1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a room lamp for a motor vehicle and more particularly to a room lamp for a motor vehicle in which a metal mold structure can be simplified to decrease a cost and an accurate attached state can be maintained that a resin clip used for an attachment is prevented from being inclined after the attachment, so that a housing is not hung, nor excessively displaced.
2. Description of the Related Art
Usually, for attaching a room lamp to a ceiling of a vehicle room, a room lamp for a moor vehicle as disclosed in patent literature 1 is known (see patent literature 1).
Patent Literature 1: JP-A-2005-1459
An attaching structure of a lamp unit disclosed in the patent literature 1 can simply and assuredly attach the lamp unit and an interior wall material to a vehicle body panel at the same time. Specifically, a fixing unit that fixes mutually a room lamp and a reinforcing member is suspended in a reinforcing member side of a holder. Further, are provided a flexible arm bent in an inverted U shape and having an end part engaged with an attaching part of the reinforcing member and a flexible arm regulating part arranged in a side part of the flexible arm and engaged with a support piece of the flexible arm to restrain the end part from being displaced along a direction for attaching and detaching the room lamp relative to a vehicle body.
According to the attaching structure disclosed in the patent literature 1, the end part of the flexible arm can assuredly attach a module to the vehicle body panel. Further, since the end part of the flexible arm is not recessed to an inner side of a vehicle along the direction for attaching and detaching the lamp unit to the vehicle body during an attachment to the vehicle body, an excessive clearance that estimates the recess does not need to be set relative to an attaching part of the vehicle body panel. Further, even when the fixed module receives a strong external force toward the inner side of the vehicle relative to the vehicle body panel, the flexible arm is effectively prevented from being disengaged.
In order to form the flexible arm in the attaching structure of the patent literature 1, a slide structure is required in a metal mold, which increases a cost.
The present invention is devised to solve the above-described demerit and it is a first object of the present invention to decrease a cost by manufacturing a configuration without using a metal mold of a slide structure. It is a second object of the present invention to provide a room lam for a motor vehicle in which an accurate attached state can be maintained that a resin clip (below-described) used for an attachment is prevented from being inclined after the attachment, so that a housing is not hung, nor excessively displaced.
This invention of a first invention is provided with a room lamp for a motor vehicle including: a lamp assembly having a resin clip; a vessel having an opening; and a reinforcing member, wherein the resin clip is engaged with a peripheral edge of the reinforcing member through the opening of the vessel to integrally attach the lamp assembly, the vessel and the reinforcing member, the resin clip is formed generally in an inverted U shape, made of an elastic member and includes a base part connected to a housing, an inverted U shape part connected to the base part and a lock connected to the inverted U shape part, the resin clip has a protruding piece in a lower part of the lock, a side protruding piece is formed in a lower part side of the protruding piece and the protruding piece is located in an engaging recessed part of an opening peripheral edge of the vessel which has a clip abutting surface under a state the resin clip is engaged with the peripheral edge of the reinforcing member.
This invention of a second invention is provided with a room lamp for a motor vehicle, wherein the side protruding piece is located in a lower side of an arm forming the engaging recessed part.
This invention of a third invention is provided with a room lamp for a motor vehicle, wherein the clip abutting surface is formed in the lower side of the arm.
This invention of a fourth invention is provided with a room lamp for a motor vehicle, wherein the clip abutting surface is a part of the engaging recessed part opposed to the protruding piece.
As described above, according to the present invention, since the metal mold having the slide structure is not used, the cost is lowered and the room lam for a motor vehicle is obtained in which an accurate attached state can be maintained that a resin clip used for an attachment is prevented from being inclined after the attachment, so that a housing is not hung, nor excessively displaced (below-described).
FIGS. 5(1) to (4) are longitudinally sectional views for explaining processes until a lock of the resin clip is engaged with an opening peripheral edge of the reinforcing member. FIG. 5(1) is a view showing a state before a primary engagement with a roof panel, FIG. 5(2) is a view showing a state of the primary engagement with the roof panel, FIG. 5(3) is a view showing a state of a secondary engagement with the reinforcing member and FIG. 5(4) is a view for explaining a reason that the housing is not hung.
