JPH0536752Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Field of industrial application] The present invention relates to a telescoping corner pole for indicating the position of the front end of an automobile body, and in particular, a telescoping corner pole that combines a plurality of pole elements in a multi-stage manner so as to be freely retractable. This invention relates to a structure in which a corner pole having a lamp body attached to its tip pole element is erected at an end in the vehicle width direction of a front bumper.

[Prior art]

If the front or rear end of the vehicle cannot be seen directly from the driver's seat, a corner pole can be installed in that area so that the upper end of the corner pole can be seen from the driver's seat. This makes driving easier and more convenient. Usually, a corner pole is installed upright at the end of the bumper in the vehicle width direction, and a light body is attached to the tip so that it can be used even at night.

However, corner poles are not always necessary, and in fact, they are easily tampered with while parking.
It gets in the way when the body cover is placed over the vehicle body when parking, and wind noise and vibration noise are generated when driving at high speeds.As a countermeasure, a multi-layered A structure has been proposed that uses telescoping corner poles and stores them inside the bumper when not in use.

[Problem to be solved]

By the way, there are known automobiles that incorporate indicator lights (e.g. turn signal lights, position lights) on the left and right sides of the front bumper in the vehicle width direction.
If an attempt is made to install an indicator light from the front to the side at the end of the front bumper in the vehicle width direction on a vehicle equipped with the multi-stage telescoping corner pole described in Publication No. 115137, the two will interfere, making it impossible to install the indicator light. I can't.

In order to avoid this interference, when trying to install a multi-stage telescoping corner pole above the indicator light, the pinion gear, reduction gear, and motor of the drive cord drive section are arranged linearly from bottom to top, so the drive The height of the cord drive unit has been increased, and the drive cord fed out horizontally from the drive cord drive unit is raised and lowered up and down through a guide curved in a 1/4 arc shape. Due to the need for the drive cord to pass through, the radius of curvature of the curved portion of the guide becomes large, making it impossible to bring the drive cord drive unit close to the upper wall of the bumper. Since the drive cord was curved into a U-shape and stored in the drive cord storage casing, the height of the drive cord storage casing also increased, and as a result, the vertical width of the bumper became abnormally thick, causing the bumper to become In terms of layout and appearance, there was little feasibility.

[Means and effects for solving the problem]

The present invention relates to an improvement of the telescopic corner pole mounting structure for automobiles that overcomes these difficulties.The present invention is a corner pole in which multiple pole elements are combined in a multi-stage manner so that they can appear and retract freely, and a light body is attached to the tip pole element. In an automobile with a structure in which a corner pole is installed upright at the end of the front bumper in the vehicle width direction, and the corner pole is expanded and contracted by the reciprocating movement of a drive cord whose one end is connected to the tip pole element, Recesses are formed at both ends in the vehicle width direction on the outer surface of the vertical wall of the front bumper, which has a U-shaped cross section, and indicator lights are fitted into the recesses, and the indicator lamps are attached to the vertical wall in the recess. A driving device box of the corner pole assembly is stored in an upper small space of the upper and lower small spaces partitioned on the inner surface, and a corner pole base is integrally assembled to the box adjacent to the driving device box. A corner pole is made to pass through an opening formed in the upper wall and protrude from the upper surface of the front bumper, and the drive unit box and the base of the corner pole are fixed to the front bumper. , a drive cord drive reduction gear train in the drive device box, and a motor are arranged horizontally;
The rotational axes of the gears of the reduction gear train for driving the drive cord are oriented horizontally and parallel to each other, and are arranged in a zigzag pattern up and down, and the final stage pinion that meshes with the drive cord is directly below the base of the corner pole. The other end of the drive cord is movably fitted loosely into a substantially linear guide cylinder oriented in the horizontal direction.

Since the present invention is constructed as described above,
When the motor is rotated in the forward direction with the corner pole shortened, the rotational force of the motor is transmitted to the final stage pinion via the drive cord driving reduction gear train, and the final stage pinion is rotationally driven. By the rotational drive of the final stage pinion, one end of the drive cord that meshes with the pinion is paid out upward, and the corner pole is extended upward and is used for convenience such as parking in a garage.

