Device for locking two parts relative to each other

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10960992-B2
Application number	US-201615770144-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 5, 2016
Priority date	Oct 21, 2015
Publication date	Mar 30, 2021
Grant date	Mar 30, 2021

Abstract

According to the present invention, the device, which is provided with a male element secured to one of the parts and a female element secured to the other of said parts, comprises a plurality of resilient fastening strips forming a flared receptacle for said male element inside said female element. This receptacle is slidably movable so as to capture, pull and hold said male element inside said female element.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A locking device for locking two pieces to each other, the device comprising:
a first section, fixed to one of said pieces and comprising a convergent male element; and
a second section, fixed to the other of said pieces and comprising a divergent female element, of a complementary form to said convergent male element, wherein said second section also comprises:
a casing, in contact with said divergent female element through a small section of the divergent female element;
a moveable body arranged inside said casing and being able to assume:
either a cocked standby position in which said moveable body is kept inside said casing by a controllable blocking device,
or a locking position in which said male element is locked into said female element,
said moveable body moving automatically from said cocked standby position into said locking position by inhibition of the action of said blocking device by said convergent male element while it is inserted into said divergent female element; and
a plurality of elastic hanging strips, connected to said moveable body and each equipped with a hook on an extremity thereof opposite to the moveable body, said hanging strips:
extending through said divergent female element and spreading away from one another to form, for said convergent male element, a flared receptacle, elastically deformable, inside said divergent female element, and
performing, during transition of said moveable body from the cocked standby position into the locking position with the aid of said hooks, firstly the capture and the traction of said convergent male element, then, when said moveable body is in the locking position, the holding of said convergent male element against said divergent female element.

2. The locking device according to claim 1 , wherein said hanging strips are housed in grooves of an internal wall of said divergent female element, said grooves guiding said hanging strips in a sliding motion while said moveable body moves from said cocked standby position into said locking position.

3. The locking device according to claim 1 , wherein said convergent male element comprises a transverse base for the hanging of the hooks of the hanging strips.

4. The locking device according to claim 3 , wherein said transverse base comprises an acute edge for the hanging of the hooks of said elastic strips.

5. The locking device according to claim 1 , wherein said convergent male element and said divergent female element are conical.

6. The locking device according to claim 1 , wherein said convergent male element and said divergent female element are pyramidal.

7. The locking device according to claim 1 , wherein, in the cocked standby position, said moveable body is loaded by at least one spring, of which the relaxation is under the control of said controllable blocking device.

8. The locking device according to claim 1 , wherein said controllable blocking device comprises at least one blocking finger blocking said moveable body in said casing and a sliding trigger for the control of said blocking finger, said sliding trigger being mounted in a limited sliding fashion in said moveable body and being accessible to said convergent male element within said divergent female element.

9. The locking device according to claim 8 , wherein at least one spring supporting said moveable body presses said sliding trigger in the direction of said divergent female element.

10. The locking device according to claim 8 , wherein said blocking finger is transverse with regard to said sliding trigger and presses against the sliding trigger, and in that said sliding trigger has a cam profile.

11. The locking device according to claim 10 , further comprising a device for the regulation of the applied pressure of said blocking finger on said sliding trigger.

12. The locking device according to claim 8 , wherein the moveable body is able to move from said locking position into said cocked standby position by automatic action on said moveable body and said sliding trigger.

13. The locking device according to claim 12 , wherein on the opposite side of said divergent female element, said casing is open.

14. A structure comprising at least two parts, wherein the structure comprises at least one locking device according to claim 1 for locking said parts together.

Assignees

• Arianegroup Sas

Inventors

• Grosroyat Sylvain

Classifications

• B64G1/64 Primary

  Systems for coupling or separating cosmonautic vehicles or parts thereof, e.g. docking arrangements · CPC title

• B64G1/2228

  characterised by the hold-down or release mechanisms · CPC title

• F16B45/04

  Hooks with sliding closing member · CPC title

• B64G1/222 Primary

  for deploying structures between a stowed and deployed state · CPC title