Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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The present invention relates to door lock lights and,
in particular, to a door lock lighting system wherein actuation
of the vehicle door opening mechanism illuminates the vehicle
. interior and the door lock~.
Door lock lights for motor vehicles have been
previously proposed for providing illumination of the door lock
; key slot to facilitate key insertion during darkness~ These
arrangements have taken the form of a light, generally housed
in the door handle~ which is energized when the door opening
mechanism i9 ac~uated and illuminates the door locX key slots
as long as the mechanism is activated.
~ The present invention improves upon these basic
` syst~ms by providing a lighted door lock system which, in
addition to illuminating the door lock key slots, also activates
vehicle interior lights for a predetermined period after
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actuating ~he door opening mechanismu The system enables the
driver to activate the interior lights and lights on the door
~ locks without entering the car by merely depres~ing the push-
- button or lifting the handle. This permits visual inspection
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o~ the inside of the car without opening the door. By having
the system energized for only a momentary period, jamming the
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door handles open will not keep the lights on and cau~e the
battery to run down.
More particularly, the door lock light bulbs are
hou~ed interior of the vehiele door and illuminate an exterior
lens which focuses illumination on the key slot~ The door lock -~
bulbs are connected in parallel with the vehicle courteey lights. ;~
In operation, a control circuit energizes a relay which completa~
the circuit to the lights as the handle i8 lifted or the -~
button depressed. $he circuit maintains energi~ation of the
relay for a predetermined period of time af~er which the relay
is automatically deenergized regardlass of the condition of the ~ ~
door loc]c opening mechanism. In this m~nner, the interior and ~ -
key ~lot lighting modes are maintained a sufficient period of
time to inspect the veh~cle interior prior entering and to
permit insertion of the key into the slot for unlatching the
door locking mechani~m
The above and other features of the present invention
will be app~rent to one ~killed in the art upon reading the
followins detailed descriptionJ re~erence being made to the
accompanying drawings illu~trating emboaiments of the present
inven~ion in which~
FIGURE 1 i~ a fragmentary side perspective view of
a vehicle door incorporating a aoor lock lighting ~ystem in
accordance with the present invention;
FI~URE 2 i~ a fragmentary ~e~t~onal view sh~wing the
int~ri~ co~ponents of the door lock lighting system; and
~ IGURE 3 is a schematic ele~trical diagram of the
j control circuit for th~ subject door lock lighting system.
Xeferring to ~iguree 1 and 2, a door lock lig~ting ,~
sys~em in a~cordance with the present invention provides
interior vehicle lighting and door lock key slot lighting for
a momentary period after actuation of the door opening
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mechanism. More particularly, the vehicle door 10 is provided
with a door opening mechanism 12 comprising a handle 14 and a
pushbutton actuator 16. The locking mechanism for unlatching
the door opening mechanism is con~rolled by a lock cylinder 18
operated by a key 20 inserted through a key slot 22.
The mechanism for controlling opening movement of the ~ -
door 10 is conventional in construction and is partially illus- -
trated in Figure 2 with only those components necessary for the
understanding of the present invention being illustrated, it
being kept in mind that any suitable mechanism may be substi~
tuted or this purpoqe. Herein the actuator 16 includes an
interiorly disposed piston 24 which engages a lever 26 for
pivoting the upp~r end thereof between the solid line position
and the dotted line position. The lever 26 includes a lower
actuating inger 28 which engages the intermittent lever of
the door opening mechanism ~not shown) to actuate the remaining
components of the mechanism to unlock the door for opening move-
ment. The lock cylinder 18 is supported by a bracket 30
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attached to the interior surface of the door 10~ The cylinder
" 20 18 has an inner actuating lever 32 pivotally connected thereto.
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~he lever 32 has an arm 34 which passes through a rectansular
slot 36 in a latching lever 38. Upon rotation of the key 20,
the lever 32 pivots thereby pivo~ing the lever 38 which also
cooperates with the intermittent lever (not shown) to disable
the opening mechanism from control by the actuator 16.
The door lock lighting system includes an exteriorly ;~
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disposed clear plastic lens 40 positioned adjacent the lock cyl~
; inder 18 and vertically therebelow. The lens 40 is illuminated
by a light 42 positioned interior of the door 10. The light 42
30 is mounted on an arm 44 depending from the bracket 30. A Hall ` ;~
Effect microswitch 46 is mounted interior of the door 10 on a
bracket 48. A small permanent magnet 49 is secured to switch
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actuating arm 50 which is engaged by the ~ide of the upper
end of the lever ~6. ~y depre~sing the button 16, the pi~ton
24 engages the lever 26 to pivot the latter to ~he dotted line
position thereby pivoting the arm 50 inwardly to close the
~witch contacts. ~he switch 46 include~ a plurality of leads
51 w~ich are electrically connected with the vehicle courte~y
lamps in the pas~enger compartment. The courtesy lamps illumi-
nate the interior of the passenger ¢ompartment. As hereinaft~r
described, momentary depression of the actuator 16 closes the
switch 46 to (1) illuminate the light 42 to project light onto -;
the lens for illuminating the key slot 22 and (2~ illuminate
the courtesy lights for passenger compartment lighting to
permit vi~ual inspection o~ the vehicle interior. By the
control circuit described below, the light~ are energized only
for a predetermined time during depre#sion of the actuator 16.
