United States Patent 19 11 4,443,832 Kanamori Et Al
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United States Patent 19 11 4,443,832 Kanamori et al. 45 Apr. 17, 1984 54 SELF-ILLUMINATING ORNAMENT FOR VEHICLES FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 75) Inventors: Hiroshi Kanamori, Yokohama; 627169 9/1961 Canada .................................. 362/74 Takehiro Shigeya, Kamakura; OTHER PUBLICATIONS Nobumasa Aoki, Tokyo, all of Japan Society of Engineers, Inc. SAE Technical Paper Series, 73) Assignees: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Yokohama No. 800340, Greenlee et al., “Automotive Application City; Marui Industrial Co., Ltd., of Electroluminescent Lighting'. Tokyo, both of Japan Primary Examiner-Stephen J. Lechert, Jr. 21 Appl. No.: 418,428 Assistant Examiner-Howard J. Locker Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Lane, Aitken & Kananen Filed: 22 Sep. 15, 1982 57 ABSTRACT (30) Foreign Application Priority Data An ornament to be attached to a vehicle body such as Sep. 29, 1981 JP Japan ................................ 56-152967 automobile body to indicate a mark such as the manu Dec. 9, 1981 JP Japan ........................... 56-183171 U. facturer's mark for example. The ornament is of the self-illuminating type essentially made up of a base to be 51) Int. Cl. ................................................ F21V9/16 attached to an outer part of the vehicle body, a lamp 52 U.S. Cl. ........................................ 362/84; 362/61; such as an electroluminescent panel supported by the 362/80; 362/311; 362/351; 362/360; 362/375; base and a cover which is a one-piece member formed 362/368; 362/806; 362/808 of a transparent material attached to the base so as to 58) Field of Search ................... 362/84, 101, 61, 200, entirely cover the lamp with a space therebetween. By 362/806, 74, 80, 812, 808, 375, 360, 368, 104, processing of its inner side, the cover has a first area 311,351 which is in a pattern corresponding to the shape of the 56) References Cited mark to be indicated and allows the light emitted by the lamp to pass therethrough but in the daylight prevents U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS recognition of the lamp from the outside, and a second 1,663,392 3/1928 Smith .................................. 362/812 portion which is contiguous to the first area and does 2,025,952 12/1935. Levet ....... ... 362/812 not allow the light to pass therethrough. The processing 2,213,868 9/1940 Lucian. .................................. 362/84 of the cover has enabled to exclude partly transparent 2,291,777 8/1942 Wahlberg.............................. 362/80 and/or semitransparent plates disposed between the 3,096,458 7/1963 Demmy ........... ... 362/267 3,200,524 8/1965 Hendrickson ......................... 362/80 lamp and the cover in conventional vehicle ornaments 4,034,213 7/1977 Norris .......... ... 362/101 of fundamentally the same type, with the effect of im 4,101,955 7/1978. DuNah ... ... 362/104 proving the appearance of the ornament and reducing 4,215,388 7/1980 Reimann ......... ... 362/104 the production cost. 4,332,007 5/1982 Gibstein et al. ... 362/103 4,336,574 1/1982 Goodman ............................ 362/10 15 Claims, 14 Drawing Figures NRT A 4747.74747 U.S. Patent Apr. 17, 1984 Sheet 1 of 13 4,443,832 U.S. Patent Apr. 17, 1984 Sheet 2 of 13 4,443,832 U.S. Patent 4,443,832 48 ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz! U.S. Patent Apr. 17, 1984 Sheet 4 of 13 4,443,832 FIG.4 U.S. Patent Apr. 17, 1984 Sheet 5 of 13 4,443,832 F.G. 5 48 46 Y 'uO / st NoO …º 2 z-z-z-z-zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! U.S. Patent Apr. 17, 1984 Sheet 7 of 13 4,443,832 F. G.7 66 (Z. U.S. Patent Apr. 17, 1984 Sheet 8 of 13 4,443,832 FIG. 8 U.S. Patent Apr. 17, 1984 Sheet 9 of 13 4,443,832 U.S. Patent Apr. 17, 1984 Sheet 10 of 13 4,443,832 FIG. f it NO U.S. Patent Apr. 17, 1984 Sheet 11 of 13 4,443,832 FIG. 72 2 G Z/ Na N 8 9 Y 22 U.S. Patent Apr. 17, 1984 Sheet 13 of 13 4,443,832 FIG. f4 ZZZ Ø 4,443,832 2 stated above to interpose the lamp between the two SELF-ILLUMINATING ORNAMENT FOR COWS VEHICLES It is preferred to use a panel type lamp such as an electroluminescent panel as the illuminating lamp in the BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 5 Ornament, This invention relates to an ornament to be attached As a preferred example, the first area of the cover to a vehicle body such as automobile body to indicate a according to the invention is afforded with the above mark or the like with an ornamental effect, the orna stated properties by locally recessing the inner surface ment being of the type having an illuminating lamp of the cover so as to reduce the thickness of the cover therein. O only in the first area and satin-finishing the recessed In automobiles and some other vehicles it is custom inner surface, or alternatively applying a semitranspar ary to ornament the vehicle body with a medal-like or ent paint or film to the recessed inner surface. The sec panel-like ornament which indicates a mark such as the ond area of the cover can be rendered not transparent manufacturer's mark or the trademark of the vehicle. by applying a shading coating to the inner surface. 