JP3828509B2 - Ashtray storage device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an improvement in an ashtray storage device attached to an instrument panel (hereinafter abbreviated as instrument panel) of a vehicle. The instrument panel includes a center console.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, the improvement technique of the ashtray attached to an instrument panel is proposed (for example, refer patent document 1).
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
Utility Model Registration No. 2599095 (FIG. 5)
[0004]
FIG. 10 is a reproduction of FIG. 5 of Patent Document 1. The ashtray 20 is accommodated in the housing 11, and when the ashtray 20 is pulled to the right in the figure, the ashtray 20 is brought about by the damper 17, the fan-shaped gear, the arm 15, and the like. A structure is shown that can reduce the moving speed of and improve the ease of use during loading and unloading.
[0005]
However, since the ashtray 20 is a drawer type, there is a problem that the ashtray 20 protrudes into the room during use and the space in front of the front seat is narrowed.
[0006]
Next, an improved ashtray storage device that can eliminate this problem will be described.
11 (a) and 11 (b) are principle diagrams of a conventional improved ashtray storage device.
(A) is sectional drawing at the time of non-use of an ashtray, and shows that the opening / closing lid 101 is provided in the instrument panel 100, and the ashtray 102 is disposed in the back of the opening / closing lid 101. The ashtray 102 includes a lid 103. The lid 103 is indispensable because it serves to erase butts that have been forgotten to be erased on the same principle as a fire extinguisher.
[0007]
(B) is a cross-sectional view when the ashtray is used, and the open / close lid 101 is opened as indicated by the arrow (2), and then the lid 103 is opened as indicated by the arrow (3) to make the ashtray 102 usable.
Since the ashtray 102 is in the instrument panel 100 and the opening / closing lid 101 does not protrude outside the instrument panel 100, there is no concern that the indoor space will be narrowed.
[0008]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the lid 103 is opened after the opening / closing lid 101 is opened. Alternatively, a two-stage operation of closing the lid 103 and then closing the open / close lid 101 is essential.
Needless to say, if the lid 103 automatically opens and closes in conjunction with the opening and closing lid 101, the usability is improved.
[0009]
However, if the lid 101 is simply mechanically connected to the lid 103, it is necessary to release the mechanical connection such as removing screws and bolts when removing the ashtray 102 for cleaning. It is necessary to provide it.
Since this type of device dislikes a complicated mechanism from the viewpoint of price and maintenance, an ashtray storage device in which the open / close lid 101 and the lid 103 are interlocked and the ashtray 102 can be easily detached has not been put into practical use. Conceivable.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The inventors have conducted research to create an ashtray storage device that can interlock the instrument panel opening / closing lid and the ashtray-side lid, and can easily remove the ashtray. The device was successfully completed.
[0011]
Specifically, according to the first aspect of the present invention, an open / close lid is attached to a housing that houses an ashtray having a lid that opens and closes up and down and is biased toward the open side by a spring. In the ashtray storage device, which almost follows the surface and can be guided so that most of it enters the instrument panel in the open position.
A pair of cams for holding the lid in the closed position when the open / close lid is in the closed position on the lower surface of the open / close lid and the upper surface of the lid;
A first shaft that rotatably supports the main lever is provided on the side wall of the housing, a second shaft that swingably supports the open / close lid is provided on the main lever, and an arm extends from the open / close lid along the side wall of the housing. Fit the tip of the arm into the cam groove provided on the side wall of the housing,
The cam groove is a curved cam groove that controls the posture of the opening / closing lid that swings about the second axis.
[0012]
When the open / close lid is in the closed position, the lid of the ashtray keeps the closed position with a pair of cams.
When the open / close lid reaches the open position, the cam pressing action disappears and the ashtray lid is in the open position. As a result, the lid of the ashtray opens and closes completely in conjunction with the open / close lid and does not need to be operated by a person.
[0013]
The opening / closing lid and the lid are not mechanically connected. That is, the opening / closing lid and the ashtray side are not mechanically connected. For this reason, when the opening / closing lid is in the open position, the ashtray can be easily taken out from the housing.
