Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Structural detail
Reexamination Certificate
2002-08-29
2003-11-11
Pape, Joseph D. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Structural detail
C296S190050, C293S120000, C180S309000, C181S227000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06644726
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a vehicle rear body structure for preventing heat from influencing a rear bumper by an exhaust muffler disposed at a rear of a vehicle body.
An exhaust muffler is disposed under the floor at a rear part of the vehicle body so as to be oriented in a longitudinal direction. In this muffler, a rear end face of a main body of the muffler faces closely a rear end portion of the rear part of the vehicle body and a tailpipe for discharging exhaust gases is extended to the rear from the rear end face of the muffler.
Incidentally, a bumper is disposed at a lower rear end portion of the vehicle body, and in many cases synthetic resin bumpers are adopted from the viewpoint of improved impact absorption properties, formability, external appearance and the like. On the other hand, the rear end portion of the muffler main body which is heated faces closely the front of such a synthetic resin bumper, and therefore, there a risk exists that the bumper face may deform from heat effects resulting from the heated muffler so disposed.
To cope with the risk, countermeasures are conventionally taken thereagainst which are illustrated in
FIGS. 3 and 4
.
FIG. 3
is a longitudinally cross-sectional side view explaining a lower main portion of a rear part of the vehicle body which shows an example of the related art.
In the figure, reference numeral
51
denotes a rear cross member provided in a transverse direction of the vehicle body at the rear part thereof, and the rear cross member is provided to extend between rear end portions of left and right side members
52
. A rear bumper
54
is disposed rearward of the rear cross member
51
. A bumper face
54
a
of the rear bumper
54
confronts the rear cross member
51
.
A muffler
53
is disposed below the rear cross member
51
in such a manner as to be oriented in a longitudinal direction of the body. An exhaust tailpipe
53
c
is provided to protrude to the rear from a rear end face
53
b
of a cylindrical main body
53
a
having a large diameter, and the rear end face
53
b
of the muffler
53
approaches a bottom piece portion
54
b
bent to the front from a lower end portion of the bumper face
54
a
of the rear bumper
54
, whereby that portion of the rear bumper is easily subjected to heat deformation.
As a result, part of the bottom piece portion
54
b
of the rear bumper
54
is cut to the rear to provide a notched portion
55
so that the closely disposed muffler
53
and rear bumper
54
are spaced away from each other via the notched portion
55
so provided to thereby prevent the heat deformation of the rear bumper at that portion that would otherwise result from heat dissipated from the muffler
53
.
With the countermeasures illustrated in
FIG. 3
, since the bottom piece portion
54
b
of the rear bumper
54
which is easily heat deformed is cut to provide the notched portion
55
, there are caused problems that the structure is not preferable to the quality in external appearance and that since part of every bumper has to be cut, the cutting work is complicated and troublesome.
FIG. 4
is a longitudinally sectional side view of a lower main portion of a rear part of the body of a vehicle which illustrates another example of the related art.
In this countermeasures, a muffler
53
is covered with a heat shield
56
, and the heat shield
56
comprises an upper plate portion
56
a
for covering at least from a rear portion to a rear-half portion of a main body
53
a
of the muffler and an end plate portion
56
b
which is bent from a rear end portion of the upper plate portion
56
a
to suspend downwardly therefrom for covering at least an upper-half portion of a rear end face
53
b
of the muffler
53
.
The heat shield
56
prevents heat related effects on the portion of the rear bumper
54
which is easily heat deformed especially at the end plate portion
56
b.
With the countermeasures illustrated in
FIG. 4
, while several inconveniences are caused by the provision of the notched portion in the rear bumper shown in
FIG. 3
, the following inconveniences are also caused. Namely, since the heat shield is needed, the number of parts is increased. Since supporting members and a supporting structure are separately needed for the heat shield, the structure of the rear part of the body becomes complicated. As a result, the structure is disadvantageous from the cost and weight point of view. In addition, since the heat shield is provided above the muffler under the rear part of the body where the space is limited between the muffler and the body, the capacity of the muffler is reduced, this leading to a risk that the performance of the muffler is affected.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENITON
The invention was made to solve the problems. It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle rear body structure for ensuring the prevention of heat related effects of a muffler on a rear bumper without substantially modifying any of the original configuration and structure of the rear bumper by, for example, providing a notched portion and hence damaging the external appearance of the rear bumper and implementing the prevention with a simple structure while reinforcing a rear part of the vehicle body.
In an attempt to solve the problems, according to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a vehicle rear body structure in which a muffler is disposed below a rear cross member disposed in a transverse direction at a lower portion of a rear part of a vehicle body. In the vehicle rear body structure, a lower end portion of the rear cross member is extended downwardly to reach substantially the same height as that of a lower end portion of a rear bumper face disposed rearward of the rear cross member.
According to the first aspect of the invention, the lower end portion of the rear cross member which is extended downwardly to substantially the same height as that of the lower end portion of the rear bumper face is interposed between the rear end portion (rear end face) of the muffler and the rear bumper to function as something like a heat shield, whereby the effects of heat radiating from the muffler on a part of the rear bumper, which easily heat deforms, is thereby to protect the rear bumper from the heat from the muffler.
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patent: 4186915 (1980-02-01), Zeller et al.
patent: 4397490 (1983-08-01), Evans et al.
patent: 4408790 (1983-10-01), Shimoda et al.
patent: 4474395 (1984-10-01), Harloff et al.
patent: 4653795 (1987-03-01), Soderberg
patent: 4765665 (1988-08-01), Akahoshi
patent: 6354641 (2002-03-01), Schroeder et al.
patent: 6398275 (2002-06-01), Hartel et al.
patent: 6439650 (2002-08-01), Artner et al.
patent: 6471377 (2002-10-01), Stegall
patent: 2001-82142 (2001-03-01), None
British Office Action dated Nov. 25, 2002.
Fujii Kanji
Mizutani Yoshimi
Okuyama Takaya
Takahashi Toshiki
Armstrong Westerman & Hattori, LLP
Gutman H.
Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Pape Joseph D.
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