JP2000145730A - Clamp mechanism for case - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To inhibit coming off of a clamp piece restricting a pair of cases. SOLUTION: In a clamp mechanism for a case mutually restricting one case by a clamp piece 3 linked between these cases, a pair of support walls 1b, 1b and a hold shaft 1a extended between these support walls are provided in one case 1. A hook part fitted together turnably around the hold shaft 1a is provided in one end of the clamp piece 3. A space between the support walls 1b, 1b is set to a value larger than a width of the clamp piece 3. Pawl parts 10, 10 as a turn regulating part, permitting movement of the clamp piece 3 to outside the support wall from a region surrounded thereby and inhibiting its reverse movement to restrict the clamp piece 3 to a range with the hook part prevented from coming out of the hold shaft 1a, are provided in the support walls 1b, 1b. The pawl part 10 is integrally formed with the support wall 1b, and the thickness thereof is set smaller than the support wall 1b.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a clamp mechanism used for fixing an air cleaner case and a cleaner cap of a vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a clamp mechanism of this type, for example, one disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 251680 is known. As shown in FIG. 6, the crank mechanism described in this publication fixes a cleaner case 1 made of synthetic resin and a cleaner cap 2 to each other with metal clamp pieces 3. The clamp piece 3 is formed in a substantially C-shaped cross section (see FIG. 7), and has a hook 3a at one end for engaging with the holding shaft 1a of the cleaner case 1 and a projecting wall 2a on the outer periphery of the cleaner cap 2 at the other end. Pressing portions 3b to be engaged with each other are formed. The holding shaft 1a is supported by the support walls 1b and 1c of the case 1 at both ends and the center.
At the upper ends of the support walls 1b at both ends, a projection 1
d, 1d are formed. The interval between the projections 1d is slightly smaller than the width of the clamp piece 3. These projections 1d function as rotation restricting portions that prevent the clamp pieces 3 from falling off the case 1.

That is, in order to mount the clamp piece 3 on the holding shaft 1a, as shown in FIG. 9, the clamp piece 3 is inserted inside the projections 1d, 1d, and the hook 3a is attached to the holding shaft 1a.
Then, the clamp piece 3 is rotated around the holding shaft 1a in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 9 to move over the protrusions 1d and 1d and to the outside thereof. The clamp piece 3 that has passed over the protrusion 1d is blocked by the protrusions 1d, 1d, and the support wall 1b,
1b cannot be returned to the mounting position (solid line position in FIG. 9). Therefore, the clamp piece 3 cannot return until the opening of the hook 3a is located directly above the holding shaft 1a, and the hook 3a may fall below the holding shaft 1a and the clamp piece 3 may fall off the case 1. Absent.

[0004]

In the above-described conventional clamp mechanism, when the clamp piece 3 is mounted on the case 1, a large compressive load or a shear load acts on the projection 1d. For this reason, depending on the material of the case 1, the protrusion 1d may be chipped or whitened. When the protrusion 1d is broken, the clamp piece 3 enters the inside of the support wall 1b, the opening of the hook 3a rotates just above the holding shaft 1a, and the clamp piece 3 moves to the holding shaft 1a.
Fall below. Generally, the air cleaner is arranged in the upper part of the engine room, and if the clamp piece 3 drops, it may be caught by the equipment below the clamp piece 3 and cannot be easily collected. Therefore, when using the conventional clamping mechanism, the selection range of the resin as the material of the case 1 is limited.

To solve the above problem, a slit 1e is provided in the support wall 1b as shown by an imaginary line in FIG.
Measures have been considered to make the portion d more flexible. However, depending on the position and size of the slit 1e, the projection 1d may not function sufficiently against chipping or whitening.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a clamp mechanism which can prevent chipping and whitening of a rotation restricting portion for preventing a clamp piece from falling off by means different from a conventional structure in which a slit is provided in a support wall. The purpose is to:

[0007]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described. In addition, in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, reference numerals in the accompanying drawings are added in parentheses, but the present invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiment.

The present invention relates to a case clamping mechanism for mutually restraining one of the cases (1, 2) with a clamp piece (3) bridged between them, wherein one of the pair of cases is provided. One of the cases (1) is provided with a pair of support walls (1b, 1b) and a shaft-shaped clamp holding portion (1a) extending between the support walls. A hook portion (3a) rotatably fitted around the clamp holding portion is provided, and a distance between the pair of support walls is set to be larger than a width (C) of the clamp piece. At least one of the hook portions (3a) allows the movement of the clamp piece from the region surrounded by the pair of support walls to the outside of the support wall, and prevents the reverse movement thereof, and the hook portion (3a) is connected to the clamp holding portion. (1
a rotation restricting portion that restricts the clamp piece (3) is provided in a range that does not deviate from a), and as the rotation restricting portion, a claw portion formed integrally with the support wall and having a smaller thickness than the support wall ( The above-mentioned problem is solved by the clamp mechanism provided with (10).

