TECHNICAL BACKGROUND In order to obtain precision, speed and feeling, in a gearshift lever for manual gear shifting in a motor vehicle, the lever is usually directly coupled to the gearbox via a rigid gear shifting rod. Since the gearbox is rigidly coupled to the engine of the vehicle, there will be vibrations and other movements in the gearbox which are transferred to the gearshift lever if special measures are not taken. Since the manoeuvring rod from the gearbox attaches to the gear shifting lever at a distance from its pivot point, the vibrations are transformed into vibrating shifting movements in the lever which are amplified in the knob of the lever. In order to counteract this, there is arranged a reaction stay wire which at its one end is attached to the housing of the gearbox and at its other end is rigidly attached to the console of the gear arrangement. In so doing, the vibrations are transferred from the gearbox in phase both via the ma- noeuvring rod and via the reaction stay wire, which reduces the sensation of vibrations. An example of a known such solution is applicant's own patent publication WO 02/078995 A1.

In the case of larger movements of the housing of the gearbox, as in the case of heavy acceleration and braking, there can be larger movements in the gearbox and thus also in the gear shifting lever, which can be perceived as disturbing, and which are not eliminated in previously known solutions with reaction stay wires.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The purpose of the present invention is to obtain a gear lever arrangement according to the invention in which the drawbacks of transferring movements in the gearbox housing to the gear shifting lever are highly reduced.

Said purpose is obtained by means of a gear lever arrangement according to the invention, the characteristics of which will become apparent from ap- pended claim 1.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will in the following be described by means of an example of an embodiment with reference to the appended drawings in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the gear lever arrangement according to the invention, Figs. 2 and 3 are two exploded views of the gear lever arrange- ment seem from opposite sides, Figs. 4,5 and 6 are side views of the gear lever arrangement. in dif- ferent gear positions, Fig. 7 is a longitudinal cross-section through the arrange- ment along the lines A-A of Fig. 4, Fig. 8 is an enlarged detailed view of the gear lever ar- rangement of Fig. 7, Fig. 9,10 and 11 are views from above of a gear lever arrangement according to the invention in one and the same gear position but with the housing of the gearbox in three different positions, while

Fig. 12 is a side view of the gear lever arrangement with the housing of the gearbox in the same position as in Fig. 11.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS With reference to all of the drawings, the principal design of the gear lever arrangement according to the invention will first be described. The gear lever housing in principle consists of a gear shifting lever 1, which is pivotably at- tached to a gearshift housing console 2. The lever 1 is, in a conventional manner, provided with an ergonomically designed gear knob 3 or gear head, intended to be gripped by a driver's hand for the manoeuvring of a gearbox 4, which is hinted at with dotted lines in for example 4. As can be seen from Fig.

1, the gearshift lever 1 is mobile in a fixed movement pattern between vari- ous gear positions, both by means of movements forwards-backwards, so- called shift movements, and sideways movements, so-called select move- ments. By means of the movements, the gearbox is shifted via a gearbox rod 5 between the various gearbox positions via a manoeuvring shaft 6 of the gearbox, see for example Fig. 4, which is both axially displaceable back- wards and forwards, in the examples between three positions for the shift movements, and by means of axial rotation between a number of positions for the select movements. The choice of gear position is thus a combination of a rotational movement and an axial displacement movement of the gear shift rod 5 and the manoeuvring shaft 6. The gear lever housing is coupled to the manoeuvring shaft 6 via a pivotable coupling 7, which absorbs angular movements between the gearbox and gear rod, for example in the form of a cardan joint. To the housing 8 of the gearbox there is coupled a reaction stay wire 9 via a joint 10, which provides a pivotable attachment to a portion of the housing, for example two flanges 11, which protrude on both side of the at- tachment 10. In the example shown, this is constituted by a bearing casing 12 or a quill with a suitable stiffness in order to absorb vibrations to a certain extent. The pivotable attachment of the reaction stay wire 9 enables angular

movement between the gearbox and the reaction stay wire in at least one direction. It is alternatively possible that the attachment is constituted by a ball coupling, which enables movement in a number of directions. The reac- tion stay wire is a stiff stay wire, which at its opposite end i. e. the end 13 which faces the gearshift lever 1, is also pivotably attached to a part which is movable with the gearshift lever, in a way which will be described in more detail below.

The mobility of the gear shift lever 1 in its console 2 and the mobile attach- ment of the gearshift rod 5 and the reaction stay wire 9 to the gearshift lever are best seen in the section of Fig. 7 and the detailed enlargement of Fig. 8.

