JPH0543533B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a corner pole for indicating the position of the front, rear, left, right, etc. ends of a vehicle body. This relates to a corner pole to which electrical parts such as lamps are attached.

(Prior art) In an automobile, the front end and rear end of the vehicle body,
In particular, corners far from the driver's seat cannot be seen directly from the driver's seat. When driving while judging the position, overall length, overall width, etc., the driver must rely on his intuition, and a considerable amount of skill is required to perform such delicate driving operations. Therefore, as a guide for determining the position of the front, rear, left, right, etc. ends of the vehicle body, corner poles are used that are erected at the side corners of the bumper so that the upper ends are visible from the driver's seat. There is. Usually, such corner poles are fixed to the upper surface of the bumper using a bracket or the like, and cannot be easily removed.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, such corner poles are not always necessary and are rarely used during normal high-speed driving or parking. Furthermore, during high-speed driving, the corner poles generate wind noise and vibration noise, and the movement of the corner poles becomes an eyesore. Furthermore, when the vehicle is parked and the body cover is placed over the vehicle, the cover may be pulled against the corner pole.

As described above, corner poles are extremely useful when performing delicate driving operations as described above, but they often become a hindrance at other times.

Therefore, it is conceivable to configure the corner poles as telescopic multi-stage poles so that the corner poles can be retracted and stored when the corner poles are not needed, such as when driving at high speed or while parking. The extension and contraction operation of such a multistage corner pole can be performed remotely by connecting a drive cord having appropriate rigidity and flexibility to the tip pole and reciprocating the drive cord. I can do it.

By the way, such corner poles often have a pilot lamp attached to their tip to make them visible even at night.
In this case, wiring is required to turn on the pilot lamp. In particular, in the case of a telescoping corner pole, the pilot lamp attached to its tip moves up and down as it expands and contracts, so there is a special connection between the pilot lamp and the power supply fixed to the vehicle body. I have to do some wiring. Wire harnesses with slack are often used for wiring between electrical components that move relatively in this way and the power supply, but in such telescoping corner poles, the length of the retractable Since it is quite long and it is not possible to provide a large path for the wires to pass through, if such a wire harness is used, there is a risk that the wire harness will be pulled or bent and damaged. . It is also conceivable to connect the stationary power supply side and the movable pilot lamp side using sliding contacts, but such sliding contacts not only have a complicated structure, but also cause problems during driving. The contacts may come apart due to vibration, etc., and the pilot lamp may lose light.

On the other hand, when the corner pole is expanded and contracted by the reciprocating motion of the drive cord as described above, the drive section of the drive cord is usually provided inside the side portion of the bumper. The rear end side of the drive cord, that is, the end opposite to the corner pole is also housed in the bumper. However, as the corner pole expands and contracts, the rear end side of the drive cord contracts and expands by a length equal to the length of its expansion and contraction. Therefore, a space sufficient to accommodate the expansion and contraction is required within the bumper. for that,
If the rear end of the drive cord extends directly to the rear, the length of the corner pole will be limited by the length of the side part of the bumper, and the corner pole may not be able to fully extend or contract. be.

The present invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and its main purpose is to supply power to electrical components such as a pilot lamp attached to the tip of a retractable corner pole without requiring special wiring. , to have a simple structure and to be able to perform the process reliably.

Another object of the present invention is to enable a drive cord for extending and retracting a corner pole to be sufficiently accommodated even in a narrow space such as inside a bumper.

(Means for Solving the Problem) In order to achieve this object, in the present invention, a continuous reinforcing conductive core wire made of metal or the like is usually embedded in the drive cord that transmits reciprocating motion. The company focused on the fact that there is a wire inside the corner pole, and uses the core wire to supply power to the electrical components at the tip of the corner pole. That is, one end of the drive cord is connected to the tip pole of the telescopic multi-stage pole that constitutes the corner pole, and the core wire is connected to one terminal of the electrical component attached to the tip pole at the connected end. The other end of the drive cord is bent and then fixed to a fixed part such as a drive cord drive part housed in the bumper, and the core wire is connected to the power at the fixed end. Connected. The other terminal of the electrical component is
It is connected to the vehicle body via the multi-stage pole from the attachment part of the multi-stage pole to the bumper, and is grounded.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

The figures show one embodiment of the present invention, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the front part of an automobile equipped with telescoping corner poles, and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section showing the telescoping and power supply device of the corner poles. It is a diagram.

As is clear from these figures, a front bumper 2 attached to the front portion of a vehicle body 1 is provided with a corner pole storage portion 3 at a side corner portion on the left side thereof, that is, on the side farthest from the driver's seat. This storage part 3 is cylindrical, and its upper end is fitted into a mounting hole formed on the upper surface of the bumper 2, and by tightening a mounting nut 4 from above,
It is designed to be fixed to the upper surface of the bumper 2.
Further, the entire lower part of the storage section 3 is accommodated inside the bumper 2.

