WO2007148449A1

WO2007148449A1 - Vehicle-mounted equipment holding bracket

Info

Publication number: WO2007148449A1
Application number: PCT/JP2007/051739
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tsutomu Totani
Original assignee: Beat-Sonic Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2006-06-19
Filing date: 2007-01-22
Publication date: 2007-12-27
Also published as: JP4298724B2; JP2007331675A

Abstract

A vehicle-mounted equipment holding bracket is mounted on existing fittings further mounted to opposite inner surfaces of an equipment mount located in the rear of a dashboard, in order to hold vehicle-mounted equipment such as a car audio unit or car navigation unit. The bracket includes a pair of body plates (10a, 10b) fixed to the fittings and having front ends, respectively and leaf springs (15,17) formed near the front ends of the body plates so that the vehicle-mounted equipment is held by pressing forces of the leaf springs, respectively .

Description

DESCRIPTION

VEHICLE-MOUNTED EQUIPMENT HOLDING BRACKET

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based upon and claims the benefit

of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No.

2006-168211, filed on June 19, 2006, the entire contents

of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the invention

The present invention relates to a vehicle-mounted

equipment holding bracket which is mounted to existing

hardware or fittings mounted on right and left inner

surfaces of a vehicle-mounted equipment mount provided in

the rear of a dashboard of a vehicle so that vehicle-mounted

equipment such as a car audio unit or car navigation unit

is held in position.

2. Description of related art Most mount openings for vehicle-mounted equipment

such as car audio units, car navigation units, etc. are

formed in accordance with "Deutsches Institut fur Normung"

(DIN) Standards, in English, German Institute for

Standardization. Accordingly, genuine vehicle-mounted

equipment can be replaced by commercially available

vehicle-mounted equipment when the latter equipment has a

height and a width both within the DIN Standards and a

mounting portion meets the DIN Standards. However,

automobile manufacturers have recently installed

vehicle-mounted equipment which is mounted in a mounting

portion meeting the DIN Standards but has on the front

thereof a large-sized more visible screen panel, a panel

which is matched with the design of the dashboard but does

not conform to the DIN Standards (hereinafter, "odd-form

panel") , etc. Vehicle-mounted equipment having an

odd-form panel of manufacturer' s own design has

incompatibility with and accordingly cannot be mounted in those of other types of vehicles since the odd-form panel

of the vehicle-mounted equipment has a different size from

a mount opening for vehicle-mounted equipment.

As a countermeasure, for example, Japanese Utility

Model Registration No. 3029786 discloses a bracket which

enables commercially available vehicle-mounted equipment

to be mounted on a part of the dashboard where no

vehicle-mounted equipment is designed to be mounted. The

disclosed bracket is used to convert a glove compartment

in the dashboard to an audio rack. The disclosed bracket

comprises a cylindrical metal plate with a rectangular

section to which an audio unit is attached. Inwardly cut

and raised leaf springs are formed near right and left ends

of a central upper surface and right and left sides of the

metal plate. The leaf springs press an audio unit from

three directions.

However, there is a possibility that the foregoing

bracket may result in the following problems: 1. The above unit is formed into a rectangular section

and accordingly, a large-sized plate is necessitated.

Furthermore, the leaf springs are formed by cutting and

raising the right and left ends of the central upper surface

and right and left sides of the metal plate. As a result,

a complicated step of positioning springs increases

troubles and costs.

2. When vehicle-mounted equipment such as a liquid

crystal monitor having a relatively smaller depth is to be

mounted, the depth of the liquid crystal monitor is

insufficient to reach the position of the leaf spring,

whereupon the leaf spring cannot be expected to produce an

effect of suppressing rattle of the equipment by the leaf

spring.

3. Replaceable vehicle-mounted equipment is limited

to the one which has a sufficient width to be able to press

the leaf spring, and accordingly, a range of options of the

equipment is narrowed. 4. In order that the glove compartment may be converted

to the audio rack, the rack is fitted with a holder, and

the bracket is further fitted into the holder.

Vehicle-mounted equipment is then held by the bracket.

Thus, an equipment holding structure with use of the bracket

is complicated. Nonetheless, since engagement claws

provided at the equipment body side are engaged with

respective engagement holes provided at the bracket side

so that the equipment is held, a force of the bracket holding

the equipment is insufficient.