From these can be seen the gearshift lever pivotably arranged by means of a joint 15, which provides free pivotability in all directions but is limited by other conditions such as the manoeuvring shaft 6 or the gearbox which is con- trolled to assume certain defined positions which has been described above.

The joint 15 of the gearshift lever, from now on referred to as the lever point, is in the shown example constituted by means of a ball coupling with a pivot ball 16 arranged around the lever, which is pivotably arranged in a ball bowl 17 which is part of the lever console 2. The ball bowl is integrated with an attachment plate 18, which is part of the console, for attaching the gear lever arrangement to a fixed part of the vehicle such as a part 19 of the body of the vehicle. In a known manner, the ball bowl is in the example provided with a rotary part 21 along a groove 20 which is biased by means of a spring 22 in order to ensure a pivotal movement without play.

As can be seen from Figs. 7 and 8, the gearshift lever 1 is rotationally se- cured or rotationally locked relative to the ball bowl 15, and relative to its longitudinal axis 25, so that the gear knob in all positions will maintain its an- gular position relative to the shaft 25. This is particularly important when the knob is not rotationally symmetrical, and when it exhibits the gear pattern on top of the knob. In the example shown, the rotational lock is constituted by a pin 27 which protrudes into the ball bowl, and which protrudes into a control

groove 28 on the periphery 16 of the ball, with the groove extending in an axial plane through the longitudinal shaft 25.

To the gearshift lever 1, there is coupled a rotational link 24 which is brought along in the movements of the gearshift lever, i. e. rotational movements about the gear joint 15. This is in the example shown arranged so that the gearshift lever 1 forms an outer part of the rotational joint in the form of a pipe 23, which in the example shown is cylindrical, into which there protrudes an inner part of the rotational joint, which in the example shown is constituted by a rod and which alternatively can be constituted by a pipe with a smaller outer diameter than the inner diameter of the outer pipe. The inner part ad- vantageously has such dimensions that there will be an intermediate space 29 between the parts of the lever, which can consist of air or an elastic mate- rial. However, both parts are actually controlled by means of an elastic quill 30 in the upper end of the inner part of the lever, which is arranged so that it fills the intermediate space 29, and in the example shown is positioned in a ledge on the upper part of the inner part, which in more detail forms a ta- pered ring portion 32, in order to create a motional transferring coupling be- tween the lever 1 and the rotational joint, which however to a high extent ab- sorbs vibrations from the inner part 24. In the example shown, the two parts 23,24, are coaxial in a static condition relative to the longitudinal shaft 25 of the lever.

The part 24 is encircled also at the lever joint 15 by a dampening element 33, which is ring-shaped and encircles the inner part 24 but is radially positioned inside an enlarged portion of the lever pipe 23 the ball coupling 16 extends.

Radially outside of the portion 34, and is suitably designed in a relatively hard plastic material with friction, where the outside of the ball forms a contacting surface 35 in the shape of a convex semisphere, which constitutes the cou- pling against a concave coupling surface in the ball bowl, and its inside is essentially cylindrical and fixedly attached to the extended portion 34 of the lever part 23.

The inner part 24 is rotatably arranged relative to both the outer part 23 and the lever joint 15, and thus the entire lever console 2, since the inner part extends through the lever joint, and exhibits a contacting surface 36, which in the example shown is cylindrical, and faces outwards towards the ring- shaped plastic dampener 33, which inwards towards the surface of the part 24 is provided with a cylindrical casing 37, the inside of which forms a con- tacting surface towards the part 24. An axial locking of the inner part is ar- ranged by means of a locking ring 38, which rests against a flange part 39 of the casing 37.

Alternatively, the lever joint can be designed as a cardan suspension, which also provides a free pivotal movement, which at the same time is rotationally locked relative to the longitudinal axis of the lever.

The second part 24 thus extends through the gear joint and yet another dis- tance with a lower portion 40, to which a motionally transferring attachment part 41 is fixedly attached. This is both rotationally locked and axially not dis- placeably attached to the inner part 24, and is pivotably attached relative to the lever 1 via the rotational joint.

