JP2661485B2 - Steering wheel - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a steering wheel operated by a driver for steering operation of a vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a pad is assembled to a steering wheel main body, a shelf made of, for example, urethane is provided on a spoke portion of the steering wheel main body, and the shelf is set and positioned for positioning the pad.

[0003]

However, in a type in which a horn button is attached to the spoke portion, for example, a type in which an airbag is provided in a pad, a positioning cannot be set by providing a shelf portion in the spoke portion as described above. Therefore, it has been difficult to maintain the matching quality between the steering wheel body and the pad. It is also conceivable to provide a positioning part on a part of the horn button as a positioning setting when mounting the pad, and set the pad positioning with the positioning part.However, if the pad itself is heavy, for example, a pad with an air bag inside In such a case, since the horn button is considerably heavy, the horn button may be deformed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems. Even in a steering wheel in which a horn button is fixed to a spoke portion, the quality of pad alignment can be improved. An object of the present invention is to provide a steering wheel capable of preventing deformation of a steering wheel.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a steering wheel body having a ring portion, a spoke portion connecting the ring portion and a boss, a pad mounted on an upper portion of the steering wheel body, and A steering wheel fixedly supported by a spoke core of a steering hole main body and having a horn button disposed between the pad and a ring portion of the steering wheel main body,
The body case of the horn button is fixedly supported by the bracket with respect to the spoke core, and the body case is provided with a positioning shelf for abutting a pad to position the pad, and the bracket is provided with the positioning shelf. The gist is that a supporting portion for supporting is provided.

[0006]

With the above arrangement, the horn button is fixedly supported by the bracket on the spoke portion of the steering wheel body. Therefore, when assembling the pad to the steering wheel main body, the pad is positioned on a positioning shelf provided in the main body case of the horn button, and then fixed to the steering wheel main body. In the assembled state of the pad, the weight of the pad is added to the main body case of the horn button, but the positioning shelf of the main body case is supported by the support portion of the bracket to prevent deformation.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The steering wheel 1 includes a steering wheel body 2, a pad 3, and a horn button 16.

The steering wheel body 2 will be described. The boss 4 of the steering wheel body 2 is fitted to the tip of a steering shaft (not shown). A boss plate 5 is formed on the outer periphery of the upper end of the boss 4, and a plurality of (four in this embodiment) spoke cores 6 extend from the boss plate 5. A ring core 7 is fixed to the tip of the spoke core 6. The upper part of all the spoke cores 6 on the ring core 7 side and the entire ring core 7 are covered with a coating layer 8 made of PU (polyurethane) or the like.

Below the boss plate 5, a lower cover 9 made of synthetic resin is mounted. The boss 4, the boss plate 5, the spoke core 6, the ring core 7, the coating layer 8, and the lower cover 9 constitute the steering wheel body 2. Further, a screw hole 14 penetrating in the vertical thickness direction is provided at the base end of the left and right spoke cores 6. An operation hole 9a is provided in the lower cover 9 corresponding to the screw hole 14.

A pad 3 for covering the boss 4, the boss plate 5, the portion of the spoke core 6 on the boss 4 side, the lower cover 9, and the like is disposed above the steering wheel body 2. The pad 3 is formed in a substantially square planar shape. The four vertices of the pad 3 are located on the spoke core 6 of the steering wheel body 2. Inside the pad 3, an airbag and an operating device (both not shown) for operating the airbag are provided. A pair of mounting stays 11 (only the right stay is shown in FIG. 1) protrude downward from both lower sides of the pad 3.

The mounting structure of the pad 3 will be described.
The pad mounting bracket 12 is fastened and fixed to the boss plate 5 of the steering wheel body 2 with bolts 13. The pad mounting bracket 12 has a plate-like shape, and its left and right sides are bent upward so as to be along the spoke core 6 extending left and right from the boss plate 5. A bolt insertion hole 12b is formed in the bent portion 12a corresponding to the screw hole 14 of the spoke core 6. The center of one side of the pad mounting bracket 12 is formed in a concave shape so as to bypass the boss 4.

