Electric lock with emergency override, for automobile door, has weak component yielding, under abnormal hand pressure, to allow door held closed by electric system failure to be opened

摘要

An interior locking lever (1), centrally pivoted (2), is linked (1a,3) at one end to an internal locking button (4), accessible on the door interior. The lever's other, forked (1b) end engages an arm (5) projecting from a plate (6) rotatable about a vertical axis by the lock's electric motor. An interior opening lever (8), on the same pivot (2) as the locking lever, can be rotated via a link (9) by the interior door handle. In the locked position, a peg (11) on the locking lever lies against a tab (12) on the opening lever (8). During opening, the door handle rotates the latter and the tab bears on the peg to carry the locking lever into the unlocked position. A stop (B) on the lock case terminates this movement, and the door bolt is released by an actuating tab (10) on the opening lever. If the locking lever is rendered - immobile by lock motor damage due e.g. to fire, operation of the interior opening lever is blocked by the peg (11). To resolve this dangerous situation and allow the door to open, the peg, though adequate for its normal duty, is made weak enough to fail under extreme manual pressure on the interior door handle. Opt., the weak feature is obtained using a deep notch (13) in the adjoining tab (12).