[0014]
A main lever is attached to the first shaft on the housing side, a second shaft is provided on the main lever, and an opening / closing lid is swingably attached to the second shaft, and the posture of the opening / closing lid is controlled by a curved cam groove. Therefore, the open / close lid can be guided so as to substantially follow the surface of the instrument panel in the closed position and to enter most of the instrument panel in the open position.
[0015]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawings are viewed in the direction of the reference numerals.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ashtray storage device according to the present invention when the open / close lid is open. The ashtray storage device 10 detachably stores an ashtray 13 having a lid 12 in a housing 11 whose upper surface is open. A cigarette lighter (cigarette lighter) 14 is provided beside the ashtray 13, and an opening / closing lid 15 is attached to the housing 11 so as to be freely opened and closed.
[0016]
2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1, and the ashtray storage device 10 can be attached to the instrument panel 16. The surface of the instrument panel 16 may be the surface of the center console.
The ashtray 13 is a container whose upper opening can be closed with the lid 12 and can be swung up and down by a hinge 17 at the back. The torsion spring 18 always biases the lid 12 in the opening direction. An upward cam 19 is provided on the upper surface of the lid 12, and the upward cam 19 is opened until it hits the lower surface of the opening / closing lid 15 (downward cam 21).
[0017]
In order to process the butts, the ashtray 13 is picked up with the thumb 23 and the ring finger or little finger 24 while pressing the lid 12 with the index finger or the middle finger 22 and taken out / attached as indicated by the arrow. Reference numeral 25 denotes a finger-hanging surface on which a fine concavo-convex pattern is formed to prevent slipping, and a pair is provided together with the back surface of the drawing.
[0018]
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the ashtray storage device according to the present invention when the opening / closing lid is closed, and shows that the upper opening of the housing 11 is closed by the opening / closing lid 15.
[0019]
FIG. 4 is a view taken in the direction of arrow 4 in FIG. 3 (left side view of the ashtray storage device). FIG. 5 will be described first to facilitate understanding.
FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the main part of the ashtray storage device according to the present invention. A first shaft seat 28 for constituting the first shaft is provided on the left side wall 27 of the housing 11, and this first shaft is used. An arc gear 31, a curved cam groove 32, and a heart-shaped cam groove 33 are provided on the left side, right side, and lower side of the seat 28 so as to surround the first shaft seat 28, respectively.
[0020]
Then, the plate-like main lever 34 is rotatably fixed to the first shaft seat 28 with a screw 35, a rotary damper 36 is provided at one end of the main lever 34, and a gear 37 of the rotary damper 36 is indicated by an imaginary line. Thus, the second gear hole 38 is formed on the other end of the main lever 34, and the opening / closing lid 15 is hooked on the second shaft hole 38.
[0021]
The rotary damper 36 is a simple structure in which a friction plate is housed in a container filled with a viscous fluid such as grease, and a gear 37 is attached to a shaft extending from the friction plate. An appropriate resistance force is applied to the rotation of the main lever 34, and the action of making the movement of the opening / closing lid 15 gentle can be exhibited.
[0022]
The arm 39 extends from the opening / closing lid 15 along the side wall 27, and the first guide pin 41 provided on the arm 39 is fitted into the curved cam groove 32. On the other hand, one end of the locking lever 42 is hooked on the lower part of the arm 39, and the second guide pin 43 provided on the other end of the locking lever 42 is fitted into the heart-shaped cam groove 33.
The thin guide plate 44 is covered so that the second guide pin 43 of the locking lever 42 does not come off from the heart-shaped cam groove 43.
[0023]
Returning to FIG. 3, the right side is also provided with a rotary damper 36R (R is a subscript indicating the right; the same applies hereinafter), and a main lever 34R that is rotatably fixed to the right side wall 27R by a screw 35R is provided. An arc gear and a curved cam groove are provided below (shaded) the main lever 34R. That is, since the opening / closing lid 15 is connected to the housing 11 by a pair of left and right main levers, it can be opened and closed sufficiently smoothly.
[0024]
Returning to FIG. 4, the main lever 34 is fixed to the side wall 27 of the housing 11 with a screw 35, and the opening / closing lid 15 is fixed to the main lever 34 so as to be swingable around the second shaft hole 38. 27 shows that the first guide pin 41 at the tip of the arm 39 extending along the arm 27 is fitted in the curved cam groove 32.
