Patent Application
20110317441
This application is based on and claims Convention priority to Japanese patent application No. 2010-145941, filed Jun. 28, 2010, the entire disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference as a part of this application.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an arrangement of a vehicle lamp such as, for example, a position lamp used in a motorcycle.
2. Description of Related Art
For example, the motorcycle is generally equipped with a position lamp for providing an indication of the position of such motorcycle to other vehicles and pedestrians. See, for example, the JP Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2001-88758, published Apr. 3, 2001. The position lamp is required to have a definite range of illumination and a definite amount of light distribution. According to the previously mentioned patent publication, the position lamp of a configuration elongated in a leftward and rightward direction, that is, in a direction widthwise of the motorcycle is arranged at a portion of a motorcycle front portion intermediate of the leftwards and rightwards direction, that is, intermediate of the width of the motorcycle to secure the required range of illumination and the required amount of light distribution.
On the other hand, the position lamp is often required to have such an appearance that does not make the presence of the position lamp to be conspicuous. According to the previously mentioned patent publication, although the sufficient amount of light distribution can be secured, the presence of the position lamp is too conspicuous. However, to make the position lamp to be small in size so as to suppress the conspicuousness makes it difficult to secure the required amount of light distribution.
In view of the foregoing, the present invention has been devised to provide a lamp arrangement for a vehicle, the presence of which is made less conspicuous while the required range of illumination and the required amount of light distribution are secured.
In order to accomplish the foregoing object, the present invention provides a lamp arrangement in a vehicle, which includes a fairing for covering a front portion of the vehicle, the fairing being formed with an opening which is depressed rearwardly from a fairing surface to open forwards, and a lamp mounted on the fairing with its light emitting surface arranged in an inner peripheral surface of the opening.
According to the above construction, since light from the outside will hardly reach the inner peripheral face of the opening, it is possible to prevent the existent of the lamp from becoming conspicuous when and so long as the lamp is turned off. As a result, the appearance of the vehicle improves. In addition, since the opening is opened forwards, the required range of forward illumination and the required amount of light distribution can be secured when the lamp is turned on. In this way, the visibility of the lamp improves.
For the opening referred to above, an opening continues to an air intake opening for introducing an air therethrough towards a motorcycle combustion engine can be employed. This permits the air intake opening to be used as the opening and therefore, there is no need to employ any extra opening.
The light emitting surface referred to above preferably has a front face inclined from front to rear so as to converge at a center of the opening. When the front face of the light emitting surface is so inclined, the conspicuousness of the light emitting surface when viewed from front is suppressed and in addition, the surface area of the light emitting surface is increased, thereby securing the required amount of light distribution and increasing the visibility of the lamp. Also, where the air intake opening is used for the opening referred to above, the inclination of the front face functions as a guide for guiding the air towards the air intake opening.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the light emitting surface may be arranged in an upper region of the inner peripheral surface of the opening. The upper region of the inner peripheral surface of the opening is a site where the light from the outside will hardly reach from above as compared with a lower region of the inner peripheral surface of the opening and, therefore, it is possible to render the existence of the lamp, when the latter is turned off, to be less conspicuous. Also, as compared with the case in which the lamp is arranged in the lower region of the inner peripheral surface of the opening, the lamp can be lightened at a high position and therefore the visibility of the lamp increases when and so long as the lamp is turned on.
Where the light emitting surface is arranged in the inner peripheral surface of the opening, the opening preferably has an upper wall and opposite side walls, the upper wall having a protuberance protruding forwards beyond front ends of opposite side walls of the opening, in which case the light emitting surface is arranged in a lower face of this protuberance. This structural feature is particularly advantageous in that since the lamp is arranged in the protuberance protruding forwards from the opposite side walls of the opening, light from the lamp, when the latter is turned on, will not be intercepted by the opposite side walls and therefore, the amount of light distribution towards opposite sides of the motorcycle can be increased. As a result, the visibility of the lamp from opposite sides increases.
Where the light emitting surface is arranged in the upper region of the inner peripheral surface of the opening, the light emitting surface preferably has a front face inclined towards a point intermediate of a widthwise direction of the vehicle so as to protrude forwards. This advantageously allows the light from the front face of the light emitting surface to be projected not only in the forward direction, but also in leftward and rightward directions of the motorcycle and, therefore, the visibility of the lamp from opposite sides increases.
In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the light emitting surface may have a front face and an extension face continued from a rear side of the front face. In this case, not only the front face of the light emitting surface, but also the extension face continued from the rear side of the front face forms a light emitting surface so that light can be emitted also from the extension face and, accordingly, the light is reflected by a face other than the light emitting surface in the inner peripheral surface of the opening and the reflecting surface therefore forms a part of the light emitting region, thus increasing the light emitting region. Accordingly, the visibility of the lamp further increases.
In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the lamp arrangement may include a cowl member, forming a part of the fairing, and a center ram member disposed rearwardly of the fairing to form a part of an air induction passage, with the light emitting surface arranged between the fairing and the center ram member.
