1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel oil supply nozzle mounted on an end of a fuel oil supply hose of a measuring unit for supplying fuel oil and a method for manufacturing a discharge pipe for the fuel oil supply nozzle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, to supply fuel oil to an automobile through a fuel oil supply nozzle, a fuel oil is supplied with a discharge pipe mounted on the tip of a nozzle body into the fuel oil supply port of an automobile. To prevent the fuel oil supply nozzle from dropping off from the fuel oil supply port of the automobile during the fuel oil is supplied, the fuel oil supply nozzle has an anchor spring to be mounted on its discharge pipe. The discharge pipe is formed with a slightly bent shape on a side close to the nozzle body so as to be easily inserted into the fuel oil supply port of an automobile and is mounted with the anchor spring formed using a wire made of a spring material into a spiral shape in an area from a position close to the nozzle body of the discharge pipe to a position slightly closer to a tip than a middle position.
A spring formed of a spring wire into a circular cross section is generally used as an anchor spring to be mounted on the discharge pipe in this manner, so the contact area of the anchor spring with the outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe becomes small and hence a frictional force becomes small, which raises a possibility that the anchor spring will come off from the discharge pipe during a fuel oil is supplied and will drop into the fuel oil supply port of an automobile. For this reason, conventionally, to prevent an anchor spring 2 mounted on the outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe 1 from dropping off, for example, as shown in
The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances. It is the object of the present invention to provide a fuel oil supply nozzle that can surely prevent an anchor spring to be mounted on a discharge pipe from dropping off and a method for manufacturing a discharge pipe for the fuel oil supply nozzle.
To achieve the object described above, in accordance with a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a fuel oil supply nozzle including: a nozzle body that has an inflow port formed on one end side, the inflow port being connected to an end portion of a fuel oil supply hose via which fuel oil is supplied, has an outflow port formed on the other end side, and has a valve mechanism for flowing the fuel oil, the valve mechanism being disposed in a flow passage formed between the inflow port and the outflow port; a cylindrical discharge pipe having one end side connected to the outflow port of the nozzle body; and an anchor spring to be mounted on an outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe, wherein the anchor spring is formed using a spring wire in a spiral shape in a state in which a contact portion having a width and formed on one side in the direction of the axis of the spiral wire is situated inside, and is mounted in a state in which the contact portion is put into close contact with the outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe by a contracting force reducing the inside diameter of the spring. Since the anchor spring is mounted in a state in which the contact portion is put into close contact with the outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe by the contracting force reducing the inside diameter of the spring, it is possible to surely prevent the anchor spring to be mounted on the discharge pipe from coming and dripping off.
In a second aspect of the invention, the contact portion of the anchor spring may be formed with a concave surface and may have both end sides of its width formed with protrusions pressed onto the outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe. Since the protrusions of the contact portion of the anchor spring are pressed onto the outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe, it is possible to prevent the anchor spring from coming and dropping off.
In a third aspect of the invention, the contact portion of the anchor spring may be formed with a flat surface pressed onto the outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe. Since the contact portion of the anchor spring is formed with the flat surface and is put into surface contact with the outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe to increase a frictional force, it is possible to prevent the anchor spring from coming and dropping off.
In accordance with a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a discharge pipe for a fuel oil supply nozzle, the method including the steps of: forming an anchor spring by winding a spring wire in a spiral shape in a state in which a contact portion having a width and formed on one side in the direction of the axis of the spiral wire is situated inside; expanding an inside diameter on the contact portion side against the contracting force of the anchor spring; inserting a straight discharge pipe into an inside diameter side of the expanded anchor spring and thereafter releasing the contracting force to press and mount the anchor spring on an outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe; and bending the discharge pipe mounted with the anchor spring. Accordingly, it is possible to mount the anchor spring on the discharge pipe by applying the contracting force of the spring to the outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe.
In a fifth aspect of the invention, the step of expanding the inside diameter of the anchor spring includes fixing one end side of the anchor spring and rotating the other end side against the contracting force of the spring. Since one end side of the anchor spring is fixed and the other end side is rotated against the contracting force of the spring, it is possible to insert the discharge pipe into the inside diameter side of the anchor spring.