In addition, when the corner pole is in the extended state, the motor reverses, so that the corner pole drive device operates in the opposite direction to the above operation, and the corner pole is shortened downward, preventing wind noise during high-speed driving and parking. This prevents the influence of external forces during washing, car washing, etc.

In the present invention, the base of the corner pole, the reduction gear train for driving the drive cord in the drive device box, and the motor are arranged horizontally,
The rotation axes of the gears of the drive cord drive table reduction gear train are oriented horizontally and parallel to each other and are arranged in a zigzag pattern up and down, and the final stage pinion that meshes with the drive cord is located directly below the base of the corner pole. The other end of the drive cord is movably fitted loosely into a substantially linear guide cylinder oriented in the horizontal direction, so that the diameter of the final stage pinion can be reduced, and the drive cord The vertical width of the storage compartment can be narrowed, so
The vertical dimensions of the drive unit box can be reduced, and as a result, the drive unit box can be placed in a space with a narrow vertical width located above the indicator light in the recess of the front bumper in which the indicator light is fitted. Thus, a multi-stage corner pole can be attached to a front bumper provided with an indicator light at the end of the front bumper in the vehicle width direction without interfering with the indicator light.

Furthermore, in the present invention, since the final stage pinion that meshes with the drive cord is placed directly under the base of the corner pole, even if the final stage pinion is small, the drive cord can be held at a substantially right angle at the part that meshes with the final stage pinion. To be able to easily bend the drive cord and to move the drive cord without applying excessive force to the drive cord, unlike the conventional type in which the pinion is engaged at a location away from the curved portion of the drive cord. This allows the corner pole to be reliably extended and contracted without causing any malfunction.

Furthermore, in the present invention, since the drive cord is loosely fitted into the horizontally oriented substantially linear guide cylinder, it is not necessary to curve the other end of the drive cord into a U-shape as in the conventional case. The drive cord can be reliably protected and the durability of the drive cord can be greatly improved.

Embodiment Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 to 9 will be described.

FIG. 1 shows the left side of the front half of an automobile 10 with the driver's seat on the right side.
Reference numeral 2 denotes a U-shaped member in plan view that is arranged along the front and part of the side of the vehicle body (FIG. 3). A multi-stage telescopic corner pole 3 is attached directly above the indicator lamp at the left end of the plastic front bumper 12 in the vehicle width direction (the corner curved from the front of the vehicle body to the side).
0 is attached. In addition, corner pole 3
0. The positional relationship between the indicator lamp 26 and the headlight L is as follows:
The corner pole 36 is located to the left of the headlight L, and the headlight L is located above the indicator lamp 26.
(Figure 2: View from the front of the vehicle.)

The front bumper 12 has a U-shaped cross section consisting of an upper wall 14 , a standing wall 16 and a lower wall 22 , and a recess 18 is formed on the outer surface of the standing wall 16 .
An indicator light 26 is fitted in the. A recess-defining wall 20 that defines the recess 18 of the vertical wall 16 bulges toward the inner surface of the vertical wall 16, and defines small spaces A and B between the upper wall 14 and the lower wall 22, respectively. A resin drive device box 40 of the corner pole assembly 28 including the corner pole 30 is housed in the space A. As shown in the figure, the corner pole assembly 28 reinforces the resin front bumper 12 in its longitudinal direction with two screws 81 passing through the drive unit box 40 via an L-shaped piece 78. The top wall 1 of the front bumper 12 is fixed to the metal reinforcing frame 24 and the base of the corner pole 30 is fixed to the metal reinforcing frame 24.
4 (FIGS. 2 to 5).

Corner pole assembly 2 using L-shaped piece 78
The assembly relationship of corner pole assembly 28 at the base of corner pole 30 is shown in FIG.
The assembly relationship is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.
At the base of the corner pole 30, the drive box 40
A metal base tube 46 is tightly fitted into a metal male screw tube 44 integrally joined to the opening formed in the upper wall 14 of the front bumper 12 (having a sufficiently large diameter compared to the metal base tube 46). a ring-shaped spacing piece 72 that penetrates through the metal male screw tube 44 and the metal base tube 46 and fits on the outside thereof;
is located between the drive unit box 40 and the upper wall 14, a metal tightening cylinder 76 having a female screw is fitted onto the metal male screw cylinder 44, penetrates the spacer piece 74 and the spacer piece 72, and then tightens the metal. The corner pole 30 is screwed into the male threaded cylinder 44, and the upper wall 14 is sandwiched between the spacing pieces 72 and 74.
is firmly fixed.

