Patent ID: 8763492

Claim:
A multi-piece shifter cable system, comprising: a first cable section including a first core and a first core connector coupled to the first core; a second cable section having a second core and a second core connector coupled to the second core; and a lock associated with the second core connector and adapted to couple the second core connector with the first core connector, the lock including: a biasing member, an actuator acted upon by the biasing member for movement from a preloaded first position to a second position, a trigger engaged with the actuator to releasably hold the actuator in its preloaded first position against the force of the biasing member and releasable from the actuator to permit the actuator to move to its second position, and a lock element movable between a locked position engaging the first core connector to maintain the first and second core connectors coupled together and an unlocked position permitting the first and second core connectors to be decoupled, the lock element being moved from its unlocked to its locked position by the actuator when the actuator moves from its first position to its second position, wherein engagement of the first core connector and second core connector releases the trigger from engagement with the actuator to permit the actuator to move from its first position to its second position and thereby move the lock element to its locked position to couple together the first core connector and second core connector.