The mounting ends of the pad 9 provided below the pair of mounting stays 11 are bent inwardly along the bent portions 12a of the pad mounting bracket 12, and
A nut portion 11a is fixed to the upper surface of the bent portion. Then, the bolt 15 inserted through the operation hole 9a of the lower cover 9 is inserted into the screw hole 14 of the spoke core 6,
It is screwed into the bolt insertion hole 12b of the pad mounting bracket 12 and the nut portion 11a of the mounting stay 11 of the pad 3. That is, the spoke core 6, the pad mounting bracket 12, and the mounting stay 11 of the pad 3 are fastened together by the bolt 15.

Next, the mounting structure of the horn button 16 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, a mounting step 10 is formed in the middle of a pair of spoke cores 6 extending to the left and right of the steering wheel body 2. The upper surface of each mounting step 10 is orthogonal to the axis L of the steering shaft. Each mounting step 10 is provided with a screw hole 10a that opens upward. A metal horn button support bracket (hereinafter referred to as a support bracket) 1 is provided on the mounting step 10.
7 is attached. The support bracket 17 is formed in a side crank shape, and upper and lower bent pieces 17a and 17b are provided on both upper and lower portions. Also, from both sides of the connecting plate 17d connecting the both bent pieces 17a, a shelf receiving piece 17c as a pair of supporting portions is bent in a direction perpendicular to the connecting plate 17c so as to face the pad 3. Have been. The support bracket 17 is fastened and fixed to the mounting step 10 by inserting a bolt 18 into the lower bent piece 17b and screwing it into the screw hole 10a. A horn button 16 is mounted on the upper bent piece 17a of the support bracket 17.

The horn button 16 will be described.
Note that the horn button 16 is attached to the steering wheel body 2.
The horn buttons 16 arranged on the right side as shown in FIG. The left and right shown in FIG. 5A are referred to as the horn button 16 left and right.

The horn button 16 is composed of a main body case 20, a button cap 21, an actuator 22 made of synthetic resin, a flexible cover body 23 made of urethane or the like which covers the main body case 20 and the button cap 21 and the like. ing. The main body case 20 includes a box part 24 having a bottomed rectangular box shape, a cover 25 connected to the box part 24 via a rib, and covering the other two sides except right and left sides, and a bottom center of the box part 24. And a cylindrical guide portion 26 protruding upward from. A guide groove 27 is formed from the lower part of the four side walls of the box part 24.
Are notched. The main body case 20 is fastened and fixed to the upper bent piece 17a of the support bracket 17 with a bolt 28. A pair of positioning shelves 29 are provided on the left side of the main body case 20 so as to protrude in the horizontal direction so as to be positioned at the same height. Positioning shelf 2
9 has a shelf receiving piece 17c of the support bracket 17 on the lower surface thereof.
A leg piece 30 having a side surface orthogonal to the bending direction of the above is protruded and abuts against the shelf receiving piece 17c. Therefore,
When a load is applied to the positioning shelf 29, the shelf receiving piece 17c
It is supported by. When the horn button 16 is attached to the steering wheel body 2 by the support bracket 17, the positioning shelf 29 corresponds to the right side of the pad 3 (the left side of the pad 3 for the left horn button 16). The step 3a is locked to perform positioning when the pad 3 is assembled.

A button cap 21 is arranged between the body case 20 and the guide portion 26 so as to be vertically movable. At the lower part of the four sides of the button cap 21, a locking projection 31 projects and is inserted into the guide groove 27 of the main body case 20. The locking projection 31 can be locked to the upper end of the guide groove 27 when the button cap 21 moves upward. Button cap 21 and guide part 26
An actuator 22 is vertically movably arranged therebetween. The actuator 22 is formed in a substantially cylindrical shape, and a locking flange 32 is provided on an outer periphery of a central portion thereof. A coil spring 33 is disposed between the locking flange 32 and the bottom surface of the guide portion 26, and constantly urges the actuator 22 upward.

