JP3358345B2 - Fuel tank cap - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fuel tank cap having a novel mechanism mounted on a filler neck of a fuel tank.

[0002] In the present specification, for convenience of explanation, unless otherwise specified, the description will be made on the basis of the case where the engaging convex portion is formed on the filler neck side and moves relatively in the fixed state. It is.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art A fuel tank cap of an automobile is fitted to a filler neck by a screw-in type.
(See Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 63-13169 / 13170)
The fitting (screw-in) of the cap can be completed in about 1.5 rotations. However, in order to ensure the completion of the screw-in, the torque exceeds a certain torque and the knob cover body idles by the ratchet mechanism. And turned until a "click" sound was generated.

[0004]

However, in the case of a cap of the above-mentioned type, a rotating work is required for screwing and loosening the screw when mounting and removing the cap from the filler neck, and such workability is not satisfactory. In particular, when screwing in, it is necessary to rotate until idle, and the number of rotations is large. Further, since the knob cover protrudes from the opening end of the filler neck, it is necessary to provide a storage space for the knob cover in the vehicle body.

In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cap for a fuel tank which has good workability for attachment and detachment to a filler neck and does not require a storage space for a knob cover or the like.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The fuel tank cap of the present invention solves the above problems by the following constitution.

A cap mounted on a filler neck of a fuel tank, the cylindrical seal case having a built-in valve mechanism, and an engaging rotor externally fitted to the seal case so as to be able to bias upward. And an upper plate fitted to the upper end of the engagement rotor. A plurality of pairs of engaging projections and retaining engagement recesses are formed between the inner peripheral surface of the neck and the outer peripheral surface of the engaging rotor. A detachable guide groove is formed sandwiching the concave portion, and a guide engaging concave portion is formed at a position vertically opposed to the retaining engaging concave portion, and the engaging convex portion is attached to and detached from the engaging rotor via an upper plate. Through the guide groove and the guide engagement recess By releasing the pressure to press until engagement, the engaging projection is rotatable derived rotational engagement or detachable guide grooves retainer engaging recess by the spring force,
It is characterized by the following.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

(1) This embodiment is basically a cap mounted on a filler neck 11 of a fuel tank, as shown in FIG. 1, and a cylinder in which a valve mechanism (internal pressure adjusting valve) 15 is built. A seal case 17, an engagement rotor 19 fitted externally in a spring-biasable state for applying a sealing force to the seal case 17, and an upper plate 21 fitted to the upper end of the engagement rotor 19. Become.

(2) The seal case 17 has a seal flange portion 22 which presses against the annular seal seat 12 formed at the bottom of the cap housing enlarged diameter portion 13 of the filler neck 11.

More specifically, a gasket 23 is attached to the back surface of the seal flange portion 22 of the seal case 17, and the upper surface of the seal flange portion 22 is a spring seat for a compression coil spring 25 described later. At the upper end of the seal case 17, a rotor retaining claw 27 is formed partially or entirely.

(3) Between the inner peripheral surface of the filler neck 11 and the outer peripheral surface of the engaging rotor 19, a plurality of pairs of engaging convex portions 31 and retaining engagement concave portions 33 are formed. Recess 33
A detachable guide groove 35 and a detachable guide groove 39 are formed on the formation side surface of the retaining engagement concave portion 33, and a guide engaging concave portion 37 is provided at a position facing the retaining engaging concave portion 33 in the vertical direction. Is formed.

Here, the engaging projections 31 are formed on the inner peripheral surface of the filler neck 11, but may be formed on the outer peripheral surface of the engaging rotor 19 as shown in FIG. In addition, although eight engaging projections 31 are formed in the illustrated example, at least two engaging projections are sufficient.

More specifically, the engagement convex portion 31 is
a and upper and lower hypotenuses 31b and 31c.
In the illustrated example, the base angle is 45 ° and an isosceles right triangle. However, in general, the base angle can be arbitrarily selected within a range of 30 ° to 60 °, and may be an inequilateral triangle.

The retaining engagement concave portion 33 has a concave shape corresponding to the lower vertex (trigger-side vertex) of the triangular shape of the engaging convex portion 31. That is, the retaining engagement concave portion 33 is constituted by the inclined surface 33a that is in sliding contact with the lower oblique side 31c of the engaging convex portion 31 and the vertical surface 33b that is in sliding contact with the bottom 31a of the engaging convex portion 31. The number of the retaining engagement recesses 33 is two from the viewpoint of safety, but may be one.

