The field of the invention relates to the spotlights for motor vehicles.
A spotlight comprises a light source arranged ahead of an optical reflector, the assembly producing a light beam that many regulations impose today to be able, from the cabin, to orient at will, to be able more or less to tilt it down or to lift it up, in summary a beam, the range of which should be able to be corrected by an actuator. That’s why people speak about a range correction.
People have used for a long time as actuators electrical correctors comprising an engine, with an electronic circuit, arranged for, through a driving element, driving into translation a rod adapted to tip the reflector over, the engine being controlled by a control member within reach of the vehicle driver, generally on the dashboard. Due to the cost of such correction engine associated with the circuit thereof, a corrector control device has been proposed, actuating a range corrector through cables and sheaths, of the type of the brake cables of bicycles.
Such a control device for a cabled range corrector is common to both spotlights of the vehicle and allows the position of both cables to be controlled, the first one being connected to a first spotlight through a first rod of the corrector and the other one to a second spotlight through a second rod of the corrector. In order to act on the reflector of one spotlight, the associated pusher rod is frequently
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provided with a spherical end, being locked in the optical reflector, thereby allowing to tip it over.
Such control devices of cabled range correctors comprise a driver on which the tips of both cables are mounted so that each of both cables is integral with the driver. The driver is guided into translation in a housing of the control device and is moved by a threaded axis crossing it. On the end of the threaded axis, a controlling and setting member is fastened, generally a rotating control knob located on the dashboard so that the user can rotate it at will. The control device also comprises two sheaths being integral with the housing and serving to both cables as guides.
The setting member is thus directly connected to the threaded axis, the threaded axis being in connection with a tapped internal surface of the driver located in the middle of the latter, i.e. between the two cables and crossing the driver on either part. Such connection between the threaded axis and the tapped surface of the driver thus allows the rotation movement of the setting member to be converted into a translation movement of the driver and thus of both cables.
In order to guaranty the direction of the beam, the control device must provide the precise positioning of both reflectors and thus the precise positioning of both cables. It is thus important that the control device controls the position of each of the cables with respect to the sheaths thereof or at least minimizes possible positioning defects of one cable with respect to the other.
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Due to gaps existing between the axis threading and the driver tapping, a cable tension differential can induce a rotation of the driver around a rotation axis perpendicular to a plan comprising both cables and passing through the middle of the driver. The extent of such rotation along a direction parallel to the cables is more important at the level of a periphery of the driver than in the middle of the latter. But, due to the presence of the threaded axis in the middle of the driver, the cables are located on an area being far from the middle where the tension differential can generate an important cable positioning difference with respect to the sheath thereof. The consequence of such positioning differential is then a correction offset between the two spotlights.
In order to remedy such drawback, it is known to propose to introduce some friction between the threaded axis and the tapped surface of the driver so as to reduce the gap between both those surfaces and thus to reduce the possibility of movement of the driver with respect to the threaded axis. Such a friction leads however to an hardness in the rotation of the setting member and disturbs its use consequently.
Another solution has been brought by proposing, in the patent application FR2277697, a driver comprising a threaded axis inserted in a tapped drum connected to the setting member. In order to guaranty its cable driving function, such driver further comprises a body connected to the threaded axis, in which the cables are anchored. The longitudinal size of the driver is thus the result of
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the size of the threaded axis and of the size of the body receiving said cables.
The present invention aims at improving the situation trying to minimize the overall longitudinal size of the driver.
Thus, the invention of the present application relates to a control device for a cabled range corrector, comprising a housing inside which there is a translation driving means for two cables within two sheaths being integral with the housing, said control device further comprising a position setting member for the driving means and a connecting means cooperating with the driving means and arranged to transmit to it a movement of the setting member, such control device being characterized by the fact that the driving means is inserted into the connecting means, the driving means comprising a threading cooperating with a tapping of the connecting means so as to guaranty the transmission of said movement of the setting member, said two cables being anchored in the driving means in an area surrounded by said threading.
Thanks to the invention, the connecting means does not cross the driving means anymore, it is even somewhat on the contrary, and it is then possible to bring the two cables as close together as the thickness of both sheaths in which they are inserted allows it, i.e. to bring them closer to a central area of the driving means, while taking benefit from a weak position variation due to the gaps between the driving means and the connecting means. Another advantage of the invention is due to the fact that while bringing the cables closer to the middle of the driving means,
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it is possible to use a driving means, the size of which is reduced, thereby allowing the size of the housing in which it is inserted to be reduced.