15 A vehicle ornament according to the invention has no Vehicle ornaments of this category include self extra part between the lamp and the cover. Accord illuminating ornaments that have come into fashion ingly this ornament is reduced in the total number of recently. parts compared with the hereinbefore described con A conventional automobile ornament of the self ventional vehicle ornament of the same type and can be illuminating type is principally made up of a base to be 20 assembled at a reduced labor cost. Furthermore, this attached to an outer part of the car body, an illuminat ornament can be produced with a reduced thickness of ing lamp supported by the base, a transparent cover the mark-indicating portion. When the lamp in the orna attached to the base to entirely cover the lamp and a ment is lighted in the nighttime, only the first area of the metal piece that is shaped into a desired mark and at cover is brightly illuminated with the effect of clearly tached to the outer surface of the transparent cover. 25 indicating the mark against the dark background of the However, this ornament needs to include additional second area. In the daytime the first area of the cover parts that are disposed between the lamp and the trans appears white against a darker appearance of the second parent cover to render the lamp invisible from the out area, so that the mark is clearly recognizable whereas side in the daytime and to illuminate only limited areas the lamp is invisible. of the transparent cover in the nighttime such that the 30 The present invention will be put into practice mainly illumination relieves the mark against a dark back in the automobile industry, but of course this invention ground given by the remaining areas of the cover. The is useful also in ornamentation of other kinds of vehi inclusion of such additional parts means a considerable cles. For automobiles, the invention can be embodied in increase in the total number of parts of the ornament either an ornament to be placed on an outer surface of and makes the assembling of the ornament troublesome 35 the car body, for example on the surface of a center and time-consuming. Furthermore, the existence of pillar or a rear quarter pillar, or an ornament to be stood these additional parts between the lamp and the cover on an engine hood panel for example. In the latter case causes an unnecessary increase in the thickness of the the base of the ornament can be designed as a tiltable or mark-indicating portion of the ornament, which is unfa collapsible structure for the safety of pedestrians, and in vorable for the aesthetic appearance of the ornament. 40 that case we propose to employ a new mechanism for protecting the wiring for the lamp in the ornament from SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION breaking or damaging upon tilting or collapsing of the It is an object of the present invention to provide an ornament base which supports the lamp thereon. improved vehicle ornament of the self-illuminating type, which ornament is reduced in the total number of 45 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS parts, enhanced in productivity and improved in aes FIG. 1 is a fragmentary and perspective view of an thetic appearance and fully serves its purpose both in automobile body on which an ornament according to the daytime and in the nighttime. the invention is installed; Essentially, a vehicle ornament according to the in FIG. 2 is a perspective and partly cutaway view of a vention comprises a base attachable to an outer part of 50 conventional ornament corresponding to the ornament the vehicle body, an electric lamp supported by the shown in FIG. 1; base, and a cover which is a one-piece member formed FIG. 3 is a sectional and exploded view of the con of a transparent material and is attached to the base so as ventional ornament of FIG. 2; to entirely cover the lamp with a space therebetween. FIG. 4 is a fragmentary and sectional view of an The inner side of the cover facing the lamp is processed 55 electroluminescent panel used as an illuminating lamp in such that the cover has a first area, which is in a pattern both the conventional ornament and the ornament ac corresponding to a mark to be indicated by the orna cording to the invention; ment and allows light rays emitted by the lamp to pass FIG.