Mounting bracket for supporting a light on the body of a vehicle

Abstract: A mounting bracket 10 is disclosed for supporting a light on the body of a vehicle. The bracket comprises an arm 16 formed of a plastics material and having a cross section so shaped that the arm is sufficiently rigid to support the light without vibrating in a vertical plane but is resiliently deflectable in a horizontal plane to be able to withstand collision with an obstruction without breaking.

Description: The present invention relates to a mounting bracket for supporting a light on the body of a vehicle and is particularly intended for a tractor or the like off-road vehicle. The brackets used to mount lights on a tractor face conflicting requirements. To avoid the lights vibrating during use, the brackets need to be stiff. For this reason, solid metal brackets are often used for this purpose. On the other hand, to avoid damage to the lights and the brackets in the event of their colliding with an object during use, the brackets need to be resiliently deflectable. A resiliently deflectable bracket is known from US-A-3.629.569. The bracket is made of a rubber material and is formed as a hollow tube tapering from one end to the other. Due to the shape of the bracket, bending in any direction is possible. The bracket therefore will behave similarly in absorbing vertically and horizontally induced vibrations. A similar bracket is also described in DE-A-3.703.095. Both documents disclose a mounting bracket according to the preamble of claim 1. In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a mounting bracket for supporting a light on the body of a vehicle; the bracket comprising an arm which is formed of a plastics material and is formed integrally with, and extends between, a mounting plate, to be secured to the body of the vehicle, and a housing for receiving the light. The bracket is characterized in that the arm comprises two horizontally spaced struts each extending from the mounting plate to the light housing and each strut having a height which is greater than its depth, whereby the arm is sufficiently rigid to support the light without vibrating in a vertical plane but is resiliently deflectable in a horizontal plane to be able to withstand collision with an obstruction without breaking. Though the resistance or stiffness of the arm in a horizontal plane may be the same in both directions, it is preferred for the two struts of the arm to be curved in the horizontal plane and to be so dimensioned in relation to one another that the resistance to bending is greater in one direction than in the other. Advantageously, at least one of the struts is formed with an inner bore extending the length of the arm from the mounting plate to the light housing for guiding and protecting cables supplying electrical power to the light mounted in the housing. The mounting bracket may conveniently be formed as a one piece moulding of a plastics material. Captive metal inserts are preferably moulded in situ in the mounting plate and the light housing to serve as fastenings for securing the support bracket to the vehicle body and retaining the light in the light housing. The bracket of the preferred embodiment of the invention may be injection moulded as both the space between the struts of the arm and the bore within one of the struts may be formed by the use of mandrels retractably mounted in the mould. It is preferred, however, to use a cavity moulding technique. During cavity moulding, a quantity of plastics material insufficient to fill a mould is introduced into the mould and rolled around the mould while it sets so that it only coats the walls of the mould, leaving one or more cavities within the moulded article. This technique is well known per se and used for example in forming one piece hollow articles such as plastic fuel tanks for motor vehicles. The invention will now be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which : Figure 1 is a plan view from above of a mounting bracket of the invention, Figure 2 is a front view of the bracket shown in Figure 1, and Figure 3 is a section taken along the line III-III in Figure 2. The mounting bracket 10 shown in the drawings comprises a mounting plate 12, a light housing 14 and an arm 16 extending from the mounting plate 12 to the light housing 14. The arm 16 is formed of two horizontally spaced struts 16a and 16b. As shown in Figures 1 and 3, the struts 16a and 16b are not of equal length, the front strut 16a being the longer of the two. Furthermore, both the struts 16a and 16b are curved in the same sense when viewed in plan. The front strut 16a is also formed with a bore 18 that extends over its entire length from the mounting plate 12 to the light housing 14. The bore 18 serves to guide and protect the electrical power leads to the light retained within the light housing 14. A first metal insert 20 moulded in situ as part of the mounting plate 12 defines two internally screw threaded nuts 20a and 20b that enable the bracket 10 to be bolted on to the body of a vehicle. A second metal insert 22 moulded in situ as part of the light housing 14 defines two internally screw threaded nuts 22a and 22b that enable the light to be bolted into the light housing 14. The entire mounting bracket 10 is moulded in one piece from a plastics material, such as a polycarbonate or polypropylene, by a cavity moulding process, the inserts 20 and 22 being placed in the mould prior to the introduction of the plastics material into the mould so that the inserts are captive in the plastics material when it sets. Because of the space between the struts 16a and 16b and the curvature of these two struts, they will bend if the bracket 10 collides with an object while the vehicle is moving forward but they will offer greater resistance to movement in the opposite horizontal direction. Also because the height of the struts, as seen from Figure 2, exceeds their width in the horizontal plane, they offer more resistance to flexing in a vertical plane. The flexibility of the arm in a horizontal plane allows it to absorb collision shocks without breaking and yet to support the light firmly without vibrating when the vehicle is being driven, even in off-road conditions.

Claims: A mounting bracket (10) for supporting a light on the body of a vehicle; the bracket (10) comprising an arm (16) which is formed of a plastics material and is formed integrally with, and extends between, a mounting plate (12), to be secured to the body of the vehicle, and a housing (14) for receiving the light; and characterized in that the arm (16) comprises two horizontally spaced struts (16a, 16b) each extending from the mounting plate (12) to the light housing (14) and each strut (16a, 16b) having a height which is greater than its depth, whereby the arm (16) is sufficiently rigid to support the light without vibrating in a vertical plane but is resiliently deflectable in a horizontal plane to be able to withstand collision with an obstruction without breaking. A mounting bracket according to claim 1, characterized in that the two struts (16a, 16b) of the arm (16) are curved in the horizontal plane and the front strut (16a) is longer than the other strut (16b), whereby the resistance of the arm (16) to bending in the horizontal plane is greater in one direction than in the other. A mounting bracket according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that at least one of the struts (16a, 16b) is formed with an inner bore (18) extending the length of the arm (16) from the mounting plate (12) to the light housing (14), for guiding and protecting cables supplying electrical power to the light mounted in the housing (14). A mounting bracket according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the bracket is formed as a one piece moulding of a plastics material. A mounting bracket according to claim 4, characterized in that captive metal inserts (20, 22) are moulded in situ in the mounting plate (12) and the light housing (14) to serve as fastenings for securing the support bracket (10) to the vehicle body and retaining the light in the light housing (14). A mounting bracket according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the bracket (10) is injection moulded. A mounting bracket according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the bracket (10) is moulded using a cavity moulding technique.

Inventors: LA VECCHIA GUIDO, SILEO GAETANO, LA VECCHIA, GUIDO, SILEO, GAETANO
Applicants: CNH ITALIA SPA, CNH ITALIA S.P.A.
Application year: 1998
Main classification: B60Q1
IPC codes: B60Q1