VENT ASSEMBLY WITH DRAWER-TYPE GRILL UNIT FOR AUTOMOBILES Technical Field The present invention relates, in general, to vent assemblies used for discharging hot and cold air into the passenger compartment of an automobile for accomplishing an air conditioning effect for the passenger compartment and, more particularly, to a vent assembly for automobiles, which has a movable grill unit d esigned to b e appropriately ejected from o r retracted i nto a h ousing b y a motor operation or an elastic force of a spring within a predetermined range capable of preventing an undesired complete removal of the grill unit from the housing, thus allowing a user to selectively eject or retract the grill unit. from or into the housing, and which thus allows the user to open the housing when it is desired to clean the grill unit and the interior of the housing, so the vent assembly blows fresh, clean and scented air into the passenger compartment.

Background Art As well known to those skilled in the art, most automobiles are typically provided with air conditioning apparatuses, such as heaters or air conditioners, for discharging impure air from the passenger compartment to the atmosphere and feeding fresh hot or cool air into the compartment. Such fresh air fed from such an air conditioning apparatus is blown into the passenger compartment through the grill unit of a vent assembly installed in a dashboard.

The grill unit of a conventional vent assembly, acting as the final path guiding the fresh hot or cool air into the passenger compartment, includes a plurality of grating bars which have a blade shape and are movably set in a grill frame fixedly installed in the venting channel of a dashboard. Therefore, when it is desired to change the air blowing direction of the grillwork, the grating bars

are manually tilted upward, downward, leftward or rightward at a limited angle within the fixed grill frame.

In su ch a c onventional v ent a ssembly for automobiles, the a ir b lowing direction of the grillwork is limitedly controlled by manually tilting the blade- shaped grating bars in the fixed grill frame to a desired direction within a limited angular range. It is thus almost impossible to clean the interior of the venting channel in back of the grill frame or the housing, and so a great quantity of dust is deposited in the venting channel as time goes by after the production of an automobile. Such deposited dust is blown into the passenger compartment along with fresh hot or cool air during an operation of an air conditioning apparatus, such as a heater or an air conditioner, thus being bad for passengers'health, particularly, for passengers'respiratory organs, and causing several diseases in said organs. Furthermore, the conventional vent assembly does not allow an installation of an air filter at a position around it, and so most passengers, including a driver while driving an automobile, inevitably breathe dust-laden air blown from the grillwork.

In addition to the above-mentioned problems of difficulty in cleaning the interior of the venting channel or installing an air filter, another problem of the conventional vent assembly caused by an absence of any means for holding air quality enhancing agents, such as aromatics, germicides, and/or deodorizers, in the assembly. Such agents are thus laid on the top wall of the dashboard or the rear shelf provided in back of the rear seats inside the passenger compartment, or attached to the front of the grillwork such that air laden with components of the agents circulates in the passenger compartment. However, such installation of the agents makes the interior of the passenger compartment messy, as well as interfering with the safe driving of a driver.

In an effort to overcome the problems experienced in the conventional vent assembly with the fixed grill frame, there was proposed and has been used an interior vent nozzle for air conditioning apparatuses of automobiles in Japanese Utility Model Laid-open Publication No. Sho. 61-137,012. This vent

nozzle, which corresponds to a grill frame with a grillwork and is referred to as "grill frame"herein below, is removably installed in a housing fixedly set in the dashboard of an automobile such that the grill frame with the grillwork is completely removed from the housing by pulling the grill frame from the housing when desired. That is, this grill frame has a detachable structure, which allows a user to install or remove the grill frame with the grillwork in or from the housing provided in the dashboard. However, due to such a detachable structure, this grill frame is not stably installed in the housing, and so it is undesirably moved in the housing to generate noises upsetting passengers around the grill frame when the automobile runs at speed with substantial vibrations. In addition, when the grill frame is repeatedly removed and installed from or in the housing, the assembling parts of both the grill frame and the housing may be damaged or broken, thus sometimes forcing the user to change the damaged or broken grill frame and/or housing with new ones. This grill frame is thus inconvenient to the user, and forces the user to pay excessive money for purchasing the new grill frame and/or housing. Another problem of the above grill frame resides in that it may be damaged or lost when it is completely removed from the housing and kept in the removed state for a period of time.

