Electrical connectors – With supporting means for coupling part – Supporting means comprising face plate or closure member for...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-09
2002-02-19
Bradley, P. Austin (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With supporting means for coupling part
Supporting means comprising face plate or closure member for...
C439S431000, C439S351000, C439S034000, C439S801000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06347959
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a bracket for attaching an interior equipment, and more particularly to a bracket used for attaching, to a vehicle body panel, an interior equipment to which electric power is supplied via a wire harness disposed in a vehicle.
Heretofore, the interior equipments attached to a vehicle body panel through an interior wall member covering a back face of the vehicle body panel include some items to which electric power is supplied via the wire harness disposed in the vehicle.
For example, as for a sun visor to be attached to a roof above a front seat in a vehicle, there has been developed a sun visor having an illumination unit which is provided with, in addition to a vanity mirror, a lighting device incorporated for the use of this mirror.
FIG. 12
shows a related fitting structure for the sun visor having the illumination unit (for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 64-22620A).
In this sun visor
21
having the illumination unit, a sun visor body
22
is provided with a mirror
3
as shown by a phantom line, and an illumination lamp for the use of this mirror
3
. An electric wire
7
which is connected to the illumination lamp at its one end is passed through a shaft
23
which is attached to the sun visor body
22
at its one end. A contact (terminal)
26
is provided at an upper end of the shaft
23
.
The upper end of the shaft
23
provided with the contact
26
is inserted into a hole formed in a bracket
25
, and to a lower end of the shaft
23
attached to the sun visor body
22
, there is connected a ground wire
11
for the illumination lamp.
On the other hand, to a roof trim
4
a
disposed on a roof
8
of the vehicle body is provided with a connector
24
, which is so constructed as to be contained within a roof panel
4
b.
The connector
24
is formed with a recess
24
a
having a size capable of containing a projected portion of the bracket
25
. A contact (terminal)
9
b
provided at one end of a power supply wire
9
is supported in the recess
24
a
by a coil spring
27
which is provided between the connector
24
and the contact
9
b.
In order to attach the sun visor body
22
, the projected portion of the bracket
25
is first inserted into the recess
24
a
in the connector
24
. Then, the contact
26
of the electric wire
7
comes in contact with the contact
9
b
of the power supply wire
9
, and these contacts
26
and
9
b
are electrically connected. On this occasion, since the contact
9
b
is urged by the coil spring
27
to be elastically abutted against the contact
26
, the contact between the contacts
26
and
9
b
will be reliably conducted even though a slight assembling error exists.
Then, by fixing a fitting flange
23
a
of the bracket
25
to the roof trim
4
a
and the roof panel
4
b
by screwing a small screw
28
, the ground wire
11
of the illumination lamp is earthed to the roof panel
4
b
by way of the shaft
23
and the bracket
25
allowing electricity to be supplied to the illumination lamp.
Therefore, because wiring connection of the sun visor
21
having the illumination unit can be effected only by inserting the shaft
23
into the connector
24
, such connecting work as engaging the connector of contact
9
b
of the power supply wire
9
with the connector of the electric wire
7
is not required substantially, and the work will be easy. Also, there will be no need of drawing out the power supply wire
9
for the connecting work, and accordingly, an extra length of the power supply wire
9
can be reduced.
However, in the sun visor having the illumination unit as described above, when the bracket
25
has been detached from the recess
24
a
in the connector
24
for maintenance, the contact
9
b
to which the power is supplied via the power supply wire
9
is exposed to an inside of the vehicle.
In this state, there has been a probability that an electric shock is given when a tool or a finger happens to touch the contact
9
b
by mistake. In addition, when the exposed contact
9
b
is soiled with dirt or so, it has been probable that conductivity between the contact
9
b
and the contact
26
may be worsened on occasion of attaching the bracket
25
.
There has been a further problem that in order to fix the bracket
25
of the sun visor
21
having the illumination unit to the roof trim
4
a
or the roof panel
4
b
by screw fitting, the projected portion of the bracket
25
must be kept inserted into the recess
24
a
in the connector
24
by one hand, and positioning of the small screw
28
and screwing operation must be conducted by the other hand, which deteriorates fitting workability.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above, an object of the invention is to solve the above described problems, and to provide an interior equipment fitting bracket which is free from accidents such as an electric shock, a short circuit, and deterioration of conductivity during maintenance of the interior equipment which is being supplied with electric power, and is excellent in attaching and detaching workability.
In order to achieve the above objects, according to the present invention, there is provided a bracket for attaching an interior equipment of a vehicle onto an interior wall member covering an inner face of a vehicle body panel, and supplying electric power to the interior equipment, comprising:
a base member attached to the interior wall member;
a first power supply wire, arranged between the vehicle body panel and the interior wall member;
a first terminal provided on a leading end of the first power supply wire, and fixed on the base member so as to face inside of the vehicle;
an insulative cover member, provided on the base member movably between an open position at which the first terminal is exposed and a close position at which the first terminal is covered;
a bracket body, provided with the interior equipment, and engaged with the base member;
a second power supply wire, led out from the interior equipment;
a second terminal, provided on a leading end of the second power supply line, and fixed on the bracket body so as to oppose to the first terminal; and
a conductive screw, piercing through the first terminal, the second terminal and the insulative cover member, for electrically connecting the first and second power supply wires, while securing the bracket body to the base member.
In this configuration, when the bracket body fastened to the interior equipment is detached, the first terminal of the first power supply wire is covered with the insulative cover member and will not be exposed to the inside of the vehicle. Therefore, accidents such as an electric shock and a short circuit when the tool or finger has happened to touch the terminal by mistake during the maintenance work, or deterioration of the conductivity caused by dirt adhered to the terminal will be eliminated.
Preferably, the insulative cover member is connected to the base member via a hinge, so as to be movable between the open position and the close position.
In this configuration, the first terminal can be easily detached from the base member by opening the insulative cover member, on occasion of the maintenance of the terminal connecting area.
Preferably, the bracket body includes a provisional engagement member for provisionally engaging the bracket body with the base member before the conductive screw is screwed.
In this configuration, there will be no need of supporting the bracket body by hand when the conductive screw is screwed, and the attaching workability will be enhanced.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3760330 (1973-09-01), Bennett et al.
patent: 4410226 (1983-10-01), Adduci et al.
patent: 4550965 (1985-11-01), Izraeli
patent: 4968268 (1990-11-01), Oh
patent: 5266057 (1993-11-01), Angel, Jr. et al.
patent: 5651683 (1997-07-01), Shimamura et al.
patent: 5856908 (1999-01-01), Takiguchi et al.
patent: 5939672 (1999-08-01), Tang
patent: 6004166 (1999-12-01), Cardas
patent: 6018278 (2000-01-01), Tang
patent: 6151980 (2000-11-01), Nishitani et al.
patent: 6244884 (2001-06-01), Keru
Bradley P. Austin
León Edwin A.
Yazaki -Corporation
LandOfFree
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