On the other hand, when vehicle-mounted equipment with

an odd-form panel is mounted without use of the aforesaid

rack with a complicated structure, a simplest way is to

mount the equipment on existing fittings provided at the

vehicle side by tightening bolts into screw holes formed

in the mount. In this case, however, a peripheral edge of

the odd-form panel interferes with a mount opening of the

dashboard, whereupon the vehicle-mounted equipment with the odd-form panel cannot be mounted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to

provide a vehicle-mounted equipment holding bracket which

includes holding or fixing means gathered near the mount

opening side so that various types of vehicle-mounted

equipment can be replaced for genuine equipment.

The present invention provides a vehicle-mounted

equipment holding bracket which is mounted on existing

fittings further mounted to opposite inner surfaces of an

equipment mount located in the rear of a dashboard, in order

to hold vehicle-mounted equipment such as a car audio unit

or car navigation unit. The bracket comprises a pair of

body plates fixed to the fittings and having front ends,

respectively and leaf springs formed near the front ends

of the body plates so that the vehicle-mounted equipment

is held by pressing forces of the leaf springs,

respectively. In the above-described bracket, the leaf springs

formed on the front ends of the opposite body plates press

the vehicle-mounted equipment, thereby holding the

equipment. Accordingly, the body of the vehicle-mounted

equipment is held near the mount opening of the dashboard

for the vehicle-mounted equipment irrespective of the depth

of the equipment body. Consequently, even when the panel

part of the equipment is larger than the DIN standards and

is an odd-form panel, the vehicle-mounted equipment can be

mounted in the dashboard if vehicle-mounted equipment to

be mounted includes a body conforming to the DIN standards.

Furthermore, the vehicle-mounted equipment can also be

mounted in the dashboard even when the panel projects from

the mount opening. Additionally, since the existing

fittings are used to mount the body plates, the structure

of the bracket can be simplified and yet, the

vehicle-mounted equipment can reliably be held.

In a preferred embodiment, each body plate has upper and lower ends bent inwards so as to have a C-shaped section

and an opening, each body plate being fixed to the

respective fittings with the openings thereof being

directed inwards. Consequently, each body plate has

sufficient stiffness to hold the vehicle-mounted equipment.

Furthermore, waste of plate material used can be cut and

simpler manufacturing steps can be reduced.

In another preferred embodiment, each body plate has

a slit formed in a middle part of the front edge, and the

two leaf springs are formed on the front edge of each body

plate so as to be vertically juxtaposed. The two leaf

springs may be used depending upon the height of the

vehicle-mounted equipment to be mounted. The two leaf

springs may be used together when the vehicle-mounted

equipment such as a car navigation unit having a substantial

height is to be mounted. On the other hand, the upper and

lower leaf springs may be used individually when an existing

car radio is combined with a commercially available vehicle-mounted CD player or the like, for example.

In further another preferred embodiment, the paired

body plates have lower ends and which further comprises a

bottom plate connected to the lower ends of the body plates

so that the bracket has an upper opening and a C-shaped

section. The bracket can be positioned easier than in the

case where the two body plates are positioned individually.

In still further another embodiment, the body plates

are generally rectangular in shape and the front ends of

the body plates are slit so that the leaf springs are formed

in upper end corners respectively. As the result of this

structure, a housing having a substantial height but small

depth, such as a liquid crystal monitor, can be prevented

from falling down forward about its lower end by a minimum

necessary pressing force of each leaf spring.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become clear upon understanding of the

description of embodiments with reference to the

accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle-mounted

equipment holding bracket of a first illustrative example:

FIG. 2 illustrates a manner of mounting the

vehicle-mounted equipment holding bracket;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a vehicle-mounted

equipment holding bracket of a second illustrative example;

and

FIG. 4 illustrates a manner of mounting the

vehicle-mounted equipment holding bracket of the second

illustrative example.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A first embodiment of the invention will be described

with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. Referring to FIG. 1, a

pair of left and right vehicle-mounted equipment holding brackets 10a and 10b are shown. Since the left and right

brackets 10a and 10b are symmetrical, only the bracket 10a

will be described.

The bracket 10a comprises a body plate 11 made of a

generally rectangular metal plate. The body plate 11 has

an upper end which is bent inwards at right angles thereby

to be formed into a first guide plate 12. The body plate

11 further has a lower end which is bent inwards at right

angles thereby to be formed into a second guide plate 13.

