Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7798091?ie=ISO-8859-1
Timestamp: 2014-07-29 21:15:48
Document Index: 647338496

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 121', 'art 121', 'art 121', 'art 161', 'art 121', 'art 121', 'art 161', 'art 121', 'art 121', 'art 121', 'art 136', 'art 122', 'art 121', 'art 133', 'art 121', 'art 133', 'art 121', 'art 121', 'art 133', 'art 133', 'art 121', 'art 121', 'Application No. 07253680']

Patent US7798091 - Meter device and vehicle - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign in<nobr>Advanced Patent Search</nobr>PatentsA meter device for a vehicle with enhanced visibility that is easily discriminated from other meter devices. A speedometer includes a meter panel having an indication surface that indicates a running speed, and a finger moving in an area above the meter panel. A light guide surrounds a rim part of the...http://www.google.com/patents/US7798091?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7798091 - Meter device and vehicleAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS7798091 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 11/860,429Publication dateSep 21, 2010Filing dateSep 24, 2007Priority dateSep 29, 2006Fee statusPaidAlso published asEP1908677A2, EP1908677A3, EP1908677B1, US20080236474Publication number11860429, 860429, US 7798091 B2, US 7798091B2, US-B2-7798091, US7798091 B2, US7798091B2InventorsYoshikazu Suita, Pairuch WorakasemsukOriginal AssigneeYamaha Hatsudoki Kabushiki KaishaExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (18), Non-Patent Citations (1), Referenced by (2), Classifications (14), Legal Events (2) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetMeter device and vehicleUS 7798091 B2Abstract A meter device for a vehicle with enhanced visibility that is easily discriminated from other meter devices. A speedometer includes a meter panel having an indication surface that indicates a running speed, and a finger moving in an area above the meter panel. A light guide surrounds a rim part of the meter panel. The light guide is formed with a light guiding member which guides light from a light source. A rim frame section of the light guide protrudes over the indication surface from a back side of the meter panel toward a front side.
RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 USC 119 of Japanese patent application nos. 2006-270001, filed on Sep. 29, 2006, which application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is made under these circumstances and provides a meter device for a vehicle with enhanced visibility and that can be easily discriminated from other meter devices or the like.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a left side view of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Structure of Vehicle of a Present Embodiment)
Handle bar unit 40 has a left side handle bar 41L, a right side handle bar 41R and a handle crown 42 coupled with steering shaft 22. Handle bars 41L and 41R are also coupled with handle crown 42. Specifically, left side handle bar 41L is coupled with a left side handle bar coupling section 42 a, and right side handle bar 41R is coupled with a right side handle bar coupling section 42 b. Handle crown 42 curves along a bottom end portion 100 a of combination meter unit 100. Therefore, bottom end portion 100 a extends into an area of handle crown 42 beyond a line L1 passing through left and right side handle bar coupling sections 42 a and 42 b. FIG. 4 is a plan view of combination meter unit 100. As shown in FIG. 4, combination meter unit 100 includes a speedometer 120, a fuel meter 160 and a shift indicator 170.
Meter panel 121 has a permeable part 121 p (printed with alphanumeric characters such as, for example, �0,� �180� and �km/h) which allows light from a light source, specifically, from meter lamp 151 (see FIG. 5) to pass therethrough. Permeable part 121 p is printed with light-permeable ink. Alternatively, non-light-permeable ink may be applied to meter panel 121 and then removed in correspondence with certain alphanumeric characters to obtain permeable part 121 p. A light guide 130 (indication plate frame) is placed out of meter panel 121. Light guide 130 is formed from a light guiding member to guide light from meter lamp 151 (see FIG. 5). In one embodiment, light guide 130 is made from acrylic resin. Also, in one embodiment, light guide 130 is colored tangerine.
Fuel meter 160 (one of other meters) has a meter panel 161 and a finger 162 to indicate an amount of fuel in a fuel tank of motorcycle 10. Meter panel 161, similarly to meter panel 121, has a permeable part 161 p (for example, printed with �F,� an icon for fuel) which allows light to pass therethrough.
Light guide 130 guides light from meter lamp 151. The guided light shines on or illuminates the vicinity of rim part 121 d and permeable part 121 p of meter panel 121.
In the cross section taken along line F5-F5, fuel meter 160 is juxtaposed with speedometer 120. That is, finger 122 and finger 162 are generally positioned at the same level in a depth (D1) direction. Also, a light guide 163 for guiding light to permeable part 161 p (see FIG. 4) from a lamp is placed under meter panel 161.
As shown in FIG. 6, meter panel 121 has an indication surface 121 a for indicating a running speed or the like. Specifically, permeable part 121 p has alphanumeric characters (�0,� �180� etc.) indicating the running speed or the like. Only some such alphanumeric characters are shown in FIG. 6.
Meter panel 121 has notches 121 b and a notch 121 c engaging with scale projections 133 and a reference scale projection 134, respectively, which are formed on light guide 130.
Light guide 130 is disposed under meter panel 121 and surrounds rim part 121 d of meter panel 121.
Also, light guide 130 has scale projections 133 projecting inward from rim part 121 d of meter panel 121 in an area above meter panel 121 and reference scale projection 134. In this embodiment, scale projections 133 and reference scale projection 134 form projecting scale sections. Scale projections 133 and reference scale projection 134 project toward the front side of meter panel 121.
FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing how light emitted from finger lighting lamp 152 shines on or illuminates finger 122. For simplicity, cross-sectional hatching is omitted in FIG. 8. As shown in FIG. 8, an inclination part 136 a is formed in light emitting section 136 and reflects light (indicated by the dotted line) from finger lighting lamp 152 upward, i.e., toward finger 122.
Also, an inclination part 122 a which reflects light from finger lighting lamp 152 toward a tip end of finger 122 is formed in finger 122.
As shown in FIG. 9, light guide 130, specifically, rim frame section 132 protrudes over an indication surface 121 a from the back side (D1 direction side in the figure) of meter panel 121 toward the front side (D2 direction side in the figure) thereof.
Also, rim frame section 132 has an outer end 132 a (frame outer end), an inner end 132 b (frame inner end) and an inclination section 132 c (frame inclination section).
Inner end 132 b is formed on the rim part 121 d side of meter panel 121. Outer end 132 a is formed out of inner end 132 b. Outer end 132 a is positioned more forward of or higher than inner end 132 b on the front side. Inclination section 132 c is formed between inner end 132 b and outer end 132 a. That is, rim frame section 132 has a mortar shape that descends from outer end 132 a toward inner end 132 b. FIG. 10 is a cross sectional view of light guide 130 taken along line F10-F10 of FIG. 6. As shown in FIG. 10, each scale projection 133 has an outer end 133 a (scale section outer end), an inner end 133 b (scale section inner end) and an inclination part 133 c (scale section inclination part).
Inner end 133 b is formed on the rim part 121 d side of meter panel 121. Outer end 133 a is formed out of inner end 133 b. Outer end 133 a is positioned more forward of or higher than inner end 133 b on the front side. Inclination part 133 c is formed between inner end 133 b and outer end 133 a. That is, each scale projection 133 has a shape that descends from outer end 133 a toward inner end 133 b. Additionally, although not shown, reference scale projection 134 has a lateral shape similar to that of scale projection 133.
According to combination meter unit 100, specifically speedometer 120, light guide 130 surrounding rim part 121 d of meter panel 121 and made from acrylic resin protrudes over indication surface 121 a of meter panel 121 from the back side of meter panel 121 toward the front side thereof.
Because meter lamp 151 illuminates light guide 130 that protrudes over indication surface 121 a from the back side of meter panel 121 toward the front side thereof, speedometer 120 is more solidly visible. That is, the visibility of speedometer 120 and the ease by which it can be discriminated from fuel meter 160 and shift indicator 170 is further enhanced.
Also, because light guide 130 protrudes over indication surface 121 a of light guide 130, speedometer 120 is more solidly visible even though meter lamp 151 does not shine the light guide.
In this embodiment, light guide 130 has scale projections 133 and reference scale projection 134 which project inward of meter panel 121 from rim part 121 d of meter panel 121. Because meter lamp 151 illuminates scale projections 133 and reference scale projection 134, the visibility of speedometer 120, specifically, the situation in which finger 122 points at a specific running speed (20 km/h, 40 km/h etc.) can be easily seen by the rider.
Further, the width of reference scale projection 134 formed at the location of �0 km/h� is larger than the width of each scale projection 133. Therefore, the rider can easily recognize the reference position of finger 122.
In this embodiment, rim frame section 132 has inclination section 132 c that descends from outer end 132 a toward inner end 132 b. That is, rim frame section 132 has a mortar shape. Therefore, light is scattered toward the front side in inclination section 132 c. Speedometer 120 thus is more solidly visible.
Also, because rim frame section 132 has a mortar shape, a gap G between meter panel 121 and rim frame section 132 can be inconspicuous, as shown in FIG. 9. Further, because rim frame section 132 has a mortar shape, meter panel 121 having notches 121 b, 121 c and light guide 130 having scale projections 133 and reference scale projection 134 can be easily assembled with each other.
Each scale projection 133 (including reference scale projection 134) has inclination part 133 c that descends from outer end 133 a toward inner end 133 b. Therefore, light is scattered toward the front side in inclination part 133 c. Speedometer 120 thus is more solidly visible.
Other Embodiments Although an embodiment of the invention has been described, the descriptions and drawings forming a portion of this disclosure do not limit the invention. Various alternative embodiments will be apparent to one of skill in the art from this disclosure.
For example, the configuration of light guide 130 can be changed to those shown in FIGS. 11( a) and (b) and FIG. 12. A light guide 130A shown in FIG. 11( a) and a light guide 130B shown in FIG. 11( b) have different rim frame sections.
Light guide 130A shown in FIG. 11( a) has scale sections 133A and a reference scale section 134A each extending outward and inward from a rim frame section 132. Light guide 130B shown in FIG. 11( b) has scale projections 133B and a reference scale projection 134B each extending outward from a rim frame section 132. Scale sections 133A, scale projections 133B, reference scale section 134A and reference scale projection 134B project toward the front side of meter panel 121.
In the embodiment described above, light guide 130 (rim frame section 132) and reflector ring 140 are placed over the whole region of rim part 121 d of meter panel 121. However, light guide 130 (rim frame section 132) and reflector ring 140 are not necessarily placed all over the whole region of rim part 121 d of meter panel 121. Also, reflector ring 140 is not necessarily provided.
In the embodiment described above, inclination section 132 c whose outer end 132 a is positioned more forward or higher than inner end 132 b on the front side, and inclination section 133 c whose outer end 133 a is positioned more forward or higher than inner end 133 b on the front side, are formed. However, inner end 132 b or inner end 133 b can be positioned more forward on the front side. Also, inclination section 132 c, inclination section 133 c, scale projections 133 or reference scale projection 134 are not necessarily formed.
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