The part of the driving means inserted inside the portion of the connecting means is located at the level of a periphery of the driving means. So, thanks to the invention, the connection between the driving means and the connecting means does not occur anymore at the level of a central area of the driving means, but at the level of a surface located on the periphery of the latter. For an identical gap between the driving means and the connecting means, the distance between the middle of the driving means and the area where the gap is located makes that the extent of the movement of the driving means with respect to the housing along a direction parallel to the cables will be lower in the case where the gap is located on a periphery of the driving means with respect to the case where the same gap is located in a central part of the driving means.
Said driving means is thus threaded inside said connecting means. The connecting means allows in such a way a rotation movement of the setting member to be converted in a translation movement of the driving means. The gap between the threading of the driving means and the tapping of the connecting means is able to lead to a rotation movement, being limited thanks to the invention, of the driving means around an axis perpendicular to a plan comprising both cables and passing through the middle of the driving means.
An extra advantage of the invention comes from the fact that while positioning the cables at the level of an area of the driver surrounded by the
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threading, it is possible to reduce the longitudinal size of the driver by cancelling the size being associated with the cable anchoring body.
According to one exemplary embodiment, the connecting means comprises a tapped cylindrical skirt.
Advantageously, the driving means is a socket with threaded cylindrical wall.
According to another aspect of the invention, the sheaths are fastened to an apron being integral with the housing.
According to another exemplary embodiment, the driving means comprises a plate, said housing comprising translation guiding and rotation blocking means for the plate. The translation occurs in parallel with the cables and the rotation blocking occurs around an axis parallel to the cable. The plate advantageously presents a very small size along a direction parallel to the cables, in particular with respect to the size of the threading along this direction.
According to an aspect of the invention, the plate comes in abutment against the connecting means at the end of the translation of the driving means.
Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will better appear by reading the following description of the control device for a cabled range corrector of the invention referring to the accompanying drawing, wherein:
Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a spotlight with its reflector connected to the tipping rod of a cabled range corrector;
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Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the control device for a cabled range corrector of the invention; and
Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the control device for a cabled range corrector illustrated on Fig. 2, once assembled.
Fig. 1 illustrates a range corrector 1 to be illustrated, adapted to correct the range of the beam of both spotlights 2, so-called first and second spotlights 2 (only one of the spotlights 2 is shown on Fig. 1). This is the beam produced by a light source 3 located in front of an optical reflector 4.
Range correcting involves being able to tilt down or to lift up the beam. To do so, the corrector 1 comprises a tipping rod 13 in each spotlight 2, i.e. two rods 13 being driven to tip over the spotlight 4 pivotally mounted on a ball-joint 6 arranged on each spotlight 2. The tipping rods 13 of the corrector 1 comprise a spherical actuating end 10 being locked, but not in rotation, in a rear plot 5 of the reflector 4.
In order to drive into rotation those rods 13 and thus to set the positioning of the corrector 1 and the spotlights 2, a control device 7 for the cabled range corrector, illustrated on Figs. 2 and 3, actuates two driving cables 8, a first one of the two cables being connected to the rod present in the first spotlight, a second of the two cables being connected to the rod present in the second spotlight.
On continuation of the description, the terms front, rear, right, left, upper and lower are defined with respect to the forward movement direction
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of the vehicle, i.e. with respect to the direction of the arrow referenced 60 on Fig. 2.
The corrector control device 7 comprises a member, here a rotating knob 21, for setting the position of a driving means 30 for both cables 8, which will be called a driver. The rotating knob 21 is generally arranged on the dashboard of the vehicle so that the vehicle user can access to it and actuate it at will.
The rotating knob 21 comprises a cylindrical wall recessed inside and a first face 22 extending perpendicular to the cylindrical wall and directed backwards, i.e. towards the vehicle user, and a second face 23 opposed to the first face 22 and directed forwards. A boring 24 is arranged in the middle of the second face 23. The first face 22 comprises a rib 20 allowing the vehicle user to rotate the rotating knob 21 and thus to set the corrector. The rotating knob 21 is centred with respect to a central axis A and rotates around the latter when it is actuated.
