US 11,971,073 B2
Rotary shifter assembly
David Blank, Mullsjö (SE)
Assigned to KA Group AG, Zürich (CH)
Appl. No. 17/424,756
Filed by KA Group AG, Zürich (CH)
PCT Filed Jan. 22, 2020, PCT No. PCT/IB2020/050505
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jul. 21, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/152608, PCT Pub. Date Jul. 30, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/795,081, filed on Jan. 22, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0136572 A1, May 5, 2022
Int. Cl. F16H 59/02 (2006.01); F16D 43/202 (2006.01); F16H 59/08 (2006.01)
CPC F16D 43/2028 (2013.01) [F16H 59/0217 (2013.01); F16H 59/08 (2013.01); F16H 2059/081 (2013.01)] 24 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A rotary shifter assembly for changing gears in a vehicle transmission, said rotary shifter assembly comprising:
a housing;
a shaft rotatably supported in said housing and selectively movable between a plurality of radial positions for indicating a desired gear change, with said shaft having a first end and a second end;
a shift knob coupled to said first end of said shaft for actuation by a user to the desired gear change;
a plurality of locking fingers at least partially extending axially from said second end of said shaft;
an overload wheel at least partially disposed about said locking fingers with said locking fingers directly engaging said overload wheel to couple said overload wheel with said shaft for concurrent rotation as a unit during a normal operational mode of the shifter assembly for performing the desired gear change; and
a locking mechanism engaging said overload wheel to selectively prevent and allow said concurrent rotation of said overload wheel and said shaft during said normal operational mode of the shifter assembly; and
wherein said locking fingers are flexible and capable of moving relative to said overload wheel to permit temporary rotation of said shaft relative to said overload wheel when a force applied to said shaft is beyond a maximum torque threshold, and automatically returning to said concurrent rotation once the force is below the maximum torque threshold.