JP2008024069A - Cap holder - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a cap holder capable of improving holding property of a fuel cap. <P>SOLUTION: A holding pawl 44 is disposed between screw threads 22A of a fuel cap lower 22 with respect to the fuel cap lower 22 of the fuel cap 20 placed from a lid upper side. Since the bent part 44A of the holding pawl 44 disposed between the screw threads 22A abuts on the screw threads 22A to form such a shape as to fill the clearance between the screw threads 22A, the screw threads 22A are surely supported by the bent part 44A to hold an attitude of the fuel cap 20 when the fuel cap 20 is placed on the holding pawl 44 from the lid upper side even if the holding pawl 44 is made to be in a thin plate shape. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a cap holder disposed on the back side of a fuel lid.

  The fuel cap disposed at the fuel inlet of the fuel tank is temporarily locked to a cap holder provided on the back surface of the fuel lid when fueling the fuel tank (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In such a locking structure of the fuel cap to the cap holder, the screw groove portion of the fuel cap is locked to the pair of claw portions of the cap holder.

However, according to such a conventional structure, since the fuel cap is simply placed on the cap holder, the fuel cap is poorly retained, and the fuel cap falls off the fuel lid due to a small amount of vibration during fueling. There is a case.
JP-A-5-201263

  This invention makes it a subject to provide the cap holder which can improve the retainability of a fuel cap in view of the said fact.

  The cap holder according to the first aspect of the present invention includes a base portion arranged in a state of protruding from the back surface side of the fuel lid, and a screw portion of the fuel cap which is bent and extended from the base portion and placed from the upper side of the lid. On the other hand, it is arranged between the screw threads of the screw part, and has a holding claw that is formed in a shape that closes the gap between the screw threads and holds the posture of the fuel cap.

  According to the cap holder of the present invention described in claim 1, the holding claw is disposed between the screw threads of the fuel cap with respect to the screw portion of the fuel cap placed from the upper side of the lid, and the gap between the screw threads is provided. Since the fuel cap is held in the squeezed shape, when the fuel cap is placed on the holding claw from the upper side of the lid, when a fuel filler or the like touches the fuel lid or the fuel cap or the vehicle body vibrates. In addition, the fuel cap can be prevented from falling off due to rocking (wobble) or so-called rolling.

  A cap holder according to a second aspect of the present invention is the cap holder according to the first aspect, wherein the holding claw is formed into a thin plate having a thickness smaller than a gap between the screw threads and is bent into an uneven shape. And the bent portion of the holding claw disposed between the screw threads is formed in a shape that hits the screw threads with respect to the screw parts placed from above the lid.

  According to the cap holder of the present invention described in claim 2, since the bent portion of the holding claw disposed between the screw threads is formed in a shape that hits the screw threads with respect to the screw portions placed from the upper side of the lid, Even if the holding claw is a thin plate shape, when the screw portion of the fuel cap is placed from the upper side of the lid, the screw cap is securely supported by the bent portion and the posture of the fuel cap is held.

  The cap holder according to a third aspect of the present invention is the configuration according to the second aspect, wherein the shape of the holding claw can support the screw thread of the screw portion placed from the upper side of the lid with the bent portion at three points. It is characterized by being a simple shape.

  According to the cap holder of the present invention described in claim 3, since the shape of the holding claw is a shape capable of supporting the thread of the screw portion placed from the upper side of the lid at three points by the bent portion, the screw of the fuel cap When the part is placed from the upper side of the lid, the holding claw supports the thread of the threaded part at the bending part at three points, and securely holds the position of the fuel cap.

  A cap holder according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the cap holder according to the first aspect, wherein the holding claw is formed of resin and is disposed between the screw threads with respect to the screw portion placed from above the lid. And a shape along the shape between the threads.

  According to the cap holder of the present invention described in claim 4, the holding claw formed of resin is disposed between the screw threads with respect to the screw portion placed from the upper side of the lid and is shaped along the shape between the screw threads. Therefore, when the screw portion of the fuel cap is placed from the upper side of the lid, the screw cap is securely supported on both sides of the holding claw, and the posture of the fuel cap is stably held.

  As described above, according to the cap holder of the first aspect of the present invention, there is an excellent effect that the retainability of the fuel cap can be improved.

  According to the cap holder of the second aspect, even if the holding claw of the cap holder is formed into a thin plate shape, it is possible to correspond to fuel caps with various screw pitches at low cost by setting the height of the unevenness in the bent portion. It has an excellent effect of being able to.

  According to the cap holder of the third aspect, since the holding claw supports the thread of the thread portion at the bending portion at three points, the posture of the fuel cap can be reliably retained even when the vehicle body vibrates. It has an excellent effect of being able to.

