Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Glare screen or visor
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-06
2002-01-22
Pedder, Dennis H. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Glare screen or visor
C248S274100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06340193
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bracket for installing such a subsidiary appliance as a sun visor provided with an electrical device onto an inner panel of vehicle body, and more particularly a bracket for installation of a subsidiary appliance to the vehicle body onto the panel, the bracket enabling the installation to be carried out by a single action and supply of electricity to the electric appliance.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as the subsidiary appliances provided in vehicle, for example, a sun visor installed on a ceiling along an upper end of a front window, a room lamp movably installed on the ceiling and the like are used. Some type of the sun visor contain a vanity mirror and some type of the sun visor further contains a lamp which enables such a vanity mirror to be used even at night.
FIGS. 1-18
indicate technologies which the inventor of the present invention and other related people considered. For example, a sun visor
101
having such a lamp, as shown in
FIG. 1
, contains a bracket
102
provided at an end of a fixing shaft
103
for fixing the sun visor
101
onto a vehicle body and the sun visor
101
is fixed by screwing the bracket
102
to an inner panel
104
.
Hereinafter, a method for fixing the sun visor
101
to the inner panel
104
will be described below. First, as shown in
FIGS. 1
,
2
, a wire harness
107
is introduced into vehicle compartment from a hole portion
106
formed in the inner panel
104
at an upper end of a front window
105
and then, a connector
110
attached to an end of wire
109
introduced from the aforementioned bracket
102
is coupled with a connector
108
provided at an end of the wire harness
107
. In
FIG. 3
, the connector
110
accommodates a terminal
150
fixed to the end of the wire harness
109
. This connector
110
has a double engaging spacer
151
which is a lance for preventing the terminal
150
from being slipped out of the connector
110
and detecting a non-engagement of the terminal
150
. This double engaging spacer
151
is mounted in a spacer mounting hole portion
152
which goes through to a terminal accommodating chamber in the connector
110
so as to prevent the aforementioned terminal
150
from being slipped out of the connector
110
and detect whether or not the terminal
150
is accommodated at a predetermined position of the connector
110
.
Next, the coupled connectors
108
,
110
and wire harness
107
are brought into a space portion
112
between the inner panel
104
and the outer panel
111
through a hole portion
106
formed in the inner panel
104
so as to install the sun visor
101
. That is, by bringing the connectors
108
,
110
and wire harness
107
into the space portion
112
as shown in
FIG. 4
, a grommet screw
113
formed on the bracket
102
is inserted into a bracket mounting hole
114
(see
FIG. 1
) formed in the inner panel
104
and the aforementioned bracket
102
is pressed into the inner panel
104
.
Next, as shown in
FIG. 5
, a screw
115
is inserted into a central hole in the cylindrical grommet screw
113
and tightened. Consequently, as shown in
FIGS. 6
,
7
, an end portion of the grommet screw
113
is expanded by the screw
115
by means of a slit
118
formed in height direction from the end of the grommet screw
113
, so that divided pieces
116
,
116
of the expanded grommet screw
113
are pressed against an opening peripheral portion of the bracket mounting hole
114
. Consequently, the bracket
102
is fixed to the inner panel
104
.
After the tightening of the screw is completed, as shown in
FIGS. 5
,
7
, a cover
117
is mounted onto the bracket
102
to hide the screw
115
on the bracket
102
. In this working process, the sun visor
101
is fixed to the inner panel
104
.
However, if the sun visor
101
is fixed in the above described way, even if the connectors
108
,
110
are installed in incomplete coupling condition (incomplete engaging condition), it cannot be confirmed. Further, even if the connectors
108
,
110
are slipped out due to vibration generated by traveling of vehicle, it cannot be confirmed until the sun visor
101
is removed.
If as shown in
FIG. 7
, a triangular bracket
102
is used, it is difficult to confirm an installation direction of the cover
117
. As a result, working efficiency for the installation is low and there is a fear that the cover
117
may be installed in improper direction. Consequently, the cover
117
may become loose or generate abnormal noise.
Further, if the screw
115
is tightened obliquely as shown in
FIG. 8
, there is a fear that the wire harness
107
, wire
109
and connectors
108
,
110
may be hooked by a screw portion protruded from an end of the grommet screw
113
so that they may be damaged.
Further, because the installation is carried out by tightening the screw
115
, the sun visor
101
has to be held by a single hand during the tightening of the screw. Thus, not only that screw tightening work is very troublesome but also the quantity of necessary parts increases. Additionally, there is a fear that a worker may use a screw of different size so that it may damage the grommet screw
113
or bracket mounting hole
114
.
If the sun visor is installed using the bracket
102
described above, the united object of the connector
110
and mating connector
108
is movable in a space between the inner panel
104
and the outer panel
112
, so that abnormal noise may be generated during a traveling of the vehicle.
Further, when it is intended to couple the mating connector
108
with the connector
110
, the worker has to couple a connector connected to the bracket
102
with the mating connector
108
disposed in the space portion between the inner panel
104
and the outer panel
112
by groping. Thus, there is a problem that the worker has to be skilled in this coupling work.
Further, because the wire harness
109
is placed out between an end
103
a
of the fixing shaft
103
and the connector, there is a fear that when it is intended to install the bracket
102
to the inner panel
104
, this wire harness
109
may be bit between the bracket
102
and the inner panel
104
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has been achieved to solve the aforementioned problem and therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a bracket for installation of the subsidiary appliance onto the vehicle body which enables to confirm visually a coupling condition of connectors and is capable of eliminating incomplete coupling of the connectors and preventing a cover from being installed in a wrong direction, thereby preventing an occurrence of abnormal noise during a traveling of the vehicle.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a bracket for installation of the subsidiary appliance onto the vehicle body, which enables the bracket to be installed onto the panel by a single action without a necessity of tightening screws, thereby not damaging wire, wire harness, connectors and the like.
To achieve the above object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a bracket for installing a subsidiary appliance onto a vehicle panel comprising: a first bracket having a first connector; a second bracket having a second connector which is coupled with the first connector when the second bracket is united with the first bracket and cylindrical grommet screws which are inserted into bracket mounting holes formed in the vehicle panel and engaged with the vehicle panel; and a cover to be mounted on the second bracket on an opposite side to a side with which the first bracket is to be united, wherein the first bracket has locking pieces each having a lock pawl and the second bracket contains hole portions in which the locking piece is to be inserted, so that a flexible space is formed with a lock arm having an engaging convex portion for engaging with the locking piece facing the hole portion, while the lock pawl engages with the engaging convex
Pedder Dennis H.
Yazaki -Corporation
LandOfFree
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