Patent ID: 7287498

Claim:
A valve timing control apparatus for an internal combustion engine, comprising: a housing comprising a cylindrical housing member, a front cover, and a rear plate, both of the front cover and the rear plate enclosing openings of both ends of the housing member and being integrally coupled to the housing member by a plurality of fastening members to constitute the housing; a rotation transmitting member to transmit a torque from an engine crankshaft to the housing; at least one shoe projected from an inner peripheral surface of the housing member; a vane member rotatably arranged within the housing to partition an inner space of the housing into an advance angle oil chamber and a retardation angle oil chamber by at least one vane extended radially and the shoe; a seal member fitted into a seal groove formed on a tip surface of the vane and slidably contacted with the inner peripheral surface of the housing member; a lock piston retractably projected from an inner part of the vane; a part of one of the front cover and the rear plate comprising a lock hole to restrain a relative rotation between the vane member and the housing when the lock piston is projected and is inserted into the lock hole; an engagement-and-disengagement mechanism that causes an engagement and a release of the engagement of the lock piston with the lock hole in accordance with an engine start; and a positioning section, interposed between a predetermined position of the housing member at which the shoe is positioned so as to be opposed against a side surface of the vane in which the lock piston is arranged and one of the front cover and rear plate on which the lock hole is formed, to perform a housing circumferential directional positioning of the lock piston and the lock hole, the positioning section comprising: a positioning convex portion installed on one of the front cover, the rear plate, and the housing member; and a positioning recess portion installed on one of the remaining two of the front cover, the rear plate, and the housing member to engage with the positioning convex portion to perform the housing circumferential positioning of the lock piston and the lock hole, a cutout portion being formed on at least a side surface of a tip portion of the vane in which the lock piston is installed opposed against the shoe, a raise portion being formed on a side portion of the shoe opposed against the cutout portion, one of the positioning convex portion and the positioning recess portion being installed on a side of the raise portion of the shoe of the housing member, and the other of the positioning convex portion and the positioning recess portion being installed on one of the front cover and the rear plate on which the lock hole is formed.