Detent assembly and its application to actuation means

Abstract

A detent assembly—namely of pairs of sub-assemblies of which the individual ones comprise spatially directly associated surfaces at which projecting elements cooperate with engaging elements in prestressed manner—comprises at least one detent element within a detent sub-assembly, said detent element being retained prestressed within an obliquely directed guide in a manner that it projects beyond a detent sub-assembly outer surface and that it enters an aperture sub-assembly while being obliquely prestressed into a recess of an opposite aperture outer surface and rests only unilaterally and point-wise against associated rim sites of the mutually associated interlocking zones. A preferred application relates to a handle being supported rotatably but in axially fixed position by a stop fitted with a disk connected to a handle extension and comprising circumferential interlocking recesses, for instance notches. The stop is fitted with guides containing compression springs to prestress balls and to guide them at an angle to the line of symmetry of the notches. To attain play-free interlocking, the guide-supported detent balls act point-wise on the interlocking notches of the disk.