JP4799920B2 - Instrument guidelines - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a pointer for an instrument used for an instrument of a vehicle such as an automobile.

  A vehicle such as an automobile is equipped with an analog-type instrument that indicates the travel speed of the vehicle, the engine speed, and the like with a pointer (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the instrument pointer 1 disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a cap 2 and a pointer main body 3 assembled to the cap 2. The pointer main body 3 includes a base portion 4 covered with the cap 2 and an instruction portion 5 extending to the outside of the cap 2. The cap 2 is provided with a pointer rod 7 into which a pointer shaft 6 that is rotationally driven by a movement (not shown) is press-fitted, and the pointer 1 rotates around the pointer shaft 6.

  The indicator 5 of the pointer main body 3 extends along a radial direction around the pointer shaft 6. For this reason, the weight 8 is arranged on the opposite side of the indicating portion 5 with the pointer shaft 6 sandwiched so that the center of gravity of the pointer 1 is located on the pointer shaft 6, and a balance is obtained when the pointer 1 rotates.

  Conventionally, a metal piece is used for the weight, and for example, the weight is attached to the gap between the ceiling wall of the cap 2 and the base 4 of the pointer main body 3. However, since an error may occur in the attachment position of the metal piece and the balance of the pointer 1 as a whole may be out of balance, the weight 8 is formed integrally with the cap 2 in Patent Document 1.

  In order to improve nighttime visibility, for example, in the pointer 1, the pointer main body 3 is formed of a translucent material, and the light incident on the base 4 of the pointer main body 3 is guided to the instruction section 5, and the instruction section The thing which made 5 shine is known.

  In the pointer that the indicator unit shines, usually the hot stamp is applied to the back surface of the indicator unit (that is, the surface opposite to the surface facing the viewer and indicated by reference numeral 5a in the indicator unit 5 of the pointer 1). A colored layer is formed. The light guided to the indication unit is reflected by the colored layer, whereby the indicator unit shines in the color of the colored layer and the design of the pointer is enhanced, and the surface of the indication unit (that is, facing the viewer). And the amount of light emitted from the indication portion 5 of the pointer 1 indicated by reference numeral 5b) is increased, and the visibility of the indication portion is increased.

JP-A-9-89600

  In the pointer 1 disclosed in Patent Document 1, a weight 8 for balancing the entire pointer 1 is formed integrally with a cap 2 instead of a conventional metal piece. For this reason, it is easy to unify the materials of the parts constituting the pointer 1 and is excellent in recyclability.

  However, when a colored layer is formed by hot stamping on the back surface 5a of the indicating unit 5 as described above so that the indicating unit 5 of the indicating unit main body 3 shines, a different material is fixed to the indicating unit main body 3. Separation of the colored layer from the pointer main body 3 is required, and thus recyclability is reduced. And the material cost of the foil used for a hot stamp, and the processing cost of a hot stamp increase, and cost will increase.

  This invention is made | formed in view of the situation mentioned above, The objective is to provide the indicator for instruments which is excellent in visibility, is low-cost, and is excellent in recyclability.

The above object is achieved by the instrument guidelines described in the following (1) or (2) according to the present invention.

(1) A light-shielding cap, a translucent pointer main body having a base portion covered by the cap and an instruction portion extending outside the cap, and disposed below the base portion of the pointer main body A light guide that is incident on the back surface of the base portion from the light source is guided to the indicator portion of the pointer body and the indicator portion shines, wherein the cap and the pointer body are made of a synthetic resin material. And a light reflection processing area subjected to light reflection processing for scattering light and a groove or a ridge surrounding the light reflection processing area are provided on the back surface of the indication portion of the pointer main body. The instrument guidelines.

( 2 ) The instrument pointer as described in ( 1 ) above, wherein the light reflecting process is a textured process.

According to the instrument pointer described in (1) above, the light guided to the indicator portion of the pointer main body is reflected by the light reflection processing area on the back surface of the indicator portion, and the amount of light emitted from the indicator portion surface increases. The surface brightness is improved. Thereby, the visibility of an instruction | indication part can be improved.
Along with this, it is possible to omit the colored layer on the back surface of the indication unit, which has been necessary in the past, and to cut the material cost and processing cost for forming the colored layer and to reduce the cost of the pointer, It is possible to improve the recyclability of the pointer by eliminating the step of separating the colored layer from the pointer body during recycling.

Further, since the provided grooves or ridges surrounding the light reflection processing region, the contour of the indicator can stand out, it is possible to enhance the visibility of the indicator.

Further, to form a cap and pointer main body of a synthetic resin material, since the unified part of the material of the pointer, it is possible to enhance the recyclability of the pointer.

According to the instrument guideline described in ( 2 ) above, the back surface of the pointing unit can be made a light reflecting surface by a pattern (random irregularities) formed by embossing.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the pointer for instruments which is excellent in visibility, is low-cost, and is excellent in recyclability can be provided.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  1 is a perspective view of an instrument pointer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the instrument pointer shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the instrument pointer 11 of the present embodiment includes a cap 12 and a pointer main body 13 assembled to the cap 12.

  The cap 12 is a light-shielding member and is integrally formed of an opaque synthetic resin. Examples of the synthetic resin material that forms the cap 12 include Duracon, ABS, and polycarbonate.

