JPH0565007U - Vehicle lighting - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] Improve vehicle lighting to: a. Enable the lens to be secured to the lamp housing without using sealing grooves and hot melt or heat fusion, and b. Allow the protector to adhere to the lamp housing without the use of adhesive. A flange 1b 'is formed on a lamp housing 1', a flange 2b is formed on a lens 2, and both flanges are opposed to and abut against each other. A soft material (heat-melting elastomer) with a shape that sandwiches the outer peripheral portion of the flange.
The protector 14 is molded by.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a vehicular lamp in which a lens is mounted to cover a front opening of a lamp housing and a protector is fixed to the lamp housing.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional example of this type of vehicle lamp. A lens 2 is mounted so as to cover the front opening of the lamp housing 1, and a reflector 3 and a light source bulb 4 are arranged in the lamp housing 1. Reference numeral 5 is a socket of the light source bulb. 6 is a rubber seal covering the rear opening of the lamp housing 1, and 7 is an annular seal retainer. Since the lens 2 is mounted on the lamp housing, a seal groove 1a is formed around the lamp housing 1, and legs 2a are provided around the lens 2. The leg 2a is inserted in the seal groove 1a and is air-tightly and water-tightly adhered by hot melt (shown with spots) which is a thermosoftening adhesive. When this vehicle lamp is mounted in the opening provided in the vehicle body 8, a protector 9 having a flexible and rubber-like elasticity is interposed between the lamp housing 1 and the vehicle body 8. In order to improve the workability of mounting the vehicular lamp on the vehicle body 8, the protector 9 having an annular shape is previously bonded to the flange portion 1b of the lamp housing 1.

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 When the seal groove 1a and the flange-shaped portion 1b are formed in the lamp housing 1, the shape of the lamp housing becomes complicated and injection molding becomes difficult, and the degree of freedom in designing the entire shape of the lamp housing is low. A technique of heat fusion is known as a lens mounting method that does not use a seal groove or hot melt, but there is a problem that cracks are caused by thermal stress.

Further, the operation of attaching the protector 9 to the flange-shaped portion 1b of the lamp housing 1 is difficult to automate, and it takes a lot of time and labor. In addition, the vapor of the solvent emitted from the adhesive is harmful to the human body, resulting in a large connection cost for ventilation and health management.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a vehicular lamp that is easy to automate and can be configured by hand without much time and labor. The purpose is to do.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 The basic principle of the present invention created to achieve the above object is to provide a protector having a shape that mechanically connects the lamp housing and the lens joint. The technique of injection molding using a mold can be applied to the structure of such a protector. As a specific configuration based on the above-described principle, a vehicular lamp according to the present invention includes a lens that covers a front opening of a lamp housing, and a protector that is interposed between the lamp housing and a vehicle body. The protector is a vehicular lamp fixed to a lamp housing, in which a flange formed in the vicinity of the front opening of the lamp housing and a flange formed around the lens face each other, and A seal member made of a soft material is provided so as to wrap the outer peripheral portions of both flanges, and the seal member has a shape capable of functioning as a protector.

[0007]

[Action]

 According to the above construction, since the protector is mechanically connected in the form of wrapping the flange, no gluing work is required, and therefore no health problems regarding the adhesive occur. Further, since this protector mechanically connects the flange of the lamp housing and the flange of the lens, it is not necessary to provide a seal groove in the lamp housing or heat-bond the lamp housing and the lens.

[0008]

【Example】

 FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of one embodiment of the present invention, and shows a state in which a lens 2'is attached to a lamp housing 1 '. The lamp housing 1'is injection-molded with a synthetic resin material (PP or ABS), and a flange 1b 'is integrally connected around the edge of the front opening. The lens 2'is injection-molded with a transparent synthetic resin material (PMMA or PC), and a flange 2b is integrally provided around the periphery thereof. The above-mentioned ready-made lamp housing 1'and lens 2'are sandwiched between a mold (instep) 10 and a mold (external) 11 so that the flanges 1b 'and 2b are brought into contact with each other. .. 12 is a parting line. The mold (instep) 10 is formed with a cavity 13 that encloses the flange 1b 'and the flange 2b. The protector 14 is molded by injecting a heat-melting elastomer as a soft material into the cavity 13. If the heat-melting elastomer is cooled to construct a synthetic rubber protector 14 so that FIG. 1 can be easily understood, the protector 14 is attached to the lamp housing 1 ′ without any additional bonding operation. It is fixed against. Further, this protector 14 sandwiches the flange 1b 'of the lamp housing and the flange 2b of the lens and fixes them to each other. Therefore, since it is not necessary to provide the seal groove 1a as in the conventional example shown in FIG. 2, there is a large degree of design freedom regarding the overall shape of the lamp housing, and no manual bonding operation is required, so automation is performed. Suitable for Further, there is no possibility of causing troubles regarding the health management of workers in the bonding operation.

[0009]

[Effect of the device]

 According to the vehicular lamp of the present invention, the lens is mounted and fixed without providing the seal groove in the lamp housing, so that a problem caused by the seal groove (the shape of the lamp housing becomes complicated and injection molding is difficult). , The degree of freedom in design of the entire lamp housing is restricted). Further, since it is not necessary to heat-bond the lamp housing and the lens to each other, a defect (crack due to thermal stress) due to the heat-fusion is prevented. Furthermore, since the protector is fixed to the lamp housing without bonding the protector to the lamp housing, problems associated with bonding (health care for workers and long bonding time) can be prevented.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a method of constructing a vehicular lamp according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a protector and a seal groove in a conventional vehicle lamp.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 1 '... Lamp housing, 1a ... Seal groove, 1b,
1b '... Flange, 2 ... Lens, 2b ... Flange, 3 ...
Reflector, 4 ... Light source bulb, 5 ... Socket, 6 ... Seal, 7 ... Seal retainer, 8 ... Car body, 9 ... Protector, 10
... Mold (instep), 11 ... Mold (B), 12 ... Parting line, 13 ... Cavity, 14 ... Protector.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A vehicle lamp comprising: a lens that covers a front opening of a lamp housing; and a protector interposed between the lamp housing and a vehicle body, wherein the protector is fixed to the lamp housing. A flange formed in the vicinity of the front opening of the lamp housing and a flange formed around the lens face each other, and are made of a soft material that encloses the outer peripheral portions of both flanges. A vehicular lamp comprising a seal member, and the seal member having a shape capable of functioning as a protector.