Mounting metal fitting

Abstract

To provide a mounting metal fitting that enables loading of materials or the like on the roof of a vehicle in a stable state without rattling by using a system carrier (or a base carrier).SOLUTION: A mounting metal fitting comprises an L-shaped metal fitting 4 which is placed on a square bar 1 of a system carrier and on which a plane antenna 2 is mounted, and a U-shaped fixing metal fitting 5 for fixing the L-shaped metal fitting 4 to the square bar 1 so as to surround the square bar 1 from below. A large number of small holes 22 are provided in a lateral surface 21 of the plane antenna 2 at equal intervals in the front-back direction. The L-shaped metal fitting 4 is provided with three bolt insertion holes 43 corresponding to any three small holes 2 of the small holes 22. Of the three bolt insertion holes 43, a central bolt insertion hole 43a is formed in a circular shape, and front and back two bolt insertion holes 43b are formed as vertically long holes. The plane antenna 2 is mounted on the L-shaped metal fitting 4 by inserting mounting bolts 31 into the bolt insertion holes 43.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a mounting bracket that enables stable loading when loading equipment or the like on the roof of a vehicle using a system carrier (or base carrier).

Background Art

[0002] Generally, a system carrier consists of a hook attached to the roof of a vehicle, a bar for loading equipment, and a stay for attaching the bar to the hook. The bar is provided at positions spaced apart in the front and rear of the vehicle, and equipment or the like is loaded so as to span between the two bars.

[0003] There are several types of bars for loading equipment. The square bar has a square shape, and attachments suitable for equipment (such as skis, snowboards, bicycles, etc.) loaded on the square bar are provided. After attaching these attachments to the square bar, predetermined equipment is loaded.

[0004] In addition, the square bar may directly load equipment without using an attachment. For example, in an in-vehicle satellite communication system, there is a case where an automatic acquisition planar antenna is mounted on the roof of a vehicle to form a multi-purpose in-vehicle station. In such a case, the planar antenna is placed on the square bars in the front and rear of the system carrier and fixed with a dedicated mounting bracket or the like.

[0005] As also described in Patent Document 1, since the square bar has a simple shape, it is highly versatile, is a standard bar that has been popular for many years, and is also relatively inexpensive.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0006]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0007] Incidentally, in the mounting bracket described in Patent Document 1, since the square bars are mounted at intervals in the front-rear direction of the vehicle, the heights of the front and rear square bars do not necessarily match. Further, the upper surfaces (substantially horizontal surfaces) of the square bars do not match between the front and rear square bars (they are not flush), and therefore, a gap is formed between the bottom surface of the loaded object, which causes rattling.

[0008] In addition, since the upper surface of the square bar and the bottom surface of the loaded object (mounting bracket) do not come into surface contact, there are also problems of strength and instability of the loaded state.

[0009] Particularly in the case of equipment with a large weight, if the upper surface of the square bar and the mounting bracket do not come into surface contact, rattling occurs, the mounting state becomes unstable, and in some cases, the loaded object may fall due to breakage or damage of the mounting tool.

[0010] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a mounting bracket that enables stable loading of equipment by bringing the mounting bracket attached to the equipment side into surface contact with the square bar even when the upper surfaces of the two front and rear square bars are not exactly flush.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0011] In order to solve the above problems, the invention according to claim 1 is a mounting bracket for loading equipment on a system carrier, comprising an L-shaped bracket that is placed on a square bar of the system carrier and attaches the equipment, and a U-shaped fixing bracket that fixes the L-shaped bracket to the square bar so as to surround the square bar from below. A number of small holes are provided at equal intervals in the front-rear direction on the side surface of the equipment. The L-shaped bracket is provided with three bolt insertion holes corresponding to any three of the small holes. Among the three bolt insertion holes, the central bolt insertion hole is circular, and the two front and rear bolt insertion holes are formed as vertically long oblong holes. The equipment is attached to the L-shaped bracket by inserting mounting bolts through the bolt insertion holes.

[0012] The invention according to claim 2 is the mounting fitting according to claim 1, wherein a wing plate extending forward and backward from the upper edge of the fixing fitting and the bottom plate of the L-shaped fitting are fixed with bolts, and an insertion hole formed in the bottom plate of the L-shaped fitting is formed into an elongated hole that is long in the front-rear direction.

[0013] The invention according to claim 3 is the mounting fitting according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein small holes formed on the side surface of the equipment are used as bolt insertion holes, and the equipment and the L-shaped fitting are fixed with a nut plate having three screw holes formed from the inside of the equipment.

[0014] According to the invention described in claim 1, among the three bolt insertion holes formed in the L-shaped fitting, the front and rear two insertion holes are formed as vertically long elongated holes, so that the inclination in the front-rear direction between the equipment and the L-shaped fitting can be absorbed to a certain extent, and the bottom surface of the L-shaped fitting can be brought into surface contact with the upper surface of the square bar. Therefore, the equipment can be stably mounted on the system carrier, no gap can be formed between the bottom surface of the L-shaped fitting and the square bar, and rattling can also be eliminated.

