JPS6234327Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to a grip attached to the tip of an operating lever, and more particularly to a resin grip for an operating lever that is integrally molded from soft resin.

For example, a cylindrical grip is attached to the tip of the lever, as seen in the trigger type parking brake operating lever of a vehicle.
In recent years, with the trend towards higher quality control levers, those made of soft resin with a good grip feel have been used, and in order to create a design effect, levers are used not only in the grip but also in the lever arm. The number of types that are attached to a relatively long area of the tip of the lever is increasing.

Such types generally include a cylindrical part that is attached to the lever grip, and a flat cross-sectional part that is elongated and has a smaller width and larger length (height) than the diameter of the cylindrical part. It often includes a flat cylinder part and an intermediate cylinder part that smoothly connects the cylinder parts and the flat cylinder part, and the intermediate cylinder part and the flat cylinder part are attached so as to cover the arm part near the lever grip part. is normal. In particular, the intermediate cylinder part is attached to the part where the grip part and arm part of the lever (hereinafter also referred to as the lever body) are continuous, but the lever body is usually manufactured mainly from sheet metal and press processing. The inner shape of the intermediate cylindrical portion is determined to correspond to the shape of the continuous portion mentioned above due to the pressing process that determines the shape of the lever body, and the outer shape of the intermediate cylindrical portion is determined according to the external appearance. It is often decided to focus on enhancing the sense of beauty. As a result, the shape of the intermediate cylindrical portion differs between the inner and outer portions, and the wall thickness is not uniform, often resulting in the wall thickness being thicker in whole or in part than that of the cylindrical portion and the flat cylindrical portion. When it is necessary to make the intermediate cylindrical portion thick like this, a problem arises in that the thick wall makes it difficult to cut out the mold after molding or to attach it to the lever.

That is, the above-mentioned resin grip is usually integrally molded using a molding device as shown in FIG. The molded grip 10 is formed by filling a raw material resin into the molded cavity by injection or the like, and opening the mold after solidifying it, and then moving the ejector block 8 by operating the ejector cylinder 6. When passing the intermediate cylindrical part 14 and the flat cylindrical part 16 through the core cylindrical part (the part that molds the inner surface of the cylindrical part 12) having a diameter larger than the width of the intermediate cylindrical part 14 and the flat cylindrical part 16, There is no problem with the flat cylindrical portion 16 that is not thick because it is easily deformed elastically, but the thick intermediate cylindrical portion 14 is relatively difficult to deform elastically and cannot be easily passed through. This can lead to the production of defective products, which is one of the causes of poor productivity.

On the other hand, when attaching a grip product to the lever body, it is essentially the same as fitting the grip into the core in the opposite way to the above, so when passing the lever grip part through, the thick intermediate cylindrical part is inserted into the core. As a result, it was difficult to install and had problems with poor workability.

The above-mentioned disadvantages are not limited to the grip provided on the parking brake operating lever, but also apply to similar grips used on other operating levers.

With this background in mind, the present invention is a resin grip having a cylindrical part, a flat cylindrical part, and an intermediate cylindrical part that is thicker in whole or in part than the above-mentioned cylindrical part, and which is designed to be used for discharge after molding. The purpose of this design is to provide a grip that is easy to use and attach to the lever, and its gist is to provide a grip inside the intermediate tube that maintains the outer diameter shape of the intermediate tube. The feature lies in that a plurality of grooves are formed parallel to the axial direction of the cylindrical portion to enhance the elastic deformability of the intermediate cylindrical portion.

In this way, the presence of the groove makes it easy for the thick intermediate cylindrical part to be elastically deformed, and since the direction of the groove is approximately parallel to the axial direction of the cylindrical part, the core after integral molding can be easily deformed. Ejection (removal) is easier, and attachment (fitting) to the operating lever is much easier than before. Moreover, in the installed state, the thick-walled shape of the intermediate cylindrical portion is maintained as it appears regardless of the presence of the groove, so the outer shape of the intermediate cylindrical portion is almost unaffected and remains the same as before. It can maintain its shape and will not dent even if the intermediate cylindrical portion is pressed with a finger.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a resin grip attached to a pull-up type parking brake operating lever of a vehicle will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are a plan sectional view and a side sectional view showing a grip 20 attached to the tip of such a parking brake operating lever 18, and a lever with a grip is constructed by attaching the grip 20.