In this corner pole storage part 3, the lowest pole ₅₁ of the corner pole 5 consisting of hollow multistage poles ₅₁ , ₅₂ , ₅₃ is slidably fitted. 5 is supported in an upright position. These poles 5 ₁ , 5 ₂ , and 5 ₃ have smaller diameters in the upper row, and are slidably fitted into each other, and the upper and lower ends of each pole are engaged with each other as appropriate to telescopically expand and contract. It is becoming more and more common. The lower part of the lowest pole ₅₁ is a coil spring 5a, and as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, when the corner pole 5 is extended, the spring 5a is pressed against the bumper 2.
The corner pole 5 protrudes upward from the upper surface of the corner pole 5 and bends in any direction when it comes into contact with an obstacle, and immediately returns to its upright state when it leaves the obstacle. The height of the corner pole 5 is such that when it is extended, the upper end is sufficiently visible from the driver's seat.

In addition, a pilot lamp 5b is attached to the upper end of the uppermost pole of the corner pole 5, that is, the tip pole ₅₃ , and by lighting the pilot lamp 5b, the corner pole 5 can be illuminated even at night. The top end can be seen. When the corner poles 5 are retracted, each of the poles 5 ₁ , 5 ₂ , and 5 ₃ is stored in the storage portion 3, and the pilot lamp 5b slightly protrudes from the top surface of the bumper 2, as shown by the dashed line in FIG. It is designed to be of a high standard.

As shown in FIG. 1, a drive cord drive section 6 is provided inside the side portion of the front bumper 2 behind the corner pole storage section 3. As shown in FIG. The drive unit 6 is gearbox-shaped with a drive mechanism inside, and is fixed to the vehicle body 1 or bumper 2 with mounting bolts 7. A connecting pipe 8 is provided on the front side of the drive section 6 between it and the lower end of the storage section 3, and a hollow semi-long disk-shaped drive cord storage section 9 is provided on the rear side. . As is clear from FIG. 2, inside the connecting pipe 8 and the drive cord storage section 9, there is a drive cord 1 that passes through the drive section 6 and extends back and forth.
0 is inserted. One end 10a on the front side of this drive cord 10 is connected to the corner pole storage part 3.
and through the inside of the multistage poles 5 ₁ , 5 ₂ , 5 ₃ ,
It is connected to the upper end of the tip pole ₅₃ . Also,
The other end 10b of the drive cord 10 is turned inside the drive cord storage section 9 and fixed to the rear wall of the drive section 6.

The drive cord 10 is made of a flexible material such as synthetic resin with a reinforcing core wire 11 embedded therein, and has appropriate rigidity and flexibility. By reciprocating the corner pole 10, the top end pole ₅₃ of the corner pole 5 is moved up and down.

In order to reciprocate the drive cord 10 in this way, a tooth profile 10r is formed on the upper surface of the portion of the drive cord 10 that passes through the drive portion 6 over a predetermined length.
A pinion gear 6a in the drive unit 6 is engaged with the pinion gear 6a. This pinion gear 6a is rotatably driven by a motor 6b in the drive section 6 via a reduction gear 6c.
It is designed to be rotated in forward and reverse directions by operating a switch (not shown) provided at the driver's seat.

The core wire 11 in the drive cord 10 is a continuous conductive wire made of metal or the like, and one end thereof is connected to one terminal of a pilot lamp 5b attached to the tip pole ₅₃ of the corner pole 5. The other terminal of the pilot lamp 5b is electrically connected to the mounting portion of the storage portion 3 on the bumper 2 through each pole 5 ₃ , 5 ₂ , 5 ₁ made of a conductive material, and is connected to the mounting portion. It is connected to the vehicle body 1 via a conductive wire, and is grounded. The other end of the core wire 11 is the fixed end 10 of the drive cord 10
b, and is connected to a power source B such as an on-vehicle battery by a conductor 12. A suitable switch (not shown) is provided in the middle of this conducting wire 12, so that a current is passed through the core wire 11 in conjunction with lighting of a headlamp or the like by operating the lighting switch.

In a car equipped with such a telescoping corner pole 5, when delicate driving operations are required, such as when driving on a defile or when it is necessary to stop accurately at a target point, the motor 6b of the drive unit 6 to move the drive cord 10 to the left in FIG. As a result, the top pole ₅₃ of the corner poles 5 is pushed up,
Its lower end engages with the upper end of the middle pole ₅₂ ,
The pole 5 ₂ is lifted up. Next, the lower end of the middle pole ₅₂ engages with the upper end of the lowermost pole ₅₁ , and the pole ₅₁ is pulled up. In this way, the corner pole 5 is extended.
Then, when the upper end 5b reaches a height that is most convenient for the driver to see, the operation of the motor 6b is stopped. This improves the visibility of the corner pole 5, so by driving while judging the position of corners, etc. on the vehicle body using the corner pole 5 as a guide, delicate driving operations can be easily performed. become.