Disclosure of the Invention Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vent assembly for automobiles, which has a drawer-type movable grill unit designed to be appropriately ejected from or retracted into a housing in a horizontal direction by an operation of a reversible motor or an elastic force of a spring within a predetermined range to prevent an undesired complete removal of the grill unit from the housing, thus allowing a user to selectively eject or retract the grill unit from or into the housing, and which thus allows the user to open the housing when it is desired to clean the grill unit and the interior of the housing,

and thereby blowing fresh, clean and scented air into the passenger compartment.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a vent assembly for automobiles, which is installed at a front of a venting channel defined in a dashboard and includes a grill unit, the grill unit being movably set in a housing so that the grill unit is ejected from or retracted into the housing within a predetermined range by a drive means.

Brief Description of the Drawings The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vent assembly for automobiles, according to a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the vent assembly for automobiles of FIG. 1; FIGS. 3a and 3b are side sectional views, showing the operation of the vent assembly of FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a vent assembly for automobiles, according to a second embodiment of the present invention; FIGS. 5a and 5b are side sectional views, showing the operation of the vent assembly of FIG. 4; FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a vent assembly for automobiles, according to a third embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the vent assembly for automobiles of FIG. 6; FIGS. 8a and 8b are side sectional views, showing the operation of the vent assembly of FIG. 6; FIGS. 9a and 9b are perspective views showing a grill unit of a vent assembly, according to a modification of the first embodiment of this invention;

and FIG. 10 is a perspective view, showing a vent assembly of this invention, which is installed at a dashboard of an automobile at a desired position.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention Reference should now be made to the drawings, in which the same reference numerals are used throughout the different drawings to designate the same or similar components.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vent assembly for automobiles with a drawer-type grill unit, according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the vent assembly for automobiles of FIG. 1. FIGS. 3a and 3b are side sectional views, showing the operation of the vent assembly of FIG. 1. As shown in the drawings, the vent assembly for automobiles of this invention includes a grill unit 1, a housing 2, and a drive means 3.

The grill unit 1 of the vent assembly according to the first embodiment of this invention includes a grillwork 11, and a grillwork holder 10. The grillwork 11 is provided at a front of the grillwork holder 10 to control the direction of air blown into the passenger compartment of an automobile through the vent assembly. The grill unit 1 is ejected from or retracted into the housing 2 within a predetermined range by the drive means 3. For such an operation of the grill unit 1, a locking projection 14 is provided on a sidewall of the grill unit 1 to be inserted into an actuating rod 3 1 o f the drive means 3. Further, two movable rails 15 are arranged along outer surfaces of both si dewalls of the grill unit 1, while two fixed rails 20 are arranged along inner surfaces of both sidewalls of the housing 2. Thus, the two movable rails 15 are movably seated on the two fixed rails 20, respectively, to slide along the fixed rails 20. A drawer part 12, having a box shape which is opened at a top thereof, is integrated with the grillwork holder 10. The drawer part 12 has, at a rear wall 17 thereof, an air inlet opening

18 to allow air to smoothly blow from an air conditioning apparatus (not shown) to the grillwork 11.

The h ousing 2 i s i nstalled at a front o f a v enting c handel d efined at a predetermined portion of a dashboard B so that the grill unit 1 is ejected from or retracted into the housing 2. Further, the fixed rails 20 are arranged along the inner surfaces of the both sidewalls of the housing 2 to be opposite to each other, so that the movable rails 15 of the grill unit 1 are guided along the fixed rails 20.

On a sidewall of the housing 2 is provided a longitudinal slot 21, thus allowing the locking projection 14 of the grill unit 1 to be movably inserted into the slot 21.

The drive means 3 includes the actuating rod 31 with a locking slot 31 a, so that the locking projection 14 of the grill unit 1 passing through the longitudinal slot 21 which is provided on a sidewall of the housing 2, is inserted into the locking slot 31a of the actuating rod 31. The drive means 3 also includes an intermediate gear assembly 32 which is provided between a drive gear 33a of a reversible motor 33 and a driven gear 31b connected to the actuating rod 31, so as to transmit a drive power of the motor 33 to the actuating rod 31. The intermediate gear assembly 32 having at both sides thereof first and second transmission gears 32a and 32b, functions to transmit the drive power of the motor 33 to the actuating rod 31 while being reduced in a rotation speed at a predetermined ratio, and to absorb shocks, when shocks are applied to the grill unit 1, thus preventing the shocks from being transmitted to the gears engaging with each other. Thus, while the drive power of the motor 33 is sequentially transmitted to the drive gear 33a and the first and second transmission gears 32a and 32b of the intermediate gear assembly 32, the drive power of the motor 33 is reduced at a predetermined ratio, and thereby the reduced drive power is transmitted to the driven gear 31b. Subsequently, the actuating rod 31 is rotated at a predetermined angle by the driven gear 31b engaging with the second transmission gear 32b. At this time, as the locking projection 14 which is provided on a sidewall of the grill unit 1 and inserted into the locking slot 31 a of