If the cowl member and the center ram member are of a unitary structure, the necessity may arise that the lamp must be arranged in a narrow space within the opening in the cowl member. However, the use of the cowl member and the center ram member which are members separate from each other is effective in that the cowl member and the center ram member are separated from each other and the lamp can be fixed to one or both of the cowl member and the center ram member at a large working space, thus increasing the assemblability of the lamp.
Where the light emitting surface is arranged between the cowl member and the center ram member, the fairing and the center ram member preferably have outer surfaces colored in respective colors different from each other. Since the cowl member and the center ram member are made of members separate from each other, the cowl member and the center ram member can be easily formed in different colors by, for example, using coloring materials of different colors or painting with different colors. By carefully coloring each of those members, it is possible to suppress the conspicuousness of the lamp without affecting the appearance of the vehicle.
In any event, the present invention will become more clearly understood from the following description of preferred embodiments thereof, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the embodiments and the drawings are given only for the purpose of illustration and explanation, and are not to be taken as limiting the scope of the present invention in any way whatsoever, which scope is to be determined by the appended claims. In the accompanying drawings, like reference numerals are used to denote like parts throughout the several views, and:
Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In particular,
A rear end portion of the main frame 1, which is located at a lower intermediate portion of the motorcycle frame structure FR, has a swingarm bracket 10 connected therewith and a swingarm 11 has its front end portion pivotally connected to the swingarm bracket 10 through a pivot shaft 12 for movement up and down about such pivot shaft 12. A rear drive wheel 13 is rotatably supported by a rear end portion of the swing arm 11.
A motorcycle combustion engine E is mounted on a generally intermediate lower portion of the motorcycle frame structure FR at a portion forwardly of the swingarm bracket 10 and the rear drive wheel 13 referred to above is driven by this combustion engine E through a drive chain or belt 16. For the combustion engine E referred to above, a four cylinder, four-stroke cycle combustion engine, for example, may be employed.
A fuel tank 19 is mounted on an upper portion of the main frame substructure 1 and a rider's seat 20 and a tail covering 21 are mounted on a portion of the rear frame substructure 2 rearwardly of the fuel tank 19. A fellow passenger's seat 24 is supported by the rear frame substructure 2 so as to overhang the tail covering 21.
A fairing 17 made of a synthetic resin is mounted on a front portion of the motorcycle so as to extend from an upper end portion of the front fork assembly 6 to opposite side portions of and a lower portion of the combustion engine E. This fairing 17 has left and right headlamp units 28 and 28 mounted thereon and also has an air intake opening 30 defined therein at a location intermediate between the left and right headlamp units 28 and 28 for allowing the incoming air to be introduced therethrough towards the combustion engine E for use in combustion with fuel within the combustion engine E.
The head block 4 referred to previously is in the form of a cast product of one piece construction including an intake duct 32, having a front end opening, and a head tube (not shown), through which the steering shaft extends. A front end of the intake duct 32 is connected with a ram duct unit 34, which is in turn is connected with the fairing 17 with a front end opening of the intake duct 32 positioned within the air intake opening 30 in the fairing 17. The air intake opening 30, the ram duct unit 34 and the intake duct 32 altogether constitute a part of an air induction passage 35 through which an air is introduced into the combustion engine E for use in combustion with fuel within the combustion engine E.
As best shown in
The fairing 17 is made up of a front fairing panel 42 positioned at a center portion of the motorcycle in a widthwise direction and forming a part of the air intake opening 30, left and right side fairing panels 44 positioned generally laterally rearwardly of the front fairing panel 42 so as to extend around left and right side portions of the motorcycle, and a transparent windshield 46 for protecting the rider from the incoming wind. The front fairing panel 42 and the side fairing panels 44 altogether form a cowl member 45. On the other hand, the transparent windshield 46 is secured to the front fairing panel 42 of the cowl member 45 by means of screw members 100. The position lamp 40 is supported by the front fairing panel 42 in a manner which will be described in detail later.
As best shown in
As shown in
A side protuberance 57 for partitioning between the air inflow opening 47 and the lamp opening 54 is formed between the air inflow opening 47 and the lamp opening 54. As best shown in
As best shown in
As shown in
As best shown in
The casing 70 is made of resin and has its rear wall formed with a cable introducing portion 70a through which a cable 74 for the LED 68 is introduced. Also, the casing 70 has a flanged portion 76 extending upwardly from a rear end of an upper wall thereof and bolt insertion holes 76a best shown in
The covering 72 referred to above is made of a transparent resin and forms the light emitting surface of the position lamp 40. More specifically, the light emitting surface is formed by a front face 73, which is an outer face of a front wall 72a of the covering 72 shown in
Referring now to
Then, a fastening member 104 such as, for example, a tapping screw is, after having been passed through the second bolt insertion hole 66a in the center ram member 50, threaded into the second boss 58 in the front fairing panel 42 to connect the front fairing panel 42 and the lower portion of the center ram member 50 together to thereby form the cowl member 45. In this way, the position lamp 40, the front fairing panel 42 and the center ram member 50 are thus connected together.
