JP2905376B2 - Instrument dial - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement in a dial of an instrument, and more particularly, to alleviate a problem that a shadow such as a pointer provided in front of a dial is projected on a surface of the dial. To improve visibility during the day and night,
It relates to the instrument dial that creates a new design image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a night illumination mechanism for a dial in an instrument for automobiles, an instrument for electric / electronic equipment, an instrument for mechanical equipment, and the like, for example, a structure as shown in FIG. 13 is employed.

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional automobile instrument. This automobile instrument covers a housing 1, a dial 2 provided on the front surface of the housing 1, and a front surface of the dial 2. A protective cover 3, a bulb 4 as a light source arranged at the rear of the housing 1, an inner machine 5 arranged at the rear of the dial 2, and a front of the dial 2 via a shaft 6 of the inner machine 5. It comprises a pointer 7 arranged so as to be positioned, and a light guide member 8 arranged above the housing 1 and the protective cover 3.

[0004] Light generated by turning on the bulb 4 at night has a portion of the light, scale,
From the display part such as a decoration, the arrow A direction, that is, the display part is clearly transmitted through the front, and the other part is refracted and reflected by the light guide member 8 in the arrow B direction, that is, the dial 2 direction, The light is irradiated on the front face of the dial 2 and the hands 7.

Therefore, the driver can illuminate the dial 2 and the pointer 7 by being refracted and reflected in the B direction, and can illuminate the display portion by transmitting in the A direction to clearly indicate the display portion. Necessary information such as the amount of oil and the amount of oil can be read.

However, in the dial of the conventional instrument, the visible surface 2a except for the display portion 9 of the dial 2 is formed of a smooth surface by painting, printing, or the like. When the light is irradiated from above, the shadow 7a of the pointer 7 is projected on the viewing surface 2a of the dial 2 as shown in FIG.

That is, since the shadow 7a of the pointer 7 is made as thin as possible, it is not possible to irradiate brighter light, and the shadow 7a of the pointer 7 may cause a reading error of the pointer 7, so that the illumination brightness and There is room for further improvement in the reading accuracy of the pointer 7. Further, even in the daytime, there is a problem that a shadow 7a of the hands 7 is formed on the dial 2 due to light coming in from outside, which causes a reading error of the hands 7.

On the other hand, as an example in which nighttime illumination is performed only by the bulb 4 provided on the back side of the dial 2, there is an automobile meter disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-274417 previously provided by the present applicant. This meter corresponds to the one in which the light guide member 8 is removed in FIG. 13, and the light of the bulb 4 is transmitted from the display portion of the dial 2, such as characters, scales, and decorations, in the direction of arrow A, that is, forward. Thus, the display portion is clearly indicated. However, a colorless and transparent optical fiber is planted on at least a part of the front side of the dial, and the optical fiber diffusely reflects the light transmitted forward, thereby making the dial look three-dimensional.

However, as described above, even if the light is illuminated only by the bulb 4 provided on the back side of the dial 2 and the colorless and transparent optical fiber is planted on the front side of the dial 2, it can be illuminated from outside in the daytime. There is a problem that shadow 7a of the pointer 7 is generated on the dial 2 due to the light to be inserted, and a reading error of the pointer 7 is caused.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been achieved as a result of studying to solve the above-mentioned problems in the dial of a conventional instrument.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to prevent the shadow of the hands from being projected on the visual recognition surface of the dial, to improve the reading accuracy of the hands during the day and night, and to make the dial non-reflective. It is an object of the present invention to provide an instrument dial capable of creating a new design image.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, an invention according to claim 1 is an instrument for illuminating the surface of the dial from the front so as to perform nighttime visual recognition. Wherein the surface portion is subjected to dark-colored electrostatic flocking to make it non-reflective.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a dial of an instrument which performs night vision by light transmitted from the back side to the surface of the dial. And is characterized by being made non-reflective.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or the second aspect of the present invention, dark-colored electrostatic flocking is applied to the visual recognition surface of at least the display portion except for the display portion to make the surface non-reflective. It is characterized by.

Further, according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, different colors of electrostatic flocking are applied to the display portion of the surface portion and the viewing surface excluding the display portion. In addition, at least the wide viewing area excluding the display portion is made non-reflective by dark-colored electrostatic flocking.