Inside the metal base cylinder 46 is a corner pole element 3.
A multistage telescoping corner pole 30 consisting of 2, 34, 36, and 38 is inserted and retracted freely (6th
figure). The corner pole 30 has a drive cord 6 formed of a resin material having a large number of tooth shapes 64a over its entire length and having appropriate rigidity and flexibility.
It is designed to expand and contract by the reciprocating motion of 4.
One end of the drive cord 64 is connected to the upper end of the tip corner pole element 38, and the other free end can move freely within a guide tube P attached to the drive device box 40.

Additionally, at the top of the tip corner pole element 38,
A cylindrical body 38A is attached which houses a light source lamp 38a in a translucent resin cylinder, and a conductive wire 66 is embedded over the entire length of the drive cord 64.
One end of the lamp is connected to the light source lamp 38a of the lamp body 38A. The other end of the conductive wire 66 is the drive cord 6
4 is pulled out at the free end and tied to the terminal 68. When the drive cord 64 moves forward to a certain extent, this terminal 68 comes into contact with a contact point present in the C portion facing the guide portion of the drive cord 64, and this contact relationship and the metal male screw Cylinder 44
Conductive wire 8 to terminal 70 provided in contact with
A conductive circuit of the lamp body 38A is formed by the connection relationship of FIG.

Inside the drive box 40 of the corner pole assembly 28, there are a motor 48, a worm gear 50 attached to the rotating shaft of the motor 48, and pinions 58, 5.
A reduction gear group consisting of 4, 56, 58, 60, and 62 is stored, and the pinion 62 is connected to the drive cord 6.
It meshes with the tooth profile 64a of No. 4 (Fig. 7). The motor 48 rotates in forward and reverse directions, and the drive cord 64 is moved along the metal base cylinder 46 fitted into the hollow cylinder state 42 of the drive device box 40.
Multi-stage corner pole 30 pushed by 4
is extended, and the corner pole 30 pulled by the drive cord 64 is shortened. Note that the main parts of each corner pole composing the corner pole 30 and the lowermost corner pole element 32 and the metal base tube 46 are provided with step-like retaining engagement to prevent them from separating from each other when the corner pole 30 is fully extended. A stop is formed.

When the corner pole 30 is fully extended, at least the top thereof is made to have a length that is visible from the driver's seat, and when it is shortened to the maximum, the corner pole element is housed in the tightening tube 76 with a portion of the tip remaining. It's becoming like that. Note that when the corner pole 30 is fully extended, the light body 38A at the top is placed at a height that allows the driver's seat to be moved back the most and a driver with a low seating height to be able to see it sufficiently. A length of 30 is set.

Corner pole assembly 2 on front bumper 12
8, the spacer piece 74, the tightening cylinder 76, and the L
The L-shaped piece 78 is not attached to the corner pole 28 (in FIG. 9, the L-shaped piece 78 is attached).
Insert the corner pole assembly 28 into the small space A with the corner pole 30 in a horizontal position (that is, lay the corner pole assembly 28 sideways), and insert the metal base cylinder 46 into the opening of the upper wall 14 so that the corner pole 30 After passing through the corner pole assembly 28 while rotating it so that it is in an upright position, the spacer piece 72 is pressed against the lower surface of the upper wall 14, and the spacer piece 74
The tightening tube 76 fitted with the metal base tube 46 is fitted onto the metal base tube 46, and the tightening tube 76 is screwed into the metal male screw tube 44 and tightened. Also, before fully tightening the tightening cylinder 76, attach the L-shaped piece 7 to the drive device box 40 with the screw 80.
8 and further screws 81 to the metal reinforcing frame 2.
The L-shaped piece 78 is fixed to 4. Then, finally, the tightening tube 76 may be strongly tightened.