  According to the cap holder of the fourth aspect, the holding claws resin-molded in a shape along the shape between the screw threads reliably supports the screw threads on both sides thereof, so that the vehicle body can be vibrated. It has the outstanding effect that the attitude | position of a fuel cap can be hold | maintained stably.

[First Embodiment]
A first embodiment of a cap holder according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the figure, arrow UP indicates the upward direction of the vehicle, arrow FR indicates the forward direction of the vehicle, and arrow IN indicates the inner side in the vehicle width direction.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a recess 12 is formed in the body panel 10 that constitutes the side of the vehicle body. The recess 12 includes a bottom wall 12A that is recessed toward the vehicle inner side with respect to the general surface 10A of the body panel 10, and a peripheral wall 12B that connects the bottom wall 12A and the general surface 10A of the body panel 10. It is configured to include. A through hole 14 is formed in a substantially central portion of the bottom wall 12A of the recess 12 and an opening side end portion of a fuel inlet pipe 16 connected to a fuel tank (fuel tank) (not shown) is formed in the through hole 14. Is arranged. An opening portion at the opening side end portion of the fuel inlet pipe 16 is a fuel inlet 16A. A gap between the outer peripheral surface of the opening end of the fuel inlet pipe 16 and the inner peripheral surface of the through hole 14 of the bottom wall 12A of the recess 12 is sealed with a sealing material.

  The fuel inlet 16A of the fuel inlet pipe 16 is closed by a resin fuel cap 20 (see the fuel cap 20 indicated by an imaginary line in FIG. 2). The fuel cap 20 has a fuel cap lower 22 as a threaded portion formed in a substantially cylindrical shape, a fuel cap upper 24 that is provided integrally with the fuel cap lower 22 and forms a head including a gripping portion, It is comprised including.

  A thread 22A constituting a male thread is formed on the peripheral surface of the fuel cap lower 22, and in this embodiment, the thread pitch 22P (see FIG. 4) of the male thread composed of the thread 22A is about 6 mm. The width 22Q (see FIG. 4) of the valley 22B in the gap between the peaks 22A is about 4 mm. The male screw formed of the screw thread 22A is screwed into a female screw (not shown) formed on the inner peripheral surface of the opening side end of the fuel inlet pipe 16. In the screwed state, the fuel cap upper 24 is directed outward in the vehicle width direction.

  In addition, one end of a string-shaped resin teaser 26 is attached to the fuel cap upper 24, and the other end of the teaser 26 is attached to the recess 12. Thereby, when the fuel cap 20 is removed from the fuel inlet pipe 16, it can be prevented that the fuel cap 20 is dropped and lost.

  A fuel lid 30 serving as an opening / closing body that opens and closes the recess 12 is rotatably supported on a vehicle front side portion of the peripheral wall 12B of the recess 12 via a known hinge member 28. As shown in FIG. 1, in this embodiment, the fuel lid 30 is formed of two sheet metals (iron plates or the like), and a fuel lid outer 32 constituting a fuel lid outer plate and a fuel lid inner constituting a fuel lid inner plate. 34. The end portion of the fuel lid outer 32 is coupled to the end portion of the fuel lid inner 34 by hemming or the like. In the present embodiment, the thickness of the fuel lid inner 34 is about 1.0 mm.

  The fuel lid inner 34 is provided with a locking piece 36 formed by cutting and raising on the side opposite to the hinge member 28, and an engagement hole 36 </ b> A is formed through the locking piece 36. . A protrusion (not shown) disposed in the recess 12 and constituting a part of the fuel lid lock mechanism can be engaged with the engagement hole 36A.

  Near the center lower part of the fuel lid inner 34, a cap holder 40 formed by cutting and raising is provided, and this cap holder 40 is used for holding the fuel cap 20 at the time of fuel injection. That is, when fuel is injected into the fuel tank (not shown), the fuel cap 20 removed from the fuel inlet pipe 16 on the recess 12 side of the body panel 10 is locked and held by the cap holder 40. It is like that. Here, in the state where the fuel cap 20 is held by the cap holder 40, the front end portion 22 </ b> C side of the fuel cap lower 22 is directed to the back side of the fuel lid 30, and the fuel cap lower 22 is locked to the cap holder 40, so that the fuel cap upper 24 Is arranged in front of the operator. In FIG. 1, the fuel cap 20 is illustrated in a direction opposite to the direction in which the fuel cap 20 is held by the cap holder 40 in order to make the fuel cap lower 22 in the fuel cap 20 easier to see. In FIG. 1, for the sake of convenience, the direction in which the fuel cap 20 is reversed in order to hold the fuel cap 20 in the figure is indicated by the arrow X direction, and the movement when the fuel cap 20 is placed on the cap holder 40 from the upper side of the lid. The direction is indicated by the arrow Y direction).

