Electricity: conductors and insulators – Boxes and housings – Hermetic sealed envelope type
Patent
1996-07-10
1998-10-20
Kincaid, Kristine L.
Electricity: conductors and insulators
Boxes and housings
Hermetic sealed envelope type
296 70, H05K 500
Patent
active
058249494
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a tubular-shaped housing comprising a flexible belt-shaped wall.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
German Patent No. 37 36 761 A1 discloses an instrument cluster for motor vehicles that has various display instruments, indicator panels, controls and warning lights arranged in a shared housing. Its FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of the housing, the housing surrounding the display instruments being comprised of a plurality of rigid plastic objects. Other similarly housed motor vehicle instruments are known from the catalog "Moto Meter-Das komplette Programm an Kfz-Instrumenten, Werkstattgeraten Shop Devices and Accessories!, 3rd edition. Here, as well, it is always a question of inflexible housings, said housings having a rigid, tubular-shaped housing part, which is provided on its front side with a transparent front pane and, on its back side, with a back panel.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In contrast, an advantage of the tubular housing according to the present invention is that it can be manufactured much less expensively. Moreover, the same belt-shaped wall can be used for differently shaped display instruments and/or front panes, since the flexibility of the belt-shaped wall allows it to adapt to the outer contour of the display instrument and/or of the front pane. Consequently, the belt-shaped wall is also suited for compensating for tolerances in the manufacturing of the display instrument or of the housing panel. Furthermore, the belt-shaped design of the housing makes it possible to produce an endless arrangement of side-by-side housings. As a result, the housing in accordance with the present invention is especially suited for mass production.
By providing at least part of the upper surface area of the flexible, belt-shaped wall with a texture, one is able to advantageously diminish light beam reflection at the surface, thus providing a viewer with greater freedom from surface glare. In addition, a textured housing is easier to manipulate, because it is easier to grip when its surface roughness is increased.
It is advantageous to use a connecting means to join the contiguous edges of the housing arranged around the display instrument and/or the front pane because this prevents the housing from being inadvertently opened again as a result of the belt-shaped wall being bent back. On the other hand, having a connecting means with a releasable design makes it possible to intentionally open the housing e.g., for servicing purposes.
When a joint is used to join the belt-shaped wall to a housing panel, the housing panel can serve as an element for the housing, e.g., as a back panel, an overlay panel, or as a partition, simply by folding it over about the joint.
If the housing panel has openings, then lead-in wires can be run through the openings to elements in the housing, thus facilitating the wiring operation. However, the openings are equally suited for keeping clear the optical path between the display and a viewer, enabling visual observation of the display.
The housing panel advantageously serves the mechanical stability of the ensemble consisting of the display instrument and housing when the display instrument is attachable to the housing panel.
If the housing panel is so joined to the belt-shaped wall that, in the unbent state, both lie in a shared plane, and if the joint enables the housing panel to be folded over about an axis which lies in the shared plane and lies more or less normal to the connecting axis of the joint, then the housing panel is able to be manufactured, e.g., punched out, together with the belt-shaped wall, from a common surface. This arrangement is also able to be advantageously produced as an injection-molded element with an especially flat, easily ejected injection molded shape.
If, on its inner surface, the belt-shaped wall has grooves into which the display instrument and/or the front pane fit at least partially, then the wall, in addition to its property of forming the housing, also serves at the same time to mechanically
REFERENCES:
patent: 2379053 (1945-06-01), Weingart
patent: 2883085 (1959-04-01), Rose et al.
Moto Meter-The Complete Program of Automotive Instruments, Shop Devices and Accessories, 3rd Edition--Catalog, pp. 1-40, 1994.
Kincaid Kristine L.
Moto Meter GmbH
Soderquist Kristina
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