[0016]

In the dial plate of the instrument according to the present invention, when light enters the surface of the dial plate from the front, the light travels substantially between a plurality of dark hairs formed by electrostatic flocking. Absorbed completely. Therefore, the surface of the dial is in a non-reflective state. Therefore, for example, the shadow of the pointer is not projected on the surface of the dial, and it is possible to prevent such a problem that the reading accuracy or the like is impaired by the shadow. On the other hand, since the surface of the dial is made non-reflective, it is possible to achieve a high contrast between, for example, a display portion such as a character provided on the dial and a visible surface other than the display portion. You can create a completely new design image that is not available.

Therefore, according to the dial of the instrument of the present invention, it is possible to prevent a problem that the shadow of the hands is projected on the visual recognition surface of the dial, to improve the reading accuracy of the hands during the day and night, and to improve the reading of the hands. By making it non-reflective, a new design image can be created. That is, when applied as a dial in an instrument for automobiles, an instrument for electric / electronic devices, an instrument for mechanical devices, and the like, it exhibits excellent performance.

[0018]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an instrument dial according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a first embodiment of the dial of the instrument of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a first method for manufacturing the dial of the instrument, and FIG. FIGS. 4 and 5 are explanatory views showing a third method for manufacturing the same dial plate, and FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of an electrostatic flocking portion. is there.

FIG. 1 shows a case where the dial of the instrument of the present invention is applied to an automobile instrument, and shows only the surface portion of the dial 2 as viewed from the front. Except for the structure of the instrument itself, it is almost the same as the conventional example described with reference to FIG.

That is, in FIG. 1, the dial 2 is incorporated in the housing 1, a protective cover 3 is provided on the front of the dial 2, a valve 4 is provided on the rear of the housing 1, and a valve 4 is provided on the rear of the dial 2. A light guide member 8 is arranged above the housing 1 and the protective cover 3, and a pointer 7 is located in front of the dial 2 via a shaft 6 of the inner machine 5. doing. (Refer to FIG. 13) In the dial of the instrument of the present invention, the dial 9 has a black surface on the visible surface 2a of the dial except for the display portion 9 such as the characters 9a, scales 9b, and decorations 9c. Electrostatic flocking (the satin part shown in the figure shows the electrostatic flocking part)
This makes it possible to make the viewing surface 2a non-reflective.

That is, by applying, for example, black electrostatic flocking to the viewing surface 2a excluding the display portion 9 of the dial 2,
The light irradiated from the front of the dial 2 can be scattered and absorbed in multiple directions by piles (hairs) planted on the electrostatic flocking surface, so that the irradiation light is radiated to the viewing surface 2a without being reflected. In addition, the problem of projecting the shadow of the pointer 7 on the viewing surface 2a can be reduced.

The light transmitted from the rear portion of the dial 2 to the front through the display portion 9 is non-reflective on the viewing surface 2a, so that the display portion 9 is placed in the dark black viewing surface 2a. It is possible to give a visual appearance that stands out with enhanced contrast, thereby creating a new design image.

In this case, a more excellent design image can be obtained by similarly applying electrostatic flocking to portions other than the dial 2, for example, portions such as the pointer cap and the return plate.

Therefore, according to the dial of the instrument of the present invention, it is possible to increase the amount of light radiated from the front of the dial 2 and to further increase the illumination luminance.
Since the shadow of the hands 7 is eliminated, the reading accuracy of the hands 7 is enhanced, and excellent nighttime recognition can be expected. On the other hand, even if the dials 2 are illuminated by outside light in the daytime, the dials 2 can be used. Display 9 and viewing surface 2 without reflection
a can be enhanced.

In this embodiment, the example in which the color of the electrostatic flocking is set to black has been described. However, any color may be used as long as it is a dark color that can further alleviate the shadow of the pointer 7 or the like. Of course, there may be. In this embodiment, the light is illuminated via the light guide member 8. However, the light may be illuminated directly by disposing a bulb or the like in front of the display portion 9.

As the method for applying electrostatic flocking to the visual recognition surface 2a of the dial 2, the first method shown in FIG. 2, the second method shown in FIG. 3, and the third method shown in FIGS. A method is conceivable.

