Device for guiding wire harness of steering column

• US 5,556,059 A
• Filed: 06/28/1994
• Issued: 09/17/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Yazaki Corporation
• Original Assignee: Yazaki Corporation
• Inventors: Ito, Seiji, Maeda, Yuji, Chida, Chiaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Ramirez, Ramon O.
• Application Number:
  US08/266,556
• Time in Patent Office: 812 Days
• Field of Search: 248/49, 248/56, 248/65, 248/68.1, 248/70, 248/74.2, 248/74.4, 248/73, 174/135, 174/72 A, 174/69, 174/DIG. 9, 280/775, 200/61.54, 191/12 R, 439/15, 439/32, 439/33, 439/34
• US Class Current: 248/49
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0215 Protecting, fastening and routing means therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H02G 11/00 Arrangements of electric cables or lines between relatively-movable parts

Abstract

A device for guiding a wire harness connected to a steering column, includes a protector for accomodating a slacken part of the wire harness therein and two half cylindrical ribs elastically formed in the protector. In operation, when the slacken part is expanded, the ribs serve to urge the slacken part to recover the original configuration before being expanded.

Claims

1. A device for guiding a wire harness connected to a steering column, comprising:

a protector for accommodating a part of said wire harness therein to protect said part from an outside hazard, said part being provided with a a reserve part; and

urging means for urging said reserve part to return to an original configuration thereof when said reserve part is expanded, and wherein said urging means are provided inside said protector.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein said protector comprises an outer protecting member and an inner protecting member constructed to be inserted into said outer protecting member and wherein one side of said reserve part is connected with said outer protecting member and another side of said reserve part is connected with said inner protecting member, and said urging means have one end connected with said outer protecting member and another end connected with said inner protecting member thereby to connect said outer protecting member with said inner protecting member.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein said urging means have one end to which one side of said reserve part is connected and which is engaged with said protector, and another end to which another side of said reserve part is connected and which is slidably engaged with said protector.

4. In a steering column, the combination of:

a wire harness connected to said steering column; and

a protector for accommodating a part of said wire harness therein to protect said part from an outside hazard, said part being provided with a reserve part;

said reserve part comprising urging means for urging said reserve part to return to an original configuration thereof when said reserve part is expanded; and

wherein said reserve part has a nature to return to a spiral form of a constant diameter in a free state.

5. A device for guiding a wire harness connected to a steering column, comprising:

a protector for accommodating a part of said wire harness therein to protect said part from an outside hazard, said part being provided with a reserve part; and

urging means for urging said reserve part to return to an original configuration thereof when said reserve part is expanded, wherein said urging means are provided inside said protector, and wherein said urging means comprise two half-cylindrical ribs arranged in said protector.

6. A device for guiding a wire harness connected to a steering column, comprising:

a protector for accommodating a part of said wire harness therein to protect said part from an outside hazard, said part being provided with a reserve part; and

urging means for urging said reserve part to return to an original configuration thereof when said reserve part is expanded, wherein said urging means are provided inside said protector, and wherein said urging means comprise a plurality of flexible ribs which are arranged apart from each other and each of which ribs are shorter than a width between opposed side walls of said protector.

7. A wire harness protective enclosure, comprising:

an elongated housing having an axis and facing channels formed in facing side walls of the housing; and

means for deviating the wire harness perpendicular to the axis inside the housing, wherein the deviating means further comprises;

an elongated member having a distal end member portion adapted for entry into the enclosure along the facing channels inside the housing,

a two-piece, centrally hinged section flexibly joined to the distal end member,

an elongated proximal end member flexibly joined to the hinged section, adapted for entry into the channels behind the distal end member, and

first means for securing a portion of the wire harness to the distal end member and second means for securing an elongated portion of the wire harness to the proximal end member.

8. A wire harness protective enclosure, comprising:

elongated first and second half-cylinders flexibly joined along one side common to both. the half-cylinders;

means for releasably joining each unjoined side of the first and second half-cylinder together to form a closed cylinder having a first axis along the length thereof; and

means for attaching respective ends of a longitudinal section of the wire harness at respective opposing ends of the cylinder, wherein an elongated portion of the wire harness is coiled inside the cylinder.

9. The enclosure of claim 8, wherein the elongated portion is self-coiling.

10. The enclosure of claim 8, wherein the elongated portion is coiled in a helix.

11. A device for guiding a wire harness connected to a steering column, comprising:

a protector for accommodating a part of said wire harness therein to protect said part from an outside hazard, said part being provided with a reserve part; and

urging means for urging said reserve part to return to an original configuration thereof when said reserve part is expanded, wherein said urging means are provided inside said protector, and wherein said urging means comprise an elastic plate member.

12. A wire harness protective enclosure, comprising:

a floor extending in a first direction;

at least one peripheral wall upstanding from the floor;

entry and exit wire harness accommodating apertures through the at least one peripheral wall at opposite ends of the floor and extending in the first direction,

a cover enclosing the floor and the peripheral wall to complete the enclosure; and

a deviating member disposed to resiliently deviate a portion of the wire harness inside the enclosure such that lengthening of the wire harness along the first direction is accommodated when tensioned external of the enclosure and shortening of the wire harness is accommodated when untensioned.

13. The enclosure of claim 12, wherein the deviating member comprises at least one internal wall upstanding from the floor, and wherein the internal wall is adapted to flex in a second direction generally normal to the first direction such that shortening of the wire harness is accommodated inside the enclosure by the deviating member when untensioned.

14. The enclosure of claim 13, wherein the internal wall is generally cylindrical and formed of half-cylinders, each coupled to the floor at a center of an arc formed by an end of the respective half-cylinder, and adapted to flex in a second direction such that shortening of the wire harness is accommodated inside the enclosure by the deviating member when untensioned.

15. The enclosure of claim 12, wherein the means for deviating further includes a plurality of internal walls extending perpendicular to the floor and attached perpendicularly to the peripheral wall, adapted to flex in a second direction such that shortening of the wire harness is accommodated inside the enclosure by the deviating member when untensioned.

16. A wire harness protective enclosure, comprising a first housing slidably disposed inside a second housing along a longitudinal axis common to the first and second housings, and means for attaching respective ends of a longitudinal section of the wire harness at respective opposing ends of the first and second housings, wherein an elongated portion of the wire harness is stored inside at least one of the housings, and means for releasably retracting the elongated portion inside the housing.

17. The enclosure of claim 16, wherein the elongated portion is coiled in a helix having a second longitudinal axis parallel to the first axis.

18. The enclosure of claim 16, wherein the elongated portion is coiled in a plurality of loops disposed along the axis.

19. The enclosure of claim 16, wherein the housings are rectilinear in cross section.

20. The enclosure of claim 16, wherein the housings are cylindrical in cross section.

21. The enclosure of claim 16, further including means for deviating the wire harness perpendicular to the axis when the housings are joined together, comprising a flexible member attached at a first end thereof inside the first housing and attached at a second end thereof inside the second housing.

22. The enclosure of claim 16, wherein the retracting means is a self-coiling elongated portion of the wire harness.