JP3493651B2 - Oil level gauge - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an oil level gauge, and more particularly, when the scale portion passes through a guide pipe portion on the oil pan side, it is prevented as much as possible from contacting the oil adhering to the portion and the measurement is performed. Oil level gauge with improved accuracy.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various ideas and inventions have been proposed for oil level gauges. For example, JP-A-9-96
The level gauge at the lower end of the gauge body to be inserted into the guide tube is a hollow cylindrical see-through tube 554 to eliminate the trouble of having to remove the oil gauge once before measurement and wipe off the oil in the level gauge section. As a member,
There is a vertical slit provided in this to allow oil to enter, and on the other hand, the invention of wiping off the oil adhering to the outer periphery when pulling out with the guide plug provided at the guide tube outlet part and removing the oil adhering to the inside of the tubular member is read. It is disclosed.

Further, a push shaft communicating from the grip portion to the lower end portion is provided in the see-through tubular member without using a slit, and the push button pushed upward by the return spring is pressed down at the grip portion to tip the tip. Open the spherical opening / closing plug 33 of the part, and let the oil enter the tube to slidably lock the push shaft to the float. ) An oil level gauge is disclosed, but it takes time to measure because it has to wait until the oil enters the cylinder, and there is a problem that the residual oil in the cylinder causes a measurement error and the structure becomes complicated. There was a point, and there was doubt about its practicality.

However, basically, by dipping the oil gauge directly into the oil in the oil pan,
There is no change in measuring the viscosity of the oil by visually observing the oil adhering to the tip graduation and the degree of oil contamination, or by touching the oil with a finger.

By the way, the scattered oil is apt to adhere to the oil pan side portion of the guide tube due to the shaking of the oil surface in the oil pan. Furthermore, since the engine room of recent automobiles is occupied by a complicated engine body and a large number of auxiliary machines, and tends to be narrowed, it is extremely difficult to make the guide pipe of the oil level gauge a straight pipe. Since it is formed of a curved pipe, when the oil level gauge is pulled out, it is easy for the guide pipe and the scale to come into contact with each other when the scale passes through the oil pan side part of the guide pipe, and the oil that adheres to this part Sometimes adhered to the scale, and the amount of oil could not be measured accurately.

An object of the present invention is to provide a highly accurate measurement, in which the tip graduation portion does not come into contact with the inner wall of the guide curved pipe even when the main body of the oil level gauge, which is a substantially plate-like elastic body, is inserted and pressed in and pulled out. It is to provide an oil level gauge.

[0007]

According to the present invention, the oil level adhering to the scale portion formed at the tip is inserted through the guide tube provided in the oil pan so as to extend upward and then pulled out to see the oil level. In an oil level gauge that detects the amount of oil in the oil pan, the oil level gauge body that is inserted into the guide tube is made of an elastically deformable member, while the oil level gauge body has a longitudinal direction on the side where the scale is formed. Is provided with a pair of first protrusions (A, A) at a predetermined interval, and one second protrusion is provided at a position between the pair of first protrusions opposite to the side where the first protrusions are formed. An oil level gauge provided with a protrusion (B), wherein the distance from the top of the first protrusion to the top of the second protrusion is set to be larger than the inner diameter of the guide pipe when viewed in the longitudinal direction of the oil level gauge main body (claim. ), The oil level gauge main body and the projection are integrally molded, and the oil level gauge main body and the projection material are made of synthetic resin. An oil level gauge (claim 4) according to claims 1 to 3 is provided, in which the protrusion (3) and the protrusion are formed in a portion near the handle of the oil level gauge body.

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to examples.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 are a side view, a front view and a sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
5, FIG. 6, and FIG. 7 are a side view, a front view, and a sectional view of the main part of another embodiment, respectively. Further, FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the embodiment in which the spacer C is added.

1 to 8, 1 is an oil level gauge, 2 is a guide curved pipe, 2D is a guide curved pipe inner wall, 3 is a guide curved pipe inner curved portion, 4 is a guide curved pipe outer curved portion, and 5 is oil. Level gauge body, 6 is the inner surface of the oil level gauge body, 7 is the outer surface of the oil level gauge body, 9 is the minimum radius of curvature, 11 is the handle, 13 is the collar portion, 15 is the packing, 18 is the tip scale portion, A is A The first protrusion, B is the second protrusion,
C is a spacer, 19 is an oil pan, 20 is a guide curved pipe root, 21 is oil, and 22 is an oil level.

1 to 4, in the curved portion of the oil level gauge main body 5, one (two or more) is possible at the center of the inside of the substantially plate-shaped oil level gauge main body with the minimum radius of curvature as a boundary. The first protrusion B, and a pair of (three or more) first protrusions A, A sandwiching the second protrusion B on the outer side thereof are arranged and fixed in a staggered manner. The distance between the top of the first protrusion and the top of the second protrusion as viewed in the longitudinal direction of the oil level gauge is larger than the inner diameter of the guide curved pipe, but since the protrusion is an elastic body, it shrinks by press fitting. Since there are two primary projections and one secondary projection, it bends a lot toward the secondary projection (or the first projection).
The height of the protrusion may be higher than the height of the second protrusion or the height of the second protrusion may be slightly higher than the height of the first protrusion), and the linear portion of the oil level gauge body is slightly inclined to the right in FIG.
However, the tip of the oil level gauge body does not come into contact with the guide curved pipe.