First, the first method is as shown in FIG.
This is a method in which one dial base material 10 is used. That is, a printing portion 11 of a desired color is formed at a portion where a display portion of the transparent base material 10 is formed, and an adhesive layer 12 is printed on a portion other than the display portion 9 by a silk screen or the like. By applying black electrostatic flocking on the adhesive layer 12, the dial of the instrument according to the present invention in which the electrostatic flocking layer is formed on the portion other than the display portion 9 is completed.

In the second method, as shown in FIG.
In this method, two base materials 10 and 20 are used. First, a printing portion 11 of a desired color is provided on a display portion forming portion of one transparent base material 10.
Is formed. The display portion 9 is punched and formed on the other base material 20 by etching or the like, and a black electrostatic flocking layer is formed on the entire surface thereof via an adhesive. Then, the base material 20 is overlaid on the base material 10 and affixed, thereby completing the dial of the instrument of the present invention in which the electrostatic flocking layer is formed in a portion other than the display portion 9.

Next, the third method is as shown in FIG.
First, for example, white screen printing is performed on the display portion 9 on the dial base material 10 made of a colorless and transparent plastic plate such as polycarbonate, and the viewing surface 2a other than the display portion 9 is formed.
Then, for example, black screen printing is performed. Then, an adhesive is screen-printed on the outside so as to slightly surround the display portion 9, and dark-colored electrostatic flocking is performed thereon. Thereby, the dial of the instrument of the present invention is completed.

In the first to third methods, a color filter may be provided on the back side of the display portion 9 by printing or the like. In this case, the display portion 9 is displayed in white, for example, in the daytime, and the display portion 9 is displayed in various colors by light passing through the color filter in the nighttime.

FIG. 5 shows an example in which the third method is applied to the decoration 9c for displaying the charging state by alarm. That is, in the third method, the decoration 9c is screen-printed in, for example, white on the colorless and transparent dial base material 10, and the black screen printing is performed on the viewing surface 2a other than the decoration 9c. Then, an adhesive is screen-printed on the outside so as to slightly surround the decoration 9c, and dark-colored electrostatic flocking is performed thereon. Thereby, the dial of the instrument of the present invention is completed. In addition, a valve 15 is provided on the rear side of the back of the decoration 9c, and around the valve 15,
A valve housing 16 is provided to prevent light from leaking to another display portion 9. Further, a color filter 17 is provided on the back side of the decoration 9c by printing or the like.

In the configuration shown in FIG. 5, the bulb 15 does not emit light in a normal state, so that the decoration 9c appears, for example, in a white state. In the event of an abnormality, the valve 15
Emits light, and this light is emitted by the color filter 17 and the decoration 9c.
, And if, for example, a red color filter 17 is provided, the decoration 9c shines red. That is, the abnormality can be immediately known.

Further, in the third method, even if the pile planted by electrostatic flocking may fall asleep, for example, the flocking is performed so as to surround the display portion 9 slightly larger, so that the display is performed by the pile. The shape of the portion 9 is not lost.

For the formation of the electrostatic flocking described in the present invention, a conventionally known method can be employed. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the base material 30 coated with the adhesive 31 is grounded, The base material 3 is placed on a pile 32 mainly made of nylon or the like.
By having a charge opposite to 0, it is possible to form a desired electrostatic flocking surface by piercing the pile 32 flying by electrostatic induction into the adhesive 31 and then drying the adhesive 31. is there.

In the electrostatic flocking layer formed according to the present invention, the pile to be transplanted is set at 1.5 to 3 deniers, and the flocking density of the pile is set at 80,000 to 30,000 / cm ^2. Thus, a more excellent anti-reflection effect and design image can be secured. For example, length 0.3m
m, 1.5 denier black nylon pile is electrostatically implanted at a density of 80,000 yarns / cm ² through an adhesive, and the 60-degree mirror gloss of the electrostatically implanted surface is 0.1%. (%) Or less.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
It will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a second embodiment of the meter according to the present invention, FIG. 8 is a front view of a dial of the meter, and FIG. 9 is an enlarged view of a display portion of the dial. FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of another display portion of the dial. Note that FIG.
Elements common to those of the conventional example shown in FIG. 14 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be simplified.

