Electrical connectors – With storage means for flaccid conductor
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-19
2001-04-17
Donovan, Lincoln (Department: 2832)
Electrical connectors
With storage means for flaccid conductor
C439S034000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06217375
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wiring harness arranging construction, in particular for a door hinge portion of a vehicle, and is particularly designed to facilitate an arrangement operation. Furthermore there is in particular prevented the entrance of water with a simple means by arranging a wiring harness more toward a passenger compartment than a support point of the hinge and more inwardly than a weatherstrip.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A prior art door harness is arranged from a door to a body of a vehicle in a manner that permits the periodic opening and closing of the door. The prior art door harness may be connected with an instrument panel harness (hereinafter, “IP harness”) in the body. Alternatively, the IP harness may be arranged from the body to the door, and may be connected with the door harness in the door. Conventionally, the door harness is arranged in the substantially same position as a support position of the door hinge along the horizontal direction, but displaced therefrom along the vertical or height direction. Thus the door harness only twists without extending or contracting as the door is opened and closed. The above twisting is taken up by the twisting of the wiring harness.
FIG. 39
shows a prior art wiring harness arranged at the support position of the hinge. More particularly, a hinge H connects a body C and a door D, and is mounted substantially in the middle of an end surface
1
a
of a door panel
1
, as shown in
FIG. 39. A
door harness W/H needs to be arranged inside the door panel
1
and is taken outside the door D through a through hole
1
b
formed in the end surface
1
a.
It takes time and labor to arrange the wiring harness inside the door panel
1
and pass it through the through hole
1
b.
Further, a weatherstrip
2
is mounted on the door D to prevent the entrance of water. The weatherstrip
2
is mounted more toward the passenger compartment than the hinge H. Therefore, the wiring harness W/H is located more away from the passenger compartment than the weatherstrip
2
. Accordingly, the weatherstrip
2
cannot fulfill its water preventing function at the location where the wiring harness is arranged, necessitating a water preventing construction for the wiring harness W/H. In view of this, a conventional practice has been to mount waterproof grommets on the holes formed in the body C and the door D for the arrangement of the wiring harness W/H. Thus a certain measure is taken to make the wiring harness W/H waterproof. However, such a practice is costly and cumbersome.
The above problem can be solved by arranging the wiring harness W/H more toward the passenger compartment than the weatherstrip
2
. However, in such a case, since the arrangement position of the wiring harness W/H is displaced from the support position of the hinge along the horizontal direction, the wiring harness W/H needs to be extended and contracted when the door D is opened and closed. In other words, the wiring harness to be arranged in the door hinge portion is required to have both an extendible/contractible function and a twist take-up function.
A construction in which a wiring harness is arranged more toward the passenger compartment than a weatherstrip is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8(HEI)48146. Specifically, as shown in
FIGS. 40 and 41
, a corrugated duct
4
for covering an air conditioning duct is mounted between a side cover
3
of an instrument panel and an inner surface
1
c
of a door opposite to the side cover
3
, and a wiring harness W/H spirally wound to have a margin length is arranged inside this duct
4
.
Several problems may occur with the prior art spiral wiring harness W/H arranged inside the corrugated duct
4
, as shown in
FIGS. 40 and 41
.
First, when the wiring harness W/H extends in the center of the corrugated duct
4
, the corrugated duct
4
and the spiral wiring harness W/H are allowed to extend and contract in a normal manner. However, if a part W of the wiring harness W/H enters a recess of the corrugation of the duct
4
, the duct
4
cannot contract. If the door is closed in this state, the duct
4
and the wiring harness W/H may be damaged by being jammed between the door panel and the side cover and, in a worst case, the wire may be cut.
Second the spiral wiring harness W/H is not necessarily constantly restored to its specific configuration after the extension or contraction. If the outer diameter of the wiring harness becomes larger than the inner diameter of the corrugated duct
4
, the corrugated duct
4
is destroyed and cannot contract any longer.
Third, since the corrugated duct
4
is exposed to the passenger compartment, it may be deformed by an external force. In such a case, the spiral wiring harness W/H located inside may enter the recess of the duct
4
, and accordingly the first problem described above is likely to occur.
Finally, when the door is opened and closed, a force to extend and contract the corrugated duct
4
is needed in addition to a door opening/closing force, disadvantageously making the door heavier for a driver or passenger to open and close it.
To overcome the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to arrange a wiring harness in a position which is more toward a passenger compartment than a support point of a hinge and preferably more inwardly than a weatherstrip, in such a manner as to have both a twist take-up function and an extendible/contractible function, to facilitate an arrangement operation and to prevent the entrance of water with a simple means.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention, there is provided a wiring harness arranging construction for a wiring harness to be arranged between a first element and a second element that are movable and/or rotatable with respect to each other. In particular, the wiring harness arranging construction may extend between a vehicle body and a door in a position more toward a passenger compartment than a mount position of a hinge for connecting the vehicle body and the door, and preferably inwardly of a weatherstrip. The wiring harness arranging construction comprises at least one container casing comprising a hollow portion for accommodating a portion of the wiring harness. The container casing further has an insertion opening and a dispensing or withdrawal opening for the wiring harness. A harness fixing portion also is provided on the container casing. The wiring harness is passed in particular through the container casing by being dispensed or fed or withdrawn through the dispensing opening after being inserted through the insertion opening.
The wiring harness arranging construction further has a pull-back or biasing means for producing a biasing force in a direction in which the wiring harness is pulled back into the container casing as the wiring harness is dispensed or withdrawn. The container casing is fixed or mounted or mountable to either one or both of the first and second elements, in particular of the door and the vehicle body, and the wiring harness dispensed or withdrawn from the container casing is extended to the other of the first and second elements, in particular of the door and the vehicle body. As a result, the wiring harness inside the container casing extends and contracts according to the movement and/or rotation of the first and second elements with respect to each other, in particular as the door is opened and closed.
The container casing has a function of extending and contracting the wiring harness. Consequently, the wiring harness can extend and contract as first and second elements are moved and/or rotated with respect to each other, e.g. as the door is opened and closed. Further, since the wiring harness withdrawn from the container casing can twist or bend itself, it can smoothly follow the movement and/or rotation of the first and second elements, as e.g. the opening and closing movements of the door. Further, since the wiring harness may be arranged in a position more inwardly than the
Ando Yasuhiro
Funaki Tetuya
Miyamoto Shinya
Nagai Satoshi
Suzuki Masahisa
Casella Anthony J.
Donovan Lincoln
Hespos Gerald E.
Porco Michael J.
Sumitomo Wiring Systems Ltd.
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