Seal for a joint or juncture – Seal between fixed parts or static contact against... – Contact seal for other than internal combustion engine – or...
Reexamination Certificate
2002-09-06
2004-03-09
Knight, Anthony (Department: 3676)
Seal for a joint or juncture
Seal between fixed parts or static contact against...
Contact seal for other than internal combustion engine, or...
C277S604000, C277S637000, C138S090000, C285S336000, C220S233000, C215S313000, C222S563000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06702299
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a closure structure with a plug, in which an opening hole of an object to be closed is closed by means of a plug, and especially to such a closure structure, which has a simple structure and ensures a watertight closing condition.
2. Description of the Related Art
With respect to an indicator, which optically detects and indicates specific gravity of electrolyte, which is received in a battery, utilizing relationship between the specific gravity and refractive index of the electrolyte, there has conventionally been known a plug-type indicator, which is to be mounted on an upper lid of the battery. Of the conventional indicators, there has generally been used the indicator in which a ball that floats or sinks in the electrolyte in accordance with variation of specific gravity and an upper level of the electrolyte is disposed in a lower portion of a plug member, which is formed of a transparent material and is immersed into the electrolyte. In such an indicator, light entering from the upper side of the plug member is made reflect perfectly from a predetermined reflecting surface to enter a position in which the ball is disposed, and light, which is reflected from the ball or pass through it, is made again reflect perfectly from the reflecting surface to return the light to the upper side so as to provide images, which are different in color and indicate variation of the specific gravity and the upper level of the electrolyte.
When the plug member is fitted into an opening hole of an object to be closed, for example, such an indicator is mounted on the upper lid of the battery, there may be a gap between the object to be closed and the plug member, leading to leakage of liquid received in the object to be closed. In order to prevent such a problem, there has conventionally been used a closure structure, which permits to seal the gap between the object to be closed and the plug member to provide a watertight closing condition.
An example of such a conventional closure structure is shown in FIG.
7
.
FIG. 7
is a schematic descriptive view of the conventional closure structure.
The conventional structure as shown in
FIG. 7
has a structure in which a plug member
102
, which has a plurality of flange portions formed on the outer periphery of the plug member
102
so as to extend outward, is fitted into an opening hole
101
of an upper lid
100
of a battery serving as an object to be closed, thus closing the opening hole
101
by means of the plug member
102
. The flange portions
102
a
of the plug member
102
are formed of the same material as the upper lid
100
and have an outside diameter, which is slightly larger than the diameter of the opening hole
101
. Forcedly pressing the plug member
102
into the opening hole
101
causes the flange portions
102
a
to be urged strongly against the upper lid
100
, while being deformed, thus making it possible to secure firmly the plug member
102
to the upper lid
100
and prevent leakage of liquid received in the battery.
In the conventional closure structure having the above-described structure, it is difficult to control uniformly deformation of the flange portions
102
a
in the opening hole
101
. As a result, a part of the outer periphery of the flange portion
102
a
may not come into contact with the upper lid
100
, thus causing a gap. Such a gap makes it impossible to maintain the watertight condition, thus causing leakage of liquid as received and leading to occurrence of serious problems.
Alternatively, there also exists the other conventional closure structure as shown in
FIG. 8
, in which a plug member
102
on the outer periphery thereof a seal member
103
is mounted, is screwed into an upper lid
100
so as to bring the seal member
103
into contact with the plug member
102
and the upper lid
100
, thus closing an opening hole
101
.
In this case, the seal member
103
comes surely into contact with the plug member
102
and the upper lid
100
, thus providing a sufficient watertight condition. However, formation of screwed portions on the upper lid
100
and the plug member
102
makes the structure complicated. In addition, the screwing operation of the plug member
102
into the upper lid
100
requires much labor in comparison with the case where the plug member
102
is forcedly inserted into the upper lid. Consequently, the cost of the second conventional closure structure is relatively high.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention, which was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, is therefore to provide a closure structure with a plug member, has a simple structure with a seal member, thus providing a reliable watertight condition, and permits an easy and rapid fitting operation of the plug member.
In order to attain the aforementioned object, a closure structure of the present invention comprises:
an object to be closed with a plug member, said object to be closed having an opening hole formed thereon;
a plug member to be inserted into said opening hole; and
a seal member disposed on an outer periphery of said plug member, said seal member being formed of a ring-shaped elastic member, said seal member being to be brought into contact with said object to be closed and said plug member so as to close said object to be closed,
wherein:
at least an insertion portion of said plug member, which is to be inserted into said opening hole, is smaller than said opening hole, said insertion portion being provided at an outer periphery of a predetermined portion thereof with a seal member-receiving groove, which extends continuously in a circumferential direction of said insertion portion and has a predetermined depth, and said seal member-receiving groove being provided at a predetermined portion thereof, which is placed on a rear side relative to an insertion direction of said insertion portion, with a seal member-seating portion, which has an outer surface with a predetermined diameter, which is smaller than that of said opening hole by a predetermined length and larger than that of a bottom of said seal member-receiving groove; and
said seal member has a cross-sectional shape, which can be fitted into said seal member-receiving groove of said plug member, said seal member having an outer diameter, which is larger than a diameter of said opening hole in a mounting state into said seal member-receiving groove, said seal member having an elastic deformability by which said seal member, to which an external force is applied, can be deformed so that a thickness thereof in an axial direction reaches at least said predetermined length, and said seal member having opposite end faces in the axial direction, which serve as contact surfaces coming into contact with said object to be closed with the plug and said seal member-seating portion of said plug member.
According to the features of the first aspect of the present invention, the plug member is provided on its outer periphery with the seal member-receiving grove portion for mounting the seal member and with the seal member-seating portion having the predetermined outside diameter. Inserting the plug member, to the seal member-receiving groove portion of which the seal member is fitted, into the opening hole causes the outer peripheral portion of the seal member to be elastically deformed from the initial position in the seal member-receiving groove portion toward the opposite direction to the insertion direction of the plug member, under reaction force applied from the object to be closed to the outer peripheral edge of the end face of the seal member in the axial direction thereof, due to insertion force applied to the plug member, while keeping the inner peripheral edge of the end face of the seal member in contact with the seal member-receiving groove portion. The opposite end faces of the seal member in the axial direction thereof, which have been kept in a non-deformed state before insertion of the plug member into the opening hole, come into clo
Ibi Hikaru
Tateishi Hirotoshi
Yamaguchi Shuichi
Daiden Co. Ltd.
Knight Anthony
Patel Vishal
Rader & Fishman & Grauer, PLLC
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