Land vehicles – Wheeled – Running gear
Reexamination Certificate
2002-04-19
2004-11-23
Fleming, Faye M. (Department: 3616)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Running gear
Reexamination Certificate
active
06820882
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a vehicle rear body structure configured to prevent a decrease in axial strengths of fixture bolts for rear-wheel dampers and to increase workability in tightening the dampers and a damper-mounting-portion reinforcing member together to damper mounting portions.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A conventional vehicle rear body structure is exemplified in
FIGS. 9 and 10
hereof. In
FIG. 9
, wheel houses
101
,
102
which accommodate left and right rear wheels are located at left and right sides of a rear floor panel
100
. Damper mounting portions
103
,
104
are located at routs or joints of the wheel houses
101
,
102
for mounting left and right dampers
108
,
109
to mitigate impacts or shocks transmitted from the rear wheels and to support the rear wheels. A reinforcement bar
105
serving as a damper-mounting-portion reinforcing member is arranged to extend between the damper mounting portions
103
,
104
to allow the damper mounting portions
103
,
104
to have increased rigidity. Reference numeral
107
designates a concave section for storing a spare tire. The reinforcement bar
105
is comprised of terminal metal fixtures
111
,
112
secured to the damper mounting portions
103
,
104
, respectively, and a bar
113
unitarily coupled to the terminal metal fixtures
111
,
112
.
As shown in
FIG. 10
, both ends of the reinforcement bar
105
are tightened to the damper mounting portions
103
,
104
together with the dampers. The terminal metal fixtures
111
,
112
of the reinforcement bar
105
have pluralities of bolt insertion bores
114
,
115
, respectively, fitting a plurality of bolts
116
provided at upper distal ends of respective dampers into associated mounting bores, not shown, which are formed in the damper mounting portions
103
,
104
, upward from a rear side to allow the bolts
116
to pass through the bolt insertion bores
114
,
115
of the terminal metal fixtures
111
,
112
, respectively, permits a nut, not shown, to be screwed onto each of the bolts
116
.
Since the reinforcement bar
105
has mounting pitches P
1
, P
2
(i.e., distances between bolts
116
,
116
of the left and right dampers) which are substantially equal to a distance between the left and right wheels, such a structure suffers from an issue of increased manufacturing errors in the distance between the bolt insertion bore
114
and the bolt insertion bore
115
. In order to absorb the manufacturing errors, the insertion bores
114
,
114
for either ones of the left and right bolts are formed in elongated apertures.
Thus, the presence of the bolt insertion bore
114
formed in the elongated aperture causes a seating surface, which bears a nut to be screwed onto the bolt
116
, to have a decreased surface area with a resultant increase in surface pressure acting on the seating surface when rotating the nut to be tightened with a given tightening torque. It seems that excessively higher the surface pressure of the seating surface, the lower will be the axial strength of the bolt due to deformation in the seating surface.
When tightening both the dampers
108
,
109
and the reinforcement bar
105
together to the damper mounting portions
103
,
104
, mounting work must be initially carried out for mounting the terminal metal fixture
111
of the reinforcement bar
105
together with the dampers
108
,
109
in an unsteady condition wherein the terminal metal fixture
112
of the reinforcement bar
105
is merely placed on the one-side damper mounting portion
104
. This results in displacement of the terminal fixture
111
during the mounting operation to cause troublesome work in mounting the terminal metal fixture
111
, resulting in deteriorated workability.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved vehicle rear body structure which suppresses deterioration in axial strength of mounting bolts for rear-wheel dampers while providing improved workability in tightening both dampers and a damper-mounting-portion reinforcing member to damper mounting portions.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle rear body structure which comprises left and right damper mounting portions for mounting left and right dampers, which mitigate impacts transmitted from left and right rear wheels, to a vehicle body, respectively, a floor cross member disposed in the vicinity of the left and right damper mounting portions, and left and right gussets for coupling the left and right damper mounting portions and the floor cross member with respect to one another for reinforcing the left and right damper mounting portions.
With such a vehicle rear body structure, the presence of a structure wherein the left and right damper mounting portions are connected to the floor cross member at areas in the vicinity of the damper mounting portions via the left and right gussets enables the left and right damper mounting portions to have increased rigidity while shortening the mounting pitch, according to the present invention, to a lower value than that of the reinforcement bar employed in the conventional practice, resulting in a decrease in errors in the mounting pitches. Consequently, for example, when tightening the dampers and the gussets together to the damper mounting portions, there is no need for the bores formed in the gussets to pass the mounting bolts, formed at the upper portions of the dampers, to be formed in a larger size than that of an outer diameter of the mounting bolt of the damper, enabling the seating surface of the gusset which bears the nut to be screwed onto the mounting bolt to have an increased surface area. Accordingly, it is possible to preclude a decrease in the axial strength of the mounting bolt of the damper even when increasing the tightening torque of the nut discussed above.
Further, the damper and the gusset can be tightened together at the damper mounting portion under a condition where the gusset is mounted to the floor cross member, resulting in am improvement in the workability while enabling a productivity to be improved.
In the vehicle body structure arranged in accordance with the present invention, connecting the above left and right gussets with the rod enables the rigidity of the left and right damper mounting portions to be further improved with favorable results.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3992027 (1976-11-01), Legueu
patent: 4482135 (1984-11-01), Ishida et al.
patent: 4875704 (1989-10-01), Tomosada et al.
patent: 5350214 (1994-09-01), Yamauchi et al.
patent: 6520494 (2003-02-01), Andersen et al.
Fleming Faye M.
Merchant & Gould P.C.
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