Kabushiki Kaisha Tokai Rika Denki Seisakusho

Yoshitaka Watanabe

Masaki Fujita

Shoichi Harada

Noriyasu Shamoto

Hitoshi Kanazawa

Kazuhiro Sato

Masaya Nishimura

Keiji Yamamoto

Minoru Morikawa

Yasushi Kunieda

A shift lever device having a shift lever which allows selection of an arbitrary shift range by shift operation and includes a support which rotatably supports the shift lever and includes breakable portions which break when an impact force above a preselected magnitude is applied to the shift lever. Accordingly, when an axial impact force indicative of a sudden deceleration is applied to the shift lever, the support is broken. The breakage of the support allows safer absorption of the impact force applied to the shift lever. The breakable portions may take the form of a frangible pin or bracket that pivotally supports the shift lever.

Shift lever device

An apparatus for insertion of a key therein substantially prevents foreign matter from entering into a key insertion hole, and even if foreign matter does enter into the key insertion hole, discharges the foreign matter therefrom. A shutter is provided within the key insertion hole so as to be movable along a direction of insertion of a key. The shutter is always urged by a compression coil spring toward an opening of the insertion hole. In a state in which no key is inserted in the insertion hole, the shutter is urged by the compression coil spring and closes the insertion hole. As a result, foreign matter such as dust or the like can be prevented from entering into the insertion hole. Further, the shutter is provided with a reflecting surface, and when no key is inserted in the insertion hole, the reflecting surface reflects light from a light source so as to illuminate the opening of the insertion hole. Thus, even if a region surrounding the opening of the insertion hole is dark, the opening can be visually confirmed and the key can be easily inserted into the insertion hole.

Apparatus for insertion of a key therein

A shift lever device includes a shift lever which allows selection of an arbitrary shift range by shift operation and which is rotatably supported by a structure that breaks when an axial impact force above a preselected magnitude is applied to the shift lever. The breakage of the supporting structure allows safer absorption of an impact force applied to the shift lever. The breakable supporting structure may take the form of a portion of a thin portion of a circular wall forming a bearing that rotatably supports the shift lever, or a frangible pin or bracket that pivotably supports the shift lever.

A shift lever gripped by a driver for operating the transmission of a vehicle is inserted into a hole of a lever holder. The lever holder is axially supported to the vehicle so as to transmit the operation of the shift lever to the transmission. A plurality of ribs are projected into the holes and when a heavy load acts in the axial direction of the shift lever, the shift lever moves to break the rib. Accordingly, the axial direction load of the shift lever is absorbed.

Shift lever apparatus

A shift lock apparatus which allows a shift interlock wire and a key interlock wire to be arranged more effectively and neatly within the vehicle body. A lock pin engages with a first engagement portion perpendicularly each other. The shift interlock wire is linked with the first engagement portion and moves as a shift lever is locked or unlocked. The lock pin is moved by a brake pedal when the brake pedal is released. When a key inserted into a key cylinder is rotated from an ACC position to a LOCK position, the key interlock wire moves to establish engagement with a second engagement portion. Both wires intersect each other, and also the lock pin and the wire intersect each other, thereby providing secure operation and a shorter and neater layout of wires when a housing is installed within the interior of the vehicle.

Growing community of inventors

Niwa-gun, Japan

Yoshitaka Watanabe