Abstract:
An improved meter display device and control device for a saddle type vehicle such as a motor scooter. The display is mounted in the handlebar cover and in addition to the mounting the display, certain engine control parts are also mounted in the same housing so as to make a neater installation and simplify the overall construction.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
         [0001]    This invention relates to a control device for a saddle type vehicle and more particularly to an improved arrangement for mounting the controls and displays for scooter type vehicles.  
           [0002]    A very popular type of vehicle is of the type that has a saddle type seat on which the rider sits with his feet depending below the seat and generally forwardly of them. A handlebar assembly is disposed forwardly of the seat for control of the vehicle by the rider. A typical example of this type of vehicle is a motor scooter.  
           [0003]    It is generally the practice to provide some form of display forwardly of the rider”s seat and generally in proximity to the handlebar to display certain vehicle operational conditions such as vehicle speed or engine speed. These displays comprise a visual display and a driver for the visual display, which may be mounted in the same housing forwardly of the rider and in proximity to the handlebar and a sensor for providing the necessary information to the display.  
           [0004]    The sensor obviously is mounted remotely from the display and the display driver and their mounting arrangement. Often times the same sensor or other sensors may be embodied on the vehicle for controlling operations of the vehicle. For example, it is frequently the practice to employ a crank angle sensor that operates with the ignition system for controlling the firing of the spark plug or spark plugs at predetermined preferred crankshaft angles. These sensors and their associated control arrangements are mounted at various locations on the vehicle body and thus, further complicate the structure and can give rise to difficulties in mounting the components and transmitting signals between the sensors and the controls and any associated displays.  
           [0005]    It is, therefore, a principal object to this invention to provide an improved control device for this type of vehicle.  
           [0006]    It is a further object to this invention to provide a control device for this type of vehicle wherein the control devices may be mounted in proximity to the sensors so as to communize the mounting and minimize the amount of wiring required. Additionally this will make the overall construction neater and more compact.  
         SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
         [0007]    This invention is adapted to be embodied in a vehicle having a seat upon which a rider is seated with his feet extending forwardly and downwardly. A handlebar assembly is provided in front of the seat and of the vehicle for steering the vehicle in its path of movement. A base plate is associated with the handlebar and supports a meter display. A sensor is mounted on the vehicle in spaced relationship to the meter display. A meter control is directly mounted on the base place and in communication with the sensor for displaying vehicle information on the meter display. A running control for controlling a running drive of the vehicle is also mounted on the base plate. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0008]    [0008]FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a saddle type vehicle constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 2 is an enlarged top plan view showing the vehicle display.  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of the meter display taken along the line  3 - 3  of FIG. 2.  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing the components associated with the display and the control for certain functions of the vehicle.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the sequence of operation of the display and vehicle control.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 6 is a schematic view, in part similar to FIG. 4, and shows another embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0014]    Referring first to FIG. 1, a motor scooter constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention is identified generally by the reference numeral  11 . The motor scooter  11  includes a main body portion, indicated generally by the reference numeral  12 , from which a front wheel  13  and rear wheel  14  are suspended. The front wheel  13  is dirigibly supported by the main body portion  12  in a known manner by means that includes a front fork  15  that is steered by a handlebar assembly  16 .  
         [0015]    The rear wheel  14  underlies a rider”s seat  17  and is journalled by a suspension system, indicated generally by the reference numeral  18  and which includes a rear shock absorber  19 . An engine transmission assembly, indicated generally by the reference numeral  21  consists of an internal combustion engine  22  and a transmission  23  that drives the rear wheel  14 . This engine transmission assembly  21  is pivotally mounted on the main body portion  12  by the suspension system  18  in a suitable manner for accommodating the suspension movement of the rear wheel  14 .  
         [0016]    A foot area  24  is formed by the main body portion  12  forwardly of the seat  17  so that a rider seated on the seat may place his feet on the foot area  24 .  
         [0017]    A front cover  25  is mounted above and around the handlebar assembly  16  and supports certain components. These components include a combined control box and display, indicated generally by the reference numeral  26 , a main switch  27  and a pair of turn signal flashers  28 .  
         [0018]    The combined control box and display  26  is shown in more detail in FIGS. 2 and 3 and will be described in more detail shortly by reference thereto. This combined control box and display  26  also is shown in the schematic view in FIG. 4 and is indicated by the dot dash lines therein so as to indicate the mounting of various components.  
         [0019]    Referring now primarily to FIGS. 1 and 4, the engine  22  is provided with certain control components and, except for those, which will be described, it should be understood that the remainder of the construction of the engine  22  is conventional. Those engine control units, which are associated in conjunction with the invention, comprise a spark plug  29  that is fired by an ignition system, shown schematically in FIG. 1 and indicated generally by the reference numeral  31 .  
         [0020]    This ignition system  31  includes a firing circuit  32  which may be mounted conveniently on the vehicle body  12 , for example under the foot area  24 . This controls the firing of the spark plug  29  in accordance with a desired control strategy that is supplied by an ignition control interface  33  (FIG. 4), which is mounted, in a manner to be described, in the combined control and display  26 .  