the actuating rod 31, linearly moves, the grill unit 1 is ejected from or retracted into the housing 2 which is opened at a front thereof.

The operation of the vent assembly A for automobiles with the drawer- type grill unit, according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described in the following.

In the vent assembly A of this invention, the housing 2 is installed at the front of the venting channel defined in the dashboard B. Next, the grill unit 1 is movably set in the housing 2. In this case, the grill unit 1 is set in the housing 2 such that the movable rails 15 arranged along outer surfaces of the both sidewalls of the drawer part 12 of the grill unit 1 are slidably moved along the fixed rails 20 of the housing 2.

When the air conditioning apparatus is operated in such a state, hot or cool air is blown into the passenger compartment through the grill unit 1.

When it is desired to eject the grill unit 1 from the housing 2, an actuating switch (not shown) connected to the motor 33 of the drive means 3 is manipulated to drive the motor 33. At this time, the drive power of the motor 33 is sequentially transmitted to the drive gear 33a which is connected at an end of a motor shaft, the first and second transmission gears 32a and 32b of the intermediate gear assembly 32, and the driven gear 31b connected to the predetermined portion of the actuating rod 31. By the drive power transmitted to the driven gear 31b, the actuating rod 31 pivots clockwise within a predetermined range to move the locking projection 14 inserted into the locking slot 3 la of the actuating rod 31. Thus, the locking projection 14 linearly moves along the longitudinal slot 21 of the housing 2, and the movable rails 15 provided on the both sidewalls of the drawer part 12 slidably move along the fixed rails 20 provided o n the inner surfaces of the both sidewalls of the housing 2. In this way, the grill unit 1 is ejected from the housing 2 within a predetermined range.

As such, when the grill unit 1 is ejected from the housing 2 within a predetermined range, a front of the housing 2 is opened, thus allowing the venting channel inside the housing 2 to be easily cleaned. Thereafter, when it is desired

to retract the grill unit 1 into the housing 2 from the ejected position to restore an original position thereof, the sw itch is manipulated so that the m otor 3 3 o f t he drive means 3 is driven in a reverse direction. At this time, the drive power is transmitted to the locking projection 14 of the grill unit 1 via the drive gear 3 3 a, the intermediate gear assembly 32, the driven gear 31b, and the actuating rod 31, in a same manner as when the grill unit 1 is ejected from the housing 2. By the drive power, the ejected grill unit 1 moves in a horizontal direction to be retracted into the housing 2.

As shown in FIGS. 4, 5a, and 5b, a vent assembly A according to a second embodiment of the present invention is designed such that a grill unit 1 is easily ejected from or retracted into a housing 2 in a single operation. The vent assembly A according to the second embodiment of the present invention has a plurality of actuating rods 31, and driven gears 31b. A coiled torsion spring 34 is set in each of the driven gears 31b connected to the actuating rods 31.

Further, a reduction gear 35 is mounted to each of both sidewalls of the housing 2 to face the associated driven gear 31b, so that the reduction gear 35 engages with the driven gear 31b. A push button switch 36 is installed in a rear portion of the housing 2, and a stopper 16 is provided at a rear end of the drawer part 12 of the grill unit 1 to engage with and disengage from the push button switch 36. Such a construction allows the grill unit 1 to be ejected from or retracted into the housing 2 in a single direction.

That is, when a user desires to eject the grill unit 1 from the housing 2, the user has only to press the grill unit 1 once. At this time, the stopper 16 disengages from the push button switch 36. Simultaneously, the driven gears 31b engaging with the corresponding reduction gears 35 are slowly rotated by an elastic force of the coiled torsion springs 34. Thus, the actuating rods 31 connected to the corresponding driven gears 31b are also rotated. In this case, the locking projections 14 inserted into the locking slots 31a of the actuating rods 31are moved, thus allowing the grill unit 1 to be ejected from the housing 2 within a predetermined range.

