Electrical connectors – With vehicle structure
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-01
2001-11-20
Abrams, Neil (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
With vehicle structure
C439S248000, C439S736000, C361S813000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06319013
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wiring structure and a wiring method for a motorcycle to electrically connect an electric part supported on a handle cover of the motorcycle, such as meters and switches, with a conductor installed in the handle cover.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wiring for electric parts such as meters and switches provided on a handle cover covering the bar handle of a motorcycle has been accomplished via wiring harness (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-244680, for example).
In the above conventional wiring, because connectors provided at the ends of a wiring harness need to be connected to electric parts such as meters and switches on the inner side of the handle cover after the electric parts are attached to the handle cover, there has been a problem that the connection and disconnection work of the connectors is troublesome and assembly manhours increase. In addition, since the front and rear handle covers cannot be joined until after the wiring work is completed, a possibility of deteriorated work efficiency has been raised. Another drawback is that the wiring harness easily tangles and coils during wiring, degrading the assembly work efficiency and giving rise to a possibility that short-circuits, wire breaks and erroneous connections may occur.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been accomplished under these circumstances and it is a first object of this invention to facilitate and make reliable the wiring work on the meters supported on the handle cover.
It is a second object of this invention to facilitate and make reliable the assembly work of switches into the handle cover and the wiring of the switches.
It is a third object of this invention to facilitate and make reliable the wiring work of electric parts supported on the handle cover without using a wiring harness.
To achieve the first objective, a first feature of this invention provides a wiring structure for a motorcycle to electrically connect a meter supported on a handle cover of the motorcycle to conductors arranged inside the handle cover, wherein a handle cover side connector connected to the conductors is provided inside a meter support hole formed in the handle cover and the meter is inserted into the meter support hole thereby to connect a meter side connector provided in the meter to the handle cover side connector.
With the above construction, simply inserting the meter into the meter support hole formed in the handle cover results in the connection between the meter side connector of the meter and the handle cover side connector inside the meter support hole, so that the wiring between the conductors arranged inside the handle cover and the meter can be completed easily and reliably.
To achieve the second objective, a second feature of this invention provides a wiring structure for a motorcycle to electrically connect a switch supported on a handle cover of the motorcycle to conductors arranged inside the handle cover, wherein the conductor is comprised of busbars made of a metal plate or a metal bar embedded in a busbar embedding substrate of a synthetic resin, tip ends of the busbars are projected from the busbar embedding substrate toward an opening formed in the handle cover to form busbar side connector terminals, and switch side connector terminals provided inside the switch are inserted into the opening to connect the busbar side connector terminals and the switch side connector terminals.
With this construction, simply inserting the switch side connector terminals provided to the switch from the opening of the handle cover causes the switch side connector terminals to be connected to the busbar side connector terminals projecting from the busbar embedding substrate, automatically completing the wiring for the switch. Further, because the above-mentioned wiring work can be performed from outside the handle cover, the handle cover can be assembled beforehand, thus enhancing the work efficiency. Because the conductors connected to the switch are formed of a metal plate or a metal bar embedded in a synthetic resin, not only can the number of parts and manhours required for wiring be reduced but the possibility of short-circuit, wire break and erroneous assembly can also be reduced, compared with a case where the conventional wiring harness is used. Durability for long-term use is also improved over what is obtained by the wiring harness. Further, since the front ends of the busbars are projected from the busbar embedding substrate to form busbar side connector terminals, it is possible to reduce the parts count of the connectors and also the frequency of incidents of poor contacts and wire breaks, thus enhancing the reliability. Furthermore, because the switch side connector terminals are provided inside the switches, their deformations and damages can be prevented, thereby improving the electric contact reliability.
To achieve the third objective, a third feature of this invention provides a wiring method for a motorcycle to supply electricity to an electric part supported on a handle cover of the motorcycle, which wiring method comprises: a step of injection-molding a busbar embedding substrate of a synthetic resin having a plurality of busbars made of a metal plate or a metal bar embedded therein; a step of injection-molding a handle cover made of a synthetic resin to enclose at least a part of the busbar embedding substrate; and a step of mounting the electric part on the handle cover and electrically connecting the electric part to the busbars.
With the above method, the use of the busbar embedding substrate having the busbars embedded therein can reduce the number of parts and manhours required for wiring, compared with a case where the wiring harness is used. In addition, this wiring method can reduce the possibility of short-circuits, wire breaks and erroneous assembly and therefore can offer a better long-term durability than the method that the wiring harness is used.
These and other objects, features and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of this invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3954318 (1976-05-01), Larson et al.
patent: 4473251 (1984-09-01), Murayama
patent: 4485282 (1984-11-01), Lee
patent: 4785532 (1988-11-01), Galloway et al.
patent: 4954085 (1990-09-01), Inoue et al.
patent: 5238429 (1995-08-01), Margrave et al.
patent: 5737188 (1998-04-01), Flierl et al.
patent: 5745347 (1998-04-01), Miller
patent: 5777851 (1998-07-01), Yamamoto
patent: 5952729 (1999-09-01), Shiratori et al.
patent: 6129560 (2000-10-01), Baur et al.
patent: 60-244680 (1985-12-01), None
patent: 08251889 (1996-09-01), None
patent: 271018 (1996-02-01), None
Hayasaka Yukihiro
Nakao Kazuhiko
Sakamoto Hiroshi
Abrams Neil
Arent Fox Kintner Plotkin & Kahn
Toyo Denso Co., Ltd.
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