JP2589841Y2 - Adapter boss for mounting steering wheel - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of an adapter boss for mounting a steering wheel of an automobile on a steering shaft. More specifically, the adapter boss controls on-board electric components such as a constant-speed cruise control device and a radio. The present invention relates to a steering wheel mounting adapter boss having a switch mounted thereon.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The shape of a steering wheel for steering a car is taken into consideration in consideration of various factors such as operability of steering operation, visibility of meters on an instrument panel, and safety in an accident. Has been determined. Furthermore, the color tone and material of the steering wheel are comprehensively designed to match the design of the instrument panel, the inside of the cabin, the seats, etc., so as to enhance the quality.

[0003] However, in a general commercial passenger car, there is a limit to the cost that can be applied to the steering wheel. Therefore, a steering wheel that is standardly mounted on an automobile is usually made of urethane covered with a skin made of plastic or vinyl leather. It is assumed to be manufactured by foam molding.

[0004] Therefore, some car owners are not satisfied with the standard-equipped inexpensive steering wheel as described above, and use a beautifully grained wooden or cowhide which is commercially available as an automobile article. Purchase a high-end steering wheel such as one that creates a high-class atmosphere or emphasizes sportiness, removes the standard steering wheel, and installs a commercially available steering wheel.

[0005] In this case, a steering wheel mounted on a vehicle as a standard is designed for the vehicle, whereas a generally available steering wheel targets an unspecified number of vehicles. As such, it is not adapted to individual vehicles. Therefore, in order to attach a commercially available steering wheel to an individual vehicle, the steering wheel is mounted via an adapter boss that is shaped to fit the steering shaft of the vehicle.

[0006]

The present invention is to provide a way, in recent years, by the electronics of the car has been progress, have come to cruise control apparatus, the so-called cruise control device is attached to the general passenger cars. This cruise control device usually includes a main switch for turning on / off the operation of the device and setting a traveling speed, a speed-increasing switch capable of increasing the vehicle speed without depressing an accelerator pedal, and a brake pedal. It has three control switches, a deceleration switch that can reduce the vehicle speed without stepping on. Depending on the vehicle, as shown in FIG. 3, by providing the control switch 54 of the cruise control device on the center pad 53 of the steering wheel 50, the driver can control the steering wheel 50 with his fingertip while holding the steering wheel 50. The switch 54 can be operated to improve the operability of the cruise control device.

[0007] However, as shown in FIG. 4, a commercially available steering wheel 40 is not provided with a control switch for such a cruise control device because it is intended for an unspecified number of vehicles. Therefore, when the control switch of the cruise control device is removed from the standard steering wheel of the vehicle provided on the steering wheel and replaced with a commercially available steering wheel, the cruise control device cannot be used. There is.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and a standard steering wheel provided with a control switch of a cruise control device has been replaced with a commercially available steering wheel. The aim is also to make it possible to use the cruise control device.

[0009]

Means for Solving the Problems The above objects of the present invention, the adapter boss used to attach the steering wheel for steering the motor vehicle to the steering shaft, the cover of the adapter boss, controlling the in-vehicle electrical component This is achieved by an adapter boss for mounting a steering wheel, characterized in that a switch is provided.

[0010]

The switch mounted on the adapter boss controls the electrical components mounted on the vehicle, so that the electrical components mounted on the vehicle can be operated even when a steering wheel having no switch is mounted.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the drawings, an embodiment of a boss for mounting a steering wheel according to the present invention will be described in detail below. Here, FIG. 1 is an explanatory view illustrating mounting of a steering wheel according to an embodiment of the steering wheel mounting adapter boss according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the steering wheel mounting adapter boss shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. Is a front view of a standard mounted steering wheel provided with a control switch of a cruise control device, and FIG. 4 is a front view of an example of a commercially available steering wheel mounted using the boss shown in FIG.

