US3138660A - Automobile radio antenna - Google Patents

Description

June 23, 1964 CEJKA 3,138,660

AUTOMOBILE RADIO ANTENNA Filed Nov. 14, 1962 INVENTOR. JMSEPH B. CE'JKA FIG. I BY flax 44312442;

United States v Patent 3,138,660 AUTOMOBILE RADIO ANTENNA Joseph B. Cejka, Highland Park, N.J., assignor to Ward Products Corporation, Amsterdam, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Nov. 14, 1962, Ser. No. 237,663 1 Claim. (Cl. 174-153) This invention relates to an automobile radio antenna and more particularly to an antenna which may be mounted in a suitably prepared mounting hole from the outside of the automobile body.

In the installation of an automobile antenna it is desirable to be able to mount the antenna from the top of the fender without the necessity of insertion from below. This reduces both the time required for installation and the number of people required for the operation, both factors of great importance in the assembly of a car. In addition, when it is required to replace the original antenna, a top mounting antenna facilitates replacement by the car owner or small service shop without the necessity of working beneath the cowl or fender.

Heretofore, several attempts have been made to provide a simple, reliable, easily insertable apparatus to allow top mounting of an antenna. The most common mounting method has employed the use of a toggle on the side of the antenna housing sleeve. The antenna is inserted in a mounting hole with the toggle in a vertical position and after insertion the toggle is manipulated to a hori zontal position to engage the undersurface of the body. This method requires the manipulation of the toggle through the mounting hole by means of a screwdriver or other long object. In addition, the toggle is pin mounted and the excessive application of force on tightening the retaining collar may shear the pin. Moreover several additional operations are required in the manufacture of the antenna assembly including the assembly and installation of two toggles and two pivots.

This invention contemplates the use of a metallic sleeve into which the antenna is mounted from above and a coaxial cable is mounted from below. The lower end of the sleeve contains two outwardly extending projections whose upper surfaces slope downward from the sleeve and form bearing surfaces to engage the undersurface of the cowl. These projections are electrically conductive and are conductively connected to the sleeve. The sleeve is smaller than the mounting hole in the cowl while the outwardly extending projections are longer from tip to tip than the diameter of the mounting hole. The sleeve with the antenna and cable attached is placed in the mounting hole by tipping the entire unit and inserting one projection then the other. The unit is then centered and an annular retaining ring which is of a slightly smaller diameter than the mounting hole is placed concentrically around the antenna above the hole. This retaining ring has two sets of downwardly projecting retaining lugs which center the ring on the projections of the sleeve and prevent rotation of the sleeve. The retaining ring contains a lug on its edge and the mounting hole is notched to interlock the two parts. A collar is then placed on top of the retaining ring engaging the sleeve and the entire assembly is drawn together. The downward sloping projections from the sleeve provide line contact with the cowl and thereby provide adequate electrical grounding for the radio apparatus.

The invention will be further described below with the aid of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view of the apparatus shown in FIG. I inserted in a mounting hole and tightened;

FIG. 3 is an isometric view of the retaining ring;

3,138,660. Patented June 23, 1964 FIG. 4 is an isometric view of the sleeve with outwardly extending projections;

FIG. 5 is a pictorial view showing the method of assembly.

Referring to FIG. 1 a hollow four section, collapsible antenna 10, 11, 12 and 13 is forced between electrically conducting plug 31 and an insulating sleeve 30. Sleeve 30 is mounted in the bore of metal sleeve 15 and the combination of the plug 31 and the insulating sleeve 30 and metallic sleeve 15 provide a tight frictional fit for the antenna. A ridge 37 on insulator 30 insures a tight fit between the insulator and sleeve 15.

Sleeve 15 is made of a conducting material and may be either machined or cast. It consists of a threaded upper cylinder 33 and a lower section designed to mount below the surface of the cowl 14 containing two outwardly extending projections 16 and 17. As shown in FIG. 4 the upper surface of projections 16 and 17 are serrated and beveled to insure a good contact with the undersurface of cowl 14. V In addition, surface 28 slopes downward away from the center of the sleeve to provide a firm line contact with the cowl to assure adequate electrical grounding.