  The cap holder 40 is a base portion 42 that is arcuate in a front view and is arranged in a state of protruding from the fuel lid inner 34 that is the back side of the fuel lid 30 in a direction perpendicular to the surface, and is bent from the base portion 42 to the axial center side (radially inward) And a claw-shaped holding claw 44 extended in this manner. A pair of left and right base portions 42 are provided so as to be substantially opposed to each other, and the lower portions are slightly close to each other. The open width dimension on the upper side of the base part 42 (the dimension between the base parts 42) is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the fuel cap lower 22, and the open width dimension on the lower side of the base part 42 (the dimension between the base parts 42) is It is slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the fuel cap lower 22. Further, the pair of holding claws 44 that can be grasped as the claw portions are bent in a direction (inward) approaching each other.

  The holding claw 44, which is a cut-and-raised portion of the fuel lid inner 34, has a thin plate shape that is thinner than the gap between the screw threads 22A, and includes a bent portion 44A that is bent in an uneven shape. FIG. 3 shows an enlarged perspective view of the holding claw 44. As shown in FIG. 3, the bent portion 44A has a so-called marginal shape (a substantially hemispherical or substantially dome shape with respect to the flat plate portion 44B) that forms a step with the flat plate portion 44B that forms a general surface. The so-called bent location is cut at the middle portion). A plurality of bent portions 44A (a total of three in the present embodiment) are formed in each holding claw 44, and the protruding directions of these bent portions 44A are alternately switched. In the present embodiment, the bent portion 44A formed at the upper and lower portions protrudes away from the fuel lid outer 32 (see FIG. 1), and the bent portion 44A formed at the middle portion in the vertical direction is It protrudes in a direction approaching the fuel lid outer 32 (see FIG. 1). As a result, the holding claw 44 has a shape in which the position is shifted in the vertical direction with the flat plate portion 44B as the center and is inflated on both sides.

  FIG. 4 shows a state in which the fuel cap 20 is placed on the holding claw 44 from the upper side of the lid. The holding claw 44 is shown by a cross-sectional shape of the holding claw 44 in the vicinity of the valley portion 22B of the fuel cap lower 22. ing. As shown in FIG. 4, the holding claws 44 are disposed between the screw caps 22 </ b> A of the fuel cap lower 22 and the screw caps 22 </ b> A with respect to the fuel cap lower 22 of the fuel cap 20 placed from above the lid. The bent portion 44A of the holding claw 44 disposed on the side contacts with the screw threads 22A on both sides so as to close the gap between the screw threads 22A.

  As a result, the upper and lower bent portions 44A of the holding claws 44 come into contact with the screw threads 22A on the base side of the fuel cap lower 22 (right side in FIG. 4), and the bent portion 44A in the middle in the vertical direction is located on the fuel cap lower 22 The front end portion 22C side (left side in FIG. 4) comes into contact with the thread 22A. In other words, in this embodiment, the shape of the holding claw 44 is such that the thread 22A of the fuel cap lower 22 placed from above the lid can be supported at three points by the bent portion 44A. Further, since the bent portion 44A is formed at the upper and lower portions of the holding claw 44, the support range of the screw thread 22A by the bent portion 44A becomes wide. As described above, the holding pawl 44 holds the fuel cap 20 in the posture by reliably supporting the fuel cap lower 22 with the bent portion 44A.

  In consideration of the dimensional accuracy of both the holding claw 44 and the fuel cap lower 22, the ease of fitting when the fuel cap 20 is placed on the holding claw 44, etc., the holding claw 44 is centered on the flat plate portion 44B. The width dimension 44W including the bent parts 44A on both sides (the dimension obtained by adding the protruding amount of the bent parts 44A on both sides to the plate thickness of the flat plate part 44B) may be set slightly smaller than the gap dimension between the screw threads 22A. .

(Action / Effect)
Next, the operation and effect of the above embodiment will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the holding claws 44 are disposed between the screw caps 22 </ b> A of the fuel cap lower 22 and the screw caps 22 </ b> A with respect to the fuel cap lower 22 of the fuel cap 20 placed from above the lid. Since the bent portion 44A of the holding claw 44 disposed in the contact with the screw thread 22A is formed so as to close the gap between the screw threads 22A, the fuel cap 20 is located above the lid even if the holding claw 44 is formed into a thin plate shape. When placed on the holding claw 44 from the side, the screw cap 22A is securely supported by the bent portion 44A and the posture of the fuel cap 20 is held.

