Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Structural detail
Reexamination Certificate
2002-11-01
2004-02-24
Patel, Kiran (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Structural detail
C296S029000, C296S193090, C362S549000, C362S528000, C362S287000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06695396
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates generally to fasteners and, more particularly, to an adjustable fastener assembly for a vehicle.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is known to provide a vehicle body for a vehicle such as a motor vehicle. Typically, the vehicle body includes a tie bar at a forward end and a hood overlapping the tie bar. It is also known to provide a headlamp assembly for the vehicle. Typically, the headlamp assembly has a housing and at least one headlamp light source disposed therein. The housing is typically attached to the tie bar by conventional fasteners such as screws.
It is further known that headlamp assemblies typically require adjustment to minimize a gap between the headlamp assembly and the hood of the vehicle body to improve a fit and finish of the vehicle. Typically, a fastener is loosened and the headlamp assembly is adjusted manually by hand to close the gap, which is known as a loose torque bolt method. For high volume vehicle production, conventional loose torque bolt methods are unacceptable.
Newer vehicles being manufactured have a trapped hood to the fascia and/or headlamp assembly. One problem with the trapped hood is that the fasteners cannot be accessed while the hood is closed. One attempt to overcome this problem is to use a fixture that locates off the tie bar to set the headlamp assembly, but the variation associated with the fixture is too large to meet design requirements.
As a result, it is desirable to provide an adjustable fastener to adjust a gap of a headlamp assembly or fascia to a hood of a vehicle body of a vehicle. It is also desirable to provide a fastener assembly that allows efficient hand adjustment of a headlamp assembly for a vehicle. It is further desirable to provide a fastener assembly that provides a temporary attachment while a hood of a vehicle body is closed. Therefore, there is a need in the art to provide an adjustable fastener assembly for a vehicle that meets these desires.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to provide a new adjustable fastener assembly for a vehicle.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an adjustable fastener assembly for a vehicle that provides a temporary attachment while a hood of a vehicle body is closed to adjust a gap between a headlamp assembly or fascia and the hood.
To achieve the foregoing objects, the present invention is an adjustable fastener assembly for a vehicle. The adjustable fastener assembly includes a retainer for connection to a first vehicle part and a tab portion for connection to a second vehicle part to be received by the retainer. The adjustable fastener assembly also includes an adjustable mechanism between the tab portion and the retainer to act as a temporary holding device to prevent the tab portion from exiting the retainer after a position of the first vehicle part and the second vehicle part are set to a desired location relative to each other.
One advantage of the present invention is that an adjustable fastener assembly is provided for a vehicle to allow a headlamp assembly or fascia to be adjusted to a hood of a vehicle to minimize a gap therebetween. Another advantage of the present invention is that the adjustable fastener assembly provides a temporary attachment while the hood is closed and, after the hood is opened, the final secure attachment can be made with a conventional bolt. Yet another advantage of the present invention is that the adjustable fastener assembly allows the ability to adjust the headlamp assembly to the hood such that a gap therebetween is three millimeters (3.0 mm) with a tolerance of plus or minus a half of millimeter (+/−0.5 mm), yielding a competitive advantage to a fit and finish of the vehicle. Still another advantage of the present invention is that the adjustable fastener assembly allows a friction-held preset between two or more parts as a temporary holding device and final fastening strength through conventional fasteners after the position of the parts is set to a desired location. A further advantage of the present invention is that the adjustable fastener assembly is used to set accurate gaps or flush conditions with low variation between two adjacent surfaces. Yet a further advantage of the present invention is that the adjustable fastener assembly is used to allow temporary positioning where conventional fastener access is inhibited.
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Hargitt Laura C.
Patel Kiran
LandOfFree
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