FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to a gear shift assembly for a vehicle and more particularly, to a gear shift assembly for a vehicle having a boss feature in order to prevent wear and tear of pivot ball sub assembly and enhance the life of the gear shift assembly.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A gear shift assembly is a drivetrain of a vehicle. Various components of the gear shift assembly such as shift lever, gear box, shift knob, pivot ball sub assembly etc. work together to enable swift shifting of the shift lever in different gear positions. It is of importance to have a refined gear shift assembly which has best functional as well as physical characteristics and must also have a longer life.

Conventional transmission shifters comprise a metal or plastic mounting bracket which mounts a pivoted shift lever for shifting the transmission among a plurality of discrete control positions. A shift control plate engaged by the lever-mounted position pin is usually provided to restrict movement of the lever between the control positions.

A metal "rooster comb" comprising a series of detent notches and a cooperating spring-biased follower is provided to locate the lever in these positions. Most controls are mechanical, with the lever operating a Bowden cable connected to the transmission. Some controls are electronic and include a switch operated by the control lever which must have an insulated mounting. These conventional shifters are unduly complex and expensive to manufacture and further they comprise 20-50 or more separate component pieces which must be manually assembled.

The most sensitive and critical part of the gear shift assembly is pivot ball sub assembly which is largely susceptible to damage during the gear selecting operation. In other words, force applied by a driver for selecting one of the gear positions is directly translated to the pivot ball sub assembly and may lead to abnormalities in the child parts of the pivot ball sub assembly.

Figure 1 illustrates a conventional gear shift assembly (100). As shown in figure 1, the conventional gear shift assembly (100) comprises a shift knob (102), a shift lever (104), a pivot ball sub assembly (106), a fixation shaft (110), a bell crank (112), a shifter box (114) and a spring (116). The shifter box (114) is configured to mount on to the vehicle. The fixation shaft (110) retains the pivot ball sub assembly (106) with the shifter box (114) in compressed form with the help of the spring (116) along with the bell crank (112).

Typically, when the driver applies force on the shift knob (102) for selecting the gear position and moves the shift lever (104) in the desired direction, the applied force is translated to the other components of the conventional gear shift assembly (100), such as the bell crank (112) and pivot ball sub assembly (106). In other words, the force applied by the driver on the shift knob (102) is translated, generally in the fashion; shift knob (102) > shift lever (104) > bell crank (112) > pivot ball sub assembly (106) > shifter box (114). Most of the times, the quantum of the force varies substantially and the assembly (100) fails to achieve ideal static load of 600N at all gear positions. Further, the excessive force may damage the child parts of the pivot ball sub assembly (106). Also, the excessive force may damage and/or develop abnormalities in the coupling of the fixation shaft (110), the spring (116) and the bell crank (112).

In view of the above, it is necessary to find solutions to the aforesaid problems, as the static load of 600N at all gear positions enables the driver to shift between different gear positions swiftly and prevent damage to the components of the gear shift assembly which lead to longer life of the assembly.

