JP2009274493A - Hole cover - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To assure a smooth design surface having high salability without paying any consideration about the occurrence of a surface sink at a resin hole cover for closing a bumper working hole. <P>SOLUTION: A resin plate member 21 is divided into a first region 23, a second region 25 and a third region 27 connected to its right and left portions, and a fourth region 29 connected to the lower side of the first region that correspond to a front surface shape of a completed product, the second to fourth regions are folded to the rear surface of the first region to form a cover body, and then the front surface of the first region 23 is applied as a design surface. First engaging pieces 32 are arranged near the upper sides of the second region and the third region and guide pieces 40 are arranged near the sides adjacent to the first region and at the same time a second engaging piece 45 is arranged at the fourth region. The second engaging piece is inserted into an engaging hole at the lower edge of a working hole and engaged with it while its position is being set in respect to the working hole by the guide pieces, and then the first engaging pieces are engaged with the upper edge of the working hole and fixed there. Even if the engaging pieces and the guide pieces are integrally formed with the resin plate member, no surface sink occurs at the design surface because the engaging pieces and the guide pieces are not arranged in the first region. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a hole cover for closing a work hole or the like on a wall surface.

For example, a work hole 10 ′ is formed in a vehicle bumper as shown in FIG. 10 for work when connecting a tow rope to a hook fixed to a vehicle body frame and passing through the tow rope when the vehicle is towed. is there. During normal times when no towing is performed, a hole cover 3 ′ is attached to the work hole so that the surface of the bumper 2 extending left and right below the front grill 1 forms a smooth wall surface including the work hole portion. , To improve aesthetics.
Since recent bumpers 2 of vehicles have a resin skin, there are many examples in which the hole cover 3 ′ that closes the work hole 10 ′ is also made of resin in order to give a uniform texture.

  As such a resin hole cover 3 ′, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 11, locking pieces 5 are formed in the vicinity of the upper side and the lower side of the back surface of the cover body 4 ′ formed in a plate shape. In some cases, a guide piece 6 is formed. The hole cover 3 ′ is pushed into the work hole 10 ′ from the tip of the locking piece 5 while positioning it with respect to the work hole 10 ′ by using the guide piece 6, and elastically deforms the locking piece 5 to Install by engaging the hole edge.

A string 7 having an anchor portion 8 at the tip is also integrally formed on the back surface of the cover body 4 ′, and the anchor portion 8 is inserted into a small hole provided in a partition wall or a skeleton member inside the bumper 2. Link.
As a result, the hole cover 3 ′ is normally fitted to close the work hole 10 ′, and when the vehicle is towed, as shown in FIG. 12, the hole cover 3 ′ is removed to pull the tow rope 9 through the work hole 10 ′. Can be connected to a hook.
A similar configuration is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-271626.
JP 2005-271626 A

However, in the conventional hole cover 3 ', the surface of the resin plate is a design surface that is continuous with the outer surface of the bumper 2, and the locking piece 5, the guide piece 6, and the string 7 are integrally formed on the back surface. Therefore, resin sink marks occur during integral molding. As a result, depressions and distortions due to sink marks are generated on the design surface of the hole cover 3 ′, the appearance is deteriorated, and the merchantability is lowered.
For this reason, there is a problem that it is necessary to examine the shape of the locking piece, the guide piece, etc. in consideration of the occurrence of sink marks and to specially tune the molding conditions.

  Therefore, in view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a hole cover that can ensure a smooth and highly productive design surface without considering the occurrence of sink marks.

  For this reason, the present invention is a hole cover that includes a locking piece on the back surface of the cover body, engages the locking piece with a locking portion around a hole formed on the wall surface, and closes the hole. Is formed by folding the sub-region to the back side of the first region using a plate material composed of the first region corresponding to the front shape of the finished product and the sub-region connected to the first region. It was provided in the sub-region.

