Patent Application
20050081580
The present application is related to Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-209733 filed on Aug. 29, 2003 the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved key cylinder device equipped with a handle lock mechanism suitable for a motorcycle.
2. Description of the Background Art
In the related art, a key cylinder device equipped with a handle lock mechanism having a shutter is proposed, for example in JP-A-11-44132, see
A cylinder lock 1 has a structure including a rotor 3 rotatably stored in a cylinder body 2 with a lock bar 8 connected to a camshaft 6 at a lower part of the rotor 3. A substantially cap-shaped ring 12 is covered on the cylinder body 2 with the ring 12 being fixed to the cylinder body 2 with a screw 14. A shutter 15 is disposed on the ring 12 with the shutter 15 being covered by a cover 13. The reference numeral Bc is represented by an imaginary line for designating a vehicle body cover.
Since the screw 14 is located in the vicinity of the vehicle body cover Bc, if there is a gap between the cover 13 and the vehicle body cover Bc, the screw 14 is visible from the outside and hence there is a possibility of being tampered with. Therefore, in the related art, the mounting hole of the cylinder lock on the vehicle body cover Bc is set to be smaller than the outer diameter of the cover 13 so that the vehicle body cover Bc is overlapped within the cover 13 to eliminate the gap, and hence the screw 14 is not exposed.
However, in this arrangement, since the ring 12 that is integrally assembled to the cover 13 is fitted into the mounting hole of the vehicle body cover Bc from the outside and fixed to the cylinder body 2 provided inside the vehicle body cover Bc with the screw 14, there are problems with respect to the required accuracy of the mounting hole and the number of assembling steps for the cylinder lock increases.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a key cylinder device equipped with a handle lock mechanism, in which the assembleability of the key cylinder device to a vehicle body frame can be improved.
In order to achieve the above-described object, a vehicle is provided with a key cylinder device equipped with a handle lock mechanism that includes a steering handle steerably attached to a vehicle body frame with a key cylinder unit attached to the vehicle body frame. A shutter housing is provided for covering a key hole of the key cylinder unit with the shutter housing being mounted to the vehicle body frame with a bracket. The key cylinder unit and the bracket are disposed in a vehicle body cover. A key cylinder device is equipped with a handle lock mechanism wherein the handle lock is actuated by extending a lock pin by operating the key cylinder unit with a key and connecting the vehicle body frame and the operating handle with the lock pin. The bracket is formed into a bracket of an inverted angular U-shape having a top plate for covering the upper surface of the key cylinder unit. Left and right legs are provided for covering the left and right side surfaces of the key cylinder unit. In addition, the shutter housing is mated with the top plate and bolts for fixing the shutter housing to the top plate are screwed from between the side surfaces of the key cylinder unit and the legs.
Since the bolts for fixing the shutter housing are attached from the back surface of the top plate of the inverted angular U-shaped bracket, even when a gap is generated between the shutter housing and the vehicle body cover, the bolts are not exposed and hence cannot be loosened easily. In addition, since the bolts are screwed from the gaps between the side surfaces of the key cylinder unit and the legs, it is difficult to loosen these bolts from the outside.
In addition, since the upper surface and the both side surfaces of the key cylinder unit are covered by the inverted angular U-shaped bracket, even when an attempt is made to insert a rod-shaped object from the outside, the rod-shaped object can hardly reach a principal portion of the key cylinder unit in view of the protecting effect of the inverted angular U-shaped bracket.
Therefore, the key cylinder device is equipped with a handle lock mechanism can hardly be tampered with and the handle lock mechanism can be maintained. Simultaneously, since the assembly can be completed simply by easily mounting the key cylinder device in the vehicle body cover and then mounting the vehicle body cover thereon, assembleability is improved.
Further, the legs are disposed so that the legs can cover the side surface of a mounting member for mounting the key cylinder unit to the vehicle body frame.
The key cylinder unit is mounted to the vehicle body with the mounting member such as a bolt. By covering the mounting member with the legs, the possibility of the rod-shaped member or the like reaching the mounting member is avoided.
The legs are disposed so that the side surface of the lock pin can be covered by the legs.
It is not preferable that the rod-shaped member inserted from the outside reaches the lock pin. Therefore, by protecting the lock pin with the legs, such a possibility is eliminated.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:
Referring now to the attached drawings, an embodiment of the preset invention will be described below.
In the present embodiment, a scooter-type vehicle will be described as an example. The vehicle, however, may be any type of two-wheeler, three-wheeler and four-wheeler vehicle as long as it has a front wheel and a rear wheel provided at the front and rear of a vehicle body frame, and a steering handle that is steerably attached to a head pipe of the vehicle body frame.