Accordingly, there remains a need in the prior arts to have a gear shift assembly which overcomes the aforesaid problems and shortcomings.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a gear shift assembly for a vehicle which enables a static load of 600N in all gear positions and prevent child parts of the gear shift assembly from breakage or development of abnormalities therein. Further, another object of the present invention is to provide a gear shift assembly which has longer life as compared to conventional gear shift assemblies and requires minimal maintenance and/or repair.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention aim to provide a gear shift assembly for a vehicle. The present invention provides a static load of 600N in all gear positions and prevents development of abnormalities in child parts of the gear shift assembly. Further, during each gear select operation the whole assembly is subject to undesired impact of the reaction force generated by the force applied by the driver on the shift knob. The disclosed gear shift assembly eliminates the undesired impact of the reaction force by employing a boss feature on the shifter box which in turn dissipates the reaction force and prevents impact of the bell crank with the shifter box. Also, the present invention prevents undesired wear and tear to the child parts of the gear shift assembly and enhances the life of the gear shift assembly. The gear shift assembly for the vehicle is provided with the features of claim 1, however the invention may additionally reside in any combination of features of claim 1.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the gear shift assembly for the vehicle comprises a shift knob, a shift lever which is configured to move between pluralities of gear positions, a pivot ball sub assembly, a shifter box which is mounted on to the vehicle, a fixation shaft, a bell crank and a spring. The shifter box is having a boss feature. Further, the boss feature is configured to block movement of the bell crank and dissipate reaction force generated during a gear selecting operation.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the pivot ball sub assembly comprises a pivot ball and a socket liner. Further, the socket liner is configured to retain the pivot ball during gear selecting operation.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the pivot ball is coupled at a bottom end of the shift lever, but not limited to, by the injection molding.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the fixation shaft is configured to couple the bell crank, the pivot ball sub assembly and the shifter box.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the bell crank is configured to facilitate shifting of shift lever between pluralities of gear positions.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the boss feature is coupled with the shifter box, but not limited to, by coupling means.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the boss feature is coupled with the shifter box, but not limited to, by injection molding in order to form a single mold structure.

While the present invention is described herein by way of example using embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention is not limited to the embodiments of drawing or drawings described, and is not intended to represent the scale of the various components. Further, some components that may form a part of the invention may not be illustrated in certain figures, for ease of illustration, and such omissions do not limit the embodiments outlined in any way. It should be understood that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the invention is to cover all modification/s, equivalent/s and alternative/s falling within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claim. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claim. As used throughout this description, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e. meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e. meaning must). Further, the words "a" or "an" means "at least one” unless otherwise mentioned. Furthermore, the terminology and phraseology used herein is solely used for descriptive purposes and should not be construed as limiting in scope. Language such as "including", "comprising", "having", "containing" or "involving" and variations thereof, is intended to be broad and encompass the subject matter listed thereafter, equivalents and additional subject matter not recited, and is not intended to exclude other additives, components, integers or steps. Likewise, the term "comprising" is considered synonymous with the terms "including" or "containing" for applicable legal purposes. Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles and the likes are included in the specification solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention. It is not suggested or represented that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present invention.

In this disclosure, whenever an element or a group of elements is preceded with the transitional phrase “comprising”, it is understood that we also contemplate the same composition, element or group of elements with transitional phrases “consisting of”, “consisting”, “selected from the group of consisting of, “including” or “is” preceding the recitation of the composition, element or group of elements and vice versa.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.

These and other features, benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent by reference to the following figures, with like reference numbers referring to like structures across the views, wherein:

Fig. 1 illustrates an isometric view of a conventional gear shift assembly.

Fig. 2 illustrates an isometric view of a gear shift assembly in accordance with one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is an isometric view of a shifter box in accordance with one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention.
Fig. 4 is an isometric view of a pivot ball sub assembly in accordance with one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is an isometric view of a shift lever assembly in accordance with one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is an isometric view of a fixation shaft as shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is an isometric view of a bell crank as shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 8 is an isometric view of a spring as shown in fig. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention is described hereinafter by various embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein reference numerals used in the accompanying drawing correspond to the like elements throughout the description. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiment set forth herein. Rather, the embodiment is provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. In the following detailed description, numeric values and ranges are provided for various aspects of the implementations described. These values and ranges are to be treated as examples only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims. In addition, a number of materials are identified as suitable for various facets of the implementations. These materials are to be treated as exemplary, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

Figure 2 illustrates an isometric view of the gear shift assembly (200) in accordance with one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention. As shown in figure 2, the gear shift assembly (200) comprises a shift knob (202), a shift lever (204), a pivot ball sub assembly (206), a fixation shaft (210), a bell crank (212), a shifter box (214) and a spring (216).