  The cap 12 includes a substantially cylindrical peripheral wall 21 and a ceiling wall 22 that closes an upper opening of the peripheral wall 21. In the center of the ceiling wall 22, a pointer rod 17 is provided so as to be coaxial with the peripheral wall 21, and a pointer shaft 16 that is rotationally driven by a movement (not shown) is press-fitted into the pointer rod 17. The peripheral wall 21 is provided with a notch 23 for extending an instruction portion 15 of a pointer main body 13 to be described later to the outside of the cap 12.

  The pointer main body 13 is a prism member having translucency, and is integrally formed of a transparent or translucent synthetic resin. Examples of the synthetic resin material forming the pointer main body 13 include acrylic and polycarbonate.

  The pointer main body 13 includes a base portion 14 covered with a cap 12 and an instruction portion 15 extending to the outside of the cap 12. A through hole 24 is formed in the central portion of the base portion 14, and the cap 12 is put on the base portion 14 by inserting the pointer rod 17 through the through hole 24. The instruction portion 15 extends from the base portion 14 along the radial direction around the pointer shaft 16, and extends to the outside of the cap 12 through a notch 23 of the cap 12 covering the base portion 14.

  Since the indicator 15 extends along the radial direction around the pointer shaft 16, a cap is placed on the opposite side of the indicator 15 with the pointer shaft 16 sandwiched so that the center of gravity of the pointer 11 is located on the pointer shaft 16. A weight portion 18 is formed by forming a part of the 12 peripheral walls 21 thick. Thereby, a balance is obtained when the pointer 11 rotates around the pointer shaft 16.

  The indicator 15 is formed so as to gradually become thinner from the base end connected to the base 14 toward the tip. And the reflective surface 25 inclined so that the light which injected into the said base end part may be reflected toward a front-end | tip part in the base end part of the instruction | indication part 15 is formed.

  The back surface 15a of the instruction unit 15 is subjected to a graining process that is a light reflection process that is visible over almost the entire surface, thereby forming irregularities. Further, as shown in FIG. 3 (A) or (B), a concave groove 26 or a ridge 27 surrounding the outer periphery of the embossed area A of the back surface 15a is provided on the back surface 15a of the instruction section 15. The depth of the concave groove 26 and the height of the ridge 27 are both sufficiently larger than the depth (height) of the unevenness formed by embossing.

  In the pointer 11 configured as described above, a light source (not shown) such as an LED is disposed below the base end portion of the pointing unit 15, and light emitted from the light source is incident from the back surface of the base portion 14. The reflected light is reflected toward the distal end of the indicator 15 by the reflecting surface 25 at the base end of the indicator 15, and the indicator 15 shines upon receiving this light.

  Here, the light guided to the instruction unit 15 is diffused and diffusely reflected in the embossed area A on the back surface 15a of the instruction unit 15, and the amount of light emitted from the front surface 15b of the instruction unit 15 increases and the entire instruction unit 15 increases. Uniformly shines. Thereby, the visibility of the instruction unit 15 is improved. Furthermore, the contour of the indicator 15 is conspicuous by the concave grooves 26 or the ridges 27 provided on the back surface 15a of the indicator 15 so as to surround the outer periphery of the textured area A, and the visibility of the indicator 15 is further improved.

  Further, in the above-described pointer 11, the concave groove 26 or the ridge 27 is provided on the back surface 15a of the indicating portion 15, but the one shown in FIG. 3 (C) or (D) is concave on the front surface 15b of the indicating portion 15. Grooves 28 or ridges 29 are provided, and these concave grooves 28 or ridges 29 surround the outer periphery of the textured area A of the back surface 15a in plan view. Even in this case, the bright outline of the instruction unit 15 stands out, and the visibility of the instruction unit 15 is further improved.

  Further, when the synthetic resin material forming the cap 12 and the pointer main body 13 is unified with, for example, polycarbonate, the recyclability of the pointer 11 is improved. In this case, the cap 12 is made of polycarbonate that is colored, for example, black using a colorant, and the pointer main body 13 is made of ordinary transparent polycarbonate.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, A deformation | transformation, improvement, etc. are possible suitably. In addition, the material, shape, dimension, numerical value, form, number, arrangement location, and the like of each component in the above-described embodiment are arbitrary and not limited as long as the present invention can be achieved.

  For example, the light reflecting process is not limited to the textured process, but as shown in FIG. .

  In addition, the present invention can be applied to instrument pointers other than the above-described rotation type, such as a slide type pointer, and the same effect can be obtained.

It is a perspective view of the pointer for instruments which is one embodiment of the present invention. It is sectional drawing of the pointer for instruments shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG. 2. The other example of light reflection processing is shown, (A) is sectional drawing of the pointer for instruments, (B) is sectional drawing of the instruction | indication part of a pointer main body. It is a perspective view of the conventional pointer for instruments. It is sectional drawing of the pointer for instruments shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

11 Indicator Point 12 Cap 13 Pointer Body 14 Base 15 Pointer 15a Backside of Pointer 26 Groove 27 Convex

Claims (2)

A light-shielding cap, and a light-transmitting pointer main body having a base portion covered with the cap and an indicator extending outside the cap,
An instrument pointer in which light incident on the back surface of the base from a light source disposed below the base of the pointer main body is guided to the indicator of the pointer main body and the indicator shines,
The cap and the pointer body are made of a synthetic resin material,
The back surface of the pointing portion of the pointer main body is provided with a light reflection processing area subjected to light reflection processing for scattering light, and a concave groove or a ridge surrounding the light reflection processing area. Instrument guidelines. The instrument pointer according to claim 1 , wherein the light reflecting process is a textured process.

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