The bracket 10a thus has a generally C-shaped section. The

body plate 11 has two mounting holes formed through an upper

corner thereof and two mounting holes formed through a lower

corner thereof. The body plate 11 has a front end from which

project a first leaf spring 15, tongue 16 and second leaf

spring 17 sequentially from the top. The first and second

leaf springs 15 and 17 has the same shape and are bent inwards

at bend lines 18 and spread outwards at bend lines 19. The

first and second leaf springs 15 and 17 further support surfaces 15a and 17a formed between the bend lines 18 and

19 respectively. The body plate 11 has a height determined

in compliance with the DIN standards, for example, 2DIN.

The first and second guide plates 12 and 13 have front

ends from which project first and second auxiliary guide

pieces 21 and 22 respectively. Both guide pieces 21 and

22 are spread outwards at the bent portions 23 and 24

respectively.

The bracket 10 has such a structure as described above.

The bracket 10b is obtained by inverting the bracket 10a

upside down and by forming the second guide plate 13 on the

upper end of the body plate 11 and the first guide plate

12 on the lower end of the body plate 11. Furthermore, from

the front end of the bracket 22 project the second leaf

spring 17, tongue 16 and first leaf spring 15 sequentially

from the top.

The bracket 10a of the embodiment is mounted via

mounting holes 14 to existing fittings 30a and 30b which were used to mount vehicle-mounted equipment such as a car

audio unit or car navigation unit. Each fitting has, for

example, three mounting holes 31 and two securing holes 32

as shown in FIG. 2. Each fitting is screwed to the

vehicle-mounted equipment mount through the securing holes

32. Each fitting has a rear end bent inwards at right angles

so as to have a generally L-shaped section. Bolts 33 are

conventionally inserted through the mounting holes 31 from

the vehicle-body side toward the vehicle-mounted equipment

side, being threadingly engaged with screw holes provided

in the vehicle-mounted equipment 40 respectively. In the

embodiment, nuts 34 are further provided so as to be

threadingly engaged with the bolts 33 respectively.

A manner of mounting the bracket will now be described

with reference to the drawings. The mounting holes 14 of

the bracket 10a are superimposed on the mounting holes 31

of the fitting 30a provided on the left inner surface of

the equipment mount at the rear side of the dashboard, respectively. The bolts 33 are inserted through the

superimposed mounting holes 14 and 31 from inside the

bracket 10a and then threadingly engaged with the nuts 34,

respectively, so that the bracket is fixed. Subsequently,

the bracket 10b and the fitting 30b are fixed in the same

manner as described above.

A cover (not shown) is attached around the mount

opening of the dashboard defined between the paired

brackets 10a and 10b each of which is fixed with its opening

being directed inwards. Thereafter, when the

vehicle-mounted equipment 40 such as a car navigation unit

is inserted into the mount opening, the rear end corner of

the equipment 40 abuts against the first or second auxiliary

guide piece 21 or 22, so that the equipment 40 is guided

to the space between the first and second guide plates 12

and 13. The support surfaces 15a and 17a of the leaf springs

15 and 17 come into close contact with the sides 42 of the

equipment 40 respectively when the equipment 40 is pushed into the equipment mount of the dashboard until the panel

rear 41 of the equipment 40 or the like comes near to the

end of the equipment mount of the dashboard, or more

specifically, the distal ends of the panels 15 and 17,

whereupon the leaf springs 15 and 17 of the brackets 10a

and 10b press and thereby hold the equipment 40.

Each of the brackets 10a and 10b of the embodiment is

made of a plate material having only a sufficient width to

afford formation of the guide plates 12 and 13 on the body

plate 11 and the upper and lower ends thereof by bending.

Consequently, the material can be prevented from being

wasted. Furthermore, since each bracket is formed so as

to have the C-shaped section, the brackets 10a and 10b can

be superimposed so as to be directed in the same direction

for the purpose of shipment or display. As a result, the

shipment costs or the like can be reduced. Additionally,

since the leaf spring is divided into the first and second

leaf springs, the brackets can hold two vehicle-mounted units such as a car radio with IDIN size in combination as

well as popular car navigation systems with the 2DIN size.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate a second embodiment of the

invention. The vehicle-mounted equipment holding bracket

1OA includes a pair of body plates HA made of a metal plate

member and a bottom plate 51 connecting lower ends of the

body plates HA so that an upper end is open, whereby each

bracket is formed so as to have the C-shaped section.

Each body plate HA has a middle slit 52 formed in a

middle part of the front edge thereof as shown in FIG. 3.

An upper half is bent inwards along a bend line 53 and then

outwards along a bend line 54 so that a leaf spring 55 having

a supporting surface 55a between the bend lines 53 and 54.