The corrector control device 7 comprises a connecting means, a link 25, connected to the rotating knob 21 through the boring 24. The link 25 comprises therefor a shaft 26 with a cylindrical shape, being inserted into the boring 24 of the rotating knob 21. The shaft 26 and the boring 24 extend along the central axis A of the corrector control device 7 and are centred with respect to such central axis A. In order to drive into rotation the shaft 26, the boring 24 is of a complementary shape of a distal end of the shaft 26 and comprises plane faces cooperating with plane faces of the shaft 26. Thus, when the rotating knob 21 is driven into rotation, the boring 24 drives
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the shaft 26 and thus the link 25 into the same movement. The link 25 is fastened in translation with respect to the rotating knob 21.
The link 25 comprises, at the level of an end of the shaft 26 opposed to the distal end inserted into the boring 24, a skirt 27 comprising a cylindrical wall 28 recessed inside and a plane face (not visible) extending in a plan perpendicular to the shaft 26 and connected to the latter. The cylindrical wall 28 is centred with respect to the central axis A, it starts on the plane face of the skirt 27, is directed forwardly and ends at the level of a circular slice 19 extending in a plan perpendicular to the central axis A. The link 25 is tapped. It is here an inside face 29 of the cylindrical wall 28 of the skirt 27 that is tapped.
The link 25 cooperates with the driver 30, the role of which is to drive into translation both cables 8 of the corrector control device 7. The driver 30 is threaded at the level of a periphery of the latter. It takes here the shape of a socket comprising threaded cylindrical faces 32. The driver 30 thus comprises six faces: one left, one right, one front, one rear, one upper and one lower. The left and right faces are of a cylindrical shape and threaded, the other ones being plane. The front and rear faces are perpendicular to the central axis A, whereas the upper and lower faces are perpendicular to the front and rear faces.
Such configuration allows the driver 30 to be inserted inside the link 25. The threaded faces 32 of the driver 30 cooperate in fact with the tapped skirt 27 of the link 25. The contact between the
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link 25 and the driver 30 thus occurs between the threading of the driver 30 and the tapping of the link 25. Thanks to such threading/tapping connection, the link 25 is arranged so as to transmit a movement of the rotating knob 21 to the driver 30. Suck link thus gives the driver 30 a translation movement from a rotation movement of the rotating knob 21. The driver 30 then performs a translation with respect to the link 25 and to the rotating knob 21 according to the central axis A. The man of the art calls the whole assembly of the driver 30 and the link 25 as a “helical connection”.
On the upper face of the driver 30, two recesses 38 being mutually identical and located on either part of the central axis A. Each recess 38 receives a distal end from one of the two cables 8 being so called cable heads (not visible). The recesses 38 comprise a cylindrical central cavity 39 and a slot 40 starting from the central cavity 39 and opening up at the level of the front face of the driver 30. The central cavity 39 and the slot 40 of the recesses 38 are opened at the level of the upper face of the driver 30, the slot 40 being also opened at the level of the front face of the driver 30 so that both cables 8 and the cable head thereof can be easily inserted inside recesses 38 through the upper face of the driver 30. The cable heads are for example spherical so as to be anchored inside the central cavities 39 of the recesses 38, whereas a part of the cable 8 is positioned inside the slots 40. In such a way, when the driver 30 is driven into translation, it drives in turn into translation both cables.
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The driver 30 comprises an abutment plate 41 against the link 25. Such plate 41 is of a rectangular shape and defines the front face of the driver 30. It comprises two wings 42, 43, so called left wing 42 and right wing 43. The left wing 42 projects from the left face of the driver 30 and the right wing 43 projects from the right face of the driver 30. In such a way, the skirt 27 of the link can come and abut against the plate 41. It is in particular the circular slice 19 of the skirt 27 that can come and abut against the wings 42, 43 of the plate 41.
The link 25 and the driver 30 are located inside a housing 11 comprised within the corrector control device 7. The housing 11 is fastened to the vehicle wherein it is located. It is a tubular element centred on the central axis A so that it surrounds the link 25, in particular the skirt 27 of the link 25. The housing 11 comprises a first end located towards the rear part, i.e. towards the rotating knob 21 and a second end located towards the front.