The present embodiment is configured as described above, and when you ride the car 10 and, for example, steer around a detour or need to stop the car accurately at a target position, you can operate it from the driver's seat. Get switch SW ₁
(provided in the control box CB: see Fig. 7) operates the motor 48 (forward rotation). The rotational force of the motor 48 is transmitted through the worm gear 50, pinions 52, 54...
Drive code 6 through a reduction gear train consisting of...
4, the drive cord 64 is moved toward the corner pole 30 side by the meshing relationship with the pinion 62, and each corner pole element 38, 36,
34 and 32 are sequentially pushed out by the drive cord 64. During this time, the terminal 68 at the free end of the drive cord 64 comes into contact with the contact point located in the C section, and if the vehicle side light switch and headlight switch are in the ON state at night, the light source lamp 38a of the light body 38A lights up (the seventh Switch SW ₂ shown in the figure
(are linked to the vehicle width light switch and headlight switch). When the corner pole 30 is moved by the drive code 64 and the light body 38A of the tip corner pole element 38 reaches a position that can be seen from the driver's seat, even if the corner pole 30 is not fully extended, the motor 48 can be activated by operating the switch. All you have to do is stop it. In this state, while checking the lamp body 38A, the position of the front end of the vehicle body can be determined, and desired driving operations can be easily performed.

In addition, when transitioning from a state in which the corner pole 30 is extended to high-speed driving, etc., the corner pole 30
When it is no longer necessary to use the corner pole 3, the motor 48 is operated in reverse by operating the switch, and the drive cord 64 is moved backward.
Shorten 0. When the corner pole 30 is shortened, wind noise does not occur during high-speed driving, and the influence of external forces such as mischief during parking can be avoided. In addition, the extension and contraction of the corner pole 30 is performed by installing a timer in the control box CB.
This may be done automatically with a single switch operation.

Next, the modification shown in FIG. 10 will be explained. In this example, a plurality of infrared light emitting elements 92 are fitted in the uppermost position in the resin tube 84 of the lamp body 38A attached to the top of the tip corner pole element 38 in the circumferential direction, and the resin tube 84 and the light source lamp 38a
A light-receiving element 94 is fitted into the supporting portion (the male screw portion of the corner pole element 38). In the figure,
Reference numerals 96 and 98 indicate conductive wires connected to the light emitting element 92 and the light receiving element 94. This conductive wire 96,9
8 is embedded in the drive cord 64 together with the conductive wire 66 for the light source lamp 38a, is pulled out beyond the end of the terminal 68, and is connected to the microcomputer 100.
It is connected to the. microcomputer 100
Activation and signal transmission to the light emitting element 92 are performed by the switch 102, which is closed when the corner pole 30 starts to extend. When there are other objects outside the direction, such as a garage wall,
The reflected light from the object is captured by a light receiving element 94 installed so that it can only receive light from the front of the vehicle body and the outside in the vehicle width direction, and the emitted light signal and the light received signal are analyzed and processed by the microcomputer 100. When the distance between the vehicle body and the object becomes less than a certain value, the warning sound oscillator 10 is activated.
4 is now working. Further, the light source lamp 38a may be made to blink in conjunction with this.

Although most of the resin cylinder 84 is made of a light-transmitting resin 86, ring-shaped light-shielding resins 88, 90, and 90 are integrally attached to the upper end and the middle part. This light-shielding resin has a smaller amount of light transmitted than the light-transmitting resin 86, so the lower light-shielding resins 90, 90 receive the light emitted from the light emitting element 92 directly through the transparent resin 86. element 94
It has the function of blocking light so that it does not reach.

If such a configuration is adopted, the driver extends the corner pole 30 when parking the garage, operates the microcomputer 100 by closing the switch 102, and the light emitted from the light emitting element 92 is emitted from the reflector (the garage The distance between the corner pole 30 and the reflector is detected (by the microcomputer 100) based on the intensity of the reflected light reflected by the light receiving element 94 (wall, etc.), and the warning sound oscillator 10 detects the distance between the corner pole 30 and the reflector.
By listening to the warning sound from No. 4, it is possible to accurately park the vehicle in the garage.

