Clutch for power door lock actuator

Claim 1

In a vehicle power door lock actuator assembly of the type that has a lock lift arm, a rotatable drive shaft, and a cupped output member that is freely pivoted coaxially to said drive shaft and drivingly engaged with said lock lift arm, an improved centrifugal clutch for selectively coupling said output member to said drive shaft, said improved clutch comprising, a unitary brake ring molded of resilient material including a pair of diametrically opposed massive lobes having arcuate outer surfaces and generally parallel inner surfaces joined by a pair of integral spring members and spaced apart by a predetermined distance when in a free state, and, a drive ring adapted to be joined coaxially to said drive shaft including a generally rectangular camming member with a width that is just slightly greater than said predetermined spacing of said brake ring lobe inner surfaces and sufficient to maintain said brake ring lobe outer surfaces at a diameter slightly less than the diameter of said cupped output member, said drive ring also having a lowermost retention flange coaxial to said camming member with a diameter less than said brake ring but greater than said predetermined spacing, whereby, said drive ring camming member may be inserted between said brake ring lobe inner surfaces, thereby forcing them apart slightly from said free state to create a separate subassembly of said drive ring and brake ring which can be joined as a unit to said drive shaft by slipping said subassembly inside said cupped output member and then joining said drive ring to said drive shaft, after which said brake ring is trapped between said drive ring retention flange and said cupped output member.