  According to the present invention, the surface of the first region of the plate material is used as a design surface, and the sub-region provided with the locking piece is folded to the back side of the first region. It occurs only in the subregion located on the back side, and does not affect the surface of the first region. Therefore, it is possible to secure a highly commercial design surface without considering the shape of the locking piece in consideration of the occurrence of sink marks or special tuning of the molding conditions.

Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a work hole in a bumper of a vehicle will be described.
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing a work hole and a hole cover in a bumper.
Although the overall view of the bumper 2 is omitted, as shown in FIG. 10, the lower side of the front grill 1 of the vehicle extends in the left-right direction. A work hole 10 is provided in the front wall 2 a of the bumper 2. The hole cover 3 is assembled to the work hole 10. The work hole 10 has a rectangular basic shape.
The hole cover 3 is provided with a plurality of locking pieces on the back surface of the cover main body which is made of a two-layer structure by folding a resin plate material.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the hole cover 3.
A resin plate 21 having a rectangular basic shape is partitioned into a central first region 23 and second regions 25 and third regions 27 on both sides in the longitudinal direction, and further extends downward at the center of the lower side of the first region 23. The fourth area 29 is connected.
Each adjacent region is connected by a hinge K (see FIG. 5) in which the integral resin plate material 21 is thinner than the plate thickness of each region. In FIG. 2, the front surface is the front surface, and the surface of the first region 23 is the design surface. The hinge K connects each region on the back surface side opposite to the front surface.

Each of the second region 25 and the third region 27 has a length that is ½ of the first region 23. When the second region 25 and the third region 27 are folded to the back side with respect to the first region 23, the respective outer edges in the longitudinal direction are the first edges. The regions 23 are opposed in a straight line at the center.
The fourth area 29 has an elongated shape along the lower side of the first area 23.
As will be described later, since the fourth region 29 is also folded to the back side of the first region 23, the fourth region is also folded at the lower side of the second region 25 and the third region 27 when folded to the back side. A cutout 30 corresponding to the shape of the fourth region 29 is provided so as not to overlap with the second region 29.

  On the surface side of the second region 25 and the third region 27, a first locking piece 32 that rises in the vicinity of the upper side, that is, at a distance ha from the upper side, is integrally formed. As shown in FIG. 3, the first locking piece 32 includes a head 34 bulging upward at the tip of a plate-like base 33 parallel to the upper side of the second region 25 (third region 27). The portion 34 is an inclined surface 35 that becomes lower as the upper surface goes to the tip. The surface side of the second region 25 (third region 27) of the head 34 is an inclined surface 36 that approaches the base as it approaches the surface. That is, the head portion 34 has a mountain shape having inclined surfaces 35 and 36 on both sides of the base portion 33 in the rising direction.

Returning to FIG. 2, a third locking piece 38 that rises from the surface at a distance ha from the lower side is integrally formed on the surface side of the second region 25 and the third region 27. The third locking piece 38 has a plate shape parallel to the lower side, and the cross-section has a curved shape with the tip downward as shown in FIG.
Further, on the surface side of the second region 25 and the third region 27, as shown in FIG. 2, guide pieces 40 rising from the surface are integrally formed in the vicinity of the sides adjacent to the first region 23, respectively. The guide piece 40 is U-shaped so that the opening faces the first region 23, and the end edges of the both end pieces 41 facing the first region 23 move away from the surface of the second region 25 (third region 27). 1 has an inclined edge 42 far from the region 23.

A second locking piece 45 is integrally formed on the surface side of the fourth region 29. The second locking piece 45 has a pointed shape having a folding portion 47 that is folded upward from the tip of the plate-like base portion 46 parallel to the upper side and has a free end, and the tip has an acute angle. As shown in FIG. 5, in the unfolded state of the resin plate material 21, the base 46 of the second locking piece 45 rises from the surface at a distance hb from the upper side (the lower side of the first region 23), and the folded portion 47 has a tip. It becomes an inclined surface that goes down as it goes to. The free end of the folded portion 47 is opened from the base plate surface by a height hc.
In addition, in the plate surface of each region, in order to facilitate the die-cutting at the time of molding from the root portion where the first locking piece 32, the third locking piece 38 and the second locking piece 45 rise to the edge. A notch 49 having the same width as each locking piece is provided.

