Automobile power door latch

Claim 1

A door-latching mechanism for a vehicle door adapted to cooperate with a pin of a doorpost, said mechanism comprising: a housing mounted on the door; a bolt rotatably mounted on said housing and having a fork engageable with said pin, said bolt being rotatable from a locking position wherein said pin is retained against escape from said bolt into an open position wherein said pin can escape from said bolt; a pawl pivotally mounted on said housing and engageable with said bolt to limit displacement thereof into said open position; a toggle linkage including a pair of articulated levers connected to said bolt and to said housing, said toggle linkage being shiftable between operative positions on opposite sides of a dead center position for rotating said bolt and having a spring connected between said linkage and said housing for biasing said linkage at least into one of said operative positions; a slider on said housing provided with at least a pair of abutments including on abutment engageable with said toggle linkage for displacing same from one of its operative positions through said dead center position to the other operative position of said toggle linkage, and another abutment engageable with said pawl for releasing same from its bolt said spring biasing said toggle linkage against said one abutment in said one operative position; and an electric motor driven crank connected to said slider and energizable to displace said slider and shift said one abutment to thereby displace said toggle linkage and rotate said bolt, said crank being so connected to said slider that, upon displacement of said toggle linkage into said other operative position and release of said pawl from said bolt, said spring is effective to rotate said bolt through said linkage to release said pin.