The dimensioning of sleeve 15 and projections 16 and 17 is critical with respect to the size of the mounting hole. The sleeve 15 must be substantially smaller than the diameter of the hole while the tip to tip diameter of projections 16 and 17 must exceed the mounting hole diameter. In addition, the maximum distance that a projection can extend outwardly is measured from the upper portion of the joint of the opposite projection with the sleeve to the tip of the projection in question. This distance, which I call arc distance, must be smaller than the mounting hole diameter. If the projections are of dilferent sizes at least one must fall within the above measurement, While the other may be longer. More than two projections may be used if they allow sufiicient contact to maintain stability of the unit in the mounting hole.

In addition, the distance from the above measuring point to any location on the base of sleeve 15 must also be less than the diameter of the mounting hole.

An annular ridge 18 is provided in the lower edge of sleeve 15 to form a contact for the outer conductor 39 of coaxial cable 29. The inner conductor contains a receptacle 34 which on insertion contacts pin 32 connected to plug 31 which in turn is connected to antenna section 13. Electrical grounding therefore occurs between the outer coaxial conductor and sleeve 15 which in turn is grounded to cowl 14.

The sleeve and antenna are retained in the mounting hole by means of retaining ring 19 and collar 26. Retaining ring 19 has an outside rib 24 slightly larger than the hole punched in cowl 14. The ring has four downwardly projecting lugs 20, 21, 22 and 23. Lugs 20 and 21 are designed to closely fit both sides of projection 16 or 17. The downward lugs 22 and 23 perform a similar function with respect to the other projection. A lug 35 on the edge of ring 19 keys into a notch 38 in the edge of mounting hole 36 in the cowl and thereby prevents rotation of the ring and sleeve. A gasket 25 of suitable resilient material is designed to slip over rib 24 and provide a weather seal on the outside of the cowl when ring 19 is in place.

A collar 26 rests on top of ring 19 and is designed to clamp the various parts of the antenna structure together. The inside of collar 26 is threaded to rotate onto threads 33 of sleeve 15 with ring 19 in between the collar and the cowl. Wrench flats 27 are provided on collar 26 to facilitate tightening.

The antenna structure is assembled on the automobile body as shown in FIG. 5. The apparatus is tipped and first one projection, either 16 or 17, is inserted and then the second projection is inserted. The diameter of sleeve 15 is smaller than the hole in the automobile body while the spread of the two projections 16 and 17 exceeds the hole diameter.

After the projections are below cowl 14 the antenna is centered approximately and ring 19 is dropped down so that lugs 20, 21, 22 and 23 straddle projections 16 and 17. The collar 26 is then moved downward and threaded onto sleeve 15 tightening the whole assembly as shown in FIG. 2.

In the drawing retaining ring 19 is shown as a horizontal ring, but in the event the antenna is designed to be used on a particular curved surface a difierent bevel angle may be provided on ring 19 to allow vertical alignment of the antenna.

I claim:

Apparatus for mounting an antenna comprising, in combination, a hollow, metallic, electrically conducting sleeve adapted to receive and hold an antenna in the upper end of said sleeve, insulating means on said sleeve to insulate said sleeve from the mounted antenna, first and second elongated electrically conducting projections electrically conductively joined to said sleeve and extending outwardly from said sleeve near the lower end of said sleeve, said first and second projections extending outwardly from their joinder with said sleeve in opposite directions and extending downwardly from their joinder with said sleeve, said projections having end tips and being adapted for insertion through a mounting hole in an automobile body, the distance from tip to tip from the first to the second of said projections being larger than the diameter of the mounting hole for which it is adapted, the arc distance from the upper part of the joinder between the first projection and the sleeve to the tip of the second projection and also to all portions of the bottom of the sleeve being less than the diameter of the said mounting hole, clamping means engaging said sleeve and adapted to exert clamping force downward on the automobile body above the hole, thereby pressing said elongated projections against the undersurface of said automobile body, an annular retaining ring mounted on said sleeve below said clamping means, a plurality of downward extending lugs joined to the said retaining ring and engaging said elongated electrically conducting projections on each side, and a lug joined to the said retaining ring and extending from its periphery and adapted to engage a notch in the mounting hole.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,049,283 Westphal Dec. 31, 1912 2,693,333 Race et al Nov. 2, 1954 2,693,372 Ludwig et al. Nov. 2', 1954 2,870,243 Stewart et al. Jan. 20, 1959 2,896,010 Newman July 21, 1959 3,053,555 Lahti Sept. 11, 1962

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