6A and 6B are explanatory views showing the process of forming the hole cover 3, wherein FIG. 6A is a view of the above-described folding stage of the resin plate material 21 seen from the back side, and FIG. FIG.
The second region 25, the third region 27, and the fourth region 29 are folded toward the back side as indicated by arrows at the hinge portion with respect to the first region 23. Thereby, the cover main body 20 having a two-layer structure in which the second region 25, the third region 27, and the fourth region 29 overlap with the back surface of the first region 23 is formed as a whole.

That is, in the fourth region 29, the second locking piece 45 that protrudes to the surface side in the unfolded state of FIG. 2 is bent 90 °, as shown in FIG. The second locking piece 45 protrudes from the back surface of the cover body 20 as shown in (b) by turning downward until the back surface overlaps the back surface of the first region 23, that is, by folding 180 degrees in total. It becomes a state to do.
Similarly to the second locking piece 45, the first locking piece 32 and the third locking piece 38 also protrude from the back surface of the cover body 20.
If necessary, a double-sided adhesive tape or the like can be applied between the overlapping back surfaces of the first region 23, the second region 25, and the third region 27 to fix the folded state.

The state shown in FIG. 6B is a completed product as the hole cover 3.
In this completed state, the guide piece 40 is located in the vicinity of the left and right sides on the back surface of the cover body 20, and the inclined edges 42 of the edges facing the outer sides of the upper and lower end pieces 41 of the guide piece 40 are respectively at the tips. It goes inside as you go. That is, the width between the inclined edges 42 of the left and right guide pieces 40 becomes narrower as the tip ends, and the distance between the end edges of the left and right guide pieces is La at the root portion and Lb smaller than La at the tip portion.
Further, as shown in FIG. 7, in the hole cover 3 in the completed state, the distance between the upper surface of the base portion 33 of the first locking piece 32 and the lower surface of the base portion 46 of the second locking piece 45 is Ha. . In FIG. 7, guide pieces are omitted.

FIG. 8 is a front view of the work hole of the bumper.
A concave portion 50 having a rectangular planar shape is provided on the front wall 2a of the bumper, and a work hole 10 is formed in a bottom wall 52 of the concave portion 50.
The hole edge of the working hole 10 is basically parallel to the four edges of the recess 50, and the bottom wall 52 has a flange shape with a predetermined width S.
The outer shape of the hole cover 3, that is, the outer shape of the first region 23 is aligned with the recess 50. Further, the distance ha from each upper side of the second region 25 and the third region 27 in the hole cover 3 to the base 33 of the first locking piece 32 or the distance ha from each lower side to the rising position of the third locking piece 38 is as described above. The distance La between the end edges of the guide piece 40 is set to match the width B between the left and right hole edges of the work hole 10.

A protruding portion 53 is provided on the bottom wall 52 at the center of the lower edge of the working hole 10, and a locking hole 55 through which the second locking piece 45 is passed is formed.
The locking hole 55 is rectangular and has a width that is slightly larger than the width of the second locking piece 45.
The distance HA from the upper edge of the working hole 10 to the lower edge of the locking hole 55 is the distance between the upper surface of the base 33 of the first locking piece 32 and the lower surface of the base 46 of the second locking piece 45 in the hole cover 3. It is set to match with Ha.

  The vertical dimension of the locking hole 55 is set so that the folded portion 47 of the second locking piece can be passed by being elastically bent. The second locking piece 45 can slide up and down by a predetermined amount after the folded portion 47 passes through the locking hole 55, and the folded portion even when the base 46 is at the upper end position in contact with the upper edge of the locking hole 55. The free end 47 is engaged with the back surface of the bottom wall 52. That is, the vertical dimension of the locking hole 55 is set smaller than the sum of the height hc of the free end of the folded portion 47 and the plate thickness t of the base portion 46 (see FIG. 5).

