Patent ID: 8141529

Claim:
A valve timing control apparatus comprising: a drive-side rotor rotatable in synchronism with a crankshaft of an internal combustion engine; a driven-side rotor disposed coaxially relative to the drive-side rotor and rotatable in synchronism with a valve opening/closing cam shaft of the internal combustion engine; a fluid pressure chamber formed by said drive-side rotor and said drive-side rotor; a partitioning portion provided in at least one of said drive-side rotor and said driven-side rotor for partitioning said fluid pressure chamber into an advanced angle chamber and a retarded angle chamber; a locking mechanism including; a locking member disposed within an accommodating portion formed in one of said drive-side rotor and said driven-side rotor and projectable to and retractable from the other rotor than the one rotor having said accommodating portion; and a locking groove defined in said other rotor for receiving and retaining said locking member projected therein; said locking mechanism restraining a relative rotational phase of said driven-side rotor relative to said drive-side rotor when said locking member is retained within said locking groove; and a restricting mechanism including; a restricting member disposed within said accommodating portion and projectable to and retractable from said other rotor so as to be movable relative to and together with said locking member in a projecting/retracting direction of said locking member, and a restricting groove defined in the form of an elongate slot in said other rotor so as to receive said restricting member projected therein, said restricting mechanism restricting said relative rotational phase within a predetermined range when said restricting member projects into said restricting groove.