Vehicle door lock actuator

摘要

Actuator 10 (Figure 1) for vehicle door locks provides powered shifting of a mechanism component 60 while permitting manual operation thereof. A motor 16 powers a driver annulus 20 having internal teeth 32 and notches 28 in respective axial zones with each tooth being diametrically opposite a notch. A spring-loaded index 40 across the annulus interior has a tail 44 co-acting with the notches and a head 42 co-acting with the teeth and is guided by fixed structure 20 that it can only move angularly to displace the component 60 to which it is linked, by indexing past a tooth when its tail is in a notch. Powered movement of the annulus causes the teeth to selectively shift the index, but manual displacement of the component 60 causes the index to spring past the relevant tooth. <IMAGE>