The control circuit for the lighting ~ystem is shown
in Figure 3. The components within the dashed lines are hou~ed
in the control unit 52. More particularly~ the vehicle battery
60 i~ connected in series on the positive (B+~ side ~hereo
20 with ~he micro~witch 4~ on the left side door and the micro- ;
switch 46' on the right side door~ The switches 46 and 46' are
co~nected in parallel and are connected with resistors 66 and
68. ~he resistor 66 is connected to the base electrode 70 of
a npn transistor 72 and wi~h a capacitor 74. ~he resistor
66 i~ connected to ~he base electrode 70 of a npn transi~tor
72 and with a capacitor 74~ ~he resistor 68 is connected to
the collector 76 of ~he transistor 72 and a diode 78. The ;
diode 78 is conneoted in serie~ with a capacitor 80, a resistor `~
82, and a resistor 84. ~he reslstor 84 is connected to the -
30 base elec~rode 86 of a Darlington amplifier 88. The collectors ``~
of amplifier 88 are connected to a coil 89 o~ a relay 90. The
capacitor 74, the emitter of ~he tran~istor 72, the capacitor 80,
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the resi~tor 82 and the emitter of thle ampllfier 8R are connected
to lead g2. A relay contact 94 operated by the relay 90 is
closed in accordance with energization thereofO The left-hand
door light 42 and the right-hand door light 42' are connected
in ~eries with relay contact 94. The lights 42 and 42' are
connected in parallel with ~he vehicle courtesy light 100 which
is connected to the positive or B+ side of the batta.ry 60. The
light 100 i8 connected in a parallel circuit with the positive
or ~+ side of the bat~ery 60 and i~ independently controlled
: 10 by the headligh~ switch 102. The operation of the light 100 may
also be control:Led by aoor jam switches 103 and 103'. :~
In operationO i~ the operator desires to unlock the ~ ~
door to gain access to the interior, depres~ion of the button 16 ~ . .
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closes either switch 46 or 46' depending on the door through which
acces~ is being gained. For instance, the closure of the switch
. 46 applie~ B+ voltage to the resistors 66, and 68. Inasmuch as
transistor 72 is initially non-conducting, current flows through
resistor 68 and diode 78 to charge capa~itor 80. Thi9 biases
amplifier 88 on, thereby energizing the coil 89 and closing the `-~;;`~;; .
relay contact 94r Thi8 illuminates lights 42 and 42' as well . ~;
as the courte~y light 100. ~he lights 42 and 42' provide .. :; :
illumination of the respective door locks while the courtesy ;~
light 100 illuminates the interior o the passenger compartment.
This permit~ the opexator to insert the key into the slot 22 to
unlock the latter and condition the door for opening movement
as well as inspect the interior of the vehicle without opening
the dcorO .
During this time, t~e capacitor 74 i8 b2in~ charged
through resistor 66, ~hereby raising the base voltage of the
tran~istor 72. The tran31stor 72 turns "on" and further
current flow through diode 7~ to the amplifier 88 iB stopped
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because the collector 76 of transistor 72 i9 lowered to nearly
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ground potential. The capacitor 80 will then gradually di~charge.
The time constant of the R-C circuit o~ resistor 82 and the
capaci~or 80 will determine the length of time the amplifier 88
i~ conduc~ive and thus the length of time ~he relay 90 is
energized. Thereafter, amplifier 88 will go non-conductive
deenergizing the relay 90 and opening relay contact 94 ~o
deenergize the lights 42, 42' and 100. Because of the action of
~he fix~t stage transistor 72, the light cannot be energized
indefinltely by jamming the actuator 16 thereby causing the
battery to run down. With ~his system it will al~o be apparen~
that during the energized time period the key can be inserted
into the slot to enable unlocking of the latt~r and to further -~
inspect vehicle interior prior to proceeding with entry into
the paæsenger compartment.
A door lock lighting system in accordance wit~ the
above was successfully built ~nd tested with a control unit S2
having the following specifications: -
~` Resistor 66 68 K _f~_
Resistor ~8 1 K ~
Capacitor 74 45 uf ~ 15V
~; Capacitor 80 45 u~ ~ l5V
Diode 78 IN 4001
Re~istor 82 330 K _~2
Resist~r 84 82 K _~~L_
Relay 90 8 Amp - SPST ` ~
` Transistor 72 5958866 ~ ~`
"~! Amplifier 8~ GoE~ 2~S307
While the embodiments of the presant invention, as herein
disclosed, constitute a preferred form, it is to be understood -
that other forms might be adopted.
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