The center of the screw 35 relating to the first axis is hereinafter referred to as “first axis 45”, and the center of the secondary shaft hole 38 is hereinafter referred to as “second axis 46”.
[0025]
The operation of the ashtray storage device 10 having the above configuration will be described below.
6A and 6B are operation explanatory views (when fully closed) of the ashtray storage device of the present invention, in which FIG. 6A is a left side view and FIG. 6B is a cross-sectional view.
In (a), the open / close lid 15 follows the instrument panel 16 because it is fully closed. That is, the open / close lid 15 when fully closed is flush with the outer surface of the instrument panel 16.
In order to help understanding of the operation, description will be made using a broken line mark 47 and a T-shaped mark 48.
[0026]
The length of the broken line mark 47 extending from the first axis 45 to the second axis 46 does not change thereafter. That is, the second shaft 46 rotates along a circle drawn with the length of the broken line mark 47 as a radius.
On the other hand, since the arm 39 is integrally fixed to the opening / closing lid 15, the shape of the T-shaped mark 48 spanned between the opening / closing lid 15 and the arm 39 does not change. Therefore, thereafter, only the angle θ formed by the broken line mark 47 and the T-shaped mark 48 changes, and the change in the angle θ appears as a swing of the opening / closing lid 15.
[0027]
Further, the second guide pin 43 of the locking lever 42 is fitted into the V-shaped lock portion 48 of the heart-shaped cam groove 33. Therefore, the open / close lid 15 does not open to the upper right in the figure.
[0028]
In (b), the lid 12 of the ashtray 13 tries to rotate counterclockwise around the hinge 17. However, since the downward cam 21 of the opening / closing lid 15 presses the upward cam 19 of the lid 12, there is no fear of the lid 12 being opened, and the lid 12 can be kept fully closed.
[0029]
FIGS. 7A and 7B are operation explanatory views (at the time of opening operation) of the ashtray storage device of the present invention, in which FIG. 7A is a left side view and FIG.
In (a), to open the opening / closing lid 15, the lower part of the opening / closing lid 15 is pushed with the index finger or the middle finger 22. Then, the arm 39 is rotated while being rotated clockwise, and the locking lever 42 is moved to the upper left in the figure. As a result, the second guide pin 43 is detached from the V-shaped lock portion 48. If the finger 22 is loosened in this state, the second guide pin 43 moves in the heart-shaped cam groove 33 as shown by the arrow (1).
[0030]
In (b), the shapes of the cams 19 and 21 are determined so that the downward cam 21 moves along the upward cam 19. Therefore, the opening / closing lid 15 can be further rotated clockwise from the fully closed position.
[0031]
FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory view (an intermediate view from closing to opening) of the ashtray storage device of the present invention, (a) is a left side view, and (b) is a sectional view.
In (a), the main lever 34 is urged counterclockwise by a spring (not shown). Then, the first guide pin 41 rises along the curved cam groove 32. In conjunction with this, the broken line mark 47 rotates counterclockwise around the first shaft 45. As a result, the opening / closing lid 15 becomes substantially horizontal, and the angle θ1 formed by the broken line mark 47 and the T-shaped mark 48 increases.
In (b), the lid 12 of the ashtray 13 is opened together with the opening / closing lid 15.
[0032]
FIG. 9 is an operation explanatory view (when fully opened) of the ashtray storage device of the present invention, (a) is a left side view, and (b) is a cross-sectional view.
(A) shows that the opening / closing lid 15 is fully opened. Since the opening / closing lid 15 is moved almost horizontally from the state (see FIG. 8A) to the left in the figure, the opening of the instrument panel 16 can be made small. As a result, the appearance of the instrument panel 16 can be improved.
[0033]
(B) is sectional drawing similar to FIG. As indicated by the arrows in FIG. 2, the ashtray 13 can be detached from the housing 11.
[0034]
The operation of returning the opening / closing lid 15 from fully open to fully closed is as shown in FIGS. 9, 8, 7, and 6 except that the second guide pin 43 passes through the lower groove of the heart-shaped cam groove 33. Since it changes and returns to full closure, detailed description is abbreviate | omitted.
