Illumination – Supported by vehicle structure – Specific lamp mounting or retaining
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-05
2003-02-04
Cariaso, Alan (Department: 2875)
Illumination
Supported by vehicle structure
Specific lamp mounting or retaining
C362S490000, C439S456000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06513961
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a lamp unit, and more particularly to a structure in which the displacement or the like of the wires is prevented when wires are fastened to wire connection terminals of the lamp unit mounted in a lamp mounting window formed in an interior wall member covering a vehicle body panel.
2. Related Art
When a lamp unit, such as a room lamp and a courtesy lamp, is mounted on an interior wall member (such as a roof trim and a door trim) covering a vehicle body panel, the lamp unit is heretofore mounted in a lamp mounting window formed in the interior wall member.
As shown in
FIG. 5
, a room lamp
60
is a lamp unit which is mounted in a lamp mounting window (not shown) formed in a roof trim covering a body roof (not shown).
The room lamp
60
mainly comprises a lamp housing
61
, an electric bulb
63
, and a cover lens
62
. After the electric bulb
63
is attached to a lamp mounting portion of the lamp housing
61
, the cover lens
62
is attached to the lamp housing
61
.
As shown in
FIG. 6
, one end portion of a wire harness
67
is press-connected directly to press-connecting terminals
66
of bus bars
69
provided in a wire connection recess
65
in the lamp housing
61
of the room lamp
60
by the use of a retaining piece
68
. Therefore, the electric bulb
63
is electrically connected to the wire harness
67
installed on the body roof through the bus bars
69
which serve as wire connection terminals and are provided within the lamp housing
61
.
Then, the lamp housing
61
is mounted directly on the body roof by bolts
64
through mounting brackets
61
a
formed on the outer periphery of a bottom plate of this lamp housing. The wire harness
67
, integrated with the room lamp
60
, extends toward a lower portion of a vehicle body along a predetermined path, and is connected at the other end thereof to another wire harness by a connector. Then, the roof trim is fixedly mounted on the body roof, thus completing the mounting operation. At this time, an outer surface (lower surface in
FIG. 5
) of the cover lens
62
of the room lamp
60
is exposed to the vehicle interior through the lamp mounting window formed in the roof trim (not shown).
However, in the above related room lamp
60
, when the one end portion of the wire harness
67
is press-connected to the press-connecting terminals
66
provided in the lamp housing
61
, the wire harness
67
is liable to be displaced relative to the press-connecting terminals
66
, and the press-connecting operation and the holding of the end portion of the wire harness
67
during the press-connecting operation need to be carefully effected.
There are occasions when a plurality of lamp units, such as the room lamp
60
and a map lamp, are interconnected by wire harnesses
67
, and these wire harnesses
67
are integrated with each other to provide a roof harness. In this case, when the position of connection of the wire harness
67
fastened to the wire connection terminals of each lamp unit is displaced in the longitudinal direction relative to the wire connection terminals, there arises a possibility that each lamp unit can not be mounted in the proper position on the body roof.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of this invention to solve the above problems, and more specifically to provide a lamp unit in which wires can be easily and accurately positioned and fastened relative to wire connection terminals of the lamp unit.
The object of this invention has been achieved by a lamp unit for mounting in a lamp mounting window formed in an interior wall member covering a vehicle body panel, the lamp unit comprising:
a wire connection terminal;
a wire fastened to the wire connection terminal and installed on the interior wall member; and
bent portions formed respectively at portions of the wire adjacent to the lamp unit so that the bent portions are engaged respectively with predetermined positioning projections formed on a fastening stand for positioning the wire to a wire connection portion of the wire connection terminal.
In this construction, the bent portions of the predetermined shape are beforehand formed respectively at those portions of the wire disposed adjacent to the lamp unit, and in the fastening operation, merely by engaging the bent portions respectively with the predetermined positioning projections formed on the fastening bed, the wire can be easily and accurately positioned relative to the wire connection portions of the wire connection terminals in the lamp unit.
Preferably, the lamp unit comprises a lamp function portion, having the wire connection terminals, and a design portion, and
the lamp function portion is resiliently supported so as to be displaced relative to the lamp mounting window in the interior wall member, and the wire, connected to the wire connection terminals, is retained and fixed to the interior wall member at those portions thereof disposed outwardly of the bent portions, respectively.
In this construction, the lamp function portion, connected to the wire beforehand installed on the interior wall member, is resiliently supported so as to be displaced relative to the lamp mounting window in the interior wall member, and therefore the lamp function portion can be mounted without rattling while absorbing its dislocation relative to the lamp mounting window, and therefore the mounting of the lamp function portion is easy.
At this time, the bent portions of the wire serve as extra-length portions which can be expanded and contracted in accordance with the dislocation of the lamp function portion, and therefore these bent portions prevent an undesirable pulling force from acting on the wire retained and fixed to the interior wall member.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3670094 (1972-06-01), Mattson
patent: 4214135 (1980-07-01), Munroe
patent: 4821161 (1989-04-01), Koontz
patent: 5408394 (1995-04-01), Mandy
Hatagishi Yuji
Nagai Kentaro
Cariaso Alan
Yazaki -Corporation
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