First, a structure of a part of a steering mechanism for steering a car to which a steering wheel is attached will be briefly described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG.
A steering shaft 61 of the steering mechanism 60 is rotatably supported by a bearing 63 inside a cylindrical steering column 62. The steering column 62 is fixed to a vehicle body structural member by a bracket (not shown), and the periphery thereof is covered with a column cover 64 so that the appearance is adjusted. The steering shaft 61 has an adapter boss 10 at one end thereof.
The steering wheel 40 is attached via a steering wheel 40, and the opposite end is connected to a steering gear box via a connecting shaft (not shown), and the driver turns the steering wheel 40 to steer the front wheels of the vehicle. It has been like that. A plurality of mounting holes are formed in the spokes 42 of the steering wheel 40 at a portion covered by the center pad 43, and bolts 44 inserted into the holes are inserted into the adapter boss 1.
By screwing the steering wheel 40 into the screw hole No. 00, the steering wheel 40 is screwed so as to rotate integrally with the adapter boss 100.

Next, the configuration of an embodiment of the steering wheel mounting adapter boss according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, an adapter boss 100 for attaching a steering wheel according to the present embodiment is provided.
The boss body 10 is spline-fitted to the steering shaft 61 and is screwed integrally by a nut 65, the cover 20 externally fitted to the boss body 10, and the switch body 30 attached to the cover 20. Have.

As shown in FIG. 1, the boss body 10
A cylindrical member made of an aluminum alloy die-cast, which is a cylindrical spline portion 11 fitted externally to a spline carved on the outer periphery of the steering shaft 61, and a male screw carved on the tip of the steering shaft 61. The nut storage portion 12 includes a tapered nut storage portion 12 for storing a nut 65 that is screwed into the nut storage portion, and a flange portion 13 vertically provided at an end of the nut storage portion 12 on the steering wheel 40 side. The end of the spline portion 11 on the steering mechanism 60 side is abutted against the vertical wall of the step portion of the steering shaft 61, and the nut 65 is in contact with the opposite end. Thus, by tightening the nut 65, the adapter boss 100 is fixed so as to rotate integrally with the steering shaft 61. As shown in FIG. 2, a screw hole 14 for attaching a steering wheel is formed in the flange portion 13.
The holes are formed so as to extend in parallel with the axis 0 and at equal intervals in the circumferential direction.

The cover 20 has a cylindrical fixed cover 21 fitted externally to the flange portion 13 of the boss body 10 and screwed with a screw, and is slidably moved in the axial direction with respect to the fixed cover 21. Slide cover 2 to be fitted
And 2. The end of the slide cover 22 on the steering mechanism 60 side has an enlarged diameter, and a control switch body 30 for operating the cruise control device is housed inside the slide cover 22. Then, by sliding the slide cover 22 with respect to the fixed cover 21, the length of the cover 20 in the axial direction can be adjusted.

As shown in FIG. 1, the control switch body 30 has a switch base 31 attached to the inner peripheral surface of the slide cover 22 and a radially outwardly extending switch base 31 from the switch base 31. It has a switch 32 protruding from the provided through hole. In the adapter boss 100 of this embodiment, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, three switches 32, 33, and 34 are provided, and correspond to a main switch, a speed-up switch, and a deceleration switch of the cruise control device, respectively.

Further, from the switch base 31, an electric wiring 35 having a connection connector 36 at the tip is extended. The switch 30 is connected to the cruise control device by connecting the connector 36 to the connector of the electric wiring on the vehicle body side. At this time, when the steering wheel 40 is rotated, the switch 30 is also rotated integrally with the adapter boss 100, so that there is a margin in the length of the wiring so that the electric wiring 35 does not stick to the steering column 62. The electric wiring 35 may be prevented from entangled with the steering column by providing a grip or by providing a slip ring or the like.