When attaching the hole cover 3, as shown by the arrow in FIG. 1, first, the lower second locking piece 45 is first inserted into the locking hole 55 of the overhang portion 53 and passed through the folded portion 47. At this time, if the inclined position is such that the upper portion of the hole cover 3 is slightly opened, the operation of inserting the second locking piece 45 into the locking hole 55 becomes easy.
In the middle of this, the left and right guide pieces 40 begin to enter the working hole 10. Since the distance between the edges of the guide piece 40 is La at the root portion and narrower than this at the tip portion, positioning in the left-right direction with respect to the work hole 10 is automatically performed.
The folded-back portion 47 that is elastically deformed when passing through the locking hole 55 is restored after passing, and its free end comes into contact with the back surface of the work hole bottom wall 52.

  Thereafter, the hole cover 3 is rotated around the penetrating portion of the locking hole 55 of the second locking piece 45, and the upper part thereof is pushed close to the upper edge of the work hole 10. Accordingly, the head 34 of the first locking piece 32 is elastically deformed while rubbing the inclined surface 35 at the tip thereof against the upper edge of the work hole 10, and passes through the back surface side of the work hole bottom wall 52. After passing through the bottom wall 52, the first locking piece 32 is restored and the base portion 33 comes into contact with the upper edge of the work hole 10. For an external force less than a predetermined value, the head 34 engages with the upper edge of the work hole 10, so that the hole cover 3 is fitted in the recess 50 and maintains this state.

The operation of opening the work hole 10 is performed as follows.
When the hand reaches from the bottom of the bumper 2 near the upper edge of the work hole 10 on the back side of the bumper 2, the head 34 and the work hole 10 are bent by bending the head 34 of the first locking piece 32 downward with a fingertip. Can be disengaged from the upper edge. If the first locking piece 32 is pushed outward in this state, the hole cover 3 is rotated and the upper part is removed from the recess 50 and opened.
Since the base side of the head portion 34 of the first locking piece is an inclined surface 36, when an external force exceeding a predetermined value in a direction away from the recess bottom wall 52 is applied to the hole cover 3, the work hole 10 is relatively moved. The first locking piece 32 is elastically deformed by the component force applied to the inclined surface 36 from the upper edge of the upper edge and comes out of the work hole 10. Therefore, even if the hand cannot reach the back side of the bumper 2, it can be easily opened by inserting a flathead screwdriver or the like into the gap between the upper edge of the hole cover 3 and the recess 50.

By the way, in the prior art shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, the hole cover 3 'is connected to the bumper 2 by the string 7, so there is no risk of loss when it is removed from the work hole 10'. If the vibration is received while being pulled from the work hole 10 ′ during towing, the surface of the bumper 2 may be rubbed and damaged.
On the other hand, in the present embodiment, it is possible to prevent the hole cover 3 from being lost and to prevent the surface of the bumper 2 from being damaged.

That is, when the first locking piece 32 is disengaged from the upper edge of the working hole 10 and then lifted slightly by the upper part of the hole cover 3 and pulled outward, as shown in FIG. While the second locking piece 45 is locked in the locking hole 55, the hinge K between the first area 23 and the fourth area 29 is opened around the rotation center.
At this time, by lifting the hole cover 3, the hinge position becomes high and can be opened without interference between the corner of the lower edge of the first region 23 on the design surface F 2 side and the side wall 51 of the lower edge of the recess 50. However, even if the interference occurs, the corner portion of the first region 23 slides on the side wall 51 of the recess 50 toward the bottom wall 52 as the hole cover 3 is opened. Ascends away from 51.

Since the vertical dimension of the locking hole 55 is larger than that of the base 46 of the second locking piece 45 while the second locking piece 45 holds the locking state with respect to the locking hole 55, the locking hole 55 moves upward as the hinge position increases. Slide up in 55.
Thus, the rotated hole cover 3 is held in the recess 50 without rubbing against the design surface (front surface) F1 of the bumper.

