Ventilation – Vehicle – Having inlet airway
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-27
2001-03-13
Joyce, Harold (Department: 3744)
Ventilation
Vehicle
Having inlet airway
C454S143000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06200214
ABSTRACT:
FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a tongue connection, in particular for fixing an air vent on a wall in a passenger compartment.
Such a tongue connection is known from EP 0271 706 B1 and relates to a vent for supplying air to windows. Said document discloses an approximately box-like vent frame on which four latching tongues are integrally formed. The vent frame can be secured in through-passages of a corresponding bodywork part by means of said latching tongues, the latter engaging behind an opening border of the wall and preventing movement of the vent frame in the direction perpendicular to an opening plane.
A further tongue connection of the basic type can be found in DE 40 16 026 C2, this relating to a device for supplying air to the interior of a vehicle. This document outlines a housing which has arranged on its front side, which is designed as a flange, clip elements which serve for clipping the entire air vent in a cutout of a wall. These clip elements too engage behind an opening border of the wall and thus ensure that the housing is secured in the direction perpendicular to an opening plane of the cutout.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to provide a tongue connection which is of the above type and which allows improved fixing of a basic body on a border of a wall opening.
In the case of the tongue connection according to the invention, it is provided on at least one tongue a (radial) protrusion which projects outward in the direction of the opening border, cuts into the opening border, when the basic body is installed on the wall, and prevents movement of the basic body in the opening plane by producing a form fit in relation to the opening border. As a result, in addition to the task of restricting the movement of the basic body in the direction of the opening plane, the tongue can also easily assume the task of securing the basic body in the direction of the opening plane without a separate component being necessary. For example, a rotationally symmetrical basic body can thereby be secured against a rotary movement within a wall opening adapted to it. It should also be conceivable for a basic body with four or more sides to be secured in a specific position, for example, against linear movement within an elongate slot opening.
A further advantage is that the form-fitting connection can easily be produced, for example by subjecting the basic body to a force in the direction approximately perpendicular to the opening plane, it also being easily possible for the basic body to be removed subsequently.
Advantageous embodiments of the tongue connection according to the invention along with expedient developments of the invention are specified in the subclaims.
Thus, it has proven particularly favorable if the tongue can be braced radially with the opening border, as a result of which, in addition to being secured in the direction of the opening plane, the basic body can also be fixed by the tongue in the direction approximately perpendicular to the opening plane.
This additional securing of the basic body may also be achieved in that at least one tongue has an additional latching nose by means of which the basic body can be fixed on the wall approximately in the direction perpendicular to the opening plane.
If the basic body is of annular design, and if four tongues, offset by in each case approximately 90° with respect to one another, are integrally formed on it, then the basic body may be secured in position, and against rotation, in the direction of the opening plane particularly firmly in a wall opening of circular design. If, in this case, all four tongues each have a radial protrusion, this results in particularly stable securing against rotation within the circular wall opening.
It has also proven particularly favorable, in a further configuration of the invention, if the vertically extending radial protrusion is designed in the manner of a cutting edge at least in certain areas, this making it possible for the protrusion to cut easily in the opening border. The cutting-in operation functions particularly well, in particular, when the material of the opening border is softer than that of the protrusion.
In addition, the cutting-in operation may be improved in that the cutting portion of the respective radial protrusion is of filetooth-like or sawtooth-like design, as a result of which material can easily be removed at the opening border.
It is particularly advantageous for the four tongues to be of resilient design and each to be provided with a latching nose which projects radially beyond a top portion located above, this making it possible to achieve particularly stable securing of the basic body in the direction perpendicular to the opening plane. A further advantage of this configuration is that it is possible for the radial protrusion, during installation, to cut into the opening border of the wall not just in the approximately vertical direction in relation to the opening plane, by an installation force, but also in the horizontal direction, by the spring force of the tongue.
If, in this case, in each case one installation lug, which is directed inward in the direction of the center axis of the annular basic body, is integrally formed on the four resilient tongues, then the basic body can easily be centered on the wall opening and can easily be installed by the basic body being subjected to a relatively small force in the direction of the wall opening.
Finally, it has proven particularly advantageous for an air vent with an annular base body, a rotatable rotary base and a spherical vent to be arranged in the wall opening with the aid of the tongue connection, it being the case that the air vent can be installed particularly easily and is of an attractive and expedient configuration.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4016026 (1991-11-01), None
patent: 0271706 (1988-06-01), None
Krzystetzko Heinz
Steinmetz H.-J.
Boles Derek S.
Farber Martin A.
Joyce Harold
Mannesmann VDO AG
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