Vehicle lamp

Details Vehicle lamp Vehicle lamp

2000-11-02

2002-07-09

O'Shea, Sandra (Department: 2875)

Illumination

Light source and modifier

With sealing means or artificial atmosphere

C362S311040, C362S507000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06416202

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a vehicle lamp, and more particularly, to an attachment structure of a front lens and lamp body of the vehicle lamp.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As shown in
FIG. 3
, in many vehicle lamps, a lamp body
2
has an attachment groove
2
a
formed along the peripheral edge of a lamp chamber, and a front lens
4
has an attachment leg
4
a
formed at the position facing the attachment groove
2
a
. The lamp body
2
and the front lens
4
are assembled together by inserting the attachment leg
4
a
into the attachment groove
2
a
having a sealant
8
applied therein. In view of the mold draft angle in molding the lamp body
2
, the attachment groove
2
a
is formed to be somewhat widened from its bottom toward upper end. However, according to the requirements of the lamp design and the like, an outer peripheral wall
2
al
thereof is often opened partially at a relatively large angle toward the upperend.
However, as shown in
FIG. 3
, if the outer peripheral wall
2
al
of the attachment groove
2
a
is opened at an excessively large angle, the sealant
8
applied within the attachment groove
2
a
runs off onto its outer peripheryl upon insertion of the attachment leg
4
a
into the attachment groove
2
a
. This makes it difficult to assure sufficient sealing between the lamp body
2
and the front lens
4
.
The present invention is made in view of the foregoing. An objective of the present invention is to provide a vehicle lamp capable of assuring sufficient sealing between a lamp body and a front lens even if an open angle of an outer peripheral wvall of an attachment groove of the lamp body is partially set to a large value.
SUMMARY OF THE INVETNION
The present invention achieves the above-mentioned objective bv devising a structure of the outer peripheral wall of the attachment groove.
Specifically, a vehicle lamp according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a lamp body having an attachment groove formed along a peripheral edge of a lamp chamber and a front lens having an attachment leg formed at a position facing the attachment groove. The lamp body and the front lens are assembled together by inserting the attachment leg into the attachment groove having a sealant applied therein. An outer peripheral wvail of the attachment groove is partially branched forward into two branch walls.
The “branch wall” is not particularly limited in terms of its specific shape, position in the outer peripheral wall of the attachment groove, and the like, as long as the outer peripheral wall is branched forward into two branch walls.
As shown in the above structure, the vehicle lamp according to an embodiment of the present invention is structured such that the lamp body and the front lens are assembled together by inserting the attachment leg of the front lens into the attachment groove of the lamp body with the sealant applied therein. However, since the outer peripheral wall of the attachment groove is partially branched forwvard into two branch walls, the following can be obtained.
Specifically, by forming a part of the outer peripheral wall as the branch walls, the inner branch wall can be set to have a relatively small open angle for preventing the sealant from running off onto its outer periphery upon insertion of the attachment leg into the attachment groove. The outer branch wall can be set to have a large open angle according to the requirements of the lamp design and the like.
Therefore, according to an embodiment of the present invention, sufficient sealing between the lamp body and the front lens can be assured even if the open angle of the outer peripheral wall of the attachment groove of the lamp body is partially set to a large value.
If the front lens is curved backward from its one end toward the other end in such a structure, the respective mold draft directions of the lamp body and the front lens are usually set to incline With respect to the longitudinal direction of the lamp. Moreover, the respective mold draft directions of the lamp body and the front lens are often different from each other. Therefore, in the attachment groove of the lamp body, the open angle of the outer peripheral wall ofien needs to be set to a large value at the one end. In such a case, it is particularly effective to form the branch walls on the side of the one end.
Furthermore, a rim of a vehicle body extending approximately in the longitudinal direction is often provided adjacent to the lamp body on the side of the one end, according to the requirements of the lamp design. However, since the outer peripheral wall of the attachment groove of the lamp body is branched into the branch walls at the one end, the outer surface thereof can be easily made approximately flush and continuous with the outer surface of the front end of the rim. With such a structure, the appearance of the lamp can be improved.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5448454 (1995-09-01), Nonka
patent: 5552970 (1996-09-01), Takezawa et al.
patent: 5562338 (1996-10-01), Yamamoto
patent: 5765942 (1998-06-01), Shirai et al.
patent: 6045247 (2000-04-01), Fukuhara

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