The biggest advantage of incorporating the light emitting element 92 and the light receiving element 94 into the retractable corner pole 30 in this way is that the surface of the corner pole 30 in the shortened and stored state is normally free from dust, mud, rainwater, snow, etc. Since the light-emitting element 92 and the light-receiving element 94 are clean, the functions of the light-emitting element 92 and the light-receiving element 94 are well exhibited. Even if rainwater or snow adheres to the surface of the resin cylindrical body 84 while the corner pole 30 is extended,
These can be wiped away by expanding and contracting the corner pole 30. corner pole 3
In order to provide a more sufficient wiping function to the tip corner pole element 36, a cleaning ring made of a soft material may be fitted on the inner circumference near the upper end of the corner pole element 36 into which the tip corner pole element 38 enters.

Note that FIG. 11 shows a resin cylinder 84 according to a modified example.
It shows A. This resin cylinder 84A is formed only of transparent resin 86, and has many grooves 8 on its circumferential surface.
6a is engraved. This groove 86a has the function of directly blocking light directed from the light emitting element 92 to the light receiving element 94 via the light transmitting resin 86, similar to the light shielding resin 90 described above.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the main parts of an automobile that employs a telescoping corner pole mounting structure according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a right half view of the front bumper of the automobile when viewed from the front, and Fig. 3 is Its plan view, Figure 4 is a side view of the car body as seen from the left side, and Figure 5 is its 3rd side view.
6 is an enlarged view of the main part of FIG. 5, with a part of the corner pole assembly assembled to the front bumper cut away, and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the corner pole assembly shown in FIG. 8 is a plan view of the corner pole assembly, FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the main part showing the assembly relationship of the corner pole assembly to the front bumper, and FIG. 10 is a modified example. A view similar to FIG. 6 showing such a corner pole assembly, and FIG. 11 are views showing a modification of the lamp body portion of the corner pole. 10...Car, 12...Front bumper, 1
4... Upper wall, 16... Standing wall, 18... Recess, 20
... Recess defining wall, 22 ... Lower wall, 24 ... Metal reinforcing frame, 26 ... Indicator light, 28 ... Corner pole assembly, 30 ... Corner pole, 32,3
4, 36, 38...corner pole element, 38A
... Lamp body, 38a ... Light source lamp, 40 ... Drive device box, 42 ... Hollow cylindrical wall, 44 ... Metal male screw tube, 46 ... Metal base tube, 48 ... Motor, 50
... Worm gear, 52, 54, 56, 58, 6
0, 62... Pinion, 64... Drive cord, 64a... Tooth profile, 66... Conductive wire, 68...
Terminal, 70...Terminal, 72...Spacer piece, 74...
Spacing piece, 76... Tightening tube, 78... L-shaped piece, 8
0... Screw, 82... Conductive wire, 84... Resin cylinder, 86... Light blocking resin, 88... Light blocking resin,
90...Light-shielding resin, 92...Light emitting element, 94...
... Light receiving element, 96 ... Conductive wire, 98 ... Conductive wire,
100...Microcomputer 100, 102
...Switch, 104...Warning sound oscillator.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] A corner pole is constructed by combining a plurality of pole elements in a multi-stage manner so that they can appear and retract freely, and a corner pole with a light body attached to the tip pole element is erected at the end of the front bumper in the vehicle width direction. In an automobile, the corner pole is extended and contracted by the reciprocating movement of a drive cord connected to the tip pole element. A recess is formed at both ends in the width direction, an indicator light is fitted into the recess, and an upper small space is formed in the upper and lower spaces defined on the inner surface of the vertical wall by the indicator lights in the recess. A driving device box of a corner pole assembly is stored in the space, and a corner pole having a corner pole base integrally assembled to the box adjacent to the driving device box is inserted through the opening formed in the upper wall to open the front. The drive unit box and the base of the corner pole are fixed to the front bumper so as to protrude from the top surface of the bumper. A gear train and a motor are arranged horizontally, and the rotating shafts of the gears of the reduction gear train for driving the drive cord are oriented horizontally and parallel to each other, and are arranged in a zigzag shape up and down. An automobile characterized in that an engaging final stage pinion is disposed directly below the base of the corner pole, and the other end of the drive cord is movably fitted loosely into a substantially linear guide cylinder oriented in the horizontal direction. Telescopic corner pole mounting structure.