[0015] According to the invention described in claim 2, since the bolt insertion hole provided on the bottom surface of the L-shaped fitting is formed into an elongated hole that is long in the front-rear direction, even if the distance between the two square bars is slightly deviated, a large number of small holes on the side surface of the equipment can be arbitrarily selected, and the equipment can be mounted at an appropriate position in the front-rear direction by the elongated hole of the L-shaped fitting, and a stable mounting state can be maintained.

[0016] According to the invention described in claim 3, since a nut plate with three screw holes is used, it is not necessary to perform the bolt mounting work from the inside and outside of the equipment when tightening the bolts, and the work can be speeded up.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0017]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0018] Hereinafter, this invention will be described based on the illustrated embodiments.

[0019] FIGS. 1 to 4 show embodiments of this invention, and a planar antenna will be described as an example of equipment loaded on the roof of a vehicle using a system carrier.

[0020] The system carrier consists of a hook attached to the roof of the vehicle, a square bar for loading equipment, and a stay for attaching the square bar to the hook. In the figure, only the square bar 1 is shown, and the hook and the stay are omitted.

[0021] The square bar 1 of the system carrier is attached to the roof of the vehicle via a hook and a stay, and usually, two are provided at intervals in the front-rear direction.

[0022] When indicating directions in this embodiment, since the system carrier is attached to the vehicle, it follows the front-rear and left-right directions of the vehicle in the state where each component is attached.

[0023] On the planar antenna 2 mounted on the square bar 1, a large number of small holes 22 are formed at equal intervals in the front-rear direction on the side surface 21 thereof at the position where it is placed on the square bar 1, and these small holes 22 are used as mounting holes for mounting on the mounting bracket 3 of the system carrier described later. And the planar antenna 2 is placed so as to span two square bars 1 in the front and rear, and is mounted on the system carrier by the four mounting brackets 3 on the front, rear, left, and right.

[0024] The mounting bracket 3 of the system carrier is composed of an L-shaped bracket 4 placed on the square bar 1 of the system carrier and a U-shaped fixing bracket 5 for fixing the L-shaped bracket 4 to the square bar 1.

[0025] The L-shaped bracket 4 is composed of a bottom plate 40 and a vertical plate 41. On the bottom plate 40, two long holes 42 that are spaced apart front and rear and are long in the front-rear direction are formed. Also, on the vertical plate 41, three bolt insertion holes 43 are formed spaced apart front and rear. The interval between these three bolt insertion holes 43 is formed to be the same as the interval between the small holes 22 formed in the planar antenna 2.

[0026] Of the three bolt insertion holes 43 formed in the vertical plate 41, the central bolt insertion hole 43a is formed in a circular shape, and the two front and rear bolt insertion holes 43b are formed in vertically long oblong holes. Strictly speaking, it is preferable that the two oblong bolt insertion holes 43b in the front and rear are formed in an arc shape centered on the central bolt insertion hole 43a, but if there is a little margin between the diameter of the bolt when inserting the bolt and the diameter of the bolt insertion hole, it may be in an oblong shape.

[0027] The U-shaped fixing bracket 5 is provided with a wing plate 50 that is further bent at a right angle from the opening edge. When the square bar 1 is surrounded from below, the wing plate 50 abuts against the bottom plate 40 of the L-shaped bracket 4 placed on the square bar 1. Also, on the wing plate 50, bolt holes 51 are formed so as to face the long holes 42 formed in the bottom plate 40 of the L-shaped bracket 4.

[0028] The fixing of the L-shaped fitting 4 to the square bar 1 is carried out as follows: As described above, the fixing fitting 5 is placed from below the square bar 1 so as to surround it, and the fixing bolt 52 is inserted through the bolt hole 51 of the wing plate 50 and the long hole 42 of the L-shaped fitting 4 and screwed into the fixing plate nut 53, thereby completing the fixing of the L-shaped fitting 4 to the square bar 1. Note that the nut of the fixing bolt 52 is not limited to the fixing plate nut 53 and may be a single nut respectively, but using the fixing plate nut 53 can speed up the installation work. The long hole 42 formed in the bottom plate 40 of the L-shaped fitting 4 will be described later.

[0029] The attachment of the planar antenna 2 to the L-shaped fitting 4 is carried out as follows.

[0030] First, as described above, four L-shaped fittings 4 are fixed to the front and rear two square bars 1, and the four L-shaped fittings 4 are positioned so as to face the small holes 22 of the planar antenna 2. At this time, if the position of the L-shaped fitting 4 with respect to the planar antenna 2 is inappropriate, the L-shaped fitting 4 is appropriately moved with respect to the square bar 1 for alignment.

[0031] Next, the planar antenna 2 is attached to the L-shaped fitting 4.

[0032] In this case, three small holes 22 formed on the side surface 21 of the planar antenna 2 are selected and aligned with the three bolt insertion holes 43 of the L-shaped fitting 4. At this time, the mounting bolt 30 is first inserted through the central bolt insertion hole 43a and screwed into the mounting plate nut 31 from the inside of the planar antenna 2. Note that the nut of the mounting bolt 30 is not limited to the mounting plate nut 31 and may be a single nut respectively, but using the mounting plate nut 31 can speed up the installation work.

