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US 6,149,279 AGranted
Indicating instrument for vehicle
AssigneeDenso Corporation
InventorsHirofumi Ikeuchi, Tsutomu Yoshikawa, Takao Yagami, Hirokazu Shibata
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A straight cold cathode fluorescent lamp is detachably held at the back of a dial plate by a plurality of fork-shaped holders to illuminate a plurality of scales formed on the front surface of the dial plate and accommodated in the reflector which is also detachably fixed to a casing of the indicator instrument. A circuit board is also detachably fixed to the reflector.
Claims12
An indicating instrument for a vehicle comprising:
- a dial plate;
- a longitudinally extending discharge lamp;
- a light conducting plate disposed at the back of said dial plate;
- a circuit board connected to a light source;
- a reflector for reflecting light of said discharge lamp toward said light conducting plate, said reflector holding said circuit board and said discharge lamp to extend along said light conducting plate;
- a casing disposed behind said light conducting plate;
- a driving unit disposed inside said casing, said driving unit having a shaft extending outward from said dial plate through said light conducting plate;
- and
- one of said reflector and said circuit board being detachably connected to one of said dial plate, light conducting plate and casing.
6 more elements
An indicating instrument for a vehicle comprising:
- a dial plate;
- a longitudinally extending discharge lamp having a heater for heating said discharge lamp;
- a light conducting plate disposed at the back of said dial plate;
- a reflector for reflecting light of said discharge lamp toward said light conducting plate, said reflector holding said discharge lamp to extend along said light conducting plate;
- and
- a temperature sensing switch for supplying current to said heater when a temperature of said discharge lamp is in a predetermined range and interrupting current otherwise.
3 more elements
An indicating instrument for a vehicle comprising:
- a dial plate;
- a longitudinally extending discharge lamp having a heater for heating said discharge lamp;
- a light conducting plate disposed at the back of said dial plate;
- a reflector for reflecting light of said discharge lamp toward said light conducting plate, said reflector holding said discharge lamp to extend along said light conducting plate;
- a casing disposed behind said light conducting plate;
- a driving unit disposed inside said casing, driving unit having a driving shaft extending outward from said dial plate through said light conducting plate;
- a heater for heating said discharge lamp;
- a temperature sensing switch for supplying current to said heater when a temperature of said charge lamp is in a predetermined range and interrupting current otherwise.
5 more elements
An indicating instrument for a vehicle comprising:
- a dial plate;
- a longitudinally extending discharge lamp having a heater for heating said discharge lamp;
- a light conducting plate disposed at the back of said dial plate;
- a reflector for reflecting light of said discharge lamp toward said light conducting plate, said reflector holding said discharge lamp to extend along said light conducting plate;
- a casing disposed behind said light conducting plate;
- a driving unit disposed inside said casing, said driving unit having a driving shaft extending outward from said dial plate through said light conducting plate;
- a temperature sensing element for sensing temperature of said discharge lamp;
- and
- a switch, connected to said temperature sensing element, for turning off said heater when a temperature of said discharge lamp is out of a predetermined range.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.