Patents Assigned to Niles Co., Ltd.
  • Patent number: 9279493
    Abstract: A movable board with movable contact points is arranged inside a switch case formed by overlap of a substrate with fixed contact points and a lid body. A top end surface of the substrate has a concave streak portion and a ring groove for accommodating a seal ring, wherein a projecting streak portion provided on a lower surface of a flange portion in the lid body is fitted in the concave streak portion for welding. A seal bearing mounted to shaft holes provided on an opposing portion between the substrate and the lid body comprises a cylindrical body portion fitted in at least one of the shaft holes, and a lip-shaped seal portion extending to a side of a rotary surface of a shaft portion from an inner peripheral surface of the body portion to make flexible contact with the rotary surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2016
    Assignee: Niles Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Tetsuya Inotsuka
  • Patent number: 9233640
    Abstract: The objective is to reduce the size of a lever switch device. Disclosed is a lever switch device provided with a restriction wall (49) which is formed between first and second arms (19, 23) and which restricts the movement of the first and second arms (19, 23) against the rotation of first and second levers (13, 15) relative to a movable body (31); and engagement walls (45a, 45b, 47a, 47b) which are formed on first and second fitting portions (45, 47) and which are engaged with the first and second arms (19, 23) by the rotational transfer of the first and second arms (19, 23) caused by the shaft rotation of the first and second levers (13, 15), to cause first and second movable boards (41, 43) to perform a contact operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Niles Co., LTD.
    Inventors: Hidekazu Wakita, Hisashi Matsuhashi
  • Patent number: 8631718
    Abstract: A punch includes a first caulking surface and a second caulking surface caulking margins of which axially differ in depth and sequentially formed in a peripheral direction, and includes a regulating surface opposing an outer peripheral surface of a caulking process portion to the first caulking surface of the first and second caulking surfaces, which has a deeper caulking margin, wherein the regulating surface regulates radial fillet movement by caulking of the caulking process portion to promote the fillet movement to the second caulking surface of the first and second caulking surfaces, which has a less deep caulking margin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2014
    Assignee: Niles Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hiroyuki Shimada
  • Publication number: 20130306448
    Abstract: A movable board with movable contact points is arranged inside a switch case formed by overlap of a substrate with fixed contact points and a lid body. A top end surface of the substrate has a concave streak portion and a ring groove for accommodating a seal ring, wherein a projecting streak portion provided on a lower surface of a flange portion in the lid body is fitted in the concave streak portion for welding. A seal bearing mounted to shaft holes provided on an opposing portion between the substrate and the lid body comprises a cylindrical body portion fitted in at least one of the shaft holes, and a lip-shaped seal portion extending to a side of a rotary surface of a shaft portion from an inner peripheral surface of the body portion to make flexible contact with the rotary surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 9, 2013
    Publication date: November 21, 2013
    Applicant: NILES CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Tetsuya Inotsuka
  • Patent number: 8525445
    Abstract: A first light on/off check portion 3 checks the on/off of a light depending on the brightness, and a second light on/off check portion 9 checks the on/off of the light depending on the rain. A light control portion 10, when the rain-dependent on/off check shows the turn-on of the light, turns on a head lamp to avoid the visibility difficulty caused by the rain and, when the rain-dependent on/off check shows the turn-off of the light, according to the result of the check of the brightness-dependent on/off of the light, controls the head lamp and small lamp. A running scene check portion 8 checks the states of the inside and outside of a tunnel, and the second light on/off check portion 9, when the rain-dependent on/off check shows the turn-on of the light, continues the turn-on of the light on/off check for a given time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2013
    Assignees: Niles Co., Ltd., Suzuki Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Tatsuo Oishi, Tomoyuki Ohata
  • Publication number: 20130196518
    Abstract: There is provided a rotary connector device in which a flat cable is wound and accommodated in an annular space between a rotating rotor and a fixed stator. The rotor is provided with a rotor main body made of a PBT resin, and a rotor cover portion made of a polyacetal resin and overlapping the rotor main body to ensure strength of the rotary connector device and reduce sliding noises between the flat cable and the rotor. The rotor cover portion is provided with an opening portion for pulling the flat cable in the annular space out of the rotor main body, and a concave portion is formed in a disc portion of the rotor cover portion for improving work efficiency at the time of assembling the rotor main body and the rotor cover portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 29, 2013
    Publication date: August 1, 2013
    Applicant: NILES CO., LTD.
