David S Adamczyk

US Patent:

62900471, Sep 18, 2001

Filed:

Jan 20, 2000

Appl. No.:

9/488312

Inventors:

David William Adamczyk - Livonia MI
John D. Borders - White Lake MI
Daniel Hugh Hildebrand - Livonia MI
Ernest Russell Shedd - Plymouth MI

Assignee:

Ford Global Tech., Inc. - Dearborn MI

International Classification:

B60T 106
B60K 4126

US Classification:

1922195

Abstract:

A parking pawl assembly 10 is provided for use in combination with a vehicle of the type including a transmission assembly 12 having an output shaft 14, a park gear 16, and a shifter or shifting assembly 18, which is operatively and selectively used to actuate a conventional park rod 20 in a known and conventional manner. The parking pawl assembly 10 includes a selectively and pivotally movable pawl member 22, a generally cylindrical hub member 24, which is fixedly coupled to park gear 16, a cam assembly 26, which is fixedly coupled to pawl member 22 and which abuttingly engages hub member 24, and a return spring 28 which is operatively coupled to cam assembly 26. Cam assembly 26 ensures that pawl member 22 consistently engages park gear 16 at a relatively constant speed, and further ensures that a spring 42 within park rod 20 is compressed each time the transmission 12 is shifted into "park".