Lever Apparatus

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a lever apparatus having a lever pivotally provided on a body and extended through a lever hole formed in the body to be retained in a predetermined pivoted position.

2. Description of the Related Art

Suitable lever apparatus of the above-described type include a lever combination switch device for a vehicle. This lever combination switch device has, for example a lever for, a turn signal switch which is pivotally mounted on a body mounted on the upper end portion of a steering pipe to extend through a lever hole formed in the body. The lever is also arranged in such a manner that it can be retained at one of predetermined positions, e.g., positions of "right turn", "neutral" and "left turn". In this type of lever apparatus, the lever hole is shaped in a rectangular form so as to cope with the pivotal movement of the lever. This shape allows the interior of the body of the lever apparatus to be undesirably seen through the hole. Accordingly, a bellows-like boot made of rubber is fixedly mounted in such a manner as to cover the portion of the lever which is located near the lever hole.

However, since the boot that covers the portion of the lever in this conventional lever apparatus is located near the lever port that is fixed to the body, when the lever is pivoted through a large angle, the boot is deformed to such a degree that the elasticity thereof cannot absorb the deformation. This causes the possibility of the boot buckling, and thus deteriorates the appearance of the boot.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a lever apparatus which is capable of preventing any possibility of a boot that covers the portion of a lever located near a lever port from buckling when the lever is pivoted, so as to prevent deterioration of the appearance of the boot.

To this end, the present invention provides a lever apparatus which comprises a lever pivotally mounted on a body by being passed through a lever hole formed in the body, the lever being retained at predetermined positions, and a boot made of an elastic material The boot covers the portion of the lever located near the lever hole The boot is mounted on the body in such a manner as to be pivotal to the direction in which the lever is pivoted, so that it can be pivoted following the pivotal movement of the lever.

In the present invention, a boot made of an elastic material which covers the portion of the lever located near the lever hole is provided on the body in such a manner as to be pivotal in the direction to which the lever is pivoted. In consequence, the boot pivots following the pivotal movement of the lever, even when the angle through which the lever is pivoted is large. This allows the degree of deformation of the boot caused by the pivoting of the lever to be reduced and, hence, prevents any possibility of the boot buckling.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a wiper switch lever portion of a lever apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a turn signal switch lever portion;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the lever apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a front view of a boot mounting member;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a boot;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a boot frame of a first embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the essential parts of the lever apparatus;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the essential parts of the lever apparatus; and

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of another example of a boot frame.

A first embodiment of the present invention in which the present invention is applied to a lever combination switch device for a vehicle will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring first to FIG. 3, a body 1 is mounted on the upper end portion of a steering pipe (not shown). The body 1 has a cylindrical portion 2 at the central portion thereof, through which a steering shaft (not shown) is passed. A right boot mounting member 3 is mounted on the right end portion of the body 1 as viewed in FIG. 3. The right boot mounting member 3 has a substantially rectangular lever hole 4 through which a lever is passed. Also, a left boot mounting member 5 is mounted on the left end portion of the body 1 as viewed in FIG. 1, and the left boot mounting member 5, like the right boot mounting member 3, has a substantially rectangular lever hole 6 (see FIG. 2). A wiper switch lever 7 which serves as a lever has a metal shaft 7a, and an operating portion 7b made of a resin which is fixed on the side of the outer periphery of the shaft 7a which faces a seat occupant, as shown in FIG. 1. The lever 7 is mounted on the body through the right lever hole 4 in such a manner as to be pivotal about a center A serving as a fulcrum. The lever can be retained in four respective positions including "OFF", "INT", "LO" and "HI". The operating portion 7b of the wiper switch lever 7 is provided with a washer switch operator 8 and an operator 9 for setting the time interval of "INT". A turn signal switch lever 10 which serves as a lever has a metal shaft 10a, and an operating portion 10b made of a resin which is fixed on the side of the outer periphery of the shaft 10a which faces the seat occupant, as shown in FIG. 2. The lever 10 is mounted on the body 1 in such a manner as to be pivotal about a center B acting as a fulcrum in the state wherein it is passed through the left lever hole 6. The lever 10 can be retained in three respective positions, e.g., "R (right turn)", "N (neutral position)" and "L (left turn)". The operating portion 10b of this turn signal switch lever 10 is provided with a light switch operating member 11 and a fog light switch operating member 12.

The portions Of the wiper switch lever 7 and turn signal switch lever 10 which are located near the lever holes 4 and 6 are respectively covered by boots 13 and 14. As shown in FIG. 5, the boot 13 or 14 has a bellowed-shaped cylindrical portion 13a or 14a which is made of an elastic material such as rubber and which has a tapered form in cross-sectional view, and an angular tubular portion 13b or 14b which is formed integrally with the bellowed-shaped cylindrical portion 13a or 14a. A substantially rectangular boot frame 15 or 16 (see FIG. 6) made of, for example, a steel plate is fitted in the groove formed over the entirety of an inner wall of the angular cylindrical portion 13b or 14b. The outer edge portion of the boot frame 15 or 16 has substantially the same form as that of the lever hole 4 or 6 but is slightly smaller in size than that of the lever hole 4 or 6. The boot frame 15 or 16 has a rectangular opening 15d or 16d through which electrical wiring located within the lever 7 or 10 and the shaft 7a or 10a are passed. The edge portions of the two sides that run parallel to the plane in which the lever 7 or 10 is pivoted are bent outwardly to form bending portions 15e or 16e. In this way, possibility of damage to the electrical wiring is avoided. The mounting of the boots 13 and 14 on the boot mounting members 3 and 5 will be described in detail. Since the boots 13 and 14 are mounted in substantially the same manner, only the mounting of the boot 13 wi)l be described below with reference to FIGS. 4 to 8.