[0035]
As described above, in the ashtray storage device 10 of the present invention, the user of the ashtray simply releases the open / close lid 15 with the finger 22 (see FIG. 7) to release the fully closed lock and release the finger 22. Thus, the opening / closing lid 15 and the lid 12 can be opened. In other words, the two-step operation of manually opening the lid and then manually opening the lid is no longer necessary.
[0036]
In this embodiment, the upward cam 19 and the downward cam 21 constitute a pair of cams. However, one of the cams can be a groove and the other can be a protruding cam. The present invention is not limited to this embodiment.
Further, although the spring for opening the lid 12 is a torsion spring in the embodiment, it may be a compression spring or a tension spring, and the type of the spring is arbitrary.
[0037]
Furthermore, in the embodiment, it was possible to improve the appearance of the instrument panel by storing the cigarette lighter in the housing and covering with a lid. However, the cigarette lighter can be placed outside the housing.
[0038]
【The invention's effect】
The present invention exhibits the following effects by the above configuration.
According to claim 1, when the open / close lid is in the closed position, the lid of the ashtray can be kept in the closed position with a pair of cams, and when the open / close lid reaches the open position, the pressing action of the cam disappears, The ashtray lid can be in the open position.
As a result, the ashtray lid opens and closes completely in conjunction with the open / close lid, eliminating the need for human operation. That is, the ashtray can be used by opening the open / close lid.
[0039]
The opening / closing lid and the lid are not mechanically connected. That is, the opening / closing lid and the ashtray side are not mechanically connected. For this reason, when the opening / closing lid is in the open position, the ashtray can be easily taken out from the housing.
[0040]
A main lever is attached to the first shaft on the housing side, a second shaft is provided on the main lever, and an opening / closing lid is swingably attached to the second shaft, and the posture of the opening / closing lid is controlled by a curved cam groove. Therefore, the open / close lid can be guided so as to substantially follow the surface of the instrument panel in the closed position and to enter most of the instrument panel in the open position.
As a result, the opening provided in the instrument panel can be made compact, and the appearance of the instrument panel can be improved.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ashtray storage device according to the present invention when the open / close lid is open. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the ashtray storage device shown in FIG. 4 (a left side view of the ashtray storage device).
FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the main part of the ashtray storage device according to the present invention. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the ashtray storage device of the present invention (when fully closed).
FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory diagram of the ashtray storage device of the present invention (when opening).
FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the ashtray storage device of the present invention (an intermediate view from closing to opening).
FIG. 9 is an operation explanatory diagram of the ashtray storage device of the present invention (when fully opened).
FIG. 10 is a reprint of FIG. 5 of Patent Document 1. FIG. 11 is a principle diagram of a conventional improved ashtray storage device.
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Ashtray storage device, 11 ... Housing, 12 ... Lid, 13 ... Ashtray, 14 ... Cigar lighter, 15 ... Opening / closing lid, 16 ... Instrument panel, 17 ... Hinge, 18 ... Torsion spring (spring), 19 ... Upward cam, 21 ... downward cam, 27 ... side wall, 32 ... curved cam groove, 33 ... heart-shaped cam groove, 34 ... main lever, 36 ... rotary damper, 39 ... arm, 41 ... first guide pin, 42 ... locking lever, 43 ... 2nd guide pin, 45 ... 1st axis | shaft, 46 ... 2nd axis | shaft.

Claims (1)

An open / close lid is attached to a housing that houses an ashtray with a lid that opens and closes up and down and is biased to the open side by a spring. The open / close lid closely follows the surface of the instrument panel in the closed position, and in the instrument panel in the open position. In an ashtray storage device that can guide most of the
A pair of cams for holding the lid in the closed position when the open / close lid is in the closed position on the lower surface of the open / close lid and the upper surface of the lid;
A first shaft that rotatably supports the main lever is provided on the side wall of the housing, and a second shaft that swingably supports the open / close lid is provided on the main lever, and an arm extends from the open / close lid along the side wall of the housing. Fit the tip of the arm into the cam groove provided on the side wall of the housing,
An ashtray storage device characterized in that the cam groove is a curved cam groove for controlling the attitude of an opening / closing lid that swings about the second axis.

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