In
In addition, as illustrated in
A rear carrier 36 is provided wherein a load can be placed on the rear carrier 36 when the fellow passenger's seat which also serves as a seatback 26 is placed in the upright position. An air cleaner 37 is provided together with a meter unit 38.
In the scooter-type vehicle in the related art, it is normal to cover the vehicle body frame with a vehicle body cover, so that most of the parts of the vehicle body frame are not exposed. On the other hand, most parts of the vehicle body frame are exposed, so that a novel feature in the appearance of the scooter-type vehicle is demonstrated.
Subsequently, a key cylinder device equipped with a handle lock mechanism integrated in the protruded cover portion 39 and the handle cover 27 will be described below.
The sleeve 61 is a hand-holder-integrated sleeve integrally provided with handle-holder halves 63, 63. The operation of the handle 13 can be transmitted to the steering shaft 59 by fastening it to the steering shaft 59 with a lock bolt 64.
Two lock holes 65, 66 are formed on the lock plate 62. Since the head pipe 12 is non-rotational member, and the sleeve 61 on the steering shaft 59 is a rotational member, the handle 13 can be locked by engaging with the steering shaft 59 on the head pipe 12. The key cylinder device 50 according to the present invention is based on this principle.
In order to achieve the above-described principle, the key cylinder unit 53 is fixed to the unit supporting bracket 54 provided on the backside of the head pipe 12 with bolts 67, 67 and the inverted angular U-shaped bracket 56 is attached to the key cylinder 53 so as to provide a cover thereon. The shutter housing 42 is preferably secured to the inverted angular U-shaped bracket 56 with a bolt in advance.
In addition, the shutter housing 42 is fixed to the top plate 71 by placing the shutter housing 42 on the top plate 71 of the inverted angular U-shaped bracket 56, inserting the bolts 57, 57 from below and screwing into the top plate 71. In other words, the bolts 57, 57 are inserted upwardly from below the top plate 71 through the gaps formed between the side surfaces of the key cylinder unit 53 and the legs 68, 69.
As described in conjunction with
Also, as shown in
In addition, since the bolts 57, 57 for fixing the shutter housing 42 are attached from the back surface of the top plate 71 of the inverted angular U-shaped bracket 56, the bolts 57, 57 cannot be easily loosened. Furthermore, the bolts 57, 57 are screwed from the gaps formed between the side surfaces of the key cylinder unit 53 and the legs 68, 69. Therefore, it is difficult to loosen the bolts 57, 57 from the outside.
As shown by arrows a, b, when the rod-shaped member is inserted laterally from the outside, the legs 68, 69 serve as a protecting member. Thus, the possibility that the extremity of the rod-shaped member reaches the bolts 67, 67 can be eliminated.
It is not preferable that the inserted rod-shaped member reaches the lock pin 52 as shown by arrows c, d. Therefore, by protecting the lock pin 52 with the legs 68, 69, such a possibility is eliminated.
The mounting member of the present invention may simply be a member that can mount the key cylinder unit to the vehicle body frame. The mounting member may be of any type as long as it is a bolt, nut, clamping mechanism, or equivalent tightening member.
With the arrangement described above, the present invention demonstrates the following effects.
In the present invention the bolts for fixing the shutter housing are attached from the back surface of the top plate of the inverted angular U-shaped bracket, even when a gap is generated between the shutter housing and the vehicle body cover, the bolts are not exposed and hence cannot be loosened easily. In addition, since the bolts are screwed from the gaps between the side surfaces of the key cylinder unit and the legs, it is difficult to loosen these bolts from the outside.
Also, since the upper surface and both side surfaces of the key cylinder unit are covered by the inverted angular U-shaped bracket, even when the rod-shaped member is inserted from the outside, the possibility that the rod-shaped member reaches the principal portion of the key cylinder unit is eliminated by the protecting effect of the inverted angular U-shaped bracket.
Therefore, according to the present invention, the key cylinder device equipped with a handle lock mechanism can hardly be tampered with and the handle lock mechanism can be maintained. Simultaneously, since the assembly can be completed simply by easily mounting the key cylinder device in the vehicle body cover and then mounting the vehicle body cover thereon, the assembleability is improved.
The present invention provides legs that are disposed so that the legs can cover the side surface of a mounting member for mounting the key cylinder unit to the vehicle body frame.
The key cylinder unit is mounted to the vehicle body with a mounting member such as a bolt. By covering the mounting member with the legs, the possibility that the rod-shaped member reaches the mounting member may be avoided.
The present invention provides legs that are disposed so that the side surfaces of the lock pin can be covered by the legs.
It is not preferable that the rod-shaped member inserted from the outside reaches the lock pin. Therefore, by protecting the lock pin with the legs, the possibility thereof is eliminated.
The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003-209733 | Aug 2003 | JP | national |
