Illumination – Supported by vehicle structure – Housing
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-13
2002-03-26
Quach-Lee, Y. My (Department: 2875)
Illumination
Supported by vehicle structure
Housing
C362S505000, C362S370000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06361197
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A vehicular lamp such as a fog lamp or a rear fog lamp is often mounted to a side panel of a vehicle such as a bumper with an opening for mounting a lighting fixture. As shown in
FIG. 1
, a vehicular lamp
2
is inserted into an opening
200
a
, and bracket portions
2
a
formed at lateral ends of the vehicular lamp
2
are secured to a side panel
200
by fastening screws
4
with the bracket portions
2
a
abutting on the side panel
200
. Thereby, the vehicular lamp
2
is mounted on the side panel
200
. In
FIG. 1
, apertures
200
b
for inserting and attaching grommets are formed in the vicinity of the lateral ends of the opening
200
a
in the side panel
200
. The fastening screws
4
are secured to grommets
6
, which are attached by inserting them into the apertures
200
b.
To mount the conventional vehicular lamp
2
to the side panel
200
, the apertures
200
b
need to be formed in the side panel
200
. However, the apertures
200
b
reduce the strength of the side panel
200
. Also, since the surface (designed surface) of a front lens
8
of the vehicular lamp
2
protrudes far above the surface of the side panel
200
, this protrusion disfigures the peripheral portion of the side panel
200
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is presented in view of those problems described above. The present invention provides a vehicular lamp which can be mounted to a rear bumper having an opening for mouting the lamp without reducing the strength of the rear bumper or disfiguring the periphery of a mounting portion of the rear bumper.
The vehicular lamp of the present invention, which is mounted to a side panel of a vehicle having an opening for mounting the lamp, comprises a lamp unit having a light source, a lamp body supporting the light source, a front lens disposed forwardly of the lamp body, and a unit fixture with which the lamp unit is inserted into the opening to be mounted to the side panel. The unit fixture comprises an inner bracket having a frame-like portion formed to encircle the lamp unit along the contour of the opening for mounting the lamp unit, an outward flange formed at a front end of the frame-like portion, an outer bracket having a frame-like portion encircling the frame-like portion of the inner bracket, and an outward flange formed at a front end of the frame-like portion. The brackets are fastened together to the lamp unit by fastening screws, with the side panel being sandwiched on its front and back sides between the outward flange of the inner bracket and the outward flange of the outer bracket so that the lamp unit is mounted to the side panel.
The outward flanges of the inner and outer brackets indicate a flange portion formed to be bent towards the outer periphery from the frame-like portion. Each of these outward flanges may be formed along either the entire circumference of the frame-like portion or part of it.
With the side panel being sandwiched on its front and back sides between the outward flange of the inner bracket and the outward flange of the outer bracket, the brackets are fastened together with the lamp unit by the fastening screws, whereby the lamp unit is mounted to the side panel. Therefore, there is no need to form apertures in the side panel for fixing the fastening screws as required in the conventional art. Also, the lamp unit can be mounted to the side panel without letting the surface (designed surface) of the front lens of the lamp unit protrude far above the surface of the side panel. The present invention enables the vehicular lamp to be mounted to the side panel without reducing the strength of the side panel or disfiguring the periphery of a mounting portion of the side panel.
The lamp unit may be preassembled before it is mounted to the side panel with the unit fixture. However, if the lamp body and the front lens are designed to be simultaneously fastened during the fastening of the screws used in mounting the lamp unit to the side panel, the man-hour for assembling the lighting fixture can be reduced by employing the present invention.
In the aforementioned construction, the surface of the front lens is formed to be substantially coplanar with the surface of the outward flange of the inner bracket or the outer bracket, and the lamp unit can be disposed along the surface contour of the side panel. This enhances the appearance of the of the side panel.
Moreover, in the aforementioned construction, the inner and outer brackets can engage with each other by the protrusions provided on the inner bracket fitting into the apertures provided on the outer bracket. When the brackets are engaged, the side panel is sandwiched on its front and back sides between the outward flange of the inner bracket and the outward flange of the outer bracket. The brackets can be provisionally held in place by this engagement in mounting the lamp unit to the side panel. Thus, it is possible to facilitate the fastening of the screws and thereby improve the workability in mounting the vehicular lamp to the side panel.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3708850 (1973-01-01), Martin
patent: 4212051 (1980-07-01), Kulik
patent: 5239449 (1993-08-01), Wnuk et al.
patent: 5743617 (1998-04-01), Sato et al.
Katsumata Toshiyuki
Takeshima Junji
Fish & Richardson P.C.
Koito Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
Quach-Lee Y. My
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