Cinching door latch with planetary release mechanism

Year	Description
2001	Invention patented by Artur Jerzy Ostrowski, Joseph Michael Johnson, Hoi Wah Chow, and Gregory A Kasinec on June 4th, 2001. Abstract: A cinching door latch has a fork bolt that pivots between a primary latched position and an unlatched position. A detent lever pivots between a an engaged position and a disengaged position holds the fork bolt in the primary latched position when in the engaged position and releases the fork bolt for movement to the unlatched position when in the disengaged position. A transfer lever pivots between a lock position and an unlock position is operatively connected to the detent lever for pivoting the detent lever to the disengaged position. A cinching mechanism assures that the fork bolt is pivoted to the primary latched position when the door is closed. The cinching mechanism has a cinching gear drivingly connected to the fork bolt, a power driven planetary gear set for driving the cinching gear, and a one-way device. The one-way device limits rotation of an element of the planetary gear set to one direction so that the fork bolt can be pivoted to the primary latched position without back driving the input to the planetary gear set in the event of power failure. A release mechanism disables the one-way device so that the fork bolt can move to an unlatched position without back driving the input to the planetary gear set.
Source: selected by the editor from original sources.

Invention: Cinching door latch with planetary release mechanism