The housing 11 comprises translation guiding and rotation blocking means for the plate 41. Such means allow the plate 41 and thus the driver 30 to be guided into translation along the central axis A, while blocking it in rotation around the central axis A. Such guiding means take here the shape of two depressions 15 located at the level of the second end of the housing 11, arranged symmetrically on the housing 11 with respect to the central axis A and receiving the wings 42, 43 of the abutment plate 41. The depressions 15 are globally of a parallelepiped shape so that they have a shape being complementary to the one of the wings 42, 43, thereby allowing the
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translation of the driver 30 with respect to the housing 11 and avoiding that it is driven into rotation by the link 25. The plate 41 comes in abutment against the link 25 at the end of the translation of the driver 30.
The housing 11 also comprises a tube 16, the role of which is to index into position the housing 11 in the control knob 21 by an abutment against the second face 23 of the knob 21.
As previously seen, the cables 8 are anchored into the driver 30 and leave the latter at the level of the slots 40. The cables 8 then enter sheaths of a cylindrical shape serving as guides for the cables 8. The sheaths 45 guide in fact the cables 8 up to the rods of the corrector so as to drive them into translation as previously mentioned.
The cables 8 are anchored within the driver 30 in an area surrounded by the threading. The expression “area surrounded by the threading” means an area crossed by plans perpendicular to the rotation axis A and including the threading. Such a configuration advantageously allows the longitudinal size of the driver 30 and thus of the device of the invention to be reduced.
The sheaths 45 are fastened on an apron 50 being integral with the housing 11. Such apron 50 comprises a central plate 51 of a substantially rectangular shape globally extending in one plan perpendicular to the central axis A, i.e. in parallel with the abutment plate 41 of the driver 30. The apron 50 also comprises two tubes 52 starting at the level of the central plate 51, directed forwardly and inside which a part of both sheaths 45 is located.
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The depressions 15 of the housing 11 receiving the wings 42, 43 of the abutment plate 41 comprise at the level of the second end of the housing 11 a plane wall 17 extending in a plan perpendicular to the central axis A and receiving the central plate 51 of the apron 50. The depressions 15 also comprise a shoulder 14 extending in a plan parallel to the lower face of the driver 30 and on which the central plate 51 of the apron 50 rests.
The apron 50 is integral with the housing 11 through a stapling system 18 located at the level of the plane wall 17 of the housing 11. Such stapling system 18 is inserted inside openings 55 present in the central plate 51 of the apron 50 so as to staple the apron 50 to the housing 11.
Thus, when the vehicle user actuates the rotating knob 21, the latter drives into rotation the link 25 located inside the housing 11, which then transmits such movement to the driver 30 so as to drive it into translation with respect to the housing 11. The driver 30 drives in turn into translation those cables 8 being anchored therein and which are guided by sheaths 45 up to the rods 13 of the corrector 1 so as to drive them into translation against the reflector, thereby modifying the range of the light beam.

I/We Claim:
1. A control device (7) for a cabled range corrector, comprising a housing (11) inside which there is a translation driving means (30) for two cables (8) within two sheaths (45) being integral with the housing (11), said control device (7) further comprising a position setting member (21) for the driving means (30) and a connecting means (25) cooperating with the driving means (30) and arranged to transmit to it a movement of the setting member (21), such control device (7) being characterized by the fact that the driving means (30) is inserted into the connecting means (25), the driving means (30) comprising a threading cooperating with a tapping of the connecting means (25) so as to guaranty the transmission of said movement of the setting member (21), said two cables (8) being anchored in the driving means (30) in an area surrounded by said threading.
2. The control device (7) according to claim 1, wherein the connecting means (25) comprises a tapped cylindrical skirt (27).
3. The control device according to any of preceding claims, wherein the driving means (30) is a socket with threaded cylindrical face.
4. The control de vice according to any of preceding claims, wherein the sheaths (45) are fastened on a apron (50) being integral with the housing (11).
5. The control device according to any of preceding claims, wherein the driving means (30) comprises a
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plate (41), said housing including translation guiding and rotation blocking means for the plate (41).
6. The control device according to claim 5, wherein the plate (41) comes in abutment against the connecting means (25) at the end of the translation of the driving means (30).