In a fuel oil supply nozzle including: a nozzle body that has an inflow port formed on one end side, the inflow port being connected to an end portion of a fuel supply hose via which fuel oil is supplied, has an outflow port formed on another end side, and has a valve mechanism for flowing the fuel oil, the valve mechanism being disposed in a flow passage formed between the inflow port and the outflow port; a cylindrical discharge pipe having one end side connected to the outflow port of the nozzle body; and an anchor spring to be mounted on an outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe, the anchor spring is formed using a spring wire in a spiral shape in a state in which a contact portion having a width and formed on one side in the direction of the axis of the spiral wire is situated inside, and is mounted in a state in which the contact portion is put into close contact with the outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe by a contracting force reducing the inside diameter of the spring. Thus, the anchor spring may be mounted in a state in which the contact portion is put into close contact with the outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe by the contracting force reducing the inside diameter of the spring. Therefore, it is possible to surely prevent the anchor spring to be mounted on the discharge pipe from coming and dripping off.
Moreover, the method for manufacturing a discharge pipe for a fuel oil supply nozzle includes the steps of: forming an anchor spring by winding a spring wire in a spiral shape in a state in which a contact portion having a width and formed on one side in the direction of the axis of the spiral wire is situated inside; expanding an inside diameter on the contact portion side against the contracting force of the anchor spring; inserting a straight discharge pipe into an inside diameter side of the expanded anchor spring and thereafter releasing the contracting force to press and mount the anchor spring on an outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe; and bending the discharge pipe mounted with the anchor spring. Therefore, it is possible to mount the anchor spring on the discharge pipe by applying the contracting force of the spring to the outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe.
The present invention will be described specifically with reference to embodiments.
A fuel oil supply nozzle 10 of the embodiment of the invention is a part inserted into the fuel oil supply port of an automobile and to supply fuel oil supplied via a fuel oil supply hose 19 from a measuring unit. The fuel oil supply nozzle 10 is composed of a nozzle body 11, a discharge pipe 12 mounted on the nozzle body 11, and an anchor spring 13 to be mounted on the outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe 12.
In the nozzle body 11, an inflow port 14 connected to such an end of the fuel oil supply hose 19 that is close to the measuring unit for supplying the fuel oil is formed on one end side thereof, and an outflow port 15 is formed on the other end side, and a valve mechanism having a main valve or an automatic closing valve mechanism or the like is disposed in a flow passage formed between the inflow port 14 and the outflow port 15, and the outer circumference portion near the inflow port 14 is formed with a grip part 16 gripped by an operator with a hand when the operator supplies a fuel oil. The nozzle body 11 is provided with an opening and closing lever 17 operatively connected to the valve mechanism and a latch 18 that pulls the opening and closing lever 17 to hold the valve mechanism in an open state.
The discharge pipe 12 is made of a pipe material formed with a cylindrical shape, has its one end connected to the outflow port 15 of the nozzle body 11, has its other end opened as the outflow port of the fuel oil, and has its middle portion bent in a gentle arc shape. In this embodiment, the discharge pipe 12 may be made of a pipe material made of material of aluminum or the like and having an outer diameter of 21 mm and a total length of 195 mm, for example. For another example, a pipe having an outer diameter of 25 mm and a total length of 195 mm may be used as the discharge pipe 12.
The anchor spring 13 is formed using a spring wire 20 in a spiral shape and is mounted on the outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe 12. The spring wire 20 is formed of an ordinary spring metal material. As for the shape of the spring wire 20, as shown in
Next, a method for manufacturing the discharge pipe 12 mounted with the anchor spring 13 will be described specifically. As shown in FIG. 4(1), first, as the anchor spring 13 is used a spring formed with an inside diameter of a1 smaller than the outside diameter of the discharge pipe 12. That is, as described above, for example, a spring that is formed with an inside diameter of approximately 20 mm before it may be mounted is used as the anchor spring 13 to be mounted on the discharge pipe 12 having an outside diameter of 21 mm, and a spring that is formed with an inside diameter of approximately 24 mm before it is mounted may be used as the anchor spring 13 to be mounted on the discharge pipe 12 having an outside diameter of 25 mm. Next, as shown in FIG. 4(2), the anchor spring 13 having the inside diameter of a1, is expanded so as to have an inside diameter of a2 slightly larger than the outside diameter of the discharge pipe 12 against the contracting force of the spring. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 4(3), the straight discharge pipe 12 is inserted into the anchor spring 13 expanded into the inside diameter of a2 and then the expanded spring is released to press and mount the contact portion 22 on the surface of the discharge pipe 12 by the contracting force of the spring.