A movable contact 34 made of a conductive member is attached to the lower surface of the actuator 22. On the other hand, the guide part 2
A fixed contact 35 made of a conductive member is attached to the bottom surface of 6. The fixed contact 35 is always grounded via a bolt 28, the support bracket 17, and a cord (not shown) connected to the support bracket 17. The movable contact 34 is connected by a cord (not shown), and one end of the cord is always connected to a positive electrode. A cover 23 is disposed so as to cover the button cap 21, the upper part of the main body case 20 and the upper surface of the positioning shelf 29. When the button cap 21 is pressed downward from the upper surface of the cover 23, the button cap 21 can be operated via the upper opening 20 a of the main body case 20.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the horn button 16 is normally in a state in which the locking projection 31 is locked to the upper end of the guide groove 27 by the urging force of the coil spring 33 and the actuator 22 is located at an upper position. The movable contact 34 is separated from the fixed contact 35. When the pad 9 is pressed downward, the coil spring 3
When the movable contact 34 comes into contact with the fixed contact 35 against the urging force of No. 3, both contacts 34 and 35 are electrically conducted, and the horn is blown.

Now, the operation of the steering wheel 1 configured as described above will be described. When attaching the pad 3 to the steering body 2, the horn button 16 is fixed to the steering wheel body 2 via the support bracket 17 in advance. The pad mounting bracket 12 is fixed to the boss plate 5 with bolts 13. In this state, the mounting stay 11 of the pad 3 is arranged to correspond to the bolt insertion hole 12b of the pad mounting bracket 12. When arranging the pad 3, the pad 3
Are locked to the positioning shelf 29 of the horn button 16. The vertical mounting height position of the pad 3 with respect to the steering wheel body 2 is determined by locking the step portion 3a to the positioning shelf 29. In this state, the bolt 15 is inserted through the operation hole 9a of the lower cover 9.
And insert the bolt 15 into the screw hole 1 of the spoke core 6.
4. Bolt insertion hole 12 of pad mounting bracket 12
b and the nut 9 a of the mounting stay 11 of the pad 9. In other words, the spoke core 6, the pad mounting bracket 12, and the mounting stay 11 of the pad 9 are fastened together by the bolt 15.

When a load is applied to the positioning shelf 29, the positioning shelf 29 is brought into contact with the leg piece 30 in a direction perpendicular to the shelf receiving piece 17c.
The horn button 16 is not deformed by the load.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. In the above-described embodiment, the shelf receiving piece 17c is formed by bending. It can be arbitrarily changed within a range not to be performed.

[0022]

As described in detail above, the present invention can improve the quality of pad alignment even in a steering wheel in which a horn button is fixed to a spoke.
The horn button has an excellent effect of preventing deformation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a main part of a steering wheel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial plan view of the steering wheel body.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a mounting structure of a horn button and a support bracket.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the same.

5 (a) is a plan view, FIG. 5 (b) is a cross-sectional view at the center, FIG. 5 (c) is a side view, and FIG. 5 (d) is a perspective view as seen from the bottom side.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Steering wheel, 2 ... Steering wheel main body, 3 ... Pad, 4 ... Boss, 5 ... Boss plate, 6
... Spoke core metal, 7 ... Ring core metal, 11 ... Mounting stay, 12 ... Pad mounting bracket, 14 ... Screw hole, 1
5 ... bolt, 16 ... horn button, 17 ... horn button support bracket, 17c ... shelf receiving piece as support part, 1
8 ... bolt, 20 ... body case, 21 ... button cap, 22 ... actuator, 23 ... cover, 29 ... positioning shelf,
30 ... leg piece.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A steering wheel body (2) having a ring portion and a spoke portion connecting the ring portion and a boss.
And a pad (3) attached to the upper portion of the steering wheel body (2); and a spoke core (6) of the steering hole body (2) fixedly supported by the pad (3) and the steering wheel body. (2) A steering wheel provided with a horn button (16) arranged between the ring portions, wherein the main body case (20) of the horn button (16) is attached to the spoke core (6) by a horn button. The main body case (20) is fixedly supported by a support bracket (17).
Is provided with a positioning shelf (29) for abutting the pad (3) to position the pad (3), and the support bracket (1) is provided.
7) a supporting portion (1) for supporting the positioning shelf (29).
7c) A steering wheel provided with 7c).