The Related Art

The invention relates to a fixing component that provides automatic positioning and combining of two separate pieces.

Particularly, the invention is a fixing apparatus that would conceal the region of mounting such that it wouldn't be seen from outside and provide sealing when the pieces connected to itself are combined.

The invention is a concealed mounting apparatus used in the automotive sector, especially in combining the bezel and the body in automobile headlights.

The Prior Art

The mounting apparatus found in the prior art are generally designed to achieve the targets related to the relevant technical field they were designed for. For instance, in the automotive sector, components such as sealed screw, ultrasonic welding etc. that require labour and additional operations are used in combining the bezel and the body in automobile headlights. When sealed screw is used, the worker has to align the bezel and the body in a convenient manner and then screw in a balanced manner with other screw points. However, this situation both causes costs such as mounting workmanship and also leads to loss of time. Besides, because of the sealed screw, the workmanship is of greater importance.

Besides these, except the automobile sector, mounting apparatus are used in combining two separate pieces in a manner durable against desired medium conditions. Mostly, the mounting apparatus is expected to hold the combined pieces tightly, not to be visible from outside, have sealing feature, and be long lasting. Especially, the need for keeping the electronic cards or devices together with the other system or electronic cards has led to several studies in this area.

As the closest prior art, the invention disclosed in European Patent application no EP1494519 is a fixing component enabling placement of an electrical circuit or a component into a body or a supportive component. Fixing component comprises a first connector, which has an axis, and which is adapted to be connected to a body, support component, circuit, or element from one of its ends. At the other end of this first a second part is found, around which buf

: also comprises a second connector, wf

adapted to be connected to a body, support component, circuit, or element from one of its ends, and which has buffering means around itself. The first connector is connected to the second connector through these buffers.

A headlight mounting apparatus for vehicles is disclosed in the USA patent application with no US2010202155. In this application, said invention comprises a headlight mounting part, a clip means, a headlight body, and a screwing means. The clip means is fitted on the headlight body such that the screw means can be placed in a screw placement space and one end of the screw means is connected to a network part.

USA patent with no US4495380A, a metal and plastic combined holder is disclosed for supporting an electronic circuit card in a fixed spatial relationship with another component and it comprises a rigid plastic body at a certain distance and a metal sustaining means positioned integrally with the plastic body.

USA patent with no US5214569A, a mainboard embodiment having fixation holes is disclosed. Here, a mainboard structure for computer is disclosed and this mainboard is known to comprise protection means extending down from the peripheral edges and fixation holes in the form of keyhole.

USA Patent with no US5301396A, a fixing structure having a compaction component is disclosed. In this application, the component comprises a body to be passed through an opening formed on any substance, at one end of this body, a head and a tight attachment component for attachment within the opening, and a placement component which presses against the attachment component before placement into opening.

None of the above given prior art solutions can provide sealing, automatic positioning, and concealed connection features together or separately. Therefore, it is required to provide a fixing component that presents all of these features together.

Object of the Invention

Object of the invention is to provide a fixing apparatus which would provide combination of any two pieces in a way that they would have the sealing and concealed mounting features together. bject of the invention is to provide a fi>

Df two pieces or a piece to a body witho

ultrasonic welding, and which minimizes the relevant costs due to labour and mounting as a result of eliminating the need for relevant components.

Another object of the invention is to provide a fixing apparatus, the lower part of which tightly fits into the spaces formed on a body, the upper part of which flex and thus enter into the hole or opening formed on the piece to be fitted on the body, and which is centered and fixed by itself thanks to its physical structure.

Another object of the invention is to form a fixing apparatus, which eliminates the need for presently used sealed screws in mounting of bezel to the body in automobile headlights, and which is fitted in the housings formed on the body, and which provides fitting of its flexible tabs such that they would correspond to the spaces or housings previously formed on the bezel and thus provides fixing.

Another object of the invention is to provide a fixing apparatus for fixing of a piece to a body or to another piece such that it wouldn't be seen from outside and wouldn't cause sealing problems. A fixing apparatus structure is formed, which comprises at least one lower part that is unidirectionally attached to a fixing housing formed on the body, an upper part comprising flexible tabs that engage into the housing formed on the piece by being bent inwardly and entering unidirectionally, and a middle part comprising a restriction surface that defines the distance between said lower part and upper part and restricts the lower part from vertical axial motion.

Description of the Figures

Figure 1 is the perspective view of the fixing apparatus of the invention.

Figure 2 is the front view of the fixing apparatus of the invention.

Figure 3 is the perspective view of the fixing apparatus of the invention together with the pieces showing the function of combining two pieces or a piece on a body.

Figure 4 is the front view related to Figure 3.

Reference Numbers

10. Fixing apparatus of the invention

20. Fixing apparatus upper part . Flexible tabs

22. Restriction means (Stopper)

23. Centering references

24. Apparatus body

30. Middle part

31. Restriction surface

40. Lower part

41. Lower inlet guide tip

42. Attachment tabs

43. Horizontal openings between tabs

44. Vertical openings between tabs

50. Body to be fixed

51. Body fixing housing protrusion

52. Body fixing housing 60. Piece or bezel

61. Piece fixing housing protrusion

62. Piece fixing housing

Detailed Description of the Invention

The invention is a fixing apparatus used in combining two separate pieces or mounting a piece on a body. The fixing apparatus of the invention (10) having the perspective view given in Figure 1 and the front view given in Figure 2 is basically formed of three parts (20, 30, 40). The section defined as the lower part (40) is generally designed for fixing of the apparatus (10) to a body or to another piece. The upper part (20) comprises a structure wherein another piece would be fitted following fixation of said lower part (40) on a body. While the middle part (30) separates the lower and upper parts (20, 40) from each other at a certain distance, it comprises a restriction surface i on the apparatus body (24) in order to ho

anner.