A plurality of mounting holes 56 are formed in the rear of

the bend line 53 of each body plate HA. Each body plate

HA preferably has a height set at 2DIN size in compliance

the DIN standards . The bottom plate 51 has a rear end formed

into the C-shape by cutting a part of thereof. The bottom plate 51 preferably has a width set in compliance with the

DIN standards. The fittings 30a and 30b provided at the

vehicle body side are the same as those in the first

embodiment .

A manner of mounting the bracket 1OA will now be

described. The mounting holes 56 of the bracket 1OA are

superimposed on the mounting holes 31 of the fitting 30a

and 30b respectively. As a result, the bracket 1OA is

connected to the fittings 30a and 30b by bolts 33 and nuts

34. The bracket 1OA is placed in the equipment mount of

the dashboard with the open end 57 thereof being directed

inside. Securing members (not shown) are engaged with the

securing holes 32 of the fittings 30a and 30b respectively

so that the bracket 1OA is fixed. Subsequently, the cover

is attached so as to cover the periphery of the mount opening

of dashboard.

When the vehicle-mounted equipment 40 such as a car

audio unit or car navigation unit is inserted into the fixed bracket 1OA, the supporting surfaces 55a of the leaf springs

55 press the opposite sides 42 of the equipment 40 thereby

to support the equipment 40.

As obvious from the first and second embodiments, the

vehicle-mounted equipment 40 including the body with

peripheral length conforming to the DIN standards can be

fitted into the mount open end even if the equipment 40

includes an odd-form panel. Accordingly, for example, in

a case where a latest type of system is replaced for a car

navigation system which is pre-installed in a high-priced

luxury car and includes a wide screen (odd-form panel) , the

detached system with the odd-form panel could

conventionally be re-used only in the same type of luxury

car. However, the detached system can be mounted on another

vehicle of any type when the vehicle-mounted equipment

holding brackets 10 or bracket 1OA is employed.

The used car navigation system detached from the

vehicle as described above may be re-used. More specifically, when a 5-year-used car navigation system is

replaced for a 10-year-used car navigation system or when

a 3-year-used car navigation system is replaced for a

5-year-used system, a used but sufficiently usable car

navigation system with an odd-form panel can be purchased

at lower costs without use of a latest type car navigation

system with a panel conforming to the DIN standards.

Consequently, the running costs can be rendered lower.

When equipment 40 having an odd-form panel not

conforming to the DIN standards is held by the brackets 10

or bracket 1OA by either manner described in the first or

second embodiment, the equipment is not co-planar with an

end of mount opening matching with original dashboard

design. However, when the equipment 40 is pushed into the

mount opening until the rear surface 41 of the panel abuts

against the mount opening end, the resultant projecting

part corresponds to the panel or a thickness of the liquid

crystal screen. Consequently, aesthetic aspect around the dashboard can be prevented from being reduced by the

projecting part.

Additionally, when the peripheral corners of the

foregoing projecting part are not chamfered, urethane tape

or the like may be affixed to the peripheral corners as

safety measures.

The foregoing description and drawings are merely

illustrative of the principles of the present invention and

are not construed in a limiting sense. Various changes and

modifications will become apparent to those of ordinary

skill in the art. All such changes and modifications are

seen to fall within the scope of the invention as defined

by the appended claims .

Claims

1. A vehicle-mounted equipment holding bracket which

is mounted on existing fittings further mounted to opposite

inner surfaces of an equipment mount located in the rear

of a dashboard, in order to hold vehicle-mounted equipment

such as a car audio unit or car navigation unit, the bracket

comprising:

a pair of body plates fixed to the fittings and having

front ends, respectively; and

leaf springs formed near the front edges of the body

plates so that the vehicle-mounted equipment is held by

pressing forces of the leaf springs, respectively.

2. The bracket of claim 1, wherein each body plate has

upper and lower ends bent inwards so as to have a C-shaped

section and an opening, each body plate being fixed to the

respective fittings with the openings thereof being directed inwards.

3. The bracket of claim 2, wherein each body plate has

a slit formed in a middle part of the front end thereof,

and the two leaf springs are formed on the front end of each

body plate.

4. The bracket of claim 1, wherein the paired body

plates have lower ends and which further comprises a bottom

plate connected to the lower ends of the body plates so that

the bracket has an upper opening and a C-shaped section.

5. The bracket of claim 4, wherein the body plates are

generally rectangular in shape and the front ends of the

body plates are slit so that the leaf springs are formed

in upper end corners respectively.