The attachment / detachment guide groove 35 is for introducing / leading out the engagement projection 31 to / from the guide engagement recess 37. Here, when the cap is positioned and the cap is inserted into the filler neck, it is unnecessary. However, it can be introduced into the detachable guide groove 35 so that it can be introduced into the detachable guide groove 35 regardless of the position where the engaging projection 31 comes. Introduction guide slopes 36, 3 where the upper vertices of the triangle slide.
6A. That is, in the illustrated example, the guide slopes 36 and 36A are formed on both surfaces of the convex inverted triangular portion.

Further, the guide engaging concave portion 37 is provided with the engaging convex portion 31.
The concave shape corresponds to the upper apex corner of the triangle. That is,
The guide engagement concave portion 37 is constituted by a slope 37 a that slides on the upper oblique side 31 b of the engagement protrusion 31 and a vertical surface 37 b that slides on the bottom 31 a of the engagement protrusion 31. In the illustrated example, the guide engagement recess 37 has two retaining engagement recesses 33 for guiding,
Although one for the detachable guide groove 39 is formed, a total of three, but when the retaining engagement recess 33 is one, the total is two.

Here, the opposing inclined surfaces 37a, 33a of the guide engagement recess 37 and the retaining engagement recess 33 are partially overlapped. The engagement projections 31 are automatically and automatically guided sequentially.
This is because it is necessary to relatively move from 7 to the retaining engagement recess 33.

In the illustrated example, the vertical surface 3 of each guide engagement recess 37 is shown.
7b is located at the center of the slope 33a of the retaining engagement recess 33, but the overlap may usually be 1 mm or more.

Although it is not indispensable, the engagement between the retaining engagement concave portion 33 and the detachable guide groove 35A is made in order to smoothly guide the engaging projection 31 into the detachable guide groove 35A. The protruding portion 31 has a guide slope 39 that slides on the lower oblique side 31c.

(4) The compression coil spring 25 has the effect of pressing the seal flange portion 21 of the seal case 17 against the annular seal seat 12 when the cap is mounted on the filler neck 11 and releases the pressing of the engagement rotor 19. When this is done, it is the power for the rotational engagement of the engagement rotor 19.

Specifically, the compression coil spring 25 is interposed between the upper surface of the seal flange portion 22 of the seal case 17 and the upper spring seat flange 20 formed on the inner periphery of the engagement rotor 19.

(5) The upper plate 21 is provided with the engagement rotor 1
9 can be attached to the engaging rotor 19 by fitting an engaging flange 41 and an engaging receiving claw 43 formed at the upper end of the engaging rotor 19. In addition, a vent hole 21a at the time of operating the valve mechanism is formed in the outer peripheral portion of the upper wall of the upper plate 21.

(6) Next, the usage of the above embodiment will be described.

When the cap is inserted and pressed into the filler neck 11, the engaging projection 31 slides on the introduction guide slope 36 of the attachment / detachment guide groove 35 and is introduced into the attachment / detachment guide groove 35. The projection 37 is guided by the inclined surface 37 a of the 37 and the engagement projection 31 is pivotally engaged with the guide engagement recess 37 to be bottomed. When the pressing is released, the engagement rotor 19 moves upward by the spring force, and
3, the engaging projection 31 and the retaining engagement recess 33 are rotationally engaged. (Double-line arrow portion in FIG. 4) Thus, unless the engaging rotor 19 is pressed downward through the upper plate 21 against the spring force, the engaging rotor 19 cannot rotate or move upward, and the cap cannot be removed. It will be attached to the filler neck 11.

Thus, the work of mounting the filler neck is completed only by pressing and inserting the cap. In addition,
When the engagement protrusion 31 is located on the introduction guide slope 36A side, the engagement protrusion 31 is introduced into the detachable guide groove 35 on the right side.

Cap removal: upper plate 21
Is pressed down to the bottom, and then released, the engaging projection 31 engages with the guide engagement recess 35 and engages with the next retaining engagement recess 33 in the same manner as when the cap is attached. Engage. (The part indicated by the solid line arrow in FIG. 4) When the upper plate 21 is again pressed down to the bottom and released, the engaging projection 31 is moved to the next guiding engagement recess 37.
Through the guide guide slope 39 to reach the detachable guide groove 35A. In this state, the engagement rotor 19 can move up and down (free) with respect to the engagement protrusion 31, and the upper plate 21 projects from the opening end of the filler neck 11. (The two-dot chain line in FIG. 1), the upper end of the cap can be grasped and removed by hand.