The distal end portion of the grip 20 is a cylindrical portion 12 that is attached to the cylindrical distal end grip portion of the lever 18. The outer surface of the cylindrical portion 12 is provided with concavities and convexities along the longitudinal direction to improve grip feeling, and the opening at the tip of the cylindrical portion 12 is a knob hole from which a knob for releasing the detent of the lever device projects. The rear end portion of the grip 20 is a flat cylindrical portion 16. As is clear from FIGS. 4 and 5, the flat cylindrical portion 16 has a rectangular flat section with a width smaller than the diameter of the cylindrical portion 12 and a length larger than the diameter, and is close to the lever grip portion. It is attached to a lever arm with a U-shaped cross section. The width dimension of the flat cylindrical portion 16 is constant in the axial direction of the cylindrical portion 12, but the length (height) dimension increases in accordance with the shape of the lever arm portion as shown in FIG. Further to the rear of 16, the flat cylindrical shape is cut out to form a portion having a U-shaped cross section, and becomes a portion that covers the tip side of the lever arm portion. The flat cylindrical portion 16 and the cylindrical portion 12 are smoothly connected at the intermediate cylindrical portion 14 to form an integrated grip 20.
The grip 20 is integrally molded from a suitable soft resin such as soft vinyl chloride resin.

The parking brake operating lever 18 to which the grip 20 is attached is usually manufactured from sheet material by sheet metal processing, mainly press processing, and the inner shape of the intermediate cylindrical portion 14 is determined by the press processing. The shape corresponds to the shape of the continuous part between the grip part and the arm part of the lever 18, which is determined by the convenience (for example, ease of processing, strength), etc.
The outer shape of the intermediate cylindrical portion 14 is shaped to connect the outer surfaces of the cylindrical portion 12 and the flat cylindrical portion 16 more smoothly than the inner shape so as to prevent dents as much as possible from the viewpoint of appearance. As a result, the intermediate cylindrical portion 14 has thickened portions that are a certain amount thicker than the respective wall thicknesses of the cylindrical portion 12 and the flat cylindrical portion 16, and in this case, the intermediate cylindrical portion 14 has thick portions that are substantially opposite to each other on both sides of the intermediate cylindrical portion 14. There is a thick part in the form. Note that "smoothly connected" does not mean only a continuous curved form, but also includes a linear continuous form as long as it is almost gentle overall. be.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, on the inside of the intermediate cylindrical portion 14, a plurality of grooves 22 (several grooves in each case in this embodiment) are formed in thick-walled portions on both opposing sides. . Each of the grooves 22 has a substantially rectangular cross-sectional shape, is provided parallel to the axial direction of the cylindrical portion 12, has the same groove width and groove depth, and is provided at approximately equal intervals. It is selected to be approximately the same as the groove width so as not to be too large compared to each groove width. Moreover, as is clear from FIG. 2, each groove 22
Although the depth changes in the longitudinal direction of the groove, the groove bottom is made to follow the outer shape of the intermediate cylindrical portion 14, and the cylindrical portion 12 and the flat cylindrical portion are arranged between each groove bottom and the outer surface of the intermediate cylindrical portion 14. The depth of each groove is determined so that approximately the same thickness as that of No. 16 remains.

In FIG. 6, when the thick side portions of the intermediate cylindrical portion 14 are elastically deformed so as to expand laterally, the gap between the groove walls of each groove 22 becomes narrower, and the groove opening is closed. The thickness of the groove bottom of the concave groove 22 and the outer surface of the intermediate cylindrical portion 14 is a major factor determining the elastic deformability of the intermediate cylindrical portion 14 in the expansion direction. However, as mentioned above, its wall thickness is approximately the same as that of the cylindrical portion 12 and the flat cylindrical portion 16,
Regarding elastic deformation, since the configuration is such that there is no thick wall portion, the above-mentioned elastic deformability of the intermediate cylindrical portion is almost the same as that of the flat cylindrical portion 16, or if not to the same extent, it is close to it. It is raised to. Moreover, the apparent thick wall shape of the intermediate cylindrical portion 14 remains substantially unchanged regardless of the presence of the groove 22, and the outer shape of the intermediate cylindrical portion 14 can be maintained without any change.

