| US 7,536,972 B2 | ||
| Shift lever apparatus with range position indicator | ||
| Takayoshi Suzuki, Shizuoka (Japan); and Tomohiro Takahira, Shizuoka (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to Fuji Kiko Co., Ltd., Kosai-shi (Japan) | ||
| Filed on Aug. 29, 2006, as Appl. No. 11/511,222. | ||
| Claims priority of application No. 2005-248525 (JP), filed on Aug. 30, 2005. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2007/0074597 A1, Apr. 05, 2007 | ||
| Int. Cl. F16H 63/42 (2006.01); B60K 20/04 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 116—28.1 [74/473.18] | 10 Claims |
| 1. A shift lever apparatus comprising:
a shift lever adapted to be shifted in a longitudinal direction to select one of ranges in an automatic mode and to be inclined
in a lateral direction to select a range in a manual mode;
a frame member including a guide groove, and a set of range indicating portions indicating positions of the ranges along the
guide groove;
a longitudinal slide plate mounted on the frame member and arranged to slide in the longitudinal direction together with the
shift lever; and
a lateral slide plate mounted on the longitudinal slide plate and arranged to slide in the lateral direction relative to the
longitudinal slide plate in accordance with a shift operation of the shift lever, the lateral slide plate including:
a current shift position indicator arranged to slide in the guide groove of the frame member and to indicate a current shift
position of the shift lever, and
a buffer portion to mitigate impact at an end of a stroke of the lateral slide plate in the lateral direction;
wherein the buffer portion of the lateral slide plate is formed in the current shift position indicator.
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