Land vehicles – Wheeled – Running gear
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-11
2002-04-23
Dickson, Paul N. (Department: 3618)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Running gear
C280S124100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06375221
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a suspension member attaching structure for an automobile or the like.
BACKGROUND ART
A suspension mechanism of an automobile or the like has various suspension members (for example, a suspension frame). Conventionally, such a suspension member is attached to a vehicle body structure member (side member, cross member, sub-frame, or the like) by using various types of attaching structures.
First, an automotive suspension mechanism will be explained with reference to FIG.
5
. In
FIG. 5
, reference numeral
40
denotes a suspension member. This suspension member
40
is attached to a member on the lower surface of vehicle body floor via a later-described suspension member attaching structure
41
.
The suspension member
40
, which is made up of various types of suspension arms
42
(a lower arm
42
A rotatably supported in a predetermined geometric relationship, a front upper arm
42
B, a rear upper arm
42
C, and a lateral link
42
D), or a front sub-frame (not shown) or the like, gives a predetermined restraining motion to an illustrated road wheel
43
. Reference numeral
44
denotes a shock absorber, and
45
denotes a coil spring.
FIGS. 6 and 7
show conventional suspension member attaching structures.
The suspension member attaching structure shown in
FIG. 6
has been disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 10-211887 and 9-132171. According to this structure, a suspension member attaching structure
41
has a cross member
22
whose flange portion
22
A is fixed to the lower surface of a vehicle body floor
21
by welding, and a lower reinforcing member
23
is fixed onto the bottom surface of the cross member
22
. To the lower reinforcing member
23
, a bolt plate
24
having a fitting hole
24
A at the center thereof is fixed by welding at the peripheral portion of the bolt plate
24
.
A bolt
25
is attached to the bolt plate
24
by fitting a serrated portion
25
A of an intermediate portion of the bolt in the fitting hole
24
A. To the upper end portion of the bolt
25
is fixed a separate upper pin
30
, and the bolt
25
is fixed to an upper reinforcing member
31
by causing the upper pin
30
to pass through a hole
32
in the upper reinforcing member
31
and by arc welding the upper pin
30
. A rising portion
33
at the periphery of the upper reinforcing member
31
is fixed to the cross member
22
by spot welding. A projecting portion of the bolt
25
projecting from the cross member
22
is supported on the suspension member
40
via an insulator in which an elastic material
27
C is interposed between an inner cylinder
27
A and an outer cylinder
27
B. A nut
28
is screwed to a screw portion
25
D of the bolt
25
, by which the inner cylinder
27
A of the insulator
27
is fastened and held via a cover member
29
.
The suspension member attaching structure shown in
FIG. 7
has been disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 10-211887. According to this structure, a pin portion
57
is formed integrally at the upper part of a bolt
53
. By caulking the pin portion
57
in an insertion hole
56
C in an upper reinforcing member
56
, the upper part of the bolt
53
is fixed to the upper reinforcing member
56
, a collar portion
54
formed at an intermediate portion of the bolt
53
is held between an embossed member
55
D and a bottom surface portion
52
C of a cross member
52
, and further the bolt
53
is fitted in a through hole
55
C in a lower reinforcing member
55
.
However, for the suspension member attaching structure shown in
FIG. 6
, the attachment strength of the bolt
25
(suspension member) depends on a serration fit due to the serrated portion
25
A of the bolt
25
. Therefore, in order to increase the attachment strength, the bolt plate
24
or the lower reinforcing member
23
itself must be made thick or large. Also, because of the construction in which the attachment strength depends on a serration fit due to the serrated portion
25
A, in order to increase a resisting force against a thrust-up force applied to the bolt
25
, the hardness of the serrated portion
25
A of the bolt
25
must be increased to enhance a force for fitting to the bolt plate
24
. To increase the hardness of the bolt
25
, the bolt must be subjected to special treatment such as thermal refining when the bolt
25
is manufactured, so that the manufacture of the bolt
25
is made troublesome. Further, because of high hardness of bolt, the bolt
25
cannot be welded directly to the upper reinforcing member
31
, so that the separate upper pin
30
with relatively low hardness is needed. For this reason, the alignment of the bolt
25
and the upper pin
30
is difficult to do. Also, it is very difficult to obtain a perpendicular accuracy of the bolt
25
with respect to the cross member
22
, coupled with the reason that consideration must be given to the fact that the bolt
25
is fitted so as to be undesirably tilted with respect to the bolt plate
24
because of fitting using the serrated portion
25
A.
Also, for the suspension member attaching structure shown in
FIG. 7
, because the bolt
53
is fixed to the upper reinforcing member
56
by caulking, it is very difficult to obtain a perpendicular accuracy of the bolt
53
with respect to the cross member
52
, coupled with the reason that consideration must be given to the fact that the bolt
53
is fitted so as to be undesirably tilted with respect to the bolt plate
54
because of the fitting using the serrated portion
53
A. Further, because of the configuration such that the bolt plate
54
is fixed by being held between the bottom surface portion
52
C of the cross member
52
and the embossed portion
55
D of the lower reinforcing member
55
, the flatness between the bottom surface portion
52
C of the cross member
52
and the bolt plate
54
and between the bolt plate
54
and the embossed portion
55
D affects the perpendicular accuracy of the bolt
53
with respect to the cross member
52
. Therefore, it is difficult to obtain the perpendicular accuracy of bolt for this reason as well.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a suspension member attaching structure in which a resisting force against a thrust-up force applied to a bolt is increased without the increase in hardness of the bolt, and moreover the perpendicular accuracy of bolt is obtained easily.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
To achieve the above object, the suspension member attaching structure in accordance with the present invention is configured so that a lower reinforcing member is connected to the upper surface of a bottom portion of a vehicle body structure member by welding, an upper reinforcing member is provided at an intermediate height position of the vehicle body structure member, the upper part of a bolt is fixed directly to the upper reinforcing member by welding such as arc welding, a collar portion formed at an intermediate portion of the bolt is fixed to the lower reinforcing member by welding such as arc welding, and the lower part of the bolt passes through the lower reinforcing member and the bottom portion of the vehicle body structure member and projects from these two members.
According to the above-described configuration, the upper part of bolt is fixed directly to the upper reinforcing member by welding such as arc welding, and the collar portion of bolt is fixed to the lower reinforcing member by welding such as arc welding. As a result, as compared with the conventional configuration using a fitting system using a separate pin or a serrated portion, a resisting force against a thrust-up force applied to the bolt can be increased, and moreover the perpendicular accuracy with respect to the vehicle body structure member can be assured easily.
REFERENCES:
patent: 58-31687 (1983-07-01), None
patent: 3-28009 (1991-02-01), None
patent: 4-169379 (1992-06-01), None
patent: 5-13671 (1993-04-01), None
patent: 8-301140 (1996-11-01), None
patent: 9-132171 (1997-05-01), None
patent: 10-211887 (1998-08-01), None
Dickson Paul N.
Foley & Lardner
Unipres Corporation
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