Note that the groove 22 does not necessarily need to be formed strictly only in the intermediate cylindrical portion 14, and may be formed with a length that slightly enters the cylindrical portion 12 and the like. In that case, it is desirable for the groove walls of each groove 22 to be parallel in the length direction without twisting for reasons such as die cutting. Furthermore, although the intermediate cylindrical portion 14 is referred to as the boundary between the cylindrical portion 12 and the flat cylindrical portion 16, it is not necessarily possible to define it with a straight line, and the boundary between the intermediate cylindrical portion 14 and the flat cylindrical portion 16 is conceptual to some extent. The portion within the range can also be understood as the intermediate cylinder portion.

The grip 20 as described above is integrally molded, for example, with the above-described molding apparatus shown in FIG.
The concave groove 22 is formed by forming a corresponding protrusion on the core 4.
The core 4 can be discharged from the core 4 after molding without difficulty, compared to the conventional grip 10, since the elastic deformability of the intermediate cylindrical portion 14 is enhanced by the concave grooves 22. It can be done easily and quickly. On the other hand, when attaching the grip 20 to the tip of the operating lever 18 as shown in FIGS. 2 to 6, it is fitted from the flat cylindrical portion 16 side, but the intermediate cylindrical portion 14 is attached to the lever grip portion. When the grip 20 is passed through, it is easily deformed elastically in the expansion direction as described above, and since the direction of the concave groove 22 is formed approximately parallel to the axial direction of the cylindrical portion 12, the grip 20 is allowed to pass smoothly. lever 18
Easy to fit into. In the mounted state, as is clear from FIG. 6, the portion of the intermediate cylinder portion 14 where the groove 22 is not formed maintains the apparently thick form of the intermediate cylinder portion 14, and therefore the intermediate cylinder portion No wrinkles or dents that are unfavorable in terms of appearance occur on the outer surface of 14, and the outer shape is maintained well.

Further, since the intermediate cylinder part 14 has a high elastic deformability, it is easy to tightly fit the intermediate cylinder part 14 to the lever 18, and in that case, each groove 2
2 (which can also be seen as a protrusion) can be brought into close contact with the lever 18 with a high surface pressure, resulting in the advantage that the adhesion of the intermediate cylindrical portion 14 is enhanced.

One embodiment of the present invention has been described above, but the groove 2
The number, groove width, groove depth, etc. of 2 may be determined as appropriate depending on the soft resin of the grip 20, the thick wall form of the intermediate cylindrical portion 14, and the dimensional difference between the diameter of the cylindrical portion 12 and the intermediate cylindrical portion 14. It is possible to change to . However, if the number of concave grooves is too small, or if the groove width or groove depth is extremely small, the effect on elastic deformation will be poor; conversely, if the groove width is too wide and the groove depth is too deep, Since this may have a negative effect on the outer shape of the intermediate cylinder part, each condition must be determined while maintaining a balance between the two to the extent that the elastic deformability is effectively enhanced and the outer shape is well maintained. is desirable. Further, the cross-sectional shape of the groove is not limited to the rectangular cross-section as in the above embodiment, but can be appropriately selected, such as a U-shape, semicircular shape, or trapezoid shape.

Furthermore, if it is necessary to glue the grip 20 to the lever 18, it is possible to
-63767) is effective in this case as well.

In addition, although the present invention is suitably applied to the grip attached to the parking brake operating lever as described above, it can be similarly applied to grips for other operating levers.

In addition, it goes without saying that the present invention can be implemented with various changes and improvements without departing from the spirit of the invention.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view schematically showing an example of a molding apparatus for integrally molding a grip according to the conventional method and the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan sectional view of a grip according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the same. 4 to 6 are a cross-sectional view, a cross-sectional view, and a cross-sectional view in FIG. 3, respectively.
FIG. 12: Cylindrical part, 14: Intermediate cylinder part, 16: Flat cylinder part, 18: Parking brake operation lever, 2
0: Grip, 22: Concave groove.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] A cylindrical cylindrical part, a flat cylindrical part with a flat cross section whose width is smaller than the diameter of the cylindrical part and whose length is larger than the diameter of the cylindrical part; A grip made of soft resin that is integrally molded to be attached to the tip of an operating lever, which smoothly connects the flat cylindrical part, and has an intermediate cylindrical part that is thicker than the cylindrical part and the flat cylindrical part. , inside the intermediate cylindrical portion, increasing the elastic deformability of the intermediate cylindrical portion while maintaining the outer shape of the intermediate cylindrical portion;
A resin grip for an operating lever, characterized in that a plurality of concave grooves are formed substantially parallel to the axial direction of the cylindrical portion.