A method for expanding the anchor spring 13 to mount it on the discharge pipe 12 will be described in detail with reference to
Subsequently, the straight discharge pipe 12 mounted with the anchor spring 13 as shown in FIG. 4(3) is slightly bent at the substantially middle portion of the discharge pipe 12 where the anchor spring 13 is mounted by the use of a specified bending tool as shown in FIG. 4(4). The discharge pipe 12 mounted with the anchor spring 13 and formed in this manner is mounted on the outflow port 15 of the nozzle body 11.
In the fuel oil supply nozzle 10 constructed in the above-mentioned manner, the anchor spring 13 is formed using winding the spring wire 20 having a contact portion 22, which is formed on one side with respect to the axial of the spring wire 13 with a width, and winding the spring wire 20, into a spiral shape in such a way that the contact portion 22 is situated on the inside diameter side of the spring wire 20 and that its inside diameter is slightly smaller than the outside diameter of the discharge pipe 12. Then, the anchor spring 13 is mounted on the outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe 12 in a state in which its inside diameter side is expanded, the inside diameter side having the contact portion 22 formed thereon. The contact portion 22 on the inside diameter side of the anchor spring 13 wound in the spiral shape has the contracting force of the spring to reduce the inside diameter applied thereto, thereby being pressed onto the outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe 12. Moreover, the contact portion 22 on the inside diameter side of the anchor spring 13 is formed with the slightly depressed concave surface 22a, and the protrusions 22b and 22b formed on both end sides of the width of the depressed concave surface 22a are pressed onto the outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe 12. Thus, the anchor spring 13 is applied with the contracting force of the spring to the outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe 12 and presses the protrusions 22b, 22b onto the outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe 12. Accordingly, the anchor spring 13 can increase a contact force to the outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe 12 and hence can surely be prevented from coming and dropping off. Moreover, since the discharge pipe 12 mounted with the anchor spring 13 is slightly bent, the anchor spring 13 may be further prevented from coming and dropping off.
Moreover, according to the method for manufacturing a discharge pipe for a fuel oil supply nozzle of the above-mentioned construction, the anchor spring 13 yet to be mounted on the discharge pipe 12 is previously formed in such a way that its inside diameter, into which the contact portion 22 is formed, is smaller than the outside diameter of the discharge pipe 12. Next, when the anchor spring 13 is mounted on the discharge pipe 12, the one end portion 23 of the anchor spring 13 is supported by the support part 25 so as not to rotate and the other end portion 24 is rotated by the rotation part 26 against the spring force in a direction opposite to a direction in which the anchor spring 13 is wound in the spiral shape, whereby the inside diameter of the anchor spring 13 is expanded so as to be larger than the outside diameter of the discharge pipe 12. Subsequently, the discharge pipe 12 formed in a straight shape is inserted through the inside diameter side of the expanded anchor spring 13, and then the rotation part 26 is rotated so as to return to the direction toward the original position to reduce the inside diameter of the anchor spring 13 by the contracting force of the spring to thereby press the anchor spring 13 onto the outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe 12. Subsequently, the discharge pipe 12 mounted with the anchor spring 13 is slightly bent at the substantially middle portion thereof by the use of a specified bending tool. By the method for manufacturing the discharge pipe 12 for the fuel oil supply nozzle like this, the anchor spring 13 may be mounted in a state in which the contracting force for reducing the inside diameter of the anchor spring 13 is applied to the outer circumference surface of the discharge pipe 12.
Next, the results of comparisons of the extracting force of the anchor spring 13 according to this embodiment from the discharge pipe 12 and the extracting force of conventional anchor springs from discharge pipes will be described with reference to
In the fuel oil supply nozzle 10 of the invention, as shown in
Next, the spring wires of the other embodiments will be described with reference to
Next, the anchor springs of the other embodiments will be described with reference to
The sizes and materials of the discharge pipe 12 and the spring wires 20, 30, 33, and 36 in the above-mentioned respective embodiments are examples and the shapes of the contact portions 22, 32, 35, and 38 are not limited to the embodiments.
The present invention may be applied to a fuel oil supply nozzle mounted on the end portion of a fuel oil supply hose of a measuring unit for supplying fuel oil and a method for manufacturing a discharge pipe for the fuel oil supply nozzle.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2006-322859 | Nov 2006 | JP | national |