That is, in FIG. 7, the dial 2 is formed of a single transparent plate, and is incorporated in the housing 1. On the front side of the dial 2, a protective cover 3 is provided via a look-back plate 13. A bulb 4 is provided on the front upper side of the dial plate 13, and the bulb 4 illuminates the surface of the dial 2. An inner machine 5 is provided on the back side of the dial 2, and a shaft 6 of the inner machine 5 rotates a pointer 7 arranged on the front side of the dial 2. The pointer 7 is provided with a cap 71 at its base.

As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, a display portion 9 such as a character 9a and a scale 9b and a display portion 14 such as an alarm are provided on the surface of the dial 2. Then, the visible surface 2a other than the display portions 9 and 14 and the cap 71 of the pointer 7 are provided with, for example, black electrostatic flocking with low reflectance, and the display portions 9 and 14 are white, red, amber, and the like. Have different colors of electrostatic flocking. That is,
For the characters 9a and the scale 9b, for example, a normal use area is given by white electrostatic flocking, and a dangerous area is given by red electrostatic flocking.

As shown in FIG. 10 (a), for example, the display portion 14 for displaying the state of charge as a warning has a symbol pattern 14b for the alarm which is black and the surrounding portion 14a has a white electrostatic flocking. As shown in FIG. 10B, a valve 15 is provided behind and behind the display portion 14, and around the valve 15, a valve is provided to prevent light from leaking to another display portion 14. A housing 16 is provided. The light emitted from the bulb 15 passes through the peripheral portion 14a on which the white electrostatic flocking has been performed, and clearly raises the symbol pattern 14b which has been subjected to a non-transmissive process by printing or the like. A color filter 17 is provided on the rear surface corresponding to the peripheral portion 14a by printing or the like, and an arbitrary color can be applied to the peripheral portion 14a by light colored by the color filter 17.

The display portion 14 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (1), white flocking may be applied to the symbol pattern 14b, and the same black flocking as the viewing surface 2a may be applied to other peripheral portions. In this case, the symbol pattern 14b formed by white electrostatic flocking is used as the color filter 1
7 so that light can be transmitted therethrough, and portions other than the symbol pattern 14b are opaque-processed.

Further, as shown in FIG.
Is also provided with, for example, black electrostatic flocking having a low reflectance. The corner 13a is formed with a sufficiently large roundness r so that electrostatic flocking can be sufficiently performed.

Each of the above-mentioned electrostatic flocking is described in, for example, JP-A-59-8 / 1984.
The method is performed by the following methods as disclosed in JP-A No. 0362 and JP-A-52-12252.

First method: First, an adhesive is applied to the entire front surface of the dial 2, the display portions 9 and 14 are masked, and a black pile is electrostatically implanted on the viewing surface 2a. Next, after the masking of the display portions 9 and 14 is removed and dried, the viewing surface 2a is masked, an adhesive is applied to the display portions 9 and 14, and then the display portions 9 and 14 are coated with a white color. Electrostatic flocking of the red pile.

Second method: A white pile is electrostatically planted over the entire front surface of the dial 2, and then the visible surface 2a and the like are colored black or another color by screen printing.

Third method: A flocked sheet in which piles of a predetermined color are electrostatically flocked on sheets having the shapes of the display portions 9 and 14 is prepared in advance. Then, after an adhesive is applied to the entire front surface of the dial 2, the flocking sheets of the display portions 9 and 14 are adhered to predetermined locations, and electrostatic flocking is further performed on the viewing surface 2a.

In the case of each of these electrostatic flocking methods, as shown in FIG. 6, the dial 2 side is grounded, and a charge opposite to that of the dial 2 is applied to a colored pile 32 made of nylon or the like. . Then, the pile 32 flying by the electrostatic induction penetrates the adhesive 31 at a constant density, and the pile 32 is fixed on the dial 2 by drying the adhesive 31.

In the instrument configured as described above,
Light emitted from the bulb 4 illuminates the dial 2. At this time, the light that has reached the dial 2 is scattered and absorbed in multiple directions by the planted pile, and becomes a non-reflection state. In particular, since the viewing surface 2a is covered with black flocks having low reflectance, the reflection of the viewing surface 2a is extremely reduced,
The shadow of the pointer 7 cannot be recognized on the viewing surface 2a.

Also, the light transmitted forward from the display portion 14 is guided to the front side by flocking acting like an optical fiber, so that the display portion 14 is particularly raised from the viewing surface 2a, and a high contrast visual Can be obtained. That is, it is possible to create a new design image that has never been seen before. In addition, the same operation and effect as those of the first embodiment are obtained.

