Communications: radio wave antennas – Antennas – With vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
2002-12-10
2004-09-14
Philogene, Haissa (Department: 2821)
Communications: radio wave antennas
Antennas
With vehicle
C343S900000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06791501
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Applications No. 2001-381555, filed Dec. 14, 2001; and No. 2002-299117, filed Oct. 11, 2002, the entire contents of both of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle roof mount antenna.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1
show an example of a concrete structure of a swiveling pivotal mount portion of a general retractable type vehicle roof mount antenna
10
in particular. Reference numeral
11
denotes an antenna rod, and
12
designates an antenna base used to attach the antenna rod
11
. A joint assembly
13
which is attached to the antenna base
12
is provided at the lower end of the antenna rod
11
.
This joint assembly
13
consists of a cylindrical member with a bottom in an axial direction orthogonal to an axial direction of the antenna rod
11
. As shown in
FIG. 2
, a pair of hemispheric convex portions
131
,
131
distanced from each other at 180° with a central position therebetween are formed on the inner surface of the bottom of the cylindrical member with the bottom of the joint assembly
13
. These convex portions
131
,
131
are formed in order to give a feeling of clicking to swiveling of the antenna rod. An outer surface of the bottom of the cylindrical member with the bottom functions as a terminal portion (not shown) used to propagate an antenna signal obtained by the antenna rod
11
.
Further, in order to mount the joint assembly
13
on a pivot to allow swiveling, a pair of pivotal support portions
12
a
,
12
b
are formed so as to confront the upper part of the antenna base
12
. A circular hole
121
having a confronting direction as an axial direction is formed to one pivotal support portion
12
a
. A terminal portion
122
which is brought into contact with and electrically connected to the terminal portion of the joint assembly
13
is formed on the inner surface of the other pivotal support portion
12
b
opposed to the circular hole
121
.
With the joint assembly
13
being positioned between the pivotal support portions
12
a
and
12
b
with an O ring
23
interposed between the terminal portion of the joint assembly
13
and the terminal portion
122
of the pivotal support portion
12
b
, a click cylinder
14
is inserted from the circular hole
121
of the pivotal support portion
12
a
through an opening of the cylindrical member with the bottom of the joint assembly
13
.
This click cylinder
14
has a plate
14
a
embedded on the outer surface side of the bottom of the cylindrical member with the bottom. This plate
14
a
is manufactured by, e.g., press working, and a plurality of pairs of circular holes
141
,
141
, corresponding to a plurality of click positions fitted to the convex portions
131
,
131
are formed.
Concave and convex shapes which engage with each other are mutually formed in the vicinity of the end portion of the outer peripheral surface on the open side of the click cylinder
14
where the plate
14
a
is not embedded and on the inner surface of the circular hole
121
of the pivotal support portion
12
a
in order to suppress swiveling of the click cylinder
14
on the surface orthogonal to the axial direction of the circular hole
121
.
A coil spring
15
is inserted from the open side of the click cylinder
14
through a washer
16
. Further, like the click cylinder
14
, a washer
17
whose swiveling action is suppressed on a surface orthogonal to the axial direction of the circular hole
121
in the circular hole
121
of the pivotal support portion
12
a
is inserted.
In this state, the washer
17
, the coil spring
15
, the washer
16
, the bottom plate
14
a
of the click cylinder
14
, and the terminal portion of the pivotal support portion
12
b
are pierced by a bolt
18
. Then, a nut
22
is fastened from the end of the bolt
18
on the outer surface side of the pivotal support portion
12
b
through a corrugated washer
19
, a washer
20
and a spring washer
21
, thereby constituting this pivotal mount swiveling portion.
In such a structure, the convex portions
131
,
131
of the joint assembly
13
are fitted to one pair of the circular holes
141
,
141
, . . . formed on the bottom plate
14
a
of the click cylinder
14
coming into contact with the convex portions
131
,
131
.
A click torque is generated by the elasticity of the coil spring
15
when fitting. The terminal portion of the joint assembly
13
is electrically connected by the frictional sliding with the terminal portion
122
of the pivotal support portion
12
b
pushed by the elasticity of the corrugated washer
19
, and an antenna signal obtained by the antenna rod
11
is propagated into the antenna base
12
.
FIG. 3
shows an exterior appearance of the vehicle roof mount antenna
10
having the above-described structure. A coaxial cable
24
is extended to the antenna base
12
from its lower surface. A connection plug
25
used to establish connection with a tuner of a car having the vehicle roof mount antenna
10
mounted thereon is provided at the end of the coaxial cable
24
.
The antenna rod
11
has a retractable structure such that it can be fixed to the antenna base
12
in any one of three positions, e.g., 0°, 60° and 180°. By adjusting the click torque described in connection with
FIG. 1
, an appropriate feeling of clicking is given so as to assuredly fix the antenna rod
11
in each position.
By mounting the vehicle roof mount antenna
10
in such a manner that a traveling direction of a car is a left direction in the drawing while taking the influence of a traveling wind into consideration, the air pressure during the regular traveling can be minimized.
In case of parallel parking and the like, the antenna rod
11
is manually fixed in the position of 0° or 180° in order to prevent the vehicle roof mount antenna
10
from being damaged when it physically interferes with a roof and the like.
In the structure of the above-described vehicle roof mount antenna
10
, however, an attachment angle of the antenna rod
11
is held as shown in FIG.
3
.
When the antenna rod
11
has interfered with a ceiling in a garage whose height is limited, for example, the antenna rod
11
is held in the retracted state in accordance with a traveling direction of a vehicle. Therefore, a driver of the car must again manually return the antenna rod
11
to the angle of 60° indicated by a solid line in
FIG. 3
after moving the vehicle out of the garage.
With respect to handling of such an antenna rod
11
, if a hand hardly gets at the antenna rod
11
when a driver is particularly small, or when the attachment position of the vehicle roof mount antenna
10
is at the center of the roof, or when a position of the roof itself is high in case of a minivan type vehicle and the like, there occurs a problem that the trouble of handling the antenna is complicated and the stain on a body of the vehicle may adhere to a cloth in some cases.
In case of a minivan type vehicle which may have an air spoiler attached at the upper end of a rear door, if the antenna rod
11
is provided at the rear end of the roof, the air spoiler may interfere with the antenna rod
11
when the rear door is opened. Therefore, a vehicle manufacturer has a drawback that an attachment position of the antenna rod
11
must be restricted on the design stage.
In order to eliminate the above-described problems, there has been also considered an antenna having an electric mechanism such that the attachment angle of the antenna rod
11
can be freely variably set from the inside of a car. However, a structure of the apparatus, attachment to a car, arrangement of wirings and others are complicated, which leads to a very high cost.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle roof mount antenna which has a very simple structure but can prevent an antenna rod protruding from a vehicle from being d
Inomata Morihiro
Kohinata Junichi
Maeda Hiroyuki
Otsuka Hitoshi
Shigefuji Yasuyuki
A Minh Dieu
Frishauf Holtz Goodman & Chick P.C.
Harada Industry Co. Ltd.
Philogene Haissa
LandOfFree
Vehicle roof mount antenna does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Vehicle roof mount antenna, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Vehicle roof mount antenna will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3235877