The shifter box (214) is configured to mount on to the vehicle. The shifter box (214) comprises attachment holes to enable engagement of lower portion of the shifter box (214) on to the vehicle. In other words, the lower part of the shifter box (214) may have flanges for mate-ably engaging with the vehicle body. Also, the shifter box (214) is provided with retainer clips to facilitate retention of cable sleeves.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the shifter box (214) is made of, but not limited to, a polymeric material. Further, the shifter box (214) is having a shape of, but not limited to, an inverted cup-shaped body.

Further, as shown in figure 3, the shifter box (214) is having a boss feature (218) strategically placed underneath the pivot ball sub assembly (206) and at a distal end (D) of the bell crank (212). The boss feature (218) may be permanently molded on to the shifter box (214) by virtue of the injection molding and come up as a single structure. Such strategic placement of the boss feature (218) prevents the bell crank (212) from striking the area underneath the pivot ball sub assembly (206) and eventually prevent the damages to the pivot ball sub assembly (206) from the impact of undesired reaction force. In other words, during gear selecting operation the bell crank (212) is stopped by the boss feature (218) from impacting with the area underneath the pivot ball sub assembly (206) and dissipates the reaction force generated during gear selecting operation. Also, the presence of boss feature (218) on the shifter box (214) enables to have a static load of 600N at all gear positions and enhances the life of the gear shift assembly. In other words, the gear shift assembly (200) enables to maintain 600N static load at all gear positions and prevents development of abnormalities in the child parts of the gear shift assembly.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the boss feature (218) is coupled with the shifter box (214), but not limited to, by coupling means. Further, the coupling means is, but not limited to, screw and nut, adhesive, etc.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the boss feature (218) is made of, but not limited to, high strength material such as Nylon 6 30% Glass Fiber or metal, etc.

The pivot ball sub assembly (206), as shown in figure 4, comprises a pivot ball (206’) and a socket liner (206’’). The socket liner (206’’) is made of polymeric material and is having a spherical shape. Further, the socket liner (206’’) comprises an integral arm extending laterally from one side of the socket liner (206’’) and at least two locking positions provided on other side of the periphery of the socket liner (206’’). The aforesaid material and the shape of the socket liner (206’’) are mentioned therein for sake of example and not to limit the nature of said features.

During gear selecting operation, the pivot ball (206’) is being retained by the socket liner (206’’). Preferably, the pivot ball (206’) is made up of, but not limited to, polymeric material. The pivot ball sub assembly (206) enables the shift lever (204) to move between pluralities of gear positions.

Figure 5 is an isometric view of a shift lever assembly (300) in accordance with one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention. The assembly (300) comprises the shift knob (202), the shift lever (204), a shift pin (302) and an axel lever selector (304). Further, the shift lever (204) is having the pivot ball (206’) at the bottom end. Preferably, the pivot ball sub assembly (206’) is molded onto the shift lever (204).

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the shift lever (204) is made up of metals, but not limited to, steel alloy and the shift knob (202) is made of, but not limited to, a metal or polymeric material. Further, the shift knob (202) may be of any desired shape, say for example, circular, rectangular with round edges, oval, etc.

The shift pin (302) is attached at the bottom end of the shift lever (204) and made of, but not limited to, steel alloy. The shift pin (302) is connected to a shift cable (not shown) in order to facilitate transfer of load from lower to higher gear positions or vice-versa.

The axel lever selector (304) is engaged with the pivot ball (206’) and enables selection of appropriate gear position during the operating conditions. Preferably, the axel lever selector (304) is made up of, but not limited to, metal or polymeric material.

Figure 6 is an isometric view of the fixation shaft (210) as shown in figure 1. The fixation shaft (210) retains the pivot ball sub assembly (206) with the shifter box (214) in compressed form, with the help of the spring (116), along with the bell crank (212). In other words, the fixation shaft (210) facilitates the engagement of the bell crank (212), pivot ball sub assembly (206) and the shifter box (214) together. The introduction of the fixation shaft (210) in the transmission shifter assembly (200) eliminates the requirement of separate engagement/connection means for the bell crank (212) and the pivot ball sub assembly (206). The fixation shaft (210) is made up of, but not limited to, a metal or polymeric material.