The reason why the straight portion of the main body of the oil level gauge inclines to the right even if the guide pipe is a straight pipe is basically that there is one pair of protrusions A and A on the scale side and one protrusion B on the back surface side as described above. This is because they are arranged in groups.

In the present invention, when t> d (further, if necessary, h ₁ > h ₂ ORh ₁ <h ₂ ) in FIG. 4, when the oil level gauge main body is inserted and pressed down to the bottom dead center, It is important that this is elastically deformed as shown by the broken line in FIG. 1 so that the tip scale portion is separated from the inner wall of the guide tube.

Here, t is the total thickness of the projections A and B and the thickness of the plate-shaped oil level gauge main body, d is the inner diameter of the guide tube, h ₁ is the initial thickness of the projection A before insertion of the guide tube, h ₂
Is the same initial thickness of the protrusion B.

The reason why the projections A and B are provided near the handle is that the tip scale portion 18 passes near the guide curved tube root portion 20 immediately before insertion is completed (bottom dead center) or when extraction is started. If the projections A and B are provided near the bottom of the handle, only when the tip graduation portion approaches the inner wall of the root portion of the guide tube, the tip graduation portion is separated from the guide curved tube by elastic deformation as shown by the diagonal lines in FIG. , Because the correct amount of oil can be measured.

The same purpose can be achieved by providing a spacer of various shapes with a circular ring near the tip of the oil level gauge main body just above the scale. In this case, the diameter of the spacer may be reduced to maintain the state of FIGS. 1 to 3, or the spacer C may be brought into contact with the inner wall of the guide tube.

The positioning is performed with the insertion bottom dead center (state of FIG. 3) of the oil level gauge main body previously stopped by the collar portion 13 as a standard.

A tip scale portion 18 is provided at the lower end of the main body of the oil level gauge, and the amount of oil in the oil van 19 is measured by visually observing that the oil level 22 is between L and H of the scale portion 18. Check is done. If the oil level is lower than L, immediate replenishment is necessary, while if it is higher than H, excess oil tends to enter the cylinder, resulting in white smoke in the exhaust, increasing the frictional resistance of the engine, and There is dirt inside. During normal operation of the engine, the oil level gauge main body 5 is firmly held by the curved portion of the guide curved pipe in the state of FIG. 3, so the positioning of the tip graduation is accurate, and the oil graduated tip graduation is also used when pulling this out. Since the portion is less likely to contact the inner wall of the curved guide tube, the measurement accuracy is improved compared to the conventional product.

A metal plate such as a steel plate is often used for a plate-shaped oil level gauge main body, but recently, an oil-resistant elastic plastic (elastomer) is also used. Protrusion A,
B may be an injection molded product integrated with the plate-shaped oil level gauge main body, or may be joined by means such as adhesion and / or fitting.

In another embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, the plate-shaped oil gauge itself is plastically worked so as to have the same function as in FIGS.

[0021]

By carrying out the present invention, all of the above objects can be achieved.

That is, the positioning of the tip scale portion of the oil level gauge is accurate, and the tip scale portion of the oil level gauge body rarely touches the inner wall of the guide tube when the guide tube is inserted or pulled out, and the oil pan The amount of oil inside can be measured correctly. Further, if the spacer C is provided directly above the tip graduation portion, the positioning property and the avoidance of contact with the guide curved pipe are further improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of an essential part of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the essential part of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a view taken along the line YY of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the essential parts of another embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a front view of an example of a main part of another example.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the essential parts of another embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of an example in which a spacer C is added.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Oil level gauge 2 Guide curved pipe 2D guide curved pipe inner wall 3 Guide curved tube inner curved part 4 Guide curved pipe outer curved part 5 Oil level gauge body 6 Inside surface of oil level gauge body 7 Oil level gauge body outer surface 9 Minimum radius of curvature 11 handle 13 collar part 15 packing 18 Tip scale part A first protrusion B second protrusion C spacer 19 oil pan 20 Root of guide pipe 21 oil 22 Oil level

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-52-47151 (JP, A) JP-A-58-187814 (JP, A) JP-A-11-64068 (JP, A) JP-A-4- 241714 (JP, A) Actual development 61-26128 (JP, U) Actual development 7-14112 (JP, U) Actual development 4-59420 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01F 23/04 F01M 11/12

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] Claim: What is claimed is: 1. An oil pan in an oil pan is opened by inserting it into a guide tube that opens in the oil pan and extends upward, and then pulling it out to see the oil level adhering to the scale part formed at the tip. In an oil level gauge that detects the amount of oil, the main body of the oil level gauge that is inserted into the guide tube is made of an elastically deformable member, while the oil level gauge main body is provided with a predetermined interval in the longitudinal direction on the side where the scale part is formed. With a pair of first protrusions (A, A) placed,
And a pair of first sides on the side opposite to the side on which the first protrusions are formed.
One second protrusion (B) is provided between the protrusions, and the distance from the top of the first protrusion to the top of the second protrusion when viewed from the longitudinal direction of the oil level gauge body is set to be larger than the inner diameter of the guide pipe. Oil level gauge to be. 2. The oil level gauge according to claim 1, wherein the oil level gauge body and the protrusion are integrally molded. 3. The oil level gauge according to claim 2, wherein the oil level gauge body and the projection material are made of synthetic resin. 4. The oil level gauge according to claim 1, wherein the protrusion is formed on a portion of the oil level gauge body near the handle.