JPH088007B2 - Vehicle lighting - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicular lamp, and more particularly to a method of fastening a housing and a lens.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 shows an example of fastening a housing 90 and a lens 80 in a conventional vehicle lamp of this type.
A lens engaging groove 91 is formed on the side of the housing 90 at the engaging portion with the lens 80, and the lens 8
The mounting leg 8 inserted into the lens engaging groove 91 on the 0 side
1 is provided, and when they are engaged with each other, a thermoplastic sealing material 70 called hot melt or the like is previously melted and injected into the lens engaging groove 91, and the sealing material is Airtightness is obtained by inserting the mounting leg portion 81 into the lens engaging groove 91 while the molten state of 70 is maintained.

Since the sealing material 70 alone cannot provide sufficient engagement strength between the housing 90 and the lens 80, a lateral hole 92 is formed at an appropriate location on the outer wall of the lens engaging groove 91. The mounting leg 81 is provided
Also, a hook 82 is provided, and when the mounting leg portion 81 is inserted into the lens engaging groove 91, the lateral hole 92 and the hook 8 are provided.
The two are also fitted at the same time to obtain the mechanical engagement strength between them.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional mounting method, firstly, the lens 80 is used.
Since the mounting leg portion 81 is provided in the vehicle lighting fixture, the mounting leg portion 81 is viewed as a black frame-shaped dark portion from the front of the vehicular lamp, which causes a problem of impairing the commercial property. Secondly, since the lens engaging groove 91 is provided in the housing 90, the effective light emitting area with respect to the area of the lens 80 is reduced, and thirdly, the lens 80 is moved to the side surface of the vehicle body. When a curved design is adopted, the hook 82 provided on the mounting leg 81 is effectively attached to the lateral hole 92 as shown in FIG. However, there is a problem in that the mounting strength is insufficient, and there is a problem in solving these problems.

[0005]

As a concrete means for solving the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention relates to a vehicle lamp comprising a housing and a lens attached to the housing in an airtight state. The opening edge is formed in a butt shape, and both are combined in a butt shape, and a substantially box-shaped transparent cover that covers the combined portion and the lens is attached, and the side surfaces of the transparent cover and the housing are attached. It is an object of the present invention to solve the problem by providing a vehicular lamp characterized in that and are hermetically joined to each other by an appropriate means such as welding or adhesion over the entire circumference of the housing.

[0006]

EXAMPLES The present invention will now be described in detail based on the examples shown in the drawings. Reference numeral 1 in FIG. 1 is a vehicular lamp according to the present invention. In the vehicular lamp 1, a housing 2 and a lens 3 are finally attached in an airtight state, which is a conventional example. However, unlike the conventional example, there is no lens engaging groove or mounting leg portion for engaging both with the conventional example, but it is merely in a butted state, and its fixing and airtightness. Is held by the transparent cover 4.

The structure of the present invention will be described in more detail below. The lens 3 is formed so as to be placed on the housing 2 in contact with, for example, a flat surface. It is preferable that a protrusion 3a is provided on the lens 3 side and a recess 2b is provided on the housing 2 side so that the lens 3 can be set at a predetermined position.

Further, the transparent cover 4 is formed of a transparent thin resin member in a substantially box shape, and at this time, the lens 3 is closely adhered to and covers the front surface and is substantially closely contacted to the side surface of the housing 2. It is supposed to wrap around to an appropriate length depending on the condition.

When assembling the vehicular lamp 1 having the above-mentioned structure, first, the housing 2 and the lens 3 are aligned with the concave portion 2a and the protruding portion 3a to be assembled in a predetermined position, and then the above-mentioned configuration is performed. The transparent cover 4 is adhered, and the transparent cover 4 and the side surface of the housing 2 are welded over the entire circumference by appropriate means such as high frequency welding, so that the housing 2 and the lens 3 are fixed and the vehicle lamp of the present invention. 1 is completed.

