Case

This application is on the basis of Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-137360, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an electric junction box used in a vehicle.

2. Description of the Related Art

Generally, an electric junction box includes a substantially box-shaped case having a first box for receiving a plurality of electric components, a cover as a second box for being attached to the first box. According to Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2003-174711, this case includes locking structures mounted on the first box and the cover for being engaged with each other at second and fourth outer walls thereof. According to this case, a plurality of locking structures can be collectively engaged by pushing the cover against the first box. However, the locking structures cannot collectively be released. They should be released one by one. Therefore, there is a problem that workability of releasing the locking structures is not good.

Further, according to Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2002-330529, there is proposed a case in which a self hinge connects an outer wall of the first box with an outer wall of the cover, and locking structures for engaging the first box with the cover are mounted on other outer walls of the first box and the case. According to this case, because the number of the locking structures can be smaller than the case having the locking structures on the outer walls, the locking structures can be relatively easily released. However, there is a problem that a gap is generated between the first box and the cover owing to resiliency of the self hinge.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a case in which the first box and the second box are easily detachably attachable to each other, and it is prevented from generating a gap between the first box and the second box.

In order to attain the object, according to the present invention, there is provided a case including:

a first box having a first outer wall;

a second box having a second outer wall, the second box being attached to the first box;

locking members mounted on the first and second outer walls for being engaged with each other;

a pair of temporarily locking members between which the locking members are interposed, and each having a first projection projecting from an outside wall of the first and second outer walls toward an inside wall of the first and second outer walls, and a second projection projecting from the inside wall of the first and second outer walls toward the outside wall of the first and second outer walls, said temporarily locking members temporarily locking each other in a manner that end walls of the first projection and the second projection disposed away from the mating boxes are overlapped each other when the locking members are engaged with each other.

Preferably, one of the first and second outer walls is provided with a clipping member which clips the other of the first and second outer walls between the clipping member and the one of the first and second outer walls.

These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon reading of the following detailed description along with the accompanied drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an electric junction box having a case according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a box main body of the case shown in FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view showing a main part of the box main body shown in FIG. 2 ; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on line A-A of FIG. 1 .

A case 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4 . The case 1 forms an electric junction box 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 . The electric junction box 10 is mounted on a vehicle, and includes a case 1 and a plurality of electric components (not shown) received in the case 1 .

The case 1 is made of insulating synthetic resin, and formed by widely known injection molding. Further, the case 1 includes a box main body 2 and a cover 3 as a second box being detachably attachable to the box main body 2 .

As shown in FIG. 2 , the box main body 2 is formed in a box shape by a plurality of outer walls 4 . In an inside of the outer walls 4 , a plurality of partition walls 5 form a plurality of spaces. Openings 2 a , 2 b are formed at both upper and lower ends of FIG. 2 . Relays and fuses are attached to these spaces.

The cover 3 is attached to the box main body 2 in a manner to cover the opening 2 a positioned at an upper part of FIG. 2 in the box main body 2 . This cover 3 is formed in a box shape having an opening at one side by a ceiling wall 3 a formed in a plate shape and facing the opening 2 a , and a plurality of outer walls 6 extending vertically from the ceiling wall 3 a.

The case 1 also includes a locking member 7 for keeping the box main body 2 and the cover 3 attached to each other, and a pair of temporarily locking members 8 between which the locking member 7 is interposed.

The locking member 7 is formed by a receiving member 7 a and an insertion member 7 b allowed to be engaged with each other. This receiving member 7 a is formed on an outer wall 4 a positioned at a front of FIG. 1 among the outer walls 4 , and disposed at the center of an edge 21 at the opening 2 a side. The outer wall 4 a is wider than the neighboring outer walls 4 . The insertion member 7 b is formed on an outer wall 6 a positioned at a front side of FIG. 1 among the outer walls 6 , and disposed at the center of an edge 31 away from the ceiling wall 3 a . The outer wall 6 a is wider than the neighboring outer walls 6 . Thus, according to the present invention, preferably, the locking members 7 are formed on the centers of the outer walls 4 a , 4 b each having a wider width.

The locking members 7 are engaged with each other by pressing a not-shown engaging claw mounted on the insertion member 7 b into a concave groove 71 mounted on the receiving member 7 a . For releasing the engagement, the receiving member 7 a is bent by being pressed, and the insertion member 7 b is lifted in a direction away from the box main body 2 so that the engaging claw is removed from the concave groove 71 .

Each temporarily locking member 8 includes a first projection 8 a and a second projection 8 b allowed to be temporarily engaged with each other. The first projections 8 a are mounted on a pair of clipping members 9 extending vertically from both ends of the edge 21 of the outer wall 4 a . As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 , each clipping member 9 includes a tabular facing member 91 facing the outer wall 4 a with a gap. Each clipping member 9 positions the edge 31 of the outer wall 6 a in between the facing member 91 and the outer wall 4 a . Namely, the outer wall 6 a is positioned inside the facing member 91 . Thus, the outer wall 4 a having the facing members 91 is a first outer wall in claims. The outer wall 6 a positioned inside the facing members 91 is a second outer wall in claims. As shown in FIG. 4 , the first projections 8 a are projected from ends of the facing members 91 away from the opening 2 b toward an inside of the box main body 2 .

