Electrical connectors – With relatively guided members and intermediate pliable... – Relatively movable about axis
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-12
2001-12-25
Paumen, Gary F. (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With relatively guided members and intermediate pliable...
Relatively movable about axis
Reexamination Certificate
active
06332793
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cable reel, and more specifically, to simplification of the structure of the molds to be used for molding a fixed case by improving the form of the fixed case of the cable reel.
2. Description of Background Information
An automobile with an air bag is illustrated in FIG.
5
(A) and houses an air bag
6
on a hub
5
a
of a steering wheel
5
. An air inflator
7
for expanding air bag
6
is mounted thereon. Furthermore, a cable reel or rotary connector
1
for housing a flat cable
9
for providing, for example, a signal for activating inflator
7
is also mounted around hub
5
a
. In addition, on hub
5
a
of steering wheel
5
, one end
8
a
of steering shaft
8
is covered with a steering shaft cover
4
, which transmits a rotation of the steering wheel
5
to front wheels of the automobile (not illustrated).
Cable reel
1
is equipped with, as illustrated in FIG.
5
(B), a movable body
2
and a fixed case
3
formed of resin. Flat cable
9
is housed in cable housing area
3
f
of fixed body
3
in a spirally coiled manner. Flat cable
9
includes one end
9
a
being fixed to movable body
2
and connected with inflator
7
through the connector, while the other end is fixed to fixed body
3
and connected to an external circuit (not illustrated) through the connector.
Movable body
2
of cable reel
1
is fixed to steering wheel
5
and rotates with the rotation of steering wheel
5
in left/right directions. The rotation is followed by flat cable
9
, which tightens or releases its coiled condition inside the cable housing area
3
f
of the fixed case
3
.
Fixed case
3
of cable reel
1
, as shown in
FIG. 6
, is mounted on steering shaft cover
4
by tightening bolt
10
in screw hole
4
b
of holder
4
a
which is fixed onto steering shaft cover
4
. In order to insert bolt
10
, fixed case
3
includes bolt hole
3
a
on a stepped protruded area
3
c
at the end of fixed wall area
3
b
which covers the steering shaft cover
4
.
Since the direction of hole
3
a
(y direction indicated by the arrow in
FIG. 6
) is perpendicular to the direction of the mold (x direction indicated by an arrow in
FIG. 6
) used for molding fixed case
3
, the bolt hole
3
a
makes it difficult to use a normal mold. Therefore, by using a slide-type mold
15
and mold
16
(shown with two-dot chain line in FIG.
6
), having a slide core
15
a
, the fixed case
3
is formed by matching respective molds at separation surface Z. Because mold
15
of this slide-type has a movable area, production of the mold is higher in cost compared with that of a conventional mold, and it causes dimensions of the mold itself to be larger in size. Furthermore, problems of production cost relating to the cable reel become higher, requiring a larger-size molding machine to mount the slide-type mold.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention was made to solve the problems mentioned above, and, therefore, an object is to form a fixed case by using conventional molds without using higher-cost slide-type fixing molds, by the arrangement of the bolt hole on the fixed case of the cable reel.
In order to solve the aforementioned problems, the present invention provides a cable reel, wherein a movable body fixed to a steering wheel side and a fixed case is mounted on a steering shaft cover fixed to a vehicle side. A flat cable is housed in a spiral form in an annular cable housing space formed by the movable body and the fixed case. A peripheral wall extends in a downward axial direction and has a lower fixed wall area. A mounting seat protrudes in the form of a step from the lower fixed wall area.
A first groove has a U-shaped notch extending from and having an opening at a lower end of the mounting seat and a step which covers an opening of the U-shaped notch. A second groove has a U-shaped notch extending from an upper side of the step. The first and second grooves form a bolt hole having an inner peripheral face, the entire periphery of the inner peripheral face being closed by the first and second grooves. A bolt passes through the bolt hole, whereby a bolt inserted into the bolt hole is fastened into a screw hole of the steering shaft cover. The steering shaft cover interfits with the fixed wall area, thereby fixing the fixed case onto the steering shaft cover.
According to another aspect of the invention, the fixed case is resin-molded by a pair of molds, with a mold separating face being formed at a central position of the bolt hole.
Another aspect of the invention is to provide a method of molding a fixed case of a cable reel. The fixed case includes a peripheral wall extending in a downward axial direction and has a lower fixed wall area. A mounting seat protrudes in the form of a step from the lower fixed wall area, and a first groove having a U-shaped notch extends from and has an opening at a lower end of said mounting seat. A step covers an opening of the U-shaped notch, and a second groove has a U-shaped notch extending from an upper side of the step. The first and second grooves form a bolt hole, the bolt hole having an inner peripheral face. The entire periphery of the inner peripheral face is closed by the first and second grooves. The method comprises providing a pair of molds to form the fixed case so that a mold separating face is formed at a central part of the bolt hole.
The U-shaped first and second grooves have openings in opposite directions from each other at positions where bolts of a mounting seat on the fixed case are inserted, the direction of the openings being set in the same direction as the mating direction of the molds. A fixed case having a bolt hole can thus be formed without using slide-type molds. More specifically, by directing the U-shaped opening of the first groove towards a lower end side, and also directing the opening of the U-shaped second groove in an upper end side, each direction of the opening extends in the same direction as the mating direction of mold separation, which enables molding to be performed by a normal two-piece mold set, thus allowing smooth taking-out of a molded fixed case. In addition, the use of normal molds makes the dimension of the mold set itself smaller in size, thereby allowing for the adoption of a smaller-size molding machine instead of using a larger machine.
Further, with the present invention, the aforementioned fixed case allows resin molding by use of a pair of molds, which features the separating face of the molds at the central position of bolt hole. Adoption of this feature permits ease of production of the molding position of the first and the second groups, thereby making it easy to take out a molded cable reel from the mold.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5766019 (1998-06-01), Matsumoto et al.
patent: 5769649 (1998-06-01), Welschholz et al.
patent: 5993228 (1999-11-01), Kubota
patent: 6041677 (2000-03-01), Reh et al.
patent: 6053742 (2000-04-01), Matsumoto et al.
Greenblum & Bernstein P.L.C.
Paumen Gary F.
Sumitomo Wiring Systems Ltd.
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