The vertical dimension of the locking hole 55 is such that the base 46 of the second locking piece 45 abuts on the upper edge of the locking hole 55 before the hole cover 3 is rotated to a substantially horizontal state, and the hole is larger than that. Although it is preferable to set so as to restrict the rotation of the cover 3, even if the hole cover 3 rotates beyond the horizontal state, a smooth arc-shaped chamfer R is applied to the corner of the recess on the bumper design surface F1 side. As a result, the hole cover 3 only has the corner of the lower edge of the first region 23 in contact with the side wall 51 of the recess, and the design surface F2 of the hole cover is not impaired.
In the present embodiment, the second region, the third region, and the fourth region correspond to subregions in the invention.

  The hole cover 3 of the embodiment is configured as described above, and the cover main body 20 is connected to the first region 23 corresponding to the front shape of the finished product, the second and third regions 25, 27 connected to the first region, and the first region. Using the resin plate material 21 composed of the four areas 29, the second to fourth areas are folded to the back side of the first area, and the first locking pieces 32, the second locking pieces 45, etc. Since it is provided in the fourth region, sink marks due to the formation of the respective locking pieces have no influence on the surface of the first region 23. Therefore, the surface of the first region 23 can be made a highly productive design surface without considering the shape of the locking piece in consideration of the occurrence of sink marks or performing special tuning of the molding conditions.

  The second region 25 and the third region 27 are connected to both sides in the width direction of the first region 23, the fourth region 29 is connected to the lower side of the first region 23, and the first locking piece 32 is connected to the second region 25 and Since the second locking piece 45 is provided in the fourth region 29 and is provided in the vicinity of the upper side of each of the third regions 27, it is suitable for making the front shape of the hole cover 3 rectangular.

The first locking piece 32 swells to the side that engages with the upper edge of the work hole 10 at the tip of the base and the plate-like base 33 rising from the plate surface of each of the second region 25 and the third region 27. And a head 34 having inclined surfaces 35 and 36 on both sides of the rising direction of the protruding base, and the second locking piece 45 is folded back from the tip of the base and a plate-like base 47 rising from the plate surface of the fourth region 29 Since the folded portion 47 is elastically deformed and passed through a locking hole 55 provided in the vicinity of the lower edge of the work hole 10, the second locking piece 45 is engaged. On the other hand, the hole cover 3 can be easily attached to the work hole 10 by simply pushing the first locking piece 32 into the work hole 10 to engage the head 34 with the upper edge of the work hole.
Then, when necessary, by disengaging the first locking piece 32 and the upper edge of the working hole 10, the second locking piece 45 remains engaged with the locking hole 55 provided in the vicinity of the working hole 10. Since the hole cover 3 can be rotated to open the work hole 10, there is no possibility that the hole cover 3 will be lost.

  The bumper front wall 2a is provided with a recess 50 into which the hole cover 3 is fitted, the work hole 10 is formed in the bottom wall 52 of the recess 50, and the locking hole 55 is also provided in the bottom wall 52. The vertical dimension of the locking hole 55 is set so that the second locking piece 45 can slide up and down by a predetermined amount after the folded portion 47 of the second locking piece 45 is elastically deformed and passed. When opening, the lower side corner of the first region 23 forming the cover body 20 slides on the side wall 51 of the recess 50 and is held on the side wall. The front wall 2a of a certain bumper is not rubbed and damaged by the hole cover 3.

  In the above embodiment, the front shape of the first region 23 is rectangular, and the second region 25 and the third region 27 are connected via hinges over the entire length of the left and right sides of the first region. The corners of the four corners of the first region may be rounded into an arc shape. In this case, the second region and the third region are connected to the first region by a hinge only at the straight portion on the side of the first region. Just do it.

