of the second bearing arm, since the second bearing arm is firmly held in the direction of the vehicle. Besides, displacement of the abutting face of the external grip on the first bearing arm is not noticeable to the observer. That means, for example, that tolerance compensation by possible material expansion is compensated exclusively on the floating bearing through a movement of the door grip parallel or nearly parallel with the bow-formed metal of the grip recess. Since expansion of material evinces itself mainly as a change of length in the external grip, compensatory tolerance serves essentially as compensation of length in the present invention. 
     It can further be advantageous that the first bearing arm ends in a bearing fork that is provided with the guide, whereby the guide accepts a bearing journal connected with the support construction on the door side and the bearing journal forms the axis of rotation. According to the invention it can additionally be provided that the guide is put on the support construction on the door side, whereby the first bearing arm at least in part is accepted through the guide. It is reasonable in this embodiment to form the first bearing arm with at least one journal that is held in the guide. During tolerance compensation the first bearing arm moves along the guide of the door side, whereby at the same time the external grip moves along the curved grip recess. The guide can, for example, be designed as a kind of guide bar in which the journal of the first bearing arm is displaceable. 
     The first bearing arm can in a further alternative of the invention have two bearing journals that are provided on either side of the bearing arm and extend into the guide. The first bearing arm is advantageously integrally connected with the journal and the external grip. The bearing arm with journal and external grip can be produced as a die-cast part of plastic or metal. It is further possible to produce the external grip, the first and second bearing arm, and the journal, which establishes the connection between the first bearing arm and the guide, of differing material. Depending on operational demands, it may make sense to use a plastic material that is reinforced by means of glass fibers and/or carbon fibers and/or aramide fibers. 
     The guide is advantageously linear or curved. With linear geometry the guide almost fits the contour of the curve of the grip recess, i.e. with regard to tolerance compensation the guide runs almost parallel with the contour of the grip recess of the above-mentioned relevant area of the outer shell of the door. Optimal tolerance compensation is achieved by a curved guide that represents an actual copy of the contour of the grip recess. In a possible embodiment of the invention the guide and the contour of the curve of the grip recess are formed to curve, whereby the smallest distance between the guide and contour of the curve remains constant, i.e. there are no intersections between the two curves. This kind of gradient is also understood to be “parallel”. 
     According to the invention the direction of the guide is at an angle α to the direction of the vehicle that is between 0°&lt;α≦50°, preferably between 20°&lt;α≦45°, and especially preferred between 25°&lt;α≦40°. The range of the angle is determined by the gradient of the relevant area of the outer shell of the door that is turned to be spaced toward the abutting face of the first bearing arm. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Further advantages, characteristics, and details of the invention can be seen from the following description in which examples of the invention are described in detail with reference to the drawings. The characteristics mentioned in the claims and in the description may be essential to the invention individually or in any random combination. 
         FIG. 1  shows a gripping device according to the invention with a first bearing arm that is in the shape of a fork. 
         FIG. 2  shows an alternative gripping device in which the first bearing arm is formed with a journal that extends into a guide on the door side and 
         FIG. 3  shows a cross-sectional view of the line of intersection III-III according to  FIG. 2 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1  shows a gripping device according to the invention that is mounted on a vehicle door. The gripping device has a pivotally mounted external grip  1  that has a first bearing arm  10  and a second bearing arm  20 . External door handle  1  is attached on the external side to outer door shell  3  with a grip recess  2  curved toward the inside. First bearing arm  10  is mounted on an axis of rotation  11 , whereby second bearing arm  20  is simply movable from out of the door in direction x. 
     Depicted external grip  1  is thus attached to the supporting construction on the door side by two bearings, whereby the area of first bearing arm  10  constitutes a floating bearing and the area of second bearing arm  20  a fixed bearing. External grip  1  has, in addition, an outer abutting face  5  turned toward outer door shell  3  each in the area of first bearing arm  10  and second bearing arm  20 . There is a gap  4  between abutting face  5  and outer door shell  3  that in the present example amounts approx. to 2 mm. 
