Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Tops – Roof structure
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-07
2003-06-24
Dayoan, D. Glenn (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Tops
Roof structure
C296S216070, C296S219000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06582013
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a vehicular ceiling assembling structure for assembling electric devices, such as lamps, and a molded ceiling onto the underside of a body ceiling of a vehicle body, a unit assembly used for the same, a frame member used for the same, and a vehicular ceiling assembling method.
A sun roof unit, various electric devices, such as a room lamp, a wire harness for those electric devices, and a molded ceiling are mounted on the underside of a body ceiling of a vehicle body. Those components are generally assembled onto the body ceiling in the following way.
A wire harness is laid on a body ceiling of a vehicle body. A sun roof unit is fastened to the body ceiling. The sun roof unit is connected to the wire harness by a connector. Then, a molded ceiling is laid under the sun roof unit and fastened to the body ceiling. A part of the wire harness is taken out through an opening used for assembling the lamps, which is formed in the molded ceiling. Then, the room lamp and the wire harness are connected by a connector. Thereafter, the room lamp is fastened to the body ceiling, through the opening.
The assembling work must be done in a narrow space within the vehicular body, and the worker must take an upward facing posture. Accordingly, the workability is considerably poor. In the work of connecting the wire harness and the electric devices by a connector, the defective assembling is easily caused. For example, insufficient fitting or coupling of the parts or components is likely to occur.
In a recent vehicular ceiling assembling method as disclosed in JP-A-5-131882, for example, to lessen the work in an upward facing position, the wire harness is laid in advance on the molded ceiling, whereby there is eliminated the work of laying the wire harness alone.
In this method, only the wire harness is assembled to the molded ceiling. In other words, no other electric devices than the wire harness are assembled to the molded ceiling. What we want to say is that the molded ceiling is exposed within the car cabin. Accordingly, its materials are limited to those fabric materials. Any of those materials is too small in strength to mount the electric devices to its product. Therefore, also where this method is used, such electric devices as room lamps must be assembled one by one in the upward facing position. For this reason, the vehicular ceiling assembling method is still unsatisfactory in achieving the improvement of the workability and the eliminating of the defective assembling.
Further, the present invention relates to a structure and method for installing a wiring harness along a car body.
In a case where a wiring harness is installed along the body of a vehicle, a wiring harness has hitherto usually been installed along a predetermined route and is secured on the body through use of custom-designed clamps. Alternatively, electric cables constituting a wire harness are usually secured on the body through use of a double-sided adhesive tape or an adhesive.
The conventional construction for installing a wiring harness requires custom-designed fixing members, such as clamps or double-sided tapes, in addition to the wiring harness. The weight of such fixing members increases the overall weight of the body of a vehicle and becomes a detriment to a reduction in the weight of the vehicle body.
Recently, a module has been built by means of mounting electrical components and a wiring harness therefor on a constituent component of the vehicle body beforehand. Modules are mounted on the body of a vehicle in an automobile assembly line, thereby improving ease of assembly. A module of this type encounters problems in reducing weight and costs.
Even in connection with the foregoing construction for installing a wiring harness, demand exists for reviewing the construction in order to reduce vehicle weight and cost.
Still further, the present invention relates to a vehicular ceiling assembling structure for assembling an illuminating device, such as a room lamp, and a molded ceiling onto the underside of a body ceiling of a vehicle body, and a vehicular ceiling assembling method.
Usually, lamps (illuminating devices), such as a room lamp and a map lamp, a wire harness for those lamps, and a molded ceiling are mounted on the underside of a body ceiling of a vehicle body. A structure for assembling those to the body ceiling is generally constructed as shown in FIG.
37
.
A wire harness
361
is laid on the underside of a body ceiling
360
, and a molded ceiling
362
is assembled onto the body ceiling
360
to cover the body ceiling
360
and the wire harness
361
. A lamp
364
is located on the underside of the molded ceiling, and is electrically connected to the wire harness
361
through an opening
363
formed in the molded ceiling
362
, and the lamp
364
is fastened to the body ceiling
360
by means of a bolt
365
, through the opening
363
.
The opening
363
formed in the molded ceiling
362
is much smaller than the lamp
364
. When the lamp
364
is assembled from the under side of the molded ceiling, the lamp
364
is covered with the lamp
364
, whereby an external appearance of the ceiling portion is kept good.
In the vehicular ceiling assembling structure described above, the lamp
364
and the like are assembled in the following way.
The wire harness
361
is first laid on the body ceiling
360
of the vehicle body, and the molded ceiling
362
is located under the wire harness
361
, and those are assembled to the body ceiling
360
. A part of the wire harness
361
is taken out through the opening
363
of the molded ceiling
362
, and the lamp
364
and the wire harness
361
are connected together by a connector. And the lamp
364
is fastened to the body ceiling
360
by means of the bolt
365
, through the opening
363
.
In the conventional assembling structure as mentioned above, in assembling the lamp, the worker seeks the connector through the opening
363
, and takes out the connector and the wire harness
361
as well through the opening
363
, and connects them to the lamp
364
. Further, he fixes the lamp
364
to the body ceiling
360
while pushing back the wire harness
361
to the upper side of the molded ceiling
362
, through the opening
363
. Therefore, the connection work is very complicated and troublesome.
Since the connector must be taken out through the opening
363
as described above, a take-out part is additionally provided on the wire harness
361
. It frequently occurs that the take-out part bites the wire harness
361
.
Further, the take-out part of the wire harness
361
vibrates during the running of the vehicle to possibly generate abnormal sound.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular ceiling assembling structure which improves the workability and can reliably prevent the occurrence of defective assembling. A second object of the present invention is to provide a unit assembly and a frame member, which are suitable for the vehicular ceiling assembling structure. A third object of the present invention is to a vehicular ceiling assembling method which improves the workability and can reliably prevent the occurrence of defective assembling.
To achieve the above object, there is provided a vehicular ceiling assembling structure for assembling electric devices, such as lamps, and a molded ceiling onto a body ceiling of a vehicle body, a frame member to which electric devices and a wire harness for the electric devices are assembled is mounted on the underside of the molded ceiling, and the molded ceiling is mounted on the body ceiling in a state that the molded ceiling is disposed under the frame member (aspect
1
).
In the thus constructed assembling structure, in the vehicular ceiling assembling work, the electric devices and the wire harness for those electric devices are assembled to the frame member in a predetermined arrangement. As a result, the electric devices and the wire harness for those electric devices are assembled to the
Hamanishi Nobutaka
Inoue Takuya
Matsumoto Yasuyo
Murakami Koji
Autonetworks Technologies Ltd.
Dayoan D. Glenn
Morrow Jason
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
LandOfFree
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