Illumination – Supported by vehicle structure – Housing
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-12
2001-08-07
O'Shea, Sandra (Department: 2875)
Illumination
Supported by vehicle structure
Housing
C362S267000, C362S549000, C362S310000, C362S532000, C362S530000, C362S531000, C362S520000, C362S311040
Reexamination Certificate
active
06270242
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicle lamp structures using an elastic sealing material held between a sealing leg and a contacted portion on a peripheral wall in order that the joint between peripheral wall and the contacted portion of the peripheral wall is properly sealed. The vehicle lamp can have an elastic sealing material is held at the joint between the sealing leg of a front lens and the sealing groove of a lamp body. The present invention also includes a vehicle lamp wherein an elastic sealing material is held at the joint between a sealing leg surrounding a bulb replacing opening, in the back of a lamp body, and a vehicle body panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
A vehicle lamp of the sort mentioned above is structured so that, as shown in
FIG. 11
, the sealing leg
4
of a front lens
3
is mated with a sealing groove
2
formed along the front opening of a lamp body
1
via a elastic sealing material
5
, to closely seal the joint between the sealing leg
4
and the sealing groove
2
. The sealing material
5
is an elastic material that is prepared by applying to the sealing groove
2
a liquid thermosetting foamable sealing material and heat-drying the material, in order to make the material foam, expand and solidify. Furthermore, the front lens
3
is fixed to the lamp body
1
by mating the sealing leg
4
with the sealing groove
2
, so as to mate the sealing leg
4
with the sealing groove
2
by irregular lance-mating (not shown). At this time, the sealing leg
4
and the sealing material
5
are held in such a state that both of them have been pressure-welded together.
On the other hand, a sealing leg
6
is formed on the back wall of the lamp body
1
in such a manner as to surround a bulb fitting hole
1
a
and a sealing material
8
is held between the sealing leg
6
and a vehicle body panel
7
in order to prevent water and dust from reaching the periphery of the bulb fitting hole
1
a through the gap between the vehicle body panel
7
and the lamp body
1
. Reference numeral
9
denotes a light source (bulb) fitted into the bulb fitting hole
1
a.
As shown in
FIG. 12
, the sealing material
8
is molded integrally with the sealing leg
6
by applying the liquid thermosetting foamable sealing material to the groove b of a receiving jig a and making the sealing material foam, swell and harden in such a state that the sealing leg
6
has been fitted into the groove b, so that the sealing material
8
together with the sealing leg
6
can be separated from the receiving jig a. The lamp is fixed to the vehicle body by clamping a bracket on the lamp side and the vehicle body with, for example, bolts and nuts and at this time the bulb fitting hole
1
a
is so positioned as to align with the bulb replacing opening
7
a
of the vehicle body panel
7
and hold the sealing leg
6
on the vehicle body panel
7
via the sealing material
8
. Nevertheless, the prior art sealing materials
5
,
8
are disadvantageous because it takes much time until the materials are dried and solidified (i.e., until their shapes are stabilized) and this results in lowering the lamp productivity to that extent. Since the sealing materials
5
,
8
are in a liquid state, the materials are not usable as sealing materials whose shapes varies three-dimensionally.
As the sealing material
8
used for closely sealing the back side of the lamp body
1
is formed through the steps of applying the liquid sealing material to the groove b of the receiving jig a, holding the lamp body
1
while the sealing leg
6
is kept in engagement with the groove b and then removing the receiving jig a, the number of working steps for integrating the sealing material
8
with the sealing leg
6
becomes large and the problem is that it is troublesome work to follow the steps.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention made in consideration of the foregoing problems pertaining to the prior art is to provide a vehicle lamp with an excellent productivity by incorporating an elastic sealing material made of thermoplastic foamable elastomer with the leading end portion or the contacted portion of a peripheral wall in a short time by injection molding. Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle lamp wherein an elastic sealing material is incorporated with the leading end portion of a peripheral wall through a smaller number of working steps.
In order to accomplish the above object, a vehicle lamp according to the present invention is constructed wherein the leading end portion of a peripheral wall extended to the back of a plastic lamp component member is pressure-welded and held in a contacted portion on the peripheral wall via an elastic sealing material, and the elastic sealing material is formed of thermoplastic foamable elastomer molded integrally onto the leading end portion of the peripheral wall or the contacted portion of the peripheral wall by injection-molding with the lamp component member or the contacted portion of the peripheral wall inserted into a mold.
When the molten thermoplastic foamable elastomer is injected into the cavity of the mold in an injection-molding machine body at high temperature and high pressure, water, as liquid dispersed in the foamable elastomer, becomes gasified and foamed and the cavity is filled with the elastomer. The elastomer is then solidified and integrally molded in the leading end portion of the peripheral wall or the contacted portion thereof.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a vehicle lamp wherein a sealing leg as a peripheral wall formed on the back of a front lens as a plastic lamp component member is pressure-welded and held via an elastic sealing material onto a sealing groove as the contacted portion of the peripheral wall formed along the peripheral edge of the front opening of a plastic lamp body, is such that the elastic sealing material is formed of thermoplastic foamable elastomer molded integrally onto the leading end portion of the sealing leg or in the sealing groove by injection-molding in such a manner as to project the sealing leg into a sealing-material molding cavity after the front lens is inserted into a mold or to use the sealing groove as the sealing-material molding cavity after the lamp body is inserted in the mold.
The foamable elastomer thus injected into the cavity in which the sealing leg is projected becomes foamed and solidified around the sealing leg and is integrally molded onto the sealing leg.
The foamable elastomer injected into the sealing groove forming the sealing material molding cavity becomes foamed and solidified in the sealing groove and is integrally molded in the sealing groove.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a vehicle lamp wherein a sealing leg as a peripheral wall formed so as to surround a bulb fitting hole in the back wall of a lamp body as a plastic lamp component member is pressure-welded and held onto a vehicle body panel as the contacted portion of the peripheral wall via an elastic sealing material, is such that the elastic sealing material is formed of thermoplastic foamable elastomer molded integrally onto the leading end portion of the sealing leg by injection-molding in such a manner as to project the sealing leg into a sealing-material molding cavity after the lamp body is inserted into a mold.
The foamable elastomer thus injected into the cavity in which the sealing leg is projected becomes foamed and solidified around the sealing leg and is integrally molded onto the sealing leg.
According to another aspect of this invention, the vehicle lamp is such that sealing-material molding faces extending and crossing the peripheral wall at substantially right angles are each formed on the inside and outside of the root portion of the peripheral wall and wherein the elastic sealing material which is U-shaped in transverse cross section is integrally stuck to the whole area of the surface of the peripheral wall from the sealing material molding faces.
The elastic sea
Sugiyama Fumihiko
Suzuki Michihiko
Yamazaki Kazuhiro
Koito Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
O'Shea Sandra
Sughrue Mion Zinn Macpeak & Seas, PLLC
Ton Anabel M
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