  Supplementally, the claw shape of the holding claw in the prior art does not consider the screw pitch of the fuel cap lower, but is a holder shape that is formed in a flat plate shape, or a flat plate shape that is simply adjusted to the screw angle. It was nail shape. In such a structure, the so-called play between the holding claw of the cap holder (which is normally supported on the tip side rather than the center of gravity of the fuel cap) and the gap between the threads on the fuel cap lower is usually very high. The fuel cap moved easily because it became larger. On the other hand, in this embodiment, since the bending part 44A of the holding claw 44 closes the gap between the screw threads 22A, the posture change of the fuel cap 20 can be effectively suppressed.

  For this reason, even when the fuel lid 30 (see FIG. 1) or the fuel cap 20 is contacted by a fuel supplier or the like (occupant, gas station clerk, etc.) or when the vehicle body vibrates, the fuel cap 20 swings or wobbles. It is possible to prevent the dropout due to the occurrence of.

  Here, in the present embodiment, the shape of the holding claw 44 is set so that the thread 22A of the fuel cap lower 22 placed from the upper side of the lid can be supported at three points by the bent portion 44A. Is placed from the upper side of the lid, the holding claw 44 supports the thread 22A of the fuel cap lower 22 at three points by the bent portion 44A, so that the posture of the fuel cap 20 is securely held.

  Further, in the holding claw 44, a convex bent portion 44A applied to the screw thread 22A is formed on both sides around the flat plate portion 44B, thereby forming a convex bent portion applied to the screw thread 22A on one side of the flat plate portion 44B. Compared with the case of forming the protrusion 44A, the protruding amount of the bent portion 44A can be reduced, so that the workability is good. Further, the screw threads 22A arranged on both sides of the holding claw 44 are inclined toward the top, and the flat plate portion 44B on the holding claw 44 side is applied along such a screw thread 22A. Although it is difficult, when convex bent portions 44A are formed on both sides of the flat plate portion 44B of the holding claw 44, the bent portions 44A can be applied to the screw threads 22A on both sides relatively easily.

  Thus, according to the cap holder 40 (see FIG. 1) of the present embodiment, the retention of the fuel cap 20 can be effectively improved, and even if the holding claw 44 of the cap holder 40 has a thin plate shape. By setting the height of the unevenness in the bent portion 44A, it is possible to correspond to the fuel cap 20 having various screw pitches at low cost.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment of the cap holder will be described with reference to FIG. The cap holder according to the second embodiment is characterized in that the protruding direction of the bent portion 44A is opposite to that of the first embodiment, and other configurations are substantially the same as those of the first embodiment. Since it is a structure, about the substantially same structure part, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and description is abbreviate | omitted.

  FIG. 5 shows a state in which the fuel cap 20 is placed on the holding claw 44 from the upper side of the lid. The holding claw 44 is shown by a cross-sectional shape of the holding claw 44 in the vicinity of the valley portion 22B of the fuel cap lower 22. ing. As shown in FIG. 5, the holding claw 44 has an upper and lower bent portion 44 </ b> A that contacts the screw thread 22 </ b> A on the tip end portion 22 </ b> C side (the left side in FIG. 5) of the fuel cap lower 22, 44A contacts the screw thread 22A on the base side (the right side in FIG. 5) of the fuel cap lower 22. Thus, the shape of the holding claw 44 in the present embodiment is also a shape that can support the thread 22A of the fuel cap lower 22 placed from the upper side of the lid with the bent portion 44A at three points.

  Also with this configuration of the present embodiment, the same effect can be obtained by substantially the same operation as in the first embodiment.

[Third Embodiment]
Next, a third embodiment of the cap holder will be described with reference to FIG. Since the cap holder according to the third embodiment has substantially the same configuration as that of the first embodiment except for the points described below, substantially the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals and described. Is omitted.

  FIG. 6A shows a state in which the fuel cap 20 is placed on the holding claw 44 from the upper side of the lid. The holding claw 44 is a cross section of the holding claw 44 in the vicinity of the valley portion 22B of the fuel cap lower 22. Shown in shape.

  In this embodiment, the fuel lid inner 34 (see FIG. 1) including the cap holder 40 including the holding claws 44 is formed of resin. As shown in FIG. 6, the holding claw 44 is disposed between the screw threads 22 </ b> A with respect to the fuel cap lower 22 placed from the upper side of the lid, and has a shape along the shape between the screw threads 22 </ b> A. Yes. That is, as shown in FIG. 6B, the plate thickness of the holding claw 44 of this embodiment is set to be thicker than the plate thickness of the holding claw 44 of the first and second embodiments. The cross-sectional shape of 44 is substantially the same as the cross-sectional shape between the screw threads 22 </ b> A of the fuel cap lower 22.