According to the present invention, since the rotation restricting portion for preventing the clamp piece (3) from falling off is constituted by the claw (10) thinner than the support wall (1b), the clamp piece (3). At the time of mounting, the claws (10) themselves elastically deform and the clamp pieces (3) move out of the area surrounded by the support walls (1b, 1b). Therefore, the compressive force and the shearing force applied to the rotation restricting portion are smaller than the elastic deformation of the thick support wall itself, so that the rotation restricting portion is less likely to be chipped or whitened. Thereby, the selection range of the material of the case is expanded.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the claw portion (10) is protruded toward the center of the clamp holding portion (1a) as the claw portion (10) protrudes toward the distal end in the protruding direction of the support wall (1b). Thereby, when attaching the clamp piece (3), the claw portion (1
0) can be elastically deformed smoothly. The claw portions (10) are provided on both of the pair of support walls (1b, 1b), and the interval (B) between the tips of the claw portions is desirably set smaller than the width (C) of the clamp piece. .

[0011]

1 to 4 show an embodiment of a clamp mechanism according to the present invention. This clamp mechanism is different from the conventional clamp mechanism shown in FIGS. 6 to 9 in the configuration for restraining the clamp piece 3.
Therefore, in the following, the same reference numerals are given to the same parts as those of the mechanism of FIGS. 6 and 7, and the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In the clamp mechanism shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, instead of the projection 1d, a claw portion 10 having a thickness smaller than the thickness of the support wall 1b is provided on each support wall 1b as a rotation restricting portion. The claw portion 10 protrudes toward the center in the axial direction of the holding shaft 1a as a clamp holding portion toward the tip (the lower end in FIG. 1). Claw part 1
The distance B between the 0 tips is somewhat smaller than the width C of the clamp piece 3. The thickness of the claw portion 10 is set to be sufficiently small as long as it does not break due to the load when the clamp piece 3 gets over. In the example of FIG. 1, the tip of the claw 10 is formed to be somewhat thicker than the base. However, as shown in FIG. 5, the thickness of the claw portion 10 may be constant. The height H of the claw portion 10 is equal to that of the conventional projection 1.
It may be equivalent to d.

In the above-described clamp mechanism, as shown in FIG. 1, the clamp piece 3 is once mounted inside the support walls 1b, 1b, and is pushed out of the claw portion 10 from that state. When the clamp piece 3 gets over the claw portion 10 as shown in FIG.
As shown in (1), when the claws 10, 10 are bent and deformed outward and the clamp piece 3 passes, the claws 10 return to their original positions (the positions indicated by the solid lines in FIG. 1) due to their elasticity. After the return, the clamp piece 3 cannot get over the claw portion 10 and return to the inside of the support wall 1b. Therefore, there is no possibility that the clamp piece 3 will fall as in the related art. Since the claw portion 10 is elastically deformed and the clamp piece 3 is allowed to pass, chipping and whitening of the claw portion 10 are reliably prevented. For this reason, the selection range of the resin material forming the case 1 is expanded.

In the case where the slit 1e shown in FIG. 9 is provided, there is a possibility that an impact acts on the vicinity of the slit 1e to damage the support wall 1b. On the other hand, since the claw portion 10 of the above embodiment is hidden inside the support wall 1b in a state where the clamp piece 3 is attached, there is no direct impact from the outside and there is no possibility of breakage.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above,
It can be implemented in various forms. For example, the clamp mechanism of the present invention may be used for fixing other than the air cleaner of an automobile.
The claw portion may be provided on only one of the support walls. In that case, it is sufficient that the distance from the tip of the claw portion to the other support wall is smaller than the width of the clamp piece.

[0016]

As described above, according to the clamp mechanism of the present invention, there is no possibility that the rotation restricting portion provided on the case is chipped or whitened, and the clamp piece can be prevented from falling off the case. Mechanism can be realized. Further, since there is no fear of chipping or whitening of the rotation restricting portion, the selection range of the material of the case provided with the clamp mechanism is expanded.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a fixed portion of an air cleaner case to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a fixed part of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a fixed portion of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view showing a state in which a clamp piece is mounted on a fixed portion in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a modification of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a clamp mechanism used for a case of an air cleaner device for a vehicle.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a clamp piece used in the clamp mechanism of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a fixed portion of a cleaner case to which the clamp mechanism of FIG. 6 is applied.

FIG. 9 is a view showing a state in which the clamp pieces of FIG. 6 are mounted.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cleaner case 1a Holding shaft (clamp holding part) 1b Support wall 2 Cleaner cap 3 Clamp piece 3a Hook part 10 Claw part

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Tadayuki Onoda 7800 Nakase, Hamakita City, Shizuoka Pref.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A clamp mechanism for a case in which one case is mutually restrained by a clamp piece bridged between them, wherein one of the pair of cases has a pair of support walls and a pair of support walls. A shaft-shaped clamp holding portion extending between the support walls is provided; a hook portion rotatably fitted around the clamp holding portion is provided at one end of the clamp piece; Is set to be larger than the width of the clamp piece, and at least one of the pair of support walls allows movement of the clamp piece out of the support wall from a region surrounded by the pair of support walls. A rotation restricting portion for restricting the clamp piece is provided at a position where the reverse movement is prevented and the hook portion does not come off from the clamp holding portion, and is formed integrally with the support wall as the rotation restricting portion. And a claw portion having a smaller thickness than the support wall. 2. The case clamping mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the claw portion projects toward the center of the clamp holding portion as it approaches the distal end in the projecting direction of the support wall. 3. The clamp according to claim 1, wherein the claw portions are provided on both of the pair of support walls, and an interval between tips of the claw portions is smaller than a width of the clamp piece. Case clamping mechanism.