Vehicle lighting unit having bulb fixation structure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9746149-B2
Application number	US-201514833628-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 24, 2015
Priority date	Aug 22, 2014
Publication date	Aug 29, 2017
Grant date	Aug 29, 2017

Abstract

A vehicle lighting unit with a bulb fixation structure is configured such that a metal supporter spring is attached to an opening end face of a holder projected from a peripheral edge of a bulb attachment hole opened in a reflector, engagement claws provided to the bulb pass through respective claw escape holes formed in the supporter spring so that the bulb is incorporated within the holder, and then the bulb is rotated. Thereby, the bulb is fixed to the main body with a type of a bayonet scheme in which the engagement claws of the bulb are interposed in between and held by the engagement spring of the supporter spring and an opening end face of the bulb attachment hole. The supporter spring is attached to the opening end face of the holder by countersunk screws at at least three locations in a circumferential direction of the supporter spring.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle lighting unit having a bulb fixation structure, comprising:
a main body having a bulb attachment hole formed therein and an opening end face, and a holder that is integrally formed with the main body and projected around a peripheral edge of the bulb attachment hole and has an opening end face;
a supporter spring that is made of a metal plate and is attached to the opening end face of the holder, the supporter spring having a plurality of claw escape holes by cutting part of the supporting spring and a plurality of engagement springs formed adjacent to the respective claw escape holes; and
a bulb having a plurality of engagement claws to be allowed to pass through the claw escape holes of the supporter spring so that part of the bulb is incorporated within the holder,
wherein
the bulb is fixed to the main body with a type of a bayonet scheme in which the passed bulb is rotated around an axial center thereof, so that the engagement claws of the bulb are interposed in between and held by the engagement springs of the supporter spring and the opening end face of the bulb attachment hole,
the supporter spring is attached to the opening end face of the holder by countersunk screws at at least three locations in a circumferential direction of the supporter spring,
the supporter spring is formed with tapered cylindrical screw holes at locations corresponding to the at least three locations for the countersunk screws so that the countersunk screws are inserted thereinto
a projection for preventing wrong assembling is formed at one circumferential end of each of the claw escape holes of the supporter spring
the engagement springs are formed on a side of the holder and the projections are formed on a side opposite to the side of the holder with respect to the supporter spring,
the projection and the engagement spring are continuously and integrally formed to be smoothly transitioned to each other, and
the claw escape hole, the projection, the engagement spring, and the screw hole are arranged in this order in the circumferential direction of the supporter spring.

2. The vehicle lighting unit having a bulb fixation structure according to claim 1 , wherein the holder of the main body has a stopper rib projected from an inner wall thereof so as to prevent the bulb being in contact with the stopper rib from rotating.

3. The vehicle lighting unit having a bulb fixation structure according to claim 1 , wherein the supporter spring is made of a SUS.

4. The vehicle lighting unit having a bulb fixation structure according to claim 1 , wherein the countersink screws each have a head not projecting from the supporter spring.

5. The vehicle lighting unit having a bulb fixation structure according to claim 1 , wherein the engagement claws of the bulb after inserted into the claw escape holes are rotated to move below the projections and then be held by lower surfaces of the engagement springs that are smoothly and continuously formed with the respective projections.

Assignees

• Stanley Electric Co Ltd
• Stanley Electric Co Ltd

Inventors

• Toyoyama Hideki
• Kobayashi Yasuhiro

Classifications

• F21S48/1104

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic

• F21S48/1113 Primary

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic

• F21S48/1168

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic

• F21S41/162 Primary

  Incandescent light sources, e.g. filament or halogen lamps · CPC title

• F21S41/19

  Attachment of light sources or lamp holders (achieving variable light distribution by movable light sources F21S41/657) · CPC title