As shown in FIG. 4, the right and left sides of the boot mounting member 3 as viewed in FIG. 4 are provided with shaft portions 3a serving as centers around which the boot is pivoted. The shaft portions 3a are located at positions which are, for example, separated a small distance from the central portions of the right and left sides in the upper direction. Further, each of the side wall portions of the angular cylindrical portion 13b of the boot 13 is provided with an elongated hole portion 13c (only one of the hole portions being shown in FIG. 5) at a position where the hole faces the corresponding shaft portion 3a, as shown in FIG. 5. Furthermore, each of the right and left side portions of the boot frame 15 has a shaft supporting portion 15a that protrudes and a shaft receiving end face portion 15b formed by pressing positions that face the corresponding hole 13c, as shown in FIG. 6. In a state wherein the shaft supporting portions 15a are fitted in the corresponding hole portions 13c formed in the boot 13, the shaft portions 3a of the boot mounting member 3 are inserted into the hole portions 13c next to the shaft supporting portions 15a in such a manner that the forward end portions of the shaft portions 3a are received by the shaft receiving end face portions 15b of the boot frame 15, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. The surface 15c of each of the shaft supporting portions 15 a which is caused to slide along the shaft portion 3a is curved so that it fits the peripheral surface of the shaft portion 3a. This makes pivoting of the boot frame 15 smooth. The forward opening of the bellows-shaped cylindrical portion 13a of the boot 13 is fixed on a ring 7c made of resin which is fixed to the shaft 7a adjacent to the operating portion 7b in a state wherein the shaft 7a of the wiper switch lever 7 is passed therethrough, as shown in FIG. 1. In this way, the boot 13 is provided in such a manner as to be pivotal about the shaft portions 3a relative to the boot mounting member 3, that is, to the body I, and this causes the boot 13 to pivot in the direction in which the wiper switch lever 7 is pivoted. As shown in FIG. 2, the left boot mounting member 5 has shaft portions 5a. The right boot mounting member 3 also has shaft portions 3a. Shaft portions 5a have the same structure as that of shaft portions 3a and function in the same manner as shaft portions 3a do. In addition, a ring 10c which has the same structure and function of the ring 7c shown in FIG. 1 is fixed to shaft 10a.

The operation of the thus-arranged lever apparatus is described below.

In FIG. 1, which shows the wiper switch lever 7 side of the lever apparatus, is a case where the wiper switch lever 7 is pivoted through a large angle from "OFF" to "HI". In this case the boot 13 follows the pivoting of the wiper switch lever 7 and pivots about the shaft portions 3a. Thus, when lever 7 is pivoted to "HI" position, boot 13 is rendered to a state shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 1. In consequence, the amount of deformation of the boot 13 can be reduced as compared with a conventional lever apparatus. This prevents any possibility of buckling occurring in boot 13, and improves the appearance of the boot 13.

In FIG. 2, which shows the side of the turn signal switch lever 10, when the turn signal switch lever 10 is pivoted from "N" to "R" or from "N" to "L", the boot 14 follows the pivotal movement of the turn signal switch lever 10 and thereby pivots about the shaft portions 5a of the boot mounting member 5. In that case, the angle through which the boot 14 pivoted, in accordance with the pivotal movement of the lever 10, is small because the center B of the pivoting of lever 10 is distant from the boot 14. Thus, with lever 10 located at "R" or "L", boot 14 is rendered to a state shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 2. In consequence, the amount of deformation of the boot 14 can be reduced as compared with the conventional lever apparatus, and this prevents any possibility of buckling occurring in boot 14 and improves the appearance of the boot 14.

In the above-described embodiment, the present invention is applied to a lever combination switch device for a vehicle. However, the present invention is not limited to this and can be applied to a shift lever device, a parking brake lever device or a seat reclining lever device for an automobile or the like.

Further, in this embodiment, the shaft portions 3a and 5a about which the boots 13 and 14 are pivoted are located at positions which deviate from the lines which pass through the axial centers of the levers 7 and 10. However, these shaft portions 3a and 5a may also be positioned such that the axial lines thereof intersect the lines which pass through the axial centers of the levers 7 and 10 when the levers 7 or 10 are located at the OFF position or the Neutral (N) position.

Furthermore, the aforementioned embodiment employs the boot frame 15 made of metal. However, a boot frame 15 made of resin may also be employed. In that case, cylindrical shaft portions 115a into which the shaft portions 3a are pivotally fitted may be formed on the boot frame 15 in place of the shaft supporting portions 15a and the shaft receiving end face portions 15b, as shown in FIG. 9. In that case, preferably, the thickness of boot frame 15 is wide. The bending portions 15e may not be provided.