The connecting part 41 exhibits two sideways displaced joint places or joint points 42,43, which are sideways displaced relative to the pivot joint 24, i. e. in this example the lateral shaft 25 of the lever, in the shape of two ball couplings for pivotable coupling with both the reaction stay wire 9, which with its end 13 is coupled to the upper joint arrangement, and to the gear rod 5, which with its end 14 is coupled to the lower joint arrangement 43. Both of the ball couplings 42,43, are constituted by balls 44,45, arranged on respec- tive shafts 46,47, which are arranged crosswise to the essential longitudinal direction of the reaction stay wire and the gear rod, and are fixedly attached to these. The ball couplings 44,45, are arranged in respective ball bowls 48, 49, which, in a known way, exceeds the dimension of a semisphere for re- taining the ball couplings.

Both the reaction stay wire 9 and the pivotable attachment of the gear rod 5 are arranged at the same mutual radial distance from the shaft of the pivot joint 24, i. e. in this case the longitudinal shaft 25 of the gear lever, i. e. with a unitary fixed"off-set"position.

With reference to primarily Figs. 3 and. 8, the end portion 14 of the gear rod 5 at the gear lever 1 will be described. It will become apparent that the gear rod at this end 14 is shaped as a fork or a yoke, with two legs 50,51, where one of the legs supports the ball coupling 45 of the gear rod, which is a part of the pivot point 43. The other leg 51 supports a laterally displaceable pivot coupling or pivot point in the shape of a pivot pin 52, which in similarity to the pivot ball 44 faces inwards, and is directed towards the pivot ball and is coax- ial with it. The pivot pin 52 supports a slide 53, which is arranged to run in a groove or a guide 54, which extends in the shape of an arc as a groove in the coupling part 41 on the opposite side of the shaft axis 25 relative to the side where the ball joints 42,43 are arranged. In more detail guide 54 extends in a plane 56 which it has in common with the ball joint 43 of the gear lever and perpendicular to the shaft of the pivot joint 24 in the example the longitudinal shaft 25 of the gear lever i. e. in a radial plane. The guide 54 extends in the shape of an arc, in more detail as a circular arc with the circle centre posi- tioned in the pivot point 43 of the gear lever 5. Since the pivot pin 52 is ar- ranged in a hole 55 on the outside of the side, it is pivotably attached to the fork-leg 51. As an alternative, the shaft pin 52 can in itself form a slide in a corresponding dimensioned guide 54.

By means of the above described design of the gearshift lever arrangement according to the invention, distinct gear positions are obtained with a high degree of perception of control for the driver, at the same time as vibrations and also larger movements in the gearbox are essentially absorbed by the mechanism between the shift lever and the gearbox, so that the vibrations of the gearshift lever are minimized and the lever does not move unintention- ally. The reaction stay wire 9 or the reference stay wire creates a reference

point for the arrangement, which is formed by the pivotable attachment 42 of the reaction stay wire in the connecting part 41. This reference point is during static conditions a fixed point which under all conditions, with a variation for the small vibration of movements in the rubber quill in the casing 12, main- tains a fixed distance to the housing 8 of the gear stick 4. Thus, during dy- namic conditions when, for example, the gearbox moves relative to the body of the vehicle and thus also the lever console 2, the fixed point will move in the same way as the gear housing 8, at the same time as there is pivotability between the attachment of the reaction stay wire at the reference point and the connecting part 41. In the case of select movements, the reference point moves up and down, which will be described below in more detail.

The gear shifting movements thus take place manually caused by the driver, who with his hand grips the stick knob 3 and moves it from neutral position according to Fig. 4 to a desired gear position, during which the stick shift is rotated about the lever joint 15. When, for example, third gear is to be as- sumed, the shift stick is moved forward, and the connecting part 41 is rotated slightly backwards and pulls the gear rod 5 slightly backwards during a minor rotational movement in its rotatable attachment to the ball couplings 43, i. e. the common shaft 57 rotates in the plane of the paper backwards below the pivot point 42, see Fig. 5. In so doing, the manoeuvring shaft 6 of the gear- box is pulled out slightly to its gear position 3, i. e. the 3rd gear, a position which is determined in the gearbox, which has organs to maintain gear posi- tions which have been assumed. The shaft 57 is a geometrical shaft 57 which is the connecting line between the pivotable attachment of the reaction stay wire 9 and the rotatable attachment 43 of the shift stick 5, and thus ro- tates counterclockwise in this shifting movement with the pivot point 42 as its pivot's centre. A pivoting backwards of the shift stick past the neutral position and to the fourth gear position, i. e. 4th gear, see Fig. 6, brings about a for- ward movement of the gear rod, and thus an adjustment of the manoeuvre shaft 6 of the gearbox to a chosen gear position. This is accomplished by the connecting portion 41 being brought forward, and it moves the pivotable attachment 43 of the gear rod forward, so that the geometrical shaft 47 pivots

tachment 43 of the gear rod forward, so that the geometrical shaft 47 pivots slightly clockwise around the pivot point 42.

