JPH0590704U - Optical axis adjustment device for automotive lighting - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] (Modified) [Purpose] A bracket is fixed to a movable body that is tiltably supported with respect to a fixed body (lamp housing or vehicle body) of a vehicle lamp, and an elastic piece is inserted into a hole of the bracket. By inserting a screw mounting having, and improving the optical axis adjusting device screwing the adjusting screw into the screw mounting, to facilitate the assembly work, and,
Eliminate backlash. [Structure] A screw mounting 9 is provided with a tubular portion 9a into which an adjusting screw 6 is inserted and screwed, a groove-shaped notch 9b is formed in the tubular portion 9a, and the tubular portion is provided with a vertical direction. A groove-shaped notch 9b is provided. The adjusting screw 6 tries to push out the screw mounting 9, but since the outer periphery is constrained, the elastic pieces 9c-9
f is pressed closely against the hole 7b.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to an optical axis adjusting device provided in, for example, a vehicle headlight or a fog lamp.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 FIG. 5 is a two-sided view showing a vehicle headlamp equipped with a conventional optical axis adjusting device, in which (A) is a front view and (B) is a sectional side view. A front lens 2 is fixed to a lamp housing 1 which is a fixed body. A reflector 4, which is a movable body, is tiltably supported by the ball joint 3 with respect to the lamp housing 1. In order to adjust the optical axis (arrow Z) of this lamp, a nut member 5 called screw mounting is attached to the reflector 4 and an adjusting screw 6 is screwed onto the screw mounting. In FIG. 4 (B), when the adjusting screw 6 is turned, the screw mounting screw-feeds in the left-right direction in the figure, and the optical axis (arrow Z) is tilted up and down. In the above-mentioned screw feed type optical axis adjusting device, in order to prevent looseness in the mounting structure of the reflector 4 and the screw mounting 5, which are movable bodies, and to prevent the screw mounting 5 from rotating together. The idea (hereinafter referred to as the invention of the prior application) relating to Kaihei 1-158336 has been made. In this device, a bracket 7 is fixed to the reflector 4 and a circular hole 7a is provided in the bracket 7 as shown in FIG. 6, and a screw mounting 8 is inserted into the circular hole 7 as shown by an arrow a. The screw mounting 8 is provided with a screw hole 8b, and the adjusting screw 6 is inserted and screwed as shown by an arrow b. FIG. 7 (A) is a sectional view showing a state in which the adjusting screw 6 is screwed into the screw hole 8b, and FIG. 7 (B) is a perspective view of the screw mounting 8 as a single item. As shown in this figure (B), the screw mounting 8 according to the invention of the prior application has a thick plate-shaped body portion 8a provided with screw holes 8b and a plurality of (four in this example) elastic pieces 8c, 8d, 8e. , 8f are formed integrally with the body portion 8a by a synthetic resin material. According to this configuration, as shown in FIG. 7A, these elastic pieces are in close contact with the circular hole 7a to prevent backlash, and as shown in FIG. The outer shape does not rotate about the center line of the screw hole 8b because it is not a rotating body.

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

In the optical axis adjusting device according to the above-mentioned prior application, in comparison with the inner diameter dimension r ₁ of the circular hole 7a shown in FIG. 7A, the outer diameter dimension of the screw mounting 8 shown in FIG. It is difficult to increase r ₂ . The reason is that if r ₁ <r ₂ , the insertion work shown by the arrow a in FIG. 6 is difficult. Therefore, r ₁ ≈r ₂ in an actual industrial product. Actually, since a processing error at the time of production is included, some of r ₁ > r ₂ will also occur. For this reason, the backlash prevention function is incomplete, and this causes early wear and a problem in vibration resistance and impact resistance. Further, in the assembling work, after the screw mounting 8 is inserted into the circular hole 7a as shown by the arrow a in FIG. 6 and before the adjusting screw 6 is screwed as shown by the arrow b, the screw mounting 8 is formed into the circular hole. There is a problem that it slips out of 7a.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an improvement is made to the optical axis adjusting device according to the invention of the above-mentioned prior application to completely prevent backlash, and the assembling work is easy, and the assembling work is easy. It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical axis adjusting device in which there is no risk that the screw mounting will come out of the mounting hole on the way.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 The configuration of the optical axis adjusting device according to the present invention for achieving the above-mentioned object will be briefly described with reference to FIG. 2 corresponding to the first embodiment. In the screw mounting of the present invention, an adjusting screw is inserted and screwed. It has a cylindrical portion 9a to be fitted. A female screw (not shown) may be provided on the inner surface thereof, and a male screw may be screwed in and the screw thread may be engaged with the inner surface of the cylindrical portion 9a to be screwed. A plurality of (four in this example) elastic pieces 9c to 9f are integrally formed of a synthetic resin material on the tubular portion 9a. Reference numeral 4 denotes a reflector, to which a bracket 7 is fixed. The components described above with reference to FIG. 2 are similar to the invention of the prior application shown in FIG. The screw mounting 9 (FIG. 2) of the present invention is characterized in that the tubular portion 9a is provided with a vertical groove-shaped cutout 9b.

