Illumination – Supported by vehicle structure – Automobile
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-11
2001-05-15
O'Shea, Sandra (Department: 2875)
Illumination
Supported by vehicle structure
Automobile
C362S512000, C362S514000, C362S515000, C362S528000, C362S421000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06231220
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to vehicle lamps mounted in vehicles such as automobiles. More particularly, the invention relates to a vehicle lamp fitted with a reflector which is formed separately from a lamp body and tilted by an aiming mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
Vehicle lamps of the sort required to regulate light distribution characteristics of the light emitted from light sources as in the case of automobile headlamps are provided with an aiming mechanism for adjusting an optical axis of emission light. Conventionally, a reflector for supporting an electric bulb as a light source is installed in a lamp body separately from the lamp body and the aiming mechanism is employed for tilting the reflector horizontally and vertically with respect to the lamp body. Consequently, such an aiming mechanism is fitted with a fulcrum portion for tiltably supporting the reflector, a horizontal and a vertical aiming portion for respectively tilting the reflector horizontally and vertically. In particular, a pivot structure as a universal joint structure using a spherical pivot and a ball seat is employed in the fulcrum portion for making the reflector tiltable in the horizontal and vertical directions which are perpendicular to each other.
Heretofore, a pivot structure of the kind mentioned above, has been formed with a spherical pivot provided on the lamp body and reflector, and the ball seat provided on the other, so that the spherical pivot is received by the ball seat. In order to accomplish this construction, the spherical pivot and the ball seat have been formed separately from the lamp body and the reflector and then secured to the lamp body and the reflector, respectively. As shown in
FIG. 8
, for example, a spherical pivot
110
is secured to the inner surface of a lamp body
101
, whereas a ball seat
120
is secured to a reflector
103
. In this example, a strut portion
113
is formed integrally with a spherical portion
112
, and a screw portion
114
coupled to the end portion of the strut portion
113
is screwed into a screw hole
115
bored in the inner surface of the lamp body
101
so as to secure the spherical pivot
110
to the lamp body
101
. Further, a ball seat
120
is formed with a cylindrical portion
121
with one end portion formed like a circular mortar, and a fitting portion
122
with the other portion having a lance
123
smaller in diameter than the cylindrical portion, the other end portion being securely fitted into the hole
126
of a stem
125
projecting in the back of the reflector
103
. When the spherical portion
112
of the spherical pivot
110
is forced into the cylindrical portion
121
of the ball seat
120
from the leading end portion of the cylindrical portion
121
, the spherical pivot
110
is received by the ball seat
120
, which causes the reflector
103
to be tiltably supported by the lamp body
110
.
As the conventional fulcrum portion has been arranged so that the spherical pivot and the ball seat formed separately from the lamp body and the reflector are respectively secured to the lamp body and the reflector, not only the number of parts but also the number of assembling steps tends to increase, which results in the problem of increasing cost in the vehicle lamp. Therefore, it has been taken into consideration to form the spherical pivot and the ball seat integrally with the lamp body and the reflector, respectively. However, since the pivot is spherical or substantially spherical, undercutting easily develops in the mold when an attempt is made to resin-mold the spherical pivot integrally with the lamp body or the reflector, causing difficulties in the resin-molding process. In particular, when the spherical pivot
110
is formed so as to project in the direction of parting molds for resin-molding the lamp body
101
and the reflector
103
, that is, when it is normally formed so as to project along the longitudinal direction of the lamp, the undercutting cannot be dealt with unless a slider is used for the mold. In other words, any attempt to force these resin-molding component parts to be drawn out without using any slider would result in difficulty in molding a spherical pivot having the required quality. For this reason, the mold structure has heretofore become complicated and failed to facilitate the molding operation. On the other hand, molding the ball seat
120
using the sliders still remains difficult because the cylindrical portion
121
is formed like a circular mortar, making it necessary to force the component parts to be drawn out. Moreover, errors develop in the shape and dimensions of the molded ball seat. Further, accurate aiming becomes hardly attainable because backlash and deviation are produced when the aiming mechanism is installed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle lamp, in which a spherical pivot and a ball seat can readily be formed with great accuracy by reducing the number of parts and assembling steps.
Accordingly, to achieve the above objective, there is provided a vehicle lamp having an aiming mechanism, where the aiming mechanism is fitted with a pivot structure serving as a fulcrum operating to tilt a reflector. The pivot structure includes a spherical pivot formed integrally with the reflector and a ball seat formed integrally with the lamp body, which is used for receiving the spherical pivot. The spherical pivot is projected from the reflector in a direction substantially perpendicular to the mold-parting direction when the reflector is molded.
To further achieve the above objective, the ball seat includes a curved surface groove portion formed by concaving part of the inner surface of the lamp body and used for receiving part of the spherical surface of the spherical pivot, and a plurality of ball holding-down plates formed integrally with the lamp body in positions opposite to the curved surface groove portion and brought into contact with the spherical surface portion as part of the diametrically opposite spherical surface of the spherical pivot.
To further achieve the above objective, the ball holding-down plates include a pair of upright wall portions in both the respective opposed positions of the curved surface groove portion with a space greater than the diametric dimension of the spherical pivot held therebetween and a tilted wall portion projected in a tilted condition toward the curved surface groove portion, the tilted wall portion being provided in the leading end portion of each upright wall portion. The projected tip of each tilted wall portion is brought into contact with the opposed spherical portion of the spherical pivot, where the projected end of one tilted wall portion facing the projected end of the other tilted wall portion with a space smaller than the diametric dimension of the spherical pivot is held therebetween. One end portion of each tilted wall portion ends on the inner surface of the lamp body, whereas the other end portion thereof is opened thereon. Also, a stopper portion extended in the center direction of the spherical pivot is provided in the other end portion thus left open.
Preferably, the spherical pivot is resin-molded integrally with the reflector and has a hollow directed to the ball center in a area along the parting line formed when the reflector is molded.
According to the present invention, the spherical pivot formed integrally with the reflector and the ball seat formed integrally with the lamp body constitute the fulcrum portion of the aiming mechanism, and the spherical pivot is projected from the outer surface of the reflector in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of parting the molds when the reflector is molded according to the present invention, whereby sliders for use in molding the spherical pivot can be dispensed with. The mold structure can thus be simplified and the spherical pivot and the ball seat are unnecessary for being prepared separately fr
Shibuya Yuuzi
Yamamoto Hidetsugu
Koito Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
O'Shea Sandra
Sughrue Mion Zinn Macpeak & Seas, PLLC
Zeade Bertrand
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