[0033] Inserting the mounting bolt 30 into the central bolt insertion hole 43a first is because the upper surface 1a of the square bar 1 and the reference surface of the planar antenna 2 may not necessarily be flush. By inserting the mounting bolt 30 through the central bolt insertion hole 43a, the planar antenna 2 and the square bar 1 incline around this. Note that the reference surface of the planar antenna 2 is a virtual surface when the bottom plate 40 of the L-shaped metal fitting 4 is in surface contact with the upper surface 1a of the square bar 1 when the planar antenna 2 is attached to the square bar 1 by the previous mounting means. In the present embodiment, it is the surface that coincides with the arrangement direction of the numerous small holes 22.

[0034] And since the front and rear bolt insertion holes 43b are vertically long oblong holes, the mounting bolt 30 can also be inserted through the front and rear bolt insertion holes 43b. Even when the upper surface 1a of the square bar 1 and the reference surface of the planar antenna are not flush, the inclination between the two can be absorbed, and the bottom plate 40 of the L-shaped metal fitting 4 can be in surface contact with the upper surface 1a of the square bar 1.

[0035] Thereby, the planar antenna 2 is attached to the square bar 1 in a stable state, and thus rattling can also be prevented.

[0036] Also, when selecting three of the small holes 22 formed on the side surface 21 of the planar antenna 2 and aligning them with the three bolt insertion holes 43 of the L-shaped metal fitting 4, there may be a situation where they are misaligned front and back and cannot be aligned.

[0037] In this case, since the hole for inserting the fixing bolt 52 formed on the bottom plate 40 of the L-shaped metal fitting 4 is formed as an oblong hole 42, the fixing bolt 52 can be loosened and the L-shaped metal fitting 4 can be moved back and forth to align the small hole 22 with the bolt insertion hole. Note that the length of the oblong hole 42 only needs to be the same as the interval between the small holes 22 formed at equal intervals.

[0038] As described above, according to the mounting bracket 3 of this embodiment, since the L-shaped bracket 4 and the planar antenna 2 are mounted with three bolts, the mounting state is strengthened, and since the two long holes 42 formed among the three are formed, the mounting angle can be made variable, and the upper surface of the square bar 1 and the L-shaped bracket 4 can be brought into surface contact, enabling a stable mounting state. In particular, it is effective in the case of a heavy load such as the planar antenna 2.

[0039] Also, in the above embodiment, the case where the mounting brackets 3 are used at four locations, front, rear, left, and right of the planar antenna 2 has been described, and it can also be either the front or rear mounting bracket. In short, when the inclination angle between the square bar 1 and the planar antenna 2 is small, the present invention can be adopted either at the front or rear.

[0040] In the above embodiment, the small hole 22 formed on the side surface 21 of the planar antenna 2 has been described as being for inserting the mounting bolt 30, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it may be a threaded hole formed with an internal thread on the side surface 21. In short, it is sufficient that the planar antenna 2 (equipment) is firmly attached to the L-shaped bracket 4.

[0041] The embodiments of the present invention have been described above, but the specific configuration is not limited to the above embodiments, and even if there are design changes and the like within the scope not departing from the gist of the present invention, they are included in the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the planar antenna has been described as an example of the equipment mounted on the system carrier, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it may be a commercially available product such as a roof box or a roof rack. When mounting a specific equipment, the present invention can be applied to a dedicated bracket for attaching the equipment to the system carrier.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0042] 1 Square bar 2 Planar antenna (equipment) 21 Side surface 22 Small hole 3 Mounting bracket 4 L-shaped bracket 40 Base plate 41 Vertical plate 42 Long hole (base plate) 43 Bolt insertion hole (vertical plate) 43a Central bolt insertion hole (circular) 43b Front and rear bolt insertion holes (long holes) 5 U-shaped fixing bracket 50 Wing plate

Claims

1. A mounting bracket for loading equipment onto a system carrier, comprising: an L-shaped bracket that is placed on the square bar of the system carrier and attaches the equipment; a U-shaped fixing bracket that fixes the L-shaped bracket to the square bar so as to surround the square bar from below; a plurality of small holes are provided at equal intervals in the front-rear direction on the side surface of the equipment, and the L-shaped bracket is provided with three bolt insertion holes corresponding to any three of the small holes. Among the three bolt insertion holes, the central bolt insertion hole is circular, and the front and rear two bolt insertion holes are formed as vertically long oblong holes. The equipment is attached to the L-shaped bracket by inserting mounting bolts through the bolt insertion holes. The mounting bracket is characterized by the above.

2. The wing plate extending forward and backward from the upper edge of the fixing bracket and the bottom plate of the L-shaped bracket are fixed with bolts, and the insertion hole formed in the bottom plate of the L-shaped bracket is formed as an oblong hole that is long in the front-rear direction. The mounting bracket according to claim 1, characterized by the above.

3. Using the small holes formed on the side surface of the equipment as bolt insertion holes, the equipment and the L-shaped bracket are fixed with a nut plate having three screw holes formed from the inside of the equipment. The mounting bracket according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized by the above.

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