At night, a current is passed through the core wire 11 of the drive cord 10 in conjunction with the lighting of a headlamp or the like. Since this core wire 11 has conductivity, the current is guided from the connecting end 10a of the drive cord 10 to the pilot lamp 5b through the core wire 11, and the pilot lamp 5b is lit. Thereby, the upper end of the corner pole 5 can be visually recognized even at night or the like. The lighting of this pilot lamp 5b is based on the corner pole 5.
is possible at any height. Therefore, the pilot lamp 5 remains lit.
The height position of b can be adjusted according to the driver's body shape and driving posture.

When it is not necessary to drive while watching the corner pole 5, such as when driving at high speed, the motor 6
b to move the drive cord 10 to the right in FIG. Then, the top pole 5 ₃
As the corner pole 5 lowers, the entire corner pole 5 lowers.
The lower end of the lowermost pole ₅₁ engages with the lower end of the storage section 3. As a result, the lowering of the pole 5 ₁ is stopped, but the middle pole 5 ₂ continues to lower and stops when its lower end engages with the lower end of the lowest pole 5 ₁ . Top pole 5 ₃
is further lowered, and the corner pole 5 is completely retracted. When the corner poles 5 are contracted in this manner, they are less affected by airflow during running, so the wind noise caused by the corner poles 5 is reduced, and vibration noise is almost never generated.

As the corner pole 5 contracts, the length of the portion of the drive cord 10 rearward of the drive portion 6 becomes longer. However, in this case, since the rear end 10b of the drive cord 10 is turned toward the drive unit 6 and fixed, this portion of the drive cord 10 changes from the curved shape shown by the solid line in FIG. It deforms to the curved shape shown by and absorbs the change in length. Therefore, the length of the drive cord storage section 9 in the rear direction only needs to be less than half the change in length of the drive cord 10, even in a space with a limited length such as the side part of the bumper 2. , the drive cord 10 can be fully accommodated. As a result, the telescopic length of the corner pole 5 can be made sufficiently large.

When parking, the corner pole 5 is similarly retracted and stored. This prevents the corner pole 5 from being bent due to mischief or collision with other moving objects. If the corner poles 5 are contracted when putting on the body cover, the corner poles 5 will not get in the way and will not be bent when the body cover is put on. moreover,
If the corner pole 5 is contracted during car washing, strong force will not be applied by a car wash brush or the like, and damage caused by this can be prevented.

In the above embodiment, the rear end 10b of the drive cord 10 is fixed to the drive section 6, but the drive cord 10 only needs to be fixed by turning it into a curved manner.
Alternatively, it is also possible to provide a bracket or the like at a suitable location on the bumper 2 and fix it thereto.

Further, in the above embodiment, the pilot lamp 5b is attached to the tip of the corner pole 5, and power is supplied to the pilot lamp 5b, but the present invention is limited to power supply to the pilot lamp 5b. It is clear that the present invention can be applied to supplying power to any electrical component attached to the tip pole ₅₃ .

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention, power is supplied to the electrical components of the tip pole that moves up and down when the corner pole extends and contracts, and is embedded in the drive cord for driving the extension and contraction. Since this is done using a conductive core wire, there is no need for separate wiring for power supply, resulting in a simple structure and low cost. The end of the drive cord is fixed to a fixed part, and the power is connected to the core wire at the fixed end, so there is no need for special contacts, and moreover, reliable power supply is achieved. be able to. In addition, the fixed end of the drive cord is curved by turning it, so even within a limited space in the length direction, the length changes as the corner pole expands and contracts. The end portion of the drive cord can be fully accommodated. Furthermore, since the ground terminal of the electrical component is grounded by connecting the corner pole's attachment portion to the bumper to the vehicle body, it can be reliably grounded without increasing its resistance.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a corner pole equipped with a telescoping and power feeding device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an embodiment of the telescoping and power feeding device of the corner pole. . 1... Vehicle body, 2... Front bumper, 5... Corner pole, 5 ₁ , 5 ₂ , 5 ₃ ... Pole, 5b
...Pilot lamp (electrical part), 6...Drive cord drive section (fixed section), 9...Drive cord storage section, 10...Drive cord, 10a...
...One end (connected end), 10b...Other end (fixed end), 1
1... Core wire, B... Power supply.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Telescopic multi-stage pole 5 ₁ to which electrical parts such as a pilot lamp 5b are attached to the tip pole 5 3 _,
A corner pole 5 consisting of 5 ₂ and 5 ₃ and mounted on the upper surface of the bumper 2 of an automobile is connected at one end 10a to the tip pole 5 ₃ and driven by a drive cord drive unit 6 provided inside the bumper 2. In the corner pole expansion/contraction device, the corner pole is expanded and contracted by the reciprocating movement of a drive cord 10 driven by the corner pole; , the core wire 11 is connected to one terminal of the electric component at the connecting end 10a to the tip pole ₅₃ , and the other end 10b of the drive cord 10 is fixed to the fixed part in a reversible manner. A power source B is connected to the core wire 11 at the fixed end 10b, and the other terminal of the electrical component is connected to the vehicle body from the attachment part of the corner pole 5 to the bumper 2 via the corner pole 5. A corner pole extension/contraction and power supply device, characterized in that the corner pole is connected and grounded.