[0006]

[Action]

Since the above-mentioned groove-shaped notch 9b is provided, when the pressing force of the arrows P and P'shown in FIG. 2 is applied by pinching with a fingertip, the groove-shaped notch 9b is deformed so that the groove width becomes narrow. Then, the diameter r ₃ of the cylindrical surface formed by the four elastic pieces 9c to 9f is reduced. In this way, the outer diameter is reduced, and it is inserted into the hole 7b having a cylindrical surface, and when the fingertip is released, it is elastically restored and adheres without play. For this reason, there is no risk of slipping out during the assembly work.

[0007]

【Example】

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of essential parts in an embodiment of the optical axis adjusting device according to the present invention. The screw mounting 9 of this example is made of a synthetic resin material by integrally connecting four elastic pieces 9c to 9f to a tubular portion 9a through which an adjusting screw is inserted and screwed as described later with reference to FIG. It is injection molded. The outer circumference of the elastic piece is along a cylindrical surface having a diameter r ₃ . Further, two groove-shaped notches 9b are provided substantially parallel to the axis of the cylindrical portion 9a. On the other hand, the bracket 7 fixed to the reflector 4 is provided with a hole 7b having a cylindrical surface. And 7c shown in phantom is a reference circle of diameter r _3, the diameter r ₄ of the cylindrical surface of the hole 7b having the cylindrical surface, is set smaller than the dimension r ₃ above follow. That is, the elastic pieces 9c to 9f of the screw mounting 9 are provided with a tightening margin. When this screw mounting is sandwiched between fingertips and the force of arrows P and P'is applied, the outer circumferential circle of the elastic piece is distorted and contracted, and is restored when the fingertip is released. As shown in FIG. 3 (A), the screw mounting 9 is sandwiched between the fingertips to reduce the size, and the screw mounting 9 is inserted into the hole 7b as indicated by an arrow a. At this time, the relationship between the distortion of the screw mounting 9 and the hole 7b having a cylindrical surface is as shown in FIG. The distortion dimension is exaggerated in FIG. 1 for easy understanding. Further, the vertical direction of the screw mounting 9 is reversed between FIG. 2 and FIGS. 3 and 1. This is intentionally turned upside down in order to make it easier to see the groove-shaped notch 9b in FIG. 2, and FIGS. 1 and 3 show the actual mounting posture. When the insertion is completed as shown by the arrow a in FIG. 3 (A), it becomes as shown in FIG. 3 (B). In this state, the screw mounting is elastic and sticks to the inner wall surface of the hole 7b in an attempt to restore and expand. , There is no danger of slipping out. In this state, the adjusting screw 6 is inserted as shown by the arrow b and screwed. As shown in FIG. 1B, when the adjusting screw 6 is screwed into the screw mounting 9 whose outer peripheral surface is not constrained, the tubular portion 9a of the screw mounting is pushed out from the inside to form a groove-shaped notch. Is opened like a V like 9b '. Therefore, the diameter of the outer circumference of the four elastic pieces 9c~9f is larger than the dimension r ₃ at the free. However, in reality, the screw mounting 9 is contained in the hole 7b having a cylindrical surface as shown in FIG. 1C, and the diameter dimension of the outer peripheral circle of the elastic pieces 9c to 9f is limited to r ₄ . The elastic pieces 9c to 9f are bent and strongly pressed against the inner wall surface of the hole 7b. For this reason, there is no risk of rattling between the bracket and the screw mounting 9, and therefore there is no risk of inducing early wear. FIG. 4 shows the screw mounting 9 '(phantom line) in the expanded state shown in FIG. 1 (B) and the screw mounting 9'in a state in which the outer periphery is constrained by being inserted into the hole 7b of the bracket (solid line). It is explanatory drawing which contrasted and was drawn.

[0008]

[Effect of the device]

 As described above, according to the optical axis adjusting device of the present invention, it is easy to assemble, there is no risk that the constituent members will fall out during the assembly work, and there is no backlash, so the optical axis can be held securely. Also, there is no fear that wear will be accelerated due to backlash.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an essential part for explaining a structure and a function in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a main part in the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an assembly operation in the above embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a deformed state of the screw mounting in the assembly work.

FIG. 5 shows a conventional example of a headlamp including an optical axis adjusting device,
(A) is a front view and (B) is a side view.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of essential parts showing an optical axis adjusting device according to a prior application.

FIG. 7A is a sectional view of an essential part of the optical axis adjusting device according to the prior application, and FIG. 7B is a perspective view of a single screw mounting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

9 ... Screw mounting, 9a ... Cylindrical part, 9b ...
Groove-shaped notch, 9c to 9f ... Elastic piece.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A movable body is tiltably supported by a fixed body, a screw mounting is mounted on the movable body, and a movement in an axial direction is locked with respect to the fixed body to rotate around the axial center. An optical axis adjusting device having a structure in which an adjustably mounted screw is screwed into the screw mounting, wherein a bracket is fixed to the movable body, and the bracket has a hole having a cylindrical surface orthogonal to the adjust screw. The screw mounting is fitted into the hole, and the screw mounting is provided with a plurality of elastic pieces that are pressed against the cylindrical surface of the hole and slide against each other. Has a tubular portion into which the adjusting screw is screwed, and the tubular portion is provided with a groove-shaped notch in the axial direction. An optical axis adjusting device for a vehicle lamp, which is characterized by being provided.