Patent ID: 8764208

Claim:
A meter illumination device comprising: a circuit board formed of a hard material; a meter body arranged on the back side of the circuit board and having a drive shaft extending forward; a light-emitting type indicating needle to be mounted on a distal end side of the drive shaft; a display panel arranged between the indicating needle and the circuit board and having at least a marking corresponding to the indicating needle; a luminous source arranged on the side of a front surface of the circuit board and configured to light up the indicating needle and the markings; and a meter housing arranged between the display panel and the circuit board and provided for setting a distance between the display panel and the circuit board, wherein the meter housing includes: a substantially cylindrical light guide tubular portion positioned on the back side of the display panel and configured to guide a radiated light beam from the luminous source toward a proximal portion of the light-emitting indicating needle, a light guide opening provided between a lower end portion of the light guide tubular portion and the circuit board, a rising reflecting peripheral wall portion positioned on the side of the front surface of the circuit board, provided so as to surround the periphery of the light guide opening at a predetermined distance from the luminous source and extend upward to a level above a light-emitting surface of the luminous source, a first reflecting wall portion provided continuously from an upper end portion of the rising reflecting peripheral wall portion to light up through an area of the marking of the display panel, a second reflecting wall portion having a substantially inverted conical shape provided at a position on the outer periphery of the light guide tubular portion so as to reflect and guide the light from the luminous source to the first reflecting wall portion, and the light-emitting surface of the luminous source faces in a direction toward the display panel.