  In addition, the second locking piece 45 is formed in the fourth region 29 of the resin plate 21 and is provided at one central position in the width direction of the hole cover 3. A plurality of two locking pieces 45 may be provided. In this case, a plurality of second locking pieces may also serve as the third locking piece 38.

  Furthermore, in the embodiment, the second region 25 and the third region 27 are extended in the width direction of the first region 23 and are folded to the back surface side, but instead of the second region 25 and the third region 27, An upper region and a lower region that extend in the vertical direction of the first region 23 and have half the height of the first region and are folded to the back side at the upper and lower edges of the first region, It is also possible to form the locking piece 32 in the upper region and the second locking piece 45 in the lower region. In this case, the lower region is an enlargement of the fourth region 29 in the embodiment, and the third locking piece 38 is also formed in this lower region. The guide piece 40 may be formed in one or both of the upper region and the lower region.

  Although the embodiment has been described by taking the hole cover of the work hole in the bumper of the vehicle as an example, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to various hole covers having a surface as a design surface.

It is an appearance perspective view showing a work hole and a hole cover in an embodiment. It is a development perspective view of a hole cover. It is an expanded sectional view showing details of the 1st stop piece. It is an expanded sectional view showing details of the 3rd stop piece. It is an expanded sectional view showing details of the 2nd stop piece. It is explanatory drawing which shows the formation process of a hole cover. It is explanatory drawing which shows the distance between the 1st locking piece and the 2nd locking piece in a hole cover. It is a front view which shows the work hole of a bumper. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state of the hole cover at the time of opening a work hole. It is a figure showing the circumference of the conventional work hole in a bumper. It is a figure which shows the prior art example of a hole cover. It is a figure which shows the state which opened the work hole in a prior art example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Front grill 2 Bumper 3 Hole cover 10 Work hole 20 Cover main body 21 Resin board material 23 1st area | region 25 2nd area | region 27 3rd area | region 29 4th area | region 30 Notch 32 1st latching piece 33 Base 34 Head 35, 36 Inclined surface 38 3rd locking piece 40 Guide piece 41 End piece 42 Inclined edge 45 2nd locking piece 46 Base 47 Folding part 49 Notch 50 Recess 51 Side wall 52 Bottom wall 53 Overhanging part 55 Locking hole F1, F2 Design surface K hinge

Claims (4)

A hole cover provided with a locking piece on the back surface of the cover main body and closing the hole by engaging the locking piece with a locking portion around a hole formed on the wall surface,
The cover body is formed by folding a plate material composed of a first region corresponding to a front shape of a finished product and a sub region connected to the first region by folding the sub region to the back side of the first region,
The hole cover, wherein the locking piece is provided in a sub-region of the plate material. The sub-region includes a second region and a third region connected to both sides in the width direction of the first region, and a fourth region connected to the lower side of the first region,
The locking piece includes a first locking piece provided in the vicinity of each upper side of the second area and the third area, and a second locking piece provided in the fourth area. The hole cover according to claim 1. The first locking piece includes a plate-like base portion that rises from the plate surface of each of the second region and the third region, and both sides in the rising direction of the base portion that bulges to the side that engages with the edge of the hole at the tip of the base portion And a head having an inclined surface,
The said 2nd locking piece is equipped with the plate-shaped base part which stands | starts up from the plate surface of the said 4th area | region, and the folding | returning part which folds back from the front-end | tip of this base part, and has a free end, It is characterized by the above-mentioned. Hole cover as described. The hole is formed in the bottom wall of the recess provided in the wall surface,
The locking portion consists of an upper edge of the hole and a locking hole provided in the bottom wall in the vicinity of the lower edge of the hole,
The vertical dimension of the locking hole is set so that the folded portion of the second locking piece can be elastically bent, and the second locking piece can be slid up and down by a predetermined amount after passing,
The hole cover according to claim 3, wherein the second locking piece is engaged with the locking hole, and the first locking piece is engaged with the upper edge of the hole, and the hole cover according to claim 3 is fitted into the recess. A cover structure characterized by that.

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