Thereafter, fastening members (not shown) are inserted through the respective throughholes 60a, which have been defined in the corresponding mounting pieces 60 on the opposite sides of the lower portion of the front fairing panel 42 as best shown in
Finally, the fairing 17 is fitted to the main frame substructure 1 shown in
In the embodiment as hereinbefore described, the front fairing panel 42 and the center ram member 50 are constituted by respective members separate from each other. If the front fairing panel and the center ram member are of a unitary structure, the position lamp need be arranged in a narrow space within the opening in the front fairing panel, but the use of the separate members for the front fairing panel 42 and the center ram member 50 is effective to allow the position lamp 40 to be secured to one of the front fairing panel 42 and the center ram member 50 or the both at a large working space, thus facilitating the assemblage of the position lamp 40.
Also, the front fairing panel 42, which is exposed to the outside, and the center ram member 50, which is not exposed to the outside, are molded with the use of coloring materials of different colors and hence, their outer surfaces have different colors. The front fairing panel 42 and the center ram member 50 may be painted with different colors so as to form the outer surfaces thereof in different colors. Since as described hereinbefore, the front fairing panel 42 and the center ram member 50 are made using members separate from each other, the front fairing panel 42 and the center ram member 50 can be easily formed in different colors. Where the front fairing panel and the center ram member are integrally formed into a unitary member, to make them formed in different colors requires separate paintings to such unitary member, lowering workability.
The position lamp 40 is colored in a color similar to the color of the center ram member 50. More specifically, the covering 72 is formed transparent and the casing 70 is formed in a color similar to that of the center ram member 50. Accordingly, it is possible to avoid the possibility that during the lights-out time, light emitting surfaces 73 and 75 may become conspicuous. In order to avoid the possibility that the light emitting surfaces 73 and 75 may become conspicuous, the center ram member 50 is preferably colored in a black color or a color similar to the black color. Also, the light emitting surfaces 73 and 75 themselves may be molded with the use of respective coloring materials of colors similar to each other. By so doing, it is possible to avoid the position lamp 40 becoming conspicuous. Yet, since the position lamp 40 employs the light emitting element 68 in the form of an LED, compactization is possible as compared with an incandescent lamp. By so doing, it is highly possible to avoid the possibility that the position lamp 40 may become conspicuous.
In the construction hereinbefore described, since the light emitting surfaces 73 and 75 of the position lamp 40 best shown in
Further, since the position lamp 40 is arranged above the inner peripheral surface 31 where light will hardly reach from above, it is highly possible to prevent the position lamp 40, then turned off, from becoming conspicuous. Also, since as compared with the case in which the position lamp 40 is arranged in the inner peripheral face below, the position lamp 40 is turned on at a high position, the visibility of the position lamp 40 increases when and so long as the position lamp 40 is turned on.
Also, since the front face 73 of the covering 72 of the position lamp 40 is inclined from front to rear so as to converge at a point downwardly thereof, not only can the front face 73, which is the light emitting surface, be suppressed from becoming conspicuous when viewed from front, but also the surface area of the front face 73 or the light emitting surface is increased to enable the required amount of forward lighting to be secured, thereby increasing the visibility of the position lamp 40. In addition, the inclination of the front face 73 functions as a guide for guiding the incoming wind A towards the air intake opening 30.
Since the light emitting surface 73 of the covering 72 of the position lamp 40 is arranged at the protuberance 55 protruding forwards from the front ends of the opposite side walls 54b and 54b best shown in
Since as clearly shown in
Also, since the light is emitted outwardly from the lower face 75 continued from the rear side of the front face 73 of the covering 72 of the position lamp 40 best shown in
Furthermore, since the front fairing panel 42, which is exposed to the outside, and the center rain member 50, which forms a part of the air induction passage 35, are constructed with the use of separate members and the position lamp 40 is arranged between the front fairing panel 42 and the center ram member 50, the front fairing panel 42 and the center ram member 50 are separated so that the position lamp 40 can be secured to one of the front fairing panel 42 and the center ram member 50 or the both at a large working space, thus facilitating the assemblage of the position lamp 40.
Although the present invention has been fully described in connection with the preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings which are used only for the purpose of illustration, those skilled in the art will readily conceive numerous changes and modifications within the framework of obviousness upon the reading of the specification herein presented of the present invention. By way of example, although in describing the preferred embodiment, the position lamp has been shown and described as arranged in the inner peripheral face of the air intake opening, the position lamp may not be necessarily arranged in that part of the air intake opening, but may be arranged in any suitable opening provided that such opening is defined by depressing rearwardly from the fairing surface so as to open forwards. Also, the lamp fitted to the inner peripheral face of the opening may be any suitable lamp other than the position lamp.
In addition, the present invention can be equally applied to any other vehicles than the motorcycle, such as, for example, a buggy, a four wheeled vehicle and a small planing boat.
Accordingly, such changes and modifications are, unless they depart from the scope of the present invention as delivered from the claims annexed hereto, to be construed as included therein.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-145941 | Jun 2010 | JP | national |
