Patent ID: 7111597

Claim:
A valve deactivation assembly for selective actuation of engine cylinder valves, where a valve actuator is received by and positionable within a gallery having a bore that includes supply and exhaust passages for supplying and discharging pressurized hydraulic fluid for switching the actuator between a latched, valve active condition and an unlatched, valve deactivated condition; said valve deactivation assembly comprising: an outer body member having an interior perimetric surface and a generally annular latching groove and an inner body member having an exterior perimetric surface where said exterior perimetric surface has a diameter corresponding to the interior perimetric surface, said inner body member being disposed within said outer body member and being axially translatable relative thereto when said actuator is in the unlatched condition, a lost motion spring biasing said inner body member toward an axially extended position relative to said outer body member; a latch assembly including a latch member incorporating a first member of a radially displacable cooperating axial-position locking element and a second member of a radially displacable cooperating axial-position locking element where said first and second members are biased in a first radially extended position to project into said annular latching groove and compressible to a second radially contracted position by hydraulic pressure to generally conform to the exterior perimetric surface of the inner member, said first member having a first cooperating element of an alignment guide and said second member having a second cooperating element of said alignment guide where said first and second cooperating elements coact to maintain the radial alignment of the first and second members relative to each other and the annular groove.