The select movement is best described with reference to Figs. 7,8 and 9.

The stick 1 is rotated in the plane of the paper, according to Figs. 7 and 8 about the stick joint 15, i. e. its pivot point 61. The reaction stay wire 9 which is pivotably attached to the gearbox housing 8 allows the pivot point 42 to move in an arc upwards or downwards, so that the connecting portion 41 is rotated about the rotation point 61 in the stick joint. The opposing pivot points 43 and 55 of the shift stick 5 follow in the rotational movement, and cause the fork 14 and the gear rod to be rotated, and bring the gearshift organ 6 along in a chosen rotational movement, which is followed by a longitudinal dis- placement movement when the stick is moved in the shift direction to a cho- sen gear position.

What happens when the gearbox 4 moves relative to the body of the vehicle, and thus the stick console, will now be described with reference to Figs. 9, 10,11 and 12. The fastening plate 18 of the stick console has however been removed from the drawings, so that the various positions of the parts will be easier to see. Fig. 9 shows a static position, with the shift stick in a neutral position seen from above where it can also be seen that the shift stick 5 in the example is symmetrically placed relative to the longitudinal axis 25 of the shift stick as seen from above.

In the neutral position in Fig. 9, there is a chosen distance a between the gearbox housing 8 and the stick console 2 of the stick arrangement, which in Figs. 9-11 is represented by the centre of the stick joint. In the case of a changed position in the gearbox housing, for example a forwards movement a distance b, for example 10 mm as shown in Fig. 10 the following happens.

Since the reaction stay wire 9 and the gear rod 5 accompany the movement of the gearbox in the forwards direction in the longitudinal direction of the re- action stay wire and the gear rod by means of their attachments to the gear- box, and by means of their pivotable attachments to the connecting portion

41, it is brought to rotate together with the inner part of the rotation joint about the longitudinal axis 25, clockwise in Fig. 10, which is made possible since the longitudinally displaceable pivot point, i. e. the slide 53 runs in the guide 54. Since the movement of the connecting portion 41 and the inner portion 24 is a purely rotational movement about the longitudinal shaft 25, the stick will not move either, i. e. the outer part 23 and the knob of the stick 3 will be com- pletely immobile due to the rotational lock of the stick together with the stick ball.

When the gearbox housing 8 moves backwards, for example a distance b, for example 10 mm, the following happens, see Figs. 11 and 12. By means of the attachments of the gear rod 5 and the reaction stay wire 9 to the gearbox, the stay wire and the rod are moved in the direction of the shift stick, which causes a rotation of the connecting part 41 in the opposite direction com- pared to Fig. 10, i. e. counterclockwise. This is possible due to the rotation of the inner part 24 about the longitudinal axis 25 of the stick and the opposing fork attachment to the slide 53 which runs in the guide in the opposite direc- tion relative to the movement of Fig. 10. The rotational movement is thus a purely rotational movement, with the longitudinal shaft 25 in an unchanged angle position as long as there is no gearshift movement, which results in an immobile shift stick and knob by means of the rotational locking of the stick 23 in the stick joint, at the same time as the inner part is rotationally arranged in both the stick joint and the stick at the quill 31. From Fig. 12, it can be seen that the shaft 57 has been displaced from its neutral position.

The invention is not limited to the above described examples of embodiments which have also been shown in the drawings, but can be varied within the scope of the appended claims. Thus, the core of the invention is the sideway placement of the reaction stay wire and the pivot point of the gear rod, i. e. its rotatable attachment with preferably the same mutual distance to a pivot axis, in this case the longitudinal axis of the stick. It is in principle possible to allow the stick itself to rotate, for example in combination with the gear knob

being rotationally symmetrical, and possibly rotate the ball relative to the stick. Another alternative is that the pivot joint is not coaxial with the shift stick but is places sideways on an arm which is fixedly attached to an extension portion of the stick. In addition, the connecting portion 41 can extend so that the guide is positioned directly below the stick. If the pivot point 43 is made as a cardan joint, the longitudinally displaceable, i. e. the third pivot point, can be excluded. Other gear shifting movements than both rotation and longitudi- nal displacement of the gear shifting organ can be possible.