The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 17, 2002
Filed:
Oct. 26, 2001
Fumio Kobayashi, Kanagawa, JP;
Ryoji Shimura, Yokohama, JP;
Ohi Seisakusho Co., Ltd., Kanagawa, JP;
Abstract
An automotive door lock assembly comprises a lock/unlock mechanism and an electric actuator which actuates the lock/unlock mechanism. At an initial stage of a door unlocking operation of the electric actuator, a passive lever is shifted from an engaged position where a lock/unlock lever and a sub-lever are engaged to move together to a disengaged position where the engagement between the lock/unlock lever and the sub-lever is canceled. When the passive lever is shifted to the disengaged position, the sub-lever can be quickly shifted to the unlock position by the force of a spring prior to shifting of the lock/unlock lever to the unlock position from the lock position by the electric actuator. With this arrangement, the electric actuator can be made of a relatively low power electric motor, and the lock/unlock mechanism can be quickly shifted to a door unlocking condition upon manipulation of a door handle.