1.  Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a motor vehicle door lock or the like for a door or hatch of a motor vehicle which can be closed from the outside, preferably via a closing cylinder, with a lock mechanism which, among others, has an actuating lever, a force application element which moves the actuating lever, and an intermediate element which is moved away from the closing cylinder or the like.  In particular, to such a lock in which the force application element and intermediate element are made as gear wheels with gear rims which are transmission-coupled to one another. 
2.  Description of Related Art
Motor vehicle door locks of this type are intended primarily for side doors of motor vehicles; but, theoretically, they can also be used for rear doors.  Such locks have a trip-free mechanism between the closing cylinder, on the one hand, and the actuating lever in the lock mechanism, on the other.  Thus, it can be distinguished whether the motor vehicle door lock is or has been locked or unlocked from the inside or outside.  This differentiation between inside locking and outside locking is used for various purposes.  On the one hand, an anti-theft position can be attained in which the inside locking button can no longer be set if closed from the outside, without the need for a special key position for this purpose.  On the other hand, a so-called comfort circuit can be formed, specifically, when the door is closed from the outside, closing functions can be automatically triggered, for example, for a sliding roof, windows, or the like, and antennas can be retracted or an alarm system activated. 
The aforementioned comfort circuit could be accomplished via a microswitch directly on the closing cylinder on the outside door handle.  However, space is so limited at that location in modern motor vehicles that extremely miniaturized circuits are necessary, which are too expensive.  Often, space is also so limited that a switch can no longer be used at all. 
In the known motor vehicle door lock on which the present invention is based (German Patent Application No.  37 17 778), there is an intermediate element between the outside locking lever and the power transmission element.  Like the power transmission element, this is part of the lock mechanism.  This intermediate element in the lock mechanism allows differentiation between outside locking and inside locking, since it is effectively of a higher level than the inside locking lever, so that outside locking has priority over inside locking.  The intermediate element itself triggers switching functions for the central interlock system, for example, to actuate an anti-theft lever, to activate a comfort circuit or to turn on an alarm system.  In this case, the intermediate element acts on the inside locking lever, and therefore, drives the levers in the locking mechanism, via a force application element which is coupled to it, to execute limited relative motion. 
In the aforementioned prior art, the intermediate element with the force application element is assembled as a two-part double nut which can turn in a bearing.  The power transmission element to be caused to rotate around its longitudinal axis by the closing cylinder on the outside door handle fits, on the front side, into a flat housing in a center bearing journal of the intermediate element.  Therefore, functionally, the intermediate element is placed axially on the end of the power transmission element and is entrained thereby with the rotary motion. 
The design with the double nut as described above cannot be accommodated just anywhere.  Instead of a double nut, sometimes a trip-free mechanism is also ensured by a slider being inserted for power transmission between the nut and switching mechanism (German Patent Application No.  40 15 522).  This slider can be triggered linearly or laterally (German Patent No.  44 02 616).  U.S. Pat.  No.  5,050,410 shows the use of a lever slot type slider for this purpose. 
Otherwise, many other versions of designs of a trip-free mechanism are known in conjunction with motor vehicle locks and power transmission from the closing cylinder into the lock mechanism (European Application Nos.  A 0 558 211 & A 0 634 548, and German Patent No.  35 13 287). 
If the intention is to accomplish the end stop for rotary motion of the key in the closing cylinder, not from the lock mechanism, but on the closing cylinder, the actuating lever of the lock mechanism reaches its stop before the closing cylinder has reached its stop.  Therefore, it must be possible to turn the closing cylinder somewhat farther, for example, 10.degree.  to 50.degree.,  once the actuating lever is already stationary. 
As has been explained above, in the prior art, in toothed gearing between the closing cylinder and actuating lever, the necessary trip-free mechanism has long been accomplished via a slider.  This is not always possible for reasons of space.