In the above embodiment, black flocking was applied to the visual recognition surface 2a of the dial 2, the cap 71 of the pointer 7, the inner surface of the facing plate 13, and the like. Needless to say, the color is not limited to black. It goes without saying that any color may be used as the color of the flocking of the display portions 9 and 14 as long as the effect of recognizing the viewing surface 2a is large. Further, by setting the pile 32 to be implanted in a range of 1.5 to 3 deniers and the density of the pile 32 to be in the range of 80,000 to 30,000 / cm ² , a more excellent anti-reflection effect and a design image are secured. be able to.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 11 is a sectional view showing a third embodiment of the instrument of the present invention, and FIG. 12 is a front view of a dial of the instrument. Elements common to those of the second embodiment shown in FIGS. 7 to 10 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be simplified.

That is, as shown in FIG.
Is attached to the housing 1 located on the back side of the dial 2, and the light guide member 8 is also provided on the back side of the dial 2. The light guide member 8 transmits the light of the bulb 4 to the pointer 7.
And the pointer 7 emits light. The light of the bulb 4 strikes the back surface of the dial 2 and is transmitted from the display portion 9 to the front surface side.

On the surface of the dial 2, as in the second embodiment, a display portion 9 such as a character 9 a and a scale 9 b, a display portion 14 such as an alarm, a viewing surface 2 a, and a cap 71
Etc. are subjected to electrostatic flocking. The display portions 9 and 14
Is transmitted through the color filter 17 as shown in the second embodiment, thereby being colored in an arbitrary color. Light other than the display portions 9 and 14 is made opaque by printing or the like.

In the dial of the instrument configured as described above, the display portions 9 and 14 are planted with flock.
The flocking acts like an optical fiber and guides the light inside to the surface side. Therefore, the display portions 9 and 14
Is raised by the light. Also, since the dial 2 is non-reflective, when the hands 7 emit light, only the hands 7 have a vividly raised feeling, and an extremely novel image can be created.

[0057]

As described above, according to the dial of the instrument of the present invention, since the surface of the dial is in a non-reflective state, for example, the shadow of the pointer is projected on the surface of the dial. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a problem that the reading accuracy or the like is impaired by the shadow. On the other hand, since the surface of the dial is made non-reflective, it is possible to achieve a high contrast between, for example, a display portion such as a character provided on the dial and a visible surface other than the display portion. You can create a completely new design image that is not available.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a dial of an instrument shown as a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a first method for manufacturing a dial of the instrument.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a second method for manufacturing the dial of the instrument.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing a third method for manufacturing the dial of the instrument.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a third method for manufacturing a decorative portion of the dial of the instrument.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of an electrostatic flocking portion of the dial of the meter.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of an instrument shown as a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a front view of a dial of the instrument.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged view of a display portion of a dial of the instrument.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of another display portion of the dial of the instrument.

FIG. 11 is a sectional view of an instrument shown as a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a front view of a dial of the instrument.

FIG. 13 is a sectional view of an instrument shown as a conventional example.

FIG. 14 is a front view of a dial of the instrument.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Dial 4 Valve 7 Pointer 9 Display 9a Character 9b Scale 9c Decoration 14 Display

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-3-274417 (JP, A) JP-A-49-29868 (JP, A) JP-A-59-18025 (JP, A) 200037 (JP, U) Jiko 29-7166 (JP, Y1) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B60K 35/00 G01D 11/28

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A dial of an instrument which is illuminated from the front with light on the surface of the dial to perform nighttime visual recognition. The dial of the instrument, which has been converted into a character. 2. A dial of an instrument which is made visible at night by light transmitted from the back side to the front side of the dial, wherein the surface is subjected to dark-colored electrostatic flocking to make it non-reflective. The dial of the instrument, characterized by the following. 3. The instrument dial plate according to claim 1, wherein the visible surface of at least the display portion of the surface portion is subjected to dark-colored electrostatic flocking to make it non-reflective. 4. A display portion on the surface portion and a visible surface other than the display portion are each subjected to electrostatic flocking of a different color, and at least a wide visible surface except the display portion is not covered by dark-colored electrostatic flocking. 3. The dial of an instrument according to claim 1, wherein the dial is reflected.