Illumination – Illuminated scale or dial
Utility Patent
1999-04-27
2001-01-02
O'Shea, Sandra (Department: 2875)
Illumination
Illuminated scale or dial
C362S028000, C362S029000, C362S030000, C362S085000
Utility Patent
active
06168280
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an illumination lamp mounting structure to be equipped in the interior portion of a measuring instrument on board a car or the like and, in particular, to an illumination lamp mounting structure for use in a measuring instrument, in which the light from an illumination lamp equipped in the interior portion of a measuring instrument is allowed to illuminate a display plate efficiently without being blocked off by parts which are mounted in the interior portion of the measuring instrument and could otherwise provide obstacles to the light from the illumination lamp.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a conventional structure of a measuring instrument on board a car which is produced by assembling together a plurality of measuring devices into a single case, for example, there is known a structure which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Hei 3-115925. Describing the main portions of the conventional structure with reference to
FIG. 3
, reference character
1
designates a case which is formed of synthetic resin in such a color as having a high light reflection factor. The case
1
includes a front surface opening portion and a rear surface opening portion; on the front surface side of the rear surface opening portion, there are disposed partition walls
2
in such a manner that they are formed integrally with the inner peripheral side portion of the case
1
; and, on the front side of the partition walls
2
, there is formed a front side storage space
3
and, on the rear side of the partition wall
2
, there are formed a plurality of rear side storage spaces
4
. In the front surface portions of the partition walls
2
, there are formed a plurality of placement surface portions
6
on each of which an electric measuring device
5
such as a measuring device of a cross coil type, and there is provided a cylindrical portion
9
which defines a storage chamber
8
used to store therein a display lamp
7
for illuminating a warning indicator, an A/T indicator and the like; and, in the rear surfaces of the partition walls
2
, there are provided a plurality of plate-shaped ribs
10
in such a manner that they project rearwardly, whereby the rear side storage space
4
is divided in two or more parts. Also, on the rear surface of the partition walls
2
, correspondingly to the above-mentioned placement surface portions
6
, there are provided a plurality of boss portions
12
which respectively project rearwardly and also through which their associated screws
11
for terminals can be inserted. Further, a circuit board
13
is fixed onto the rear surface of the case
1
by mounting screws (not shown) and, to the circuit board
13
, there is connected the above-mentioned display lamp
7
, illumination lamps
7
A, and electronic parts
14
which can be disposed within the rear side storage spaces
4
respectively defined by the partition walls
2
.
In
FIG. 3
, reference numeral
15
designates display plates which are respectively to be situated in the front surface opening portion of the case
1
. The display plates
15
are mounted in such a manner that they respectively correspond to the electric measuring devices
5
, and they are structured in such a manner that they allow the light from the illumination lamp
7
A to pass therethrough and thus can be illuminated by such light. Reference numeral
16
stands for indicators which are mounted on the electric measuring devices respectively. Reference numeral
17
designates a rear surface cover which is used to cover and protect the circuit board
13
.
In the conventional measuring instrument having the above-mentioned structure, the respective illumination lamps
7
A are supported directly on the surface of the circuit board
13
and are situated between the mutually adjoining boss portions
12
of the partition walls
2
as well as in the valley portions between the boss portions
12
and the wall surface of the case wall or partition walls
2
, and, on the placement surface portions
6
which are respectively formed on the upper end portions of the boss portions
12
, there are placed the electric measuring devices
5
. Therefore, the boss portions
12
and electric measuring devices
5
provide obstacles to the optical paths of the lights that are respectively emitted from the illumination lamps
7
A. Because of this, in the respective display plates
15
, there are produced the portions that can be illuminated by the lights emitted from the illumination lamps
7
A (that is, the portions that can be illuminated transmissively by the lights) and the portions that are not illuminated, which makes it impossible to illuminate the display plates
15
uniformly.
Since the display plates
15
are greatly distant from the illumination lamps
7
A, the illumination efficiency of the display plates
15
is poor. Further, because the illumination lamps
7
A are supported directly on the circuit board
13
, for example, if the positions of the measuring devices
5
are changed in accordance with variations in the design of the measuring instrument, then the positions of the illumination lamps
7
A must be changed in linking with the position changes of the measuring devices
5
, and thus the design of the circuit board
13
, on which the illumination lamps
7
A are mounted and supported, must be changed, which increases the manufacturing cost of the circuit board
13
to a great extent.
Further, in recent years, in the circuit board
13
which is used to control a meter, besides parts for controlling the meter, there have been integratedly mounted control circuit parts which are used to control electric equipment such as a keyless entry system and the like, so that the meter circuit board
13
becomes highly dense, which makes it difficult to ensure the illumination lamps
7
A.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made to eliminate the drawbacks with the above-mentioned conventional measuring instrument.
Accordingly, one object of the invention is to provide an illumination lamp mounting structure for use in an analog-type measuring instrument in which a light source is positioned in such a manner that not only the transmissive illumination of a display plate forming the measuring instrument can be distributed uniformly over the whole surface of the display plate, but also the illumination efficiency of the display plate can be enhanced.
Another object of the invention is to provide an illumination lamp mounting structure for use in a measuring instrument in which, even if the design of the measuring instrument is changed, at least a printed circuit board can be used in common as it is without changing the design thereof to thereby enhance the economic efficiency of the manufacture of the measuring instrument.
Still another object of the invention is to relax the highly dense state of the circuit board.
To achieve the above objects, according to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided an illumination lamp mounting structure for use in a measuring instrument comprising:
a lower case for storing therein a measuring instrument movement, said lower case including a front surface opening portion and a rear surface opening portion;
a display lamp for illuminating a warning indicator;
an illumination lamp for illuminating a display plate;
an upper case connected to and held by the front edge of the lower case;
a front surface cover mounted on the opening edge of the upper case;
a circuit board mounted on and held by the rear edge of the lower case;
a movement supporting intermediate wall interposed between the front surface opening portion and rear surface opening portion of the lower case;
a light source supporting intermediate wall situated nearer to a direction of the front surface opening portion that the movement supporting surface of the movement supportinng intermediate wall, said light source supporting intermediate wall being formed integrally with the movement supporting intermediate wall; and
an il
Kansei Corporation
O'Shea Sandra
Sughrue Mion Zinn Macpeak & Seas, PLLC
Ton Anabel
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