     First bearing arm  10  is formed with a bearing fork at its end that is provided with guide  12 . A bearing journal  6  is accommodated in guide  12  that forms axis of rotation  11 . Bearing journal  6  is provided on the door side of the supporting construction that is not exemplarily shown. Guide  12  is almost parallel with relevant area B of curved door shell  3 . Tolerance compensation is effectuated by the floating bearing of first bearing arm  10  with any tolerance problems or expansion of material that essentially cause a change of length ΔL of the gripping device. In this case displacement of first bearing arm  10  occurs that is specified by the linear direction of guide  12 . 
     Material expansion due, for example, to differences in temperature of external grip  1  are compensated in the gripping device according to the invention so that the left gripping area for the most part displaces outwardly along relevant area B of door shell  3 , whereby gap  4  essentially remains constant. The movement of outer abutting face  5  of first bearing arm  10  is specified by guide  12  of first bearing arm  10 . In case the material shrinks, abutting face  5  of first bearing arm  10  moves in the opposite direction, i.e. into the interior of curved grip recess  2 , whereby the direction of movement is again specified by guide  12 . Also in this case there is no contact of external grip  1  with outer door shell  3 . 
     Possible movement of external grip  1  and of first bearing arm  10  is indicated by a double arrow in  FIG. 1 . During tolerance compensation that essentially corresponds to length compensation there is for the most part no movement of abutting face  5  of second bearing arm  20 , since second bearing arm  20  is held immobile in the y direction and can be displaced from the vehicle door only in the x direction by manual pulling. 
     As can be seen in  FIG. 1 , external grip  1  has a retainer  7  on the side facing second bearing arm  20  for a cylinder lock that is not shown. When the user activates external grip  1 , i.e. pulls external grip away from the door, external grip  1  turns around axis of rotation  11 , whereby there is no displacement of first bearing arm  10  along guide  12 , since second bearing arm  20  is fixed and mounted to be immovable in the y direction. In the present example the bearing fork of first bearing arm  10  is provided with a limit stop  13 . Displacement of first bearing arm  10  for tolerance compensation can thus be maximally effected up to contact of bearing journal  6  with limit stop  13 . 
     A further alternative of the gripping device according to the invention is shown in  FIG. 2 . Here the area of first bearing arm  10  represents the floating bearing and the area of second bearing arm  20  represents the fixed bearing of external grip  1 , too. One of the essential differences is simply that first bearing arm  10  and guide  31  are formed differently for tolerance compensation. At the end of first bearing arm  10  two bearing journals  8  are provided that extend into guide  31 , which is also shown in  FIG. 3 . In this embodiment of the invention first bearing arm  10  has on each side a bearing journal  8  that extends at its free end into guide  31  on the support construction on the door side and is guided by it during tolerance compensation. Like in the example according to  FIG. 1 , guide  31  is fitted to the contour of the curve of grip recess  2  of the relevant area B, i.e. essentially running parallel to curved outer door shell  3  of area B. Displacement of abutting face  5  of first bearing arm  10  parallel to outer door shell  3  also occurs in this example essentially for tolerance compensation, whereby the area of exterior grip  1  on second bearing arm  20  is reliably held in the y direction by counter bearing  30 . In both examples an imaginary tangent applied to the relevant area B in the direction of guides  12  and  31  shows an angle that is less than 2°. 
     In case of a possible expansion of material, first bearing arm  10  moves with its bearing journal  8  along guide  31 , whereby the left external grip area is displaced at the same time parallel along outer door shell  3 . As can be seen in  FIG. 3 , the free ends of bearing journal  8  are torus shaped, i.e. are formed to be expanded in their cross section. Guide  31  incorporates bearing journal  8  at its ends, whereby a rail-like guide is achieved. It is, of course, possible in a further alternative to make the journals that extend into guide  31  cylindrical. In a further embodiment of the invention not shown, only one journal can be provided on first bearing arm  10  that extends into guide  31  on the door side.