Kiekert Ag

Pies, Gerrit

Rixen, Wolfgang Klaus

Stefan Armbruster

Frank Kleefeldt

Michael Scholz

Holger Schiffer

Uwe Reddmann

Johannes-Theodor Menke

Thomas Schonenberg

Damien Labonde

Fred Welskopf

Wilfried Ostermann

Markus Bartels

Christian Jokiel

Michael Herrmann

Achim Jahrsetz

Gerhard Zimmermann

Bettina Gottwald Nee Heinze

Thomas Sch&ouml;nenberg

Kornelia Greulich

Tobias Barnat

Till Brada

Waldemar Michalek

Moritz Netthöfel

Jürgen Kill

A steering wheel lock utilizes a motor-driven spindle which drives a locking nut to control a detent disk which has pin-like projections engaged in camming tracks which guide the detent disk linearly and angularly. The detent disk in turn controls a locking pin which can engage the steering wheel shaft.

Steering wheel lock

A motor-vehicle door holding a lock provided with actuating elements operable to lock the door has an actuating system having an outside opening handle displaceable on the door, a pivot on the door, a first compensating lever pivotable on the pivot and having an outer end forming a seat, and a first rod part having an outer end connected to the handle and an inner end bearing on the seat in a predetermined direction. A second rod part having an outer end connected to the lock actuating elements and an inner end connected to an outer end of a second compensating lever pivotable on the pivot. A spring braced between the levers urges their outer ends angularly apart with the outer end of the first compensating lever bearing against the predetermined direction on the first rod-part inner end. A screw engaged between the levers offset from the pivot can releasably fix the levers together for joint pivoting. This screw is loosenable for relative pivoting of the levers.

Motor vehicle door lock with locking elements

A cable drive for a motor vehicle having a body and a door slidable outside the body has a rotatable shaft projecting through the body and having an outer end outside the vehicle adjacent the door and an inside end inside the vehicle. A drum outside the vehicle is mounted on the outside end and a cable wholly outside the vehicle is wound around the drum and connected to the door so that rotation of the drum and shaft in one direction slides the door into a closed position and opposite movement slides it into an open position. A motor unit wholly inside the vehicle is connected to the inside shaft end to rotate the shaft.

Cable drive for motor-vehicle sliding door

A motor vehicle has a body provided with at least one generally horizontal rail having a bent end portion and along which a sliding door is displaceable between a closed position in against the body and an open position out from the body. A sliding-door assembly has a door drive on the body including a flexible toothed belt extending along the rail and having an end and a link assembly fixed to the door, riding along the rail, connected to the belt end, and engaged in the bent end portion of the rail in the closed position of the door. A guide extends along the rail and laterally confines the belt so an actuator on the body can displacing the belt in one sense and thereby tension the belt and move the door in one direction and displace the belt in the opposite sense and thereby longitudinally compress the belt and move the door in the opposite direction. A door latch on the door and a keeper on the body communicating therewith secure the door tightly to the body in the closed position of the door and a closed position of the latch and release the door to ride along the rail in an open position of the latch. A controller connected between the door latch and the door actuator operates the actuator to move the door into the respective open position on displacement of the latch into the respective open position.

Motor-vehicle sliding-door system

A motor vehicle has a body, a door movable on the body between a closed position and an open position, an electric power source mounted in the body, and a latch having interengageable parts on the vehicle body and on the door engageable in a latched position to retain the door in the closed position, and an electrical actuator energizable to put the latch in an unlatched position. A drive on the body connected to the door is energizable from the source for moving the door between the open and closed positions and a battery is provided in the door separate from the body-mounted power source. An electronic controller in the door powered by the battery is connected to the latch actuator for operating same to unlatch the door and to a transmitter for transmitting a signal indicating the position of the door and of the latch. Another electronic controller in the body includes a receiver for receiving the signal from the transmitter in the door is connected to the drive and to the body power source for operating the drive in accordance with the signal received by the body receiver.

Motor-vehicle sliding-door system with electronic controller

An electrical control system for an automotive vehicle can be switched to a service facility operating mode in which locks for the glove compartment, a storage console and the trunk can be inactivated in their closed position while other electrically-operated vehicle locks remain operable by actuators of the control system to prevent access to personal belongings by service personnel. Restoration to the normal operating mode can be effected automatically upon lapse of a time period programmed into the central unit.

Method of operating an electrical control system for an automotive

A motor-vehicle door latch has a door-mounted fork displaceable between an open and a fully latched position and through an intermediate semilatched position and a body-mounted door bolt engageable with the fork and retainable thereby only in the semilatched and fully latched positions. A door-mounted pawl can pivot about a pawl axis between a holding position engaging and retaining the fork in the fully latched and semilatched positions and a freeing position permitting the fork to move freely between its positions. A controller is connected to a servomotor in turn coupled to the door bolt for displacing same between an outer and an inner position so that, when the bolt is engaged with the fork in the fully latched position, movement of the bolt into the inner position pulls a door carrying the latch tightly closed. A switch lever can pivot about the pawl axis. Interengaging formations on the switch lever, on the pawl, and on the fork displace the switch lever into a first position with the fork in the semilatched and open positions and with the pawl in the open position and displace the switch into a second position with the fork in the fully latched position. A switch between the control means and the switch lever prevents operation of the servomotor except in the second position of the switch lever.

Servo-tightening motor-vehicle door latch

A motor-vehicle door latch has a fork formed with a detent and pivotal from a latched position retaining a bolt deep, a semilatched position retaining the bolt shallow, and an unlatched position permitting the bolt to enter and exit the latch. A main rocker coaxial with the fork can pivot with the fork between the latched and semilatched positions and a drive is connected to the main rocker for pivoting same about the main axis between the latched and semilatched positions. A pawl pivoted on the main rocker about a secondary axis offset from the main axis is provided offset from the axes with an axially projecting actuator pin and can move between an inner position engaging the detent and rotationally coupling the fork to the main rocker and an outer position clear of the detent and permitting the fork to rotate independently of the main rocker. A secondary rocker pivoted on the main axis is provided with a cam formation having a lifting portion engageable with the actuator pin to displace the pawl from its inner position to its outer position and a holding portion engageable with the actuator pin to retain it in its outer position. A coupling and formations on the fork and main rocker in the semilatched position hold the pawl with the holding portion in the outer position and in the unlatched position hold the actuator pin out of engagement with the holding portion.

Power-assist motor-vehicle door latch

A door latch has a latch mechanism including a drive element movable between a position corresponding to a closed condition of a vehicle door, a position corresponding to an open condition of the door, and an end reference end position offset from the closed and open positions and engaging a fixed abutment. An electric-motor drive connected to the mechanism can move the element between the closed and open positions and into the end reference position. A hall-effect sensor detects the current position of the element and a controller is connected to the sensor to operate the drive. After each displacement of the element from one of the open and closed positions to the other of the open and closed positions, the element is displaced into the end reference position and the controller is initialized while the element is in the end reference position. Thereafter the element is returned to the other of the open and closed positions. The sensor is made to pulse by a magnet carried on the shaft of a rotary electric motor connected via a stepdown transmission to the drive element.

Growing community of inventors

Heiligenhaus, Germany

Stefan Armbruster