Figure 7 is an isometric view of the bell crank (212) as shown in figure 1. The bell crank (212) enables the pivot ball sub assembly (206) to shift the load from shift knob (202) to a select cable connected with a clutch (not shown). The bell crank (214) is, preferably, made up of polymeric material. Further, the bell crank (212) has a distal end (D) and a proximal end (P).

Figure 8 is an isometric view of the spring (216) as shown in figure 1. The spring (216) is provided between head of the fixation shaft (210) and one of the sides of the shifter box (214). Preferably, the spring (216) is made of any material having elastic properties. The spring (216) facilitates a flexible engagement of the fixation shaft (210) with the pivot ball sub assembly (206) and the shifter box (214). In other words, the presence of the spring (216) helps in achieving the desired looseness in the assembly (200).

The above-mentioned gear shift assembly besides providing the static load of 600N at all gear positions prevents the pivot ball sub assembly and other child parts of the gear shift assembly from wear and tear. Also, it prevents development of abnormalities in the assembly. Further, the proposed gear shift assembly requires less maintenance and withstands undesired reaction force generated during gear selecting operation.

The exemplary implementation described above is illustrated with specific shapes, dimensions and other characteristics, but the scope of the invention includes various other shapes, dimensions and characteristics. For example, the particular shape of the boss feature, the shifter box, the shift lever, the shift knob, etc. could be of appropriate sizes for any particular combination of various parts of the gear shift assembly. Also, rather than polymeric materials the pivot ball, socket liner, bell crank, boss feature, etc. may be made of other material of having similar and/or enhanced properties. Also, the components as described above could be manufactured in various other ways and could include various other materials, including various other plastics and also various metals.

Similarly, the exemplary implementations described above include specific examples of shift knob, shift lever, socket liner, pivot ball, shifter box, bell crank, boss feature, etc. but any other appropriate parts, alone or in combination, could be employed.

Various modifications to these embodiments are apparent to those skilled in the art from the description and the accompanying drawings. The principles associated with the various embodiments described herein may be applied to other embodiments. Therefore, the description is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown along with the accompanying drawings but is to be provided broadest scope consistent with the principles and the novel and inventive features disclosed or suggested herein. Accordingly, the invention is anticipated to hold on to all other such alternatives, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention and appended claims.

We claim:

1. A gear shift assembly (200) for a vehicle comprises:
a shift knob (202)
a shift lever (204) configured to move between pluralities of gear positions
a pivot ball sub assembly (206)
a shifter box (214) mounted on to said vehicle
a fixation shaft (210)
a bell crank (212)
a spring (216)
wherein said shifter box (214) is having a boss feature
wherein said boss feature (218) is configured to block movement of said bell crank (212) during a gear selecting operation
wherein said boss feature (218) is configured to dissipate reaction force generated during said gear selecting operation.

2. The gear shift assembly (200) for a vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein said pivot ball sub assembly (206) comprises of a pivot ball (206’) and a socket liner (206’’).

3. The gear shift assembly (200) for a vehicle as claimed in claim 2, wherein said socket liner (206’’) is configured to retain said pivot ball (206’) during gear selecting operation.

4. The gear shift assembly (200) for a vehicle as claimed in claim 2, wherein said pivot ball (206’) is coupled at a bottom end of said shift lever (204) by an injection molding.

5. The gear shift assembly (200) for a vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein said fixation shaft (210) is configured to couple said bell crank (212), said pivot ball sub assembly (206) and said shifter box (214).

6. The gear shift assembly (200) for a vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein said bell crank (212) is configured to facilitate shifting of shift lever (204) between pluralities of gear positions.

7. The gear shift assembly (200) for a vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein said boss feature (218) is coupled with said shifter box (214) by coupling means.

8. The gear shift assembly (200) for a vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein said boss feature (218) is coupled with said shifter box (214) by an injection molding in order to form a single mold structure.