On the lower part (40), attachment tabs (42) are formed, which provide advancing at a single direction and attachment on a protrusion formed in downward direction on said middle part (30). While said attachment tabs (42) upper surfaces combine with the lower part body (40) in a vertical manner, their lower surfaces are formed such that they would be inclined towards the inlet direction. At the lower part tip where the attachment tabs (42) end on the lower part, a lower inlet guide tip (41) is defined, which would enable easy entrance into the housing to be formed on the body to be fixed. Together with the inclinations of said attachment tabs (42) and the lower inlet guide tip (41), the lower part points the inlet direction like an arrow and thus allow single-way entrance due to this structure. Said attachment tabs (42), which are formed in order to prevent the apparatus (10) of the invention from getting out and provide its tight attachment following its fixation on the housing found on the body, do not permit an easy motion on the opposite direction. Various protrusions can be formed within the body housing that would be fixed in a way that it would correspond to said attachment tabs (42). In this case, said protrusions found within the housing and said openings between tabs (43, 44) would correspond to each other by means of taking the horizontal and vertical openings (43, 44) between the tabs into consideration. Therefore, it would be impossible to take out the fixing apparatus (10) in opposite direction after it is fitted into the body housing to be fixed as long as the strength of the plastic structure is sufficient to resist the force in opposite direction.

At the upper part (20), components are formed, which would easily enter and fit into the space or housing formed on the piece to be fixed and provide fixation by being centered by itself. The flexible tabs (21), which bend inwards while passing through a space or housing formed for their passage and then fit into the inner wall of the housing by being opened outwards after passing through the space or housing, form the uppermost part of said fixing apparatus (10). Said flexible tabs (21) are preferably formed of four flexible components (21) which are preferably placed with 90° angles to each other. The number of said flexible components may be more or less than four in accordance with the diameter of the housing of the piece to be fixed. While passing through the piece housing, said flexible components come close to each other towards point and then fit into the housing by takii

ig through the housing.

After the said fixing apparatus upper part (20) passes through the housing that is formed on the piece for its passage, besides fitting of said flexible tabs (21) into the housing, the amount of entrance of the fixing apparatus upper part (20) into the housing is determined with the certain number of restriction means (stoppers) (22) formed on the apparatus body (24). The centering references (23) formed on the outer surfaces of flexible tabs (21) provide an axial centering facility by means of tight fitting onto housing inner surfaces following passage of the flexible tabs (21) through the housing.

The outer surfaces of said flexible tabs (21) are designed such that they would widen downwards from the upper part, or in other words, they would form an arrow head or inverted cone when engaged. The diameter of the housing formed on the piece for passage of fixing apparatus upper part (20) is designed such that it would be slightly larger than the widest diameter of the downward cone formed by said flexible tabs (21) such that it would allow smooth passage of the apparatus upper part (20) through the housing.

i

The flexible tabs (21) found at the upper part (20) of the single piece fixing apparatus of the invention (10) provides a flexible mechanism as long as the plastic material permits. It is an important mechanism for placement and fixation of the piece in a practical manner to provide the facility, wherein while passing through the circular housing formed for their passage, the flexible tabs (21) flex towards each other in a gradual manner (in a way the cone upper inclination presents), following completion of passage and the lower part of said cone completely passes through the housing, the tabs go back to their original form. While the flexible tabs take their original shape just after the passage of the cone formed by the flexible tabs (21) through the housing, the centering reference protrusions (23) of the tabs (21) formed near the cone lower surface end continuously maintain pressure on the housing passage from inside. Restriction means (22) also restrict the vertical motion of the apparatus (10) passing through the housing passage and thus determine the distance to be kept with the other piece. - body combination in automobiles ci

. According to this, in the perspective and fi

4, it is disclosed below that the mounting of a bezel (60) to a headlight body (50) can be made in an easy and quick manner using the fixing apparatus of the invention. A housing (52) is formed on said body (50), through which the apparatus lower part (40) can enter into the middle part (40) restriction surface (31). Said body fixing housing (52) is formed together with a housing protrusion (51) having a certain wall thickness such that it would be left within the body inner part. As disclosed above, the lower part of the fixing apparatus (40) is easily positioned in the housing by means of the guide tip (41) and advanced into the inner parts of the housing until the middle part restriction surface (31) fits onto the housing inlet. Attachment tabs (42) formed at the fixing apparatus (10) lower part (40) prevent this part, which fits completely in the housing, from getting out of the housing.

A fixing housing (62) is formed by means of a piece fixing housing protrusion (61) such that it would correspond to the fixing apparatus upper part (20), on the piece (bezel, in this example) to be connected with the body (50), in a way that it would face the connection region, or in other words, the fixing apparatus. Flexible tabs (21) found at the fixing apparatus (10) upper part (20) flex inwards, that is to say, towards the vertical axis (Figure 4) while passing through said housing (62) and following completion of the passage, go back to their previous shape as shown in Figure 4, The region where the centering references (23) are positioned is left between the restriction means (22) and the lowermost part of the cone formed by the flexible tabs (21). The distance of this region should be as big as the wall thickness upper surface of the fixing protrusion (61) formed on the piece (60) in order to provide tight fitting to the piece or bezel (60). The flexible tabs (21) found at the fixing apparatus (10) upper part (20) that is placed by means of passing through said piece fixing housing (62) facilitates guided placement, restriction means (22) restrict vertical motion and define the distance between the two pieces to be combined according to the design and the centering references (23) completes the axial referencing by enabling tight fitting within the housing.