(7) In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the engaging projection 31 is formed on the engaging rotor 19 side. Basically, the usage mode is the same as that of the embodiment of FIG. 1, except that the operation explanatory view of FIG. Will be done.

[0029]

As described above, the fuel tank cap of the present invention is a cap mounted on the filler neck of the fuel tank, and includes a cylindrical seal case having a built-in valve mechanism, and a seal case. The upper part of the engagement rotor is fitted on the upper end of the engagement rotor, and the seal case is formed at the bottom of the cap fitting enlarged diameter part of the filler neck. A seal flange portion that is pressed against the annular seal seat formed on the inner peripheral surface of the filler neck and the outer peripheral surface of the engaging rotor is formed with a plurality of pairs of engaging convex portions and retaining engagement concave portions, On the formation side surface of the retaining engagement concave portion, a detachable guide groove is formed sandwiching the retaining engaging concave portion, and a guide engaging concave portion is formed at a position facing the vertical direction of the retaining engaging concave portion, Engage rotor with upper plate Then, the engaging convex portion is rotated and pressed until the engaging convex portion is engaged with the guide engaging concave portion via the detachable guide groove, and the pressing is released, whereby the engaging convex portion is rotated by the spring force to the retaining engaging concave portion. The following operations and effects are achieved by the configuration that can be pivotally led out into the engagement or detachable guide groove.

In both mounting and dismounting of the cap, it is possible to repeat the engagement and disengagement of the engagement convex portion and the retaining engagement concave portion only by pressing the cap until it is bottomed and releasing the hand. As described above, there is no need for a rotating operation for screwing in and loosening the screw. Workability for attachment / detachment to / from the filler neck is improved.

Since the cap is attached and detached by pressing, a knob is not required, and the cap can be completely stored in the filler neck when the attachment is completed. Therefore,
A storage space such as a knob cover body is not required.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a mounting mode of a fuel tank cap according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the filler neck in FIG. 1;

3 is a sectional view of the engagement rotor in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the operation of an engagement rotor.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a mounting mode of another embodiment of the fuel tank cap of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Filler neck 13 Cap 15 Valve mechanism 17 Seal case 19 Engagement rotor 21 Upper plate 25 Compression coil spring 31 Engagement convex part 33 Detachable engagement concave part 35, 35A Detachable guide groove 36, 36A Introduction guide slope 37 Guide engagement concave part 39 Derivation guide slope

Continuation of front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65D 51/00 B60K 15/05

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cap attached to a filler neck of a fuel tank, wherein the cap is fitted to a cylindrical seal case having a valve mechanism built therein, and is externally fitted to the seal case in a state capable of being spring-biased upward. A mating rotor, and an upper plate fitted to the upper end of the engaging rotor, wherein the seal case has a seal flange portion which presses against an annular seal seat formed at the bottom of the cap housing enlarged diameter portion of the filler neck. Between the inner peripheral surface of the filler neck and the outer peripheral surface of the engagement rotor,
A plurality of pairs of engaging projections and retaining engagement recesses are formed, and a detachable guide groove is formed on a formation side surface of the retaining engaging recess with the retaining engagement recess interposed therebetween. A guide engaging recess is formed at a position facing the engaging recess in the vertical direction, and the engaging rotor is pressed via the upper plate until the engaging protrusion engages with the guide engaging recess via the detachable guide groove. By releasing the pressing, the engaging convex portion can be pivotally engaged with the retaining engagement concave portion by a spring force or can be pivotally led out to the detachable guide groove, and the engaging convex portion is vertically bottom
A triangular shape consisting of a side and a hypotenuse
The leading guide slope is formed before, and the guide engaging recess is
Concave shape corresponding to the apical corner on the introduction side of the triangle of the engaging convex part
In the above, the retaining engagement concave portion is derived as a triangle of the engagement convex portion.
The concave shape corresponding to the side apex corner, and the guide engagement
The opposite slopes of the concave portion and the retaining engagement concave portion have partial weights respectively.
And further led out between the engagement recess and the attachment / detachment groove.
A fuel tank cap having a guide slope formed thereon . 2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the engaging projection is formed by a filter.
A fuel tank cap formed on the inner peripheral surface of the collar neck . 3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the engaging projection is engaged.
A fuel tank cap formed on an outer peripheral surface of a rotor .