         [0021]    A crank angle detector of a known type, shown schematically at  34  in FIG. 4, senses the rotational angle of the crankshaft of the engine  22  and outputs this signal to the ignition control interface  33 , in a manner, which will be described in more detail shortly. For example, this crank angle detector or sensor  34  may cooperate with a flywheel magneto  35  of the engine, which appears schematically in FIG. 1.  
         [0022]    The engine is also provided with a lubricating system, which is indicated generally by the reference numeral  37  in FIG. 4 and which includes a lubricant pump  38 , which is controlled in a manner to be described.  
         [0023]    Referring now in detail primarily to FIGS. 2 through 4, the combined control box and display  26  will be described in more detail. It is comprised of a main housing assembly  39  that is formed from a plastic material comprised of a lower support plate  41  and a cover plate  42  that is detachably affixed thereto with an intermediate gasket  43 . This connection may be made in any suitable manner and preferably one, which will permit access to the interior of the main housing assembly  39 .  
         [0024]    The lower support plate  41  is supported on the front cover  25  by means of threaded fasteners  44 . Within the body of the main housing assembly  39 , there is mounted a base plate  45  that is connected to an inwardly extending flange of the lower support plate  41  by threaded fasteners  46 .  
         [0025]    A number of driver components are mounted on the base plate  45 , which, preferably, is formed from an insulating material. These components include a main meter display  47  that has an upper display surface  48  and which contains a plurality of display functions for the display part, indicated generally by the reference numeral  49  in FIG. 4, of the combined control box and display  26 . This includes a CPU, shown schematically in FIG. 4; that has sections for controlling the firing circuit  32  via the ignition control interface  33 ; a lubricating control driver, indicated generally by the reference numeral  51 , for operating the lubricating pump  38 ; a flasher control driver  52  for operating a flasher unit  53  (FIGS. 3 and 4) for operating the flashers  28 ; and a meter control driver, indicated generally by the reference numeral  50 , for controlling the display on the upper display surface  48 .  
         [0026]    The upper housing piece or cover plate  42  is provided with an opaque upper surface  54  and a series of translucent parts  55 . One of these parts  55  overlies the display face, this being indicated at  55 A.  
         [0027]    The upper display surface  48  can supply indication of various conditions from sensors including the crank angle detector  34 . These other sensors are indicated by the box  56  in FIG. 4 and sense certain conditions such as vehicle speed, liquid level for the lubricating oil and fuel and water temperature, et cetera.  
         [0028]    These signals are transferred to an input/output interface  57  that in turns transmits the information to the CPU including the drivers  50 ,  51  and  52  of the CPU. The main switch  27  also is connected to the input/output interface  57 .  
         [0029]    A battery, shown schematically at  58  in FIG. 4, inputs electrical signal to a power source circuit  59  mounted in the main housing assembly  39  and that supplies power to the CPU and other components as shown schematically in FIG. 4.  
         [0030]    Finally, there are provided a pair of further small translucent parts  55  that overlie LEDS such as an over speed LED  61  and a low fuel level LED  62  that are controlled by the suitable control  63  that receives signals from appropriate sensors on the vehicle body.  
         [0031]    A driver  64  for the lubricating pump  38  also is contained in the main housing assembly  39 . This driver is operated by the lubricant control  51  of the CPU.  
         [0032]    As should be apparent from the foregoing description, this arrangement is very effective in locating components that receive outputs from the same sensors, all within the combined control box and display  26  and thus providing a much more compact and neater assembly. This also reduces the number of wiring harnesses that are required and also places the components in a position where servicing is facilitated.  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 5 is a flow chart that shows how the various devices including the control parts  50 ,  51  and  52  are operated. As seen in FIG. 5, the program starts at the step S 1  to determine if a signal is outputted from one of the detectors such as the specific ignition timing detector  34 .  
         [0034]    If it is outputting a signal, then the program moves to the step  52  to determine the priority between the ignition control and the display control. The program prefers the ignition control if a change is required and if so, it moves to the step S 3  to perform the arithmetic processing and to the step S 4  so as to output the appropriate signal to the ignition control interface  33  to switch the firing circuit  32  to fire the spark plug  29 .  
         [0035]    Then, the program moves to the step S 5  to perform the arithmetic processing necessary to project the engine speed signal at the step S 6 .  
         [0036]    In the illustrated embodiment, the outer housing pieces are detachably connected to each other. However, it is to be understood that that can be ultrasonically bonded to form a unitary housing assembly.  
         [0037]    [0037]FIG. 6 shows another embodiment and this embodiment differs from the previous one only in the fact that the ignition circuit is embodied in the combined control box and display  26  and is separated from a separate firing coil, indicated by the reference numeral  101  and which is externally positioned on the vehicle body  12  in proximity to the spark plug  29  for its firing. In all other regards, this embodiment is the same as that previously described.  
         [0038]    Thus, from the foregoing description it should be readily apparent that the described construction provides a very compact and effective meter arrangement for a small vehicle such as a motor scooter wherein both the display of vehicle and engine conditions and control of the engine operation are simplified by placing the controls in the display unit where they can be protected and also be easily serviced. Of course, the foregoing description is that of a preferred embodiment of the invention and various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.