Thereafter, when it is desired to retract the grill unit 1 into the housing 2 from the ejected position, the user has only to push the grill unit 1. At this time, the grill unit 1 is retracted into the housing 2 by an external force, and simultaneously the coiled torsion springs 34 are rewound to have a restoring force. Further, the stopper 16 provided at a rear end of the grill unit 1 engages with the push button switch 36, thus making the grill unit 1 be disposed in the housing 2.

As shown in FIGS. 6,7, 8a and 8b, a vent assembly A according to a third embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of actuating rods 31-1 without a driven gear. Two actuating rods 31-1 connected to each other by a tension coil spring 37, are mounted, at ends thereof, to upper and lower portions of each of both sidewalls of the housing 2. Further, a plurality of longitudinal slots 21 and 21-1 are provided on the both sidewalls of the housing 2 to guide locking projections 14 and 14-1 which are provided on upper and lower portions of each of both sidewalls of the drawer part 12 of the grill unit 1. A reduction gear 35 is interiorly provided on a sidewall of the housing 2 to engage with a rack 15a which is provided along a movable rail 15 of the grill unit 1. The reduction gear 35 allows the grill unit 1 to be smoothly ejected from the housing 2 while reducing a speed of the grill unit 1.

Meanwhile, when the user lightly presses the grill unit 1, the stopper 16 provided at a rear end of the grill unit 1 disengages from the push button switch 36. Simultaneously, the actuating rods 31-1 provided on each of the both sidewalls of the housing 2 are closed by the tension coil spring 37, thus pushing the locking projections 14 and 14-1 inserted into the locking slots 31a of the actuating rods 31-1 outward. Therefore, the grill unit 1 is ejected from the housing 2.

Thereafter, when it is desired to retract the grill unit 1 into the housing 2 from the ejected position, the user has only to lightly push the grill unit 1. At this time, the locking projections 14 and 14-1 provided on both sidewalls of the drawer part 12 are moved along the longitudinal slots 21 and 21-1. Thus, the

closed actuating rods 31-1 provided on each of both sidewalls of the housing 2 are opened by a restoring force of the tension coil spring 37. Finally, the stopper 16 engages with the push button switch 36, thus making the grill unit 1 be disposed in the housing 2.

As shown in FIGS. 9a and 9b, a container 19 may be installed in a rear section of the drawer part 12 which is integrated with the grillwork holder 10 constituting the grill unit 1, so as to contain an aromatic or a deodorizer therein. Alternatively, the aromatic or deodorizer may be directly and removably put in the drawer part 12, without installing the container 19 in the drawer part 12. In such a case, fresh and scented air is discharged into the passenger compartment through the grill unit 1 after flowing through the venting channel. Further, a seating slot 13 may be formed on an upper surface of the front of the grillwork holder 10 so as to removably seat an air filter 5 in the front of the grillwork holder 10. W such a case, the air filter 5 removes dust from air passing through the grill unit 1, thereby cleaning the air before the air is discharged into the interior of the passenger compartment. The vent assembly thus maintains a fresh, clean and pleasant interior atmosphere of the passenger compartment.

In the vent assembly of this invention, two or more grill units 1 may be installed in the housing 2 such that the grill units 1 are independently ejected from or retracted into the housing 2.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.

Industrial Applicability As described above, the present invention provides a vent assembly with a drawer-type grill unit for automobiles. The drawer-type grill unit is designed

such that it is appropriately ejected from or retracted into a housing installed in the dashboard. In the vent assembly, the grill unit slides relative to the housing by a motor operation or a manual operation within a predetermined range capable of preventing an undesired complete removal of the grill unit from the housing.

A user is thus allowed to selectively eject or retract the grill unit from or into the housing, and to open the housing when it is desired to clean the grill unit and the interior o f t he h ousing. This v ent a ssembly also h as a d rawer p art a t the r ear section o f the g rill u nit to c ontain a d esired m aterial, su ch a s an aromatic o r a deodorizer, in the drawer part, with an air filter removably seated in a seating slot which is formed at the upper wall of the grillwork holder of the grill unit. The vent assembly thus blows fresh, clean and scented air into the passenger compartment, and maintains a fresh and pleasant interior atmosphere of the passenger compartment of an automobile.