Gas separation – Combined or convertible – In motor vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-10
2001-09-11
Simmons, David A. (Department: 1724)
Gas separation
Combined or convertible
In motor vehicle
C180S219000, C180S225000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06287354
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air cleaner device suitable for use in a vehicle, such as a two-, three-, or four-wheeled motor vehicle.
2. Background Art
Conventional air cleaners for two and three-wheeled vehicles are known having a box-shaped air cleaner case supported by a vehicle body frame. The vehicle engine is mounted on the frame, and an air inlet and an air outlet are formed in one side of the air cleaner case. An air intake duct is connected to the air inlet through a duct seal, and a connecting tube connected to the carburetor is directly connected to the air outlet. Such a conventional air cleaner is shown in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 5-105157.
In the above conventional structure, a dedicated duct seal is required for connecting the air intake duct to the air inlet of the air cleaner case in an airtight manner. The duct seal is fitted to a downstream end of the duct in the air inlet. Because the duct seal is an independent component separate from the connecting tube, the number of components and cost increases.
Also, the separate duct seal and the connecting tube are disposed side by side at a predetermined spacing on the same mounting surface (a relatively narrow front surface) of the air cleaner case. If at least one of the air intake duct or the connecting tube (and hence the air inlet or the air outlet) is enlarged to increase performance, a special increase in size of the air cleaner case is required. In the vehicle mentioned above, because various vehicular components such as the engine, seat, fuel tank and a rear fork are disposed in the space around the air cleaner case, an attempt to increase the size of the air cleaner case results in a decrease of freedom in designing the vehicle.
An air cleaner device which allows for increased engine performance without a large increase in size of the air cleaner case is therefore desirable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
For achieving the above-mentioned object and other advantages, a vehicular air cleaner device having an air cleaner case is supported by a body frame with an engine mounted thereon. An air inlet and an air outlet are formed in one side of the air cleaner case, and an air intake duct is connected to the air inlet through a duct seal. A connecting tube connected to a carburetor is connected directly to the air outlet.
A combined seal-tube unit is formed by combining the duct seal and the connecting tube integrally with each other using an elastic material. The duct seal for connection of the air intake duct and the connecting tube connected to the carburetor are integral, forming a combined seal-tube unit. The number of components used is therefore reduced in comparison with conventional air cleaners.
Also, integration of the duct seal and the connecting tube permits their connected air inlet and air outputs to be positioned in close proximity to each other, so that at least one of the air inlet and the air outlet (and hence the connecting tube and the air intake duct) can be made larger in diameter easily without the need of specially increasing the size of the air cleaner itself. Consequently, such an increase in diameter permits improvement of the engine output performance while avoiding a decrease in the degree of layout freedom for the air cleaner case.
The air inlet and the air outlet are disposed in proximity to and in direct communication with each other through a communicating portion, the communicating portion being closed with the combined seal-tube unit. The air inlet and the air outlet are therefore rendered sufficiently close to each other without being partitioned from each other by a boundary wall. The communicating portion which results from this arrangement is closed easily with the combined seal-tube unit.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
REFERENCES:
patent: Re. 31994 (1985-10-01), Tominaga et al.
patent: 4280582 (1981-07-01), Kouyama et al.
patent: 4321978 (1982-03-01), Tominaga et al.
patent: 4364390 (1982-12-01), Kimura
patent: 4425977 (1984-01-01), Michiuchi
patent: 4484651 (1984-11-01), Hattori et al.
patent: 4509613 (1985-04-01), Yamaguchi
patent: 4637486 (1987-01-01), Iwai
patent: 4648474 (1987-03-01), Shinozaki et al.
patent: 4796719 (1989-01-01), Shiratsuchi
patent: 0156245 (1980-12-01), None
patent: 132098 (1987-05-01), None
patent: 404354513 (1992-12-01), None
patent: 5105157 (1993-04-01), None
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Pham Minh-Chau T.
Simmons David A.
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