Next, the operation of the present invention having the above structure,
To explain the effect, the housing 2 and the lens 3 are fixed by the transparent cover 4,
The housing 2 and the lens 3 do not need to be provided with a fixing structure such as a lens engaging groove or a mounting leg portion, thereby eliminating a black frame on the lens surface and widening an effective light emitting surface. Is possible. Further, since the transparent cover 4 is attached by welding, it is possible to prevent the design shape such as the curve of the lens 3 along the vehicle body shape from affecting the attachment strength.

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the present invention, which is different from the previous embodiment in that the airtightness and the fixing between the housing 2 and the transparent cover 4 are simultaneously performed by welding. In this embodiment, both of them, that is, the airtight holding and the fixing between the housing 21 and the transparent cover 41 are performed separately, and the portion of the side surface of the housing 21 covered by the transparent cover 41 has this housing 21. A groove 21a and a step portion 21b are formed over the entire circumference, and a sealing material 5 having a relatively high viscosity such as a butyl rubber adhesive is poured into the groove 21a in a rising state.

After that, the transparent cover 41 is attached to a predetermined position, and the transparent cover 4 protruding from the step portion 21b.
The end of No. 1 is fixed by thermal caulking at an appropriate place by, for example, a caulking jig K incorporating a heater. Although the number of steps such as injecting the sealing material 5 is increased as compared with the previous embodiment, the housing 2 There is an advantage that the state of the airtightness between the transparent cover 41 and the transparent cover 41 can be relatively easily confirmed by visual inspection of the sealing material 5 which is seen through the transparent cover 41.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the present invention as well. In any of the previous embodiments, when the transparent covers 4 and 41 are fixed to the housing 2, welding or caulking is performed. Although some processing process was required, in this embodiment, the transparent cover 4 is formed by previously forming the hook-shaped portion 42a at the end of the transparent cover 42.
By attaching the two to the housing 2, the fixing is automatically performed, and the assembling process can be reduced.

The operation and effect of each of the above-described embodiments are the same as those of the first embodiment except for the particular description of the respective embodiments, and therefore detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, the opening edge of the housing and the opening edge of the lens are formed in a butt shape, and both are combined in a butt shape.
A vehicle in which a substantially box-shaped transparent cover that covers the combined portion and the lens is adhered, and the transparent cover and the side surface of the housing are hermetically joined to each other by an appropriate means such as welding or adhesion over the entire circumference of the housing. First of all, since it is a lighting fixture, it is not necessary to provide a mounting leg portion for fixing the lens and the housing, a lens engaging groove, etc., and a black frame-shaped dark portion can be viewed on the lens surface. The effect of improving the external appearance is eliminated, and the effective light emitting area is increased to improve the visibility.

Further, since the transparent cover is attached to the lens and fixed to the side surface of the housing, the problem that the fixing structure is difficult to form due to the design shape of the lens is eliminated. It is possible to always reliably fix and keep airtight regardless of the shape, and it is also possible to improve the performance of this type of vehicle lighting device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an essential part of an embodiment of a vehicular lamp according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a main part of another embodiment of the vehicular lamp according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a main part of still another embodiment of the vehicular lamp according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a main part of a conventional example.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a main part of a conventional example with a curved lens surface.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Vehicle lamp 2,21 ... Housing 21a ... Groove, 21b ... Step portion 3 ... Lens 4,41,42 ... Transparent cover 42a ... Hook-shaped portion

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle lamp comprising a housing and a lens attached to the housing in an airtight state, wherein an opening edge of the housing and an opening edge of the lens are formed in a butt shape, and both are combined in a butt shape. An approximately box-shaped transparent cover that covers the combined portion and the lens is adhered, and the transparent cover and the side surface of the housing are hermetically joined to each other by an appropriate means such as welding or adhesion over the entire circumference of the housing. A vehicle lamp characterized by the above.