Now, a room lamp for a motor vehicle will be described below in which a metal mold having a slide structure is managed not to be used to lower a cost and a housing is not hung (below-described) after a lamp assembly is attached to a vehicle body.
In
In the room lamp 100 (
The resin clip 20C′ is formed with an elastic material and provided at four corners of the housing 20′ of a lamp assembly 40′ shown in
However, in the lamp assembly 40′ attached in such a way, when a force is applied in a downward direction F1 (
The present invention is devised to solve the above-described problem and it is a second object of the present invention to provide a room lamp for a motor vehicle in which even when a lower end part of a resin clip is to be opened outward due to the tare weight of a lamp assembly after an attachment, the lower end part of the resin clip is prevented to be opened so that a housing is not hung.
In
As can be understood from the longitudinally sectional view shown in
The resin clip 20C of the present invention shown in
In the opening peripheral edge 56 (
Further, in a lower side of both the arms 55F of the vessel 55 forming the engaging recessed part 55S, a clip abutting surface 55E is provided on which the protruding piece 20T of the resin clip 20C abuts to regulate a transverse displacement of the resin clip 20C.
The resin clip 20C (
Accordingly, only upper and lower metal molds may be used to form the resin clip without using a slide.
FIGS. 5(1) to (4) are longitudinally sectional views for explaining a procedure for attaching the resin clip 20C to the roof panel 50 and the reinforcing member 60. FIG. 5(1) is a diagram for explaining a state before the attachment of the resin clip to the roof panel 50, FIG. 5(2) is a diagram for explaining a primary engagement with the roof panel 50, FIG. 5(3) is a diagram for explaining a secondary engagement with the reinforcing member 60 and FIG. 5(4) is a diagram for explaining a prevention of a hung state.
When the lock 20L of the resin clip 20C (FIG. 5(1) is allowed to come close to an upper part from a lower part of the roof panel 50 as shown in FIG. 5(1), the lock 20L gets over the opening peripheral edge 51 of the roof panel 50 due to an inclined surface and an elasticity to engage (primarily engage) the hook 20K (FIG. 5(1)) of the resin clip 20C with the opening peripheral edge 51 as shown in FIG. 5(2)). Thus, the roof module is obtained.
Then, in order to attach the roof module to a ceiling of the vehicle, when the roof module is lifted upward, the lock 20L gets over the opening peripheral edge 61 of the reinforcing member 60 (FIG. 5(2)) due to the inclined surface and the elasticity to engage (secondarily engage) the hook 20K (FIG. 5(3)) of the resin clip 20C with the opening peripheral edge 61 of the reinforcing member 60 as shown in FIG. 5(3)).
At this time, the protruding piece 20T (FIG. 5(3) of the resin clip 20C (FIG. 5(3)) is located in the engaging recessed part 55S (see the spout shown in FIG. 5(3)) of the vessel 55 (FIG. 5(3)). Accordingly, even when the lamp assembly 44 is to be hung downward due to its tare weight, since the protruding piece 20T abuts on the clip abutting surface 55E, an outward (transverse) displacement of the resin clip 20C is regulated and an upward displacement is regulated by both the arms 55F at the same time. Accordingly, the lamp assembly 40 is firmly attached to the reinforcing member 60.
The side protruding piece 20S is engaged with the clip abutting surface 55E, however, the side protruding pieces 20S may be engaged with both arms 55F′of a recessed part as shown in
In the room lamp 100 for the motor vehicle obtained in such a way, even when a downward force is applied due to the tare weight of the lamp assembly 40, since the side protruding piece 20S of the protruding piece 20T is located in the engaging recessed part 55S of the opening peripheral edge 56 of the vessel 20S, the resin clip 20 cannot be opened outward. As a result, the lamp assembly 40 is prevented from being hung downward.
Further, since the lamp assembly 40 is prevented from being hung downward, a back lash of the ceiling of the vehicle and the roof panel 50 can be suppressed.
As described above, according to the present invention, the metal mold having a slide structure, which is a problem of a usual device, does not need to be used and an excessive displacement of the housing due to the hung down state of the housing as a problem of the invention of the related art can be prevented.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2010-137158 | Jun 2010 | JP | national |