  According to such a configuration, when the fuel cap lower 22 of the fuel cap 20 is placed from above the lid, the screw threads 22A are securely supported on both sides of the holding claws 44 even when the vehicle body vibrates. Thus, the posture of the fuel cap 20 is stably maintained. As a result, the retainability of the fuel cap 20 by the cap holder 40 can be improved effectively.

[Supplementary explanation of the embodiment]
As shown in FIG. 1 and the like, in the first and second embodiments, the shape of the bent portion 44A is a so-called marginal shape, but the shape of the bent portion is, for example, relative to the flat plate portion. Other bent shapes such as a so-called location bent in a substantially hemispherical shape or a substantially dome shape, a twisted shape bent in a wavy shape, or the like may be used.

  Further, in the first and second embodiments, the cap holder 40 in which the bent portion 44A is formed is made of a sheet metal such as an iron plate, but the cap holder in which the bent portion is formed may be made of resin. Good. Compared with the case of the third embodiment (when the resin-made holding claws 44 have a thick plate shape along the shape between the screw threads 22A as shown in FIG. 6) when the bent portion is formed of resin. Then, there is a merit that the amount of resin can be reduced and the cost can be reduced.

  Further, in the first and second embodiments, as shown in FIG. 1 and the like, the cap holder 40 in which the bent portion 44A is formed is formed by cutting and raising the fuel lid inner 34. The cap holder thus formed may be formed separately from the fuel lid inner, and such a cap holder may be attached to the back side of the fuel lid by welding or the like.

  Further, in the first and second embodiments, each holding claw 44 of the pair of holding claws 44 supports the thread 22A of the fuel cap lower 22 by three bent portions 44A at three points. For example, the support structure by the part supports the screw cap of the fuel cap lower (screw part) with two bent parts in which the holding claws of the pair of holding claws are reversed in the protruding direction. May be another supporting structure that supports the thread of the fuel cap lower (threaded portion) at a total of four locations.

  In the third embodiment, the cap holder 40 including the holding claws 44 shown in FIG. 6 is a part of the resin-made fuel lid inner 34 (see FIG. 1). For example, the fuel lid inner and the fuel lid outer may be part of a resin-made fuel lid.

It is a perspective view which shows the fuel lid to which the cap holder which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention was applied, and its periphery. It is a typical top view showing the fuel lid to which the cap holder concerning a 1st embodiment of the present invention was applied, and its circumference. It is the expansion perspective view which expanded the principal part of the cap holder which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is an expanded sectional side view which shows the state by which the fuel cap was put on the holding nail of the cap holder which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention (The holding nail is a cross-sectional shape of the holding nail in the trough part of a fuel cap lower. Show.) It is an expanded sectional side view which shows the state by which the fuel cap was put on the holding claw of the cap holder which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention (a holding claw is the cross-sectional shape of the holding claw in the trough part vicinity of a fuel cap lower. Show.) It is an expanded sectional view showing the state where a fuel cap was put on a holding claw of a cap holder concerning a 3rd embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6A is an enlarged side cross-sectional view, and the holding claw is shown by a cross-sectional shape of the holding claw in the vicinity of the valley portion of the fuel cap lower. 6B is a cross-sectional view taken along line 6B-6B of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

20 Fuel Cap 22 Fuel Cap Lower (Screw)
22A Thread 30 Fuel lid 40 Cap holder 42 Base 44 Holding claw 44A Bend

Claims (4)

A base disposed in a state of protruding from the back side of the fuel lid;
Bending from the base and extending to the screw part of the fuel cap placed from the upper side of the lid, it is arranged between the screw threads of the screw part, and is formed in a shape that closes the gap between the screw threads, Holding claws that hold the position of the fuel cap;
A cap holder comprising: The holding claw is provided with a bent portion that is formed into a thin plate shape that is thinner than the gap between the screw threads and is bent in an uneven shape,
The cap holder according to claim 1, wherein the bent portion of the holding claw disposed between the screw threads is formed in a shape that hits the screw threads placed from above the lid. .   The cap holder according to claim 2, wherein the shape of the holding claw is such that the screw thread of the screw portion placed from above the lid can be supported at three points by the bent portion.   The holding claw is formed of a resin and is disposed between the screw threads with respect to the screw portion placed from above the lid, and has a shape along the shape between the screw threads. Item 1. A cap holder according to item 1.

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