Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Glare screen or visor
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-22
2002-06-18
Patel, Ken (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Glare screen or visor
C296S097120, C296S097130, C248S027300, C174S1520GM
Reexamination Certificate
active
06406087
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to improvement of a bracket used in order to attach an interior equipment of a vehicle to a vehicle body panel.
FIG. 8
shows a structure for attaching a sun visor
1
that is an interior equipment of a vehicle to a roof panel
4
b
that is a vehicle body panel.
The sun visor
1
comprises a sun visor body
2
provided with a vanity mirror M, a lamp for lighting the mirror, and a shaft
3
which is rotatably attached to the sun visor body
2
. A bracket
5
is provided on a leading end of the shaft
3
to serve as a member for attaching the interior equipment to a roof trim
4
a
and roof panel
4
b
of the vehicle.
Further, a wire harness
7
passes through the shaft
3
of the sun visor
1
. One end of the wire harness is connected to the lamp through a connector
7
a,
and the other end thereof is connected through a connector
9
a
to a wire harness
9
on the vehicle side. These wire harnesses
7
,
9
have electric wires for power supply and for earth.
In order to attach this sun visor
1
onto the vehicle body side, the connector
9
a
of the wire harness
9
is previously pulled out from an opening
12
for harness connection of the roof trim
4
a
and roof panel
4
b,
and the connector
7
a
of the wire harness
7
is fitted into and connected to the connector
9
a
. Thereafter, the connectors
7
a
,
9
a
are pushed into a space within a roof portion
8
of the vehicle body from the opening
12
. Then, the bracket
5
provided at the leading end of the shaft
3
is attached to the roof trim
4
a
and roof panel
4
b
, whereby attaching of the sun visor
1
to the roof portion
8
is completed.
When the bracket
5
of the sun visor is attached to the roof trim
4
a
and roof panel
4
b
as described above, it is generally screwed up. In order to improve assembling efficiency, as shown in
FIG. 8
, a panel fixation member comprising a hook
5
a
and grommet screw
5
b
is proposed.
The grommet screw
5
b,
as shown in
FIGS. 9 and 10
, is a substantially cylindrical projection that is forced into a fitting hole
4
c
formed in the roof panel
4
b,
and a pair of division walls
6
a
,
6
b
divided by slits S that divide lengthwise a surrounding wall can be elastically deformed in a radial direction.
As shown in
FIG. 10
, when a screw
13
is inserted into the inner surrounding face of each division walls
6
a
,
6
b
from the lower side of a through hole, the division walls
6
a
,
6
b
are elastically deformed in the diameter expanding direction (in the figure, a direction shown by an arrow), whereby the grommet screw
5
b
is tightened in relation to the fitting hole
4
c.
Therefore, after the grommet screw
5
b
is firstly forced into the fitting hole
4
c
while the hook
5
a
is being caught on an inner edge of the opening
12
, the screw
13
is tightened, whereby the division walls
6
a
,
6
b
open in the diameter expanding direction and are tightly fitted into the fitting hole
4
c
, so that the bracket
5
is firmly fixed to the roof trim
4
a
and roof panel
4
b
by the above panel fixation member.
However, since the above-described grommet screw
5
b
of the bracket
5
is composed of a pair of the division walls
6
a
,
6
b
divided by the slits S that divide lengthwise the substantially cylindrical surrounding wall, in case that water or the like enters into the roof portion
8
, its water may flow into the grommet screw
5
through the slits S and may enter into the vehicle room along the inner wall of the grommet screw
5
b.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to solve the above problem, an object of the invention is to provide a bracket for attaching an interior equipment that can improve the assembling efficiency into the vehicle body panel without losing waterproof property at a portion where the panel fixation member is inserted.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a bracket module for attaching an interior equipment of a vehicle onto a vehicle body panel, comprising:
a bracket main body provided with the interior equipment;
a base member engaged with the bracket main body, and provided with a grommet having a tube-shaped body which is fitted into an opening formed in the vehicle body panel,
wherein the tube-shaped body of the grommet is vertically divided by slits into a plurality of peripheral walls such that at least one of the divided peripheral walls is flexible in a radial direction thereof; and
wherein a protective wall is formed on an outer face of the tube-shaped body of the grommet so as to extend in a flexed direction of the flexible divided peripheral wall while covering outside of the slits.
In this configuration, the attaching operation of the interior equipment to the vehicle body panel is performed by inserting the grommet into the opening formed in the vehicle body panel, then screwing a screw into an inner portion of the tube-shaped body to flex the divided peripheral walls outward in the radial direction, and expanding the tube-shaped body.
Further, since the slits on the side face of the tube-shaped body are covered with the protective wall and a surface area of the grommet increases, even in case that water enters into the vehicle body panel, it is possible to prevent the water from flowing into the cylindrical projection through the slits and entering into the vehicle room along the inner wall of the cylindrical projection.
Preferably, at least one of the divided peripheral walls is provided as a fixed wall having no flexibility. The protective wall is formed on an outer face of the fixed wall.
In this configuration, the tube-shaped body of the grommet which is inserted into the opening of the vehicle body panel improves its own stiffness: and the base member can be reliably attached.
Preferably, a first electric wire provided with a first terminal and connected to the interior equipment is attached onto the bracket main body, and a second electric wire provided with a second terminal and connected to a power source is attached onto a base portion of the grommet in the base member. A conductive screw is screwed into the tube-shaped body of the grommet to fix the bracket main body and the base member onto the vehicle body panel while screwing through the first and second terminals to establish an electrical conduction between the power source and the interior equipment.
In this configuration, since a connector fitting operation for terminal connection is not required, the assembling efficiency can be improved.
Preferably, the base member is provided with a provisional fixation member for provisionally fixing the base member onto the vehicle body panel before the bracket main body is engaged with the base member.
In this configuration, it is not necessary to support the base member when the bracket main body is engaged therewith, the assembling efficiency can be improved.
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patent: 5031954 (1991-07-01), Peterson et al.
patent: 5875728 (1999-03-01), Ayers et al.
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patent: 5975617 (1999-11-01), Jacquemin et al.
patent: 5977486 (1999-11-01), Fujita
patent: 6003928 (1999-12-01), Curtindale
patent: 6068323 (2000-05-01), Brown et al.
patent: 6250708 (2001-06-01), Kurachi
patent: 6287142 (2001-09-01), Sawayanagi et al.
patent: 6340193 (2002-01-01), Sawayanagi
patent: 2001/0022336 (2001-09-01), Sawayanagi
patent: 2002/0017800 (2002-02-01), Ichikawa et al.
patent: 7-47839 (1995-02-01), None
patent: 63-72115 (1998-05-01), None
patent: 11-78521 (1999-03-01), None
patent: 11-507309 (1999-06-01), None
Patent Abstract of Japan 07-047839 Feb. 12, 19995.
Patent Abstract of Japan 11-078521 Mar. 23, 1999.
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