The second projection 8 b is mounted on the outer wall 6 a , and projected from both ends of the edge 31 toward an outside of the cover 3 . Incidentally, in figures, the second projection 8 b projected toward the outside of the cover 3 is formed around the whole edge 31 of the outer wall 6 a . However, according to the present invention, the second projections 8 b are at least mounted on positions respectively facing the first projections 8 a.

The temporarily locking members 8 are temporarily locked together in a manner that the edge 31 of the outer wall 6 a is positioned inside the facing member 91 , and the second projection 8 b is nearer the opening 2 b than the first projections 8 a . Under this condition, an end wall 80 a of the first projections 8 a at the opening 2 b side, namely the end wall 80 a away from the cover 3 is overlapped with an end wall 80 b of the second projection 8 b at the ceiling wall 3 a side, namely, the end wall 80 b away from the box main body 2 . Further, the end wall 80 a prevents the second projection 8 b from moving away from the box main body 2 . Namely, by temporarily locking the temporarily locking members 8 , a rattle generated in a direction of attaching and detaching the box main body 2 and the cover 3 is absorbed. Further, clipping the edge 31 of the outer wall 6 a between the first projections 8 a and the facing member 91 prevents the box main body 2 and the cover 3 from rattling in a direction perpendicular to the direction of attaching and detaching the box main body 2 and the cover 3 . Namely, a rattle generated in the direction perpendicular to the direction of attaching and detaching the box main body 2 and the cover 3 is absorbed by the first projections 8 a and the facing member 91 .

The temporarily locking members 8 are temporarily locked together simultaneously with an engagement of the locking member 7 . Clipping the temporarily locking members 8 with the outer wall 4 a , the clipping members 9 , and the outer wall 6 a unlocks the temporary lock of the temporarily locking members 8 accompanied with an action of disengaging the engagement of the locking member 7 .

In the case 1 , engaging the locking member 7 together keeps the box main body 2 and the cover 3 attached to each other. Temporarily locking the pair of temporarily locking members 8 each other prevents the box main body 2 and the cover 3 from rattling, namely, the box main body 2 and the cover 3 are attached to each other without any gap.

The electric junction box 10 formed by the case 1 is received in a not-shown waterproof case, and fixed to a panel forming a vehicle body. The electric junction box 10 is electrically connected to the various electric components mounted on the vehicle in a predetermined pattern.

According to this embodiment, engaging the receiving member 7 a mounted on the outer wall 4 a with the insertion member 7 b mounted on the outer wall 6 a keeps the box main body 2 and the cover 3 attached to each other. The temporarily locking members 8 temporarily locked together simultaneously with the engagement of the locking member 7 allows the box main body 2 and the cover 3 to be attached to each other without any gap. In the case 1 , the box main body 2 and the cover 3 are easily attached and detached each other because they are attached to each other only with one locking member 7 and a pair of temporarily locking members 8 . Because the temporarily locking members 8 are locked and unlocked simultaneously with the engagement and disengagement of the locking member 7 , the box main body 2 and the cover 3 are easily attached and detached each other with a single action. By using the case 1 as a case of the electric junction box 10 attached to a narrow space, a burden of a maintenance worker for the electric components received in the case 1 is much reduced.

According to this embodiment, the locking member 7 includes the engaging claw and the groove 71 . However, according to the present invention, a structure of the locking member 7 is not limited to this. Preferably, the clipping members 9 are provided, however, according to the present invention, the clipping members 9 may not be used. Further, the clipping members 9 may be mounted on the cover 3 . A subject of the present invention is to reduce the number of the components of the locking member 7 by providing the temporarily locking members 8 near the locking member 7 . Therefore, the locking member 7 is not limited to one. Depending on a status of use of the case 1 , there may be provided a plurality of locking members 7 .

According to the present invention, by clipping the outer wall 6 a with the clipping members 9 and the outer wall 4 a , rigidity of these outer walls 4 a , 6 a is increased. Therefore, an engaging margin between the first projections 8 a and the second projection 8 b can be reduced. Namely, because the outer walls near the temporarily locking members 8 are hard to be deformed, the temporally lock is not unlocked unintentionally. Because the engaging margin is reduced, the temporarily locking members 8 can be locked and unlocked with resilient deformations of the outer walls 4 a , 6 a accompanying with the engagement and disengagement of the locking member 7 .

Although the present invention has been fully described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that various changes and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, unless otherwise such changes and modifications depart from the scope of the present invention hereinafter defined, they should be construed as being included therein.