Therefore, the steering wheel mounting adapter boss 100 of the present embodiment has the above-described configuration, and therefore, the standard mounted steering wheel provided with the control switch for the cruise control device does not have the control switch. Even when the steering wheel is replaced with a commercially available steering wheel, the cruise control device can be operated. Then, when operating the cruise control device, the hand may be reached from between the spokes 42 of the steering wheel 40 and the switches 32, 33, 34 may be operated with the fingertips.

In this embodiment, since the switch body 30 is attached to the cover 20 of the adapter boss 100, other types of the spline portion 11 and the dimensions of the screw holes for attaching the steering wheel are different. As long as the boss has the same outer diameter, the cover 20 with the switch 30 can be attached to any boss. Further, in this embodiment, the cover 20 is divided into a fixed cover 21 and a slide cover 22, and the two slide relatively to each other.
Since the length of the cover 20 in the axial direction can be adjusted, the length of the cover 20 can be adjusted by adjusting the length of the cover 20 even when the dimension between the steering wheel 40 and the column cover 64 varies from vehicle to vehicle. It was able to respond. Thereby, the steering wheel 4
Since the gap between the zero and the column cover 64 can be completely covered by the cover 20, the appearance can be improved.

In this embodiment, the case where the switch provided on the adapter boss 100 is used as the control switch of the cruise control device has been described as an example. However, it is not necessary to be limited to this. It may be used as a switch for operating the telephone device so as to correspond to on / off of the switch, volume adjustment, or channel selection operation.

[0021]

[Effect of the Invention] In the present invention, a switch for controlling the electric components mounted on the vehicle is provided on the adapter boss for mounting the steering wheel. Therefore, for example, a standard mounted steering wheel provided with a control switch for a cruise control device is used. Even when replacing the steering wheel with a commercially available steering wheel that does not have such a switch, the switch provided on the adapter boss can control the cruise control device. In addition, since the switch is provided on the adapter boss, the switch can be mounted regardless of the shape and the like of the steering wheel of any type.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view illustrating mounting of a steering wheel according to an embodiment of an adapter boss for mounting a steering wheel according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the steering wheel mounting adapter boss shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view of a standard mounted steering wheel provided with a control switch of the cruise control device.

FIG. 4 is a front view of an example of a commercially available steering wheel mounted using the adapter boss shown in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Boss body 11 Spline part 12 Nut storage part 13 Flange part 14 Screw hole for steering wheel attachment 20 Cover 21 Fixed cover 22 Slide cover 30 Switch body 31 Switch base 32 Switch 33 Switch 34 Switch 35 Wiring 36 Connector 40 Newly mounted steering Wheel 41 Wheel 42 Spoke 43 Center pad 44 Bolt 50 Standard equipped steering wheel 51 Wheel 52 Spoke 53 Center pad 54 Switch 60 Steering mechanism 61 Steering shaft 62 Steering column 63 Bearing 64 Column cover 65 Nut 100 Steering wheel mounting boss of the present invention

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-58-70029 (JP, A) JP-A 63-85471 (JP, U) JP-A 5-866749 (JP, U) JP-A 63-85 128176 (JP, U) JP 3-109978 (JP, U) JP 61-50072 (JP, U) JP 4-79772 (JP, U) JP 2-35573 (JP, Y2) (58) Investigated field (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B62D 1/04-1/11 B60R 16/02 B60K 31/00

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] An adapter boss used to attach a steering wheel for a vehicle to a steering shaft is provided. The adapter boss is fixed to a steering shaft.
Boss body 10 and the boss body
The boss body 10 is spline-fitted to the steering shaft 61.
And the male of the tip of the steering shaft
Nut storage part 12 for storing nut 65 screwed into screw
And the end of the nut storage section 12 on the steering wheel side
The cover 20 is externally fitted to and fixed to the flange portion 13.
Cylindrical fixed cover 21 and the fixed cover
Slide cover fitted externally so that it can move in the axial direction
22 on the peripheral surface of the slide cover 22.
An adapter boss for mounting a steering wheel, wherein a function switch is mounted .