    Inventor: NILES CO., LTD.
  • Publication number: 20130186737
    Abstract: The concave streak portion 26, in which the welding inclination surface 27 is formed, is provided on the side wall 12; the projecting portion 40, which is fitted into the concave streak portion 26 when the substrate 10 and the lid body 35 overlap to form the switch case 3, is provided on the lid body 36; when the substrate 10 and the lid body 35 are overlapped, the switch case 3 is sealed by contacting the seal ring 31 with the flange portion 38 and the welding shoulder portion 41 interferes with the welding inclination surface 27; the substrate 10 and the lid body 35 are jointed by melting the interference portion by high-frequency welding; the release region K, which keep the communicating state of the inside of the switch case 3 with the outside is designed by notching the projecting portion 40 from the root thereof.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 16, 2013
    Publication date: July 25, 2013
    Applicants: AISIN AW CO., LTD., NILES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Niles Co., Ltd., Aisin AW Co., Ltd.
  • Publication number: 20130134029
    Abstract: Electrode sets each composed parallel electrode plates and a slider are arranged in a contact point accommodating chamber formed with wall portions of an upper case and a lower case. A lever of a knob penetrates through a slit hole in a ceiling wall. A tip end of the lever engages blocks in a box portion in the slider. The slider slides while an opening end surface of the box portion makes contact with a lower surface of the ceiling wall surrounding the slit hole. The slider presses a ball urged by a coil spring retained in the box portion press on a swing contact piece supported by a second of the electrode plates to roll thereon, thus switching a conducting state between the second electrode plate, and a first electrode plate and a third electrode plate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 5, 2012
    Publication date: May 30, 2013
    Applicant: NILES CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Niles Co., Ltd.
  • Publication number: 20130118880
    Abstract: There is provided a vehicular lever switch including an operational lever, a tubular case forming part of the operational lever, and a switch device provided in the tubular case to be operable in an axis Y direction. In addition, the switch device comprises an operational knob provided to be inserted into an opening formed in an operational component in the case, a push switch operated by the operational knob, and a knob holder provided in the case to support the operational knob to be movable forward and backward in the axis Y direction as an operational direction of the push switch. In this structure, the knob holder is fixed and supported to a side of the case.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 5, 2012
    Publication date: May 16, 2013
    Applicant: NILES CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Niles Co., Ltd.
  • Patent number: 8362453
    Abstract: There is provided a rain sensor capable of adequately detecting raindrops in a captured image. The rain sensor includes: a surface light source 14 which emits light to a windshield G to cause light to be incident on a raindrop detection region T set on the windshield G at a critical angle or more; a camera 15 which is arranged on the optical path of light totally reflected by the detection region T and captures the detection region T; and a detection unit which detects raindrops adhering to the detection region T from contrast in the image captured by the camera 15; the detection unit detects the raindrops adhering to the detection region T based on at least one of the captured image in the detection region T to which light is emitted from the surface light source 14 and the captured image in the detection region T to which light is not emitted from the surface light source 14.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2013
    Assignee: Niles Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Tetsuo Taoka
  • Publication number: 20130014975
    Abstract: A spacer arranged in an annular space between a rotor and a stator for supporting a roller reversing a winding direction of a flat cable is made of plastic having high lubricating properties. First guide portions on an annular plate portion are spaced by equal intervals from each other. The first guide portion includes an inner guide rib having a semicircle cross section projecting inward, an outer guide rib having a semicircle cross section projecting outward, and a tension wall connecting the inner guide rib and the outer guide rib. A second guide portion is provided between the first guide portions, and includes three parallel plate ribs extending from an inner peripheral side to an outer peripheral side of the annular plate portion, and circumferential connecting walls connecting the three parallel plate ribs.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 5, 2012
    Publication date: January 17, 2013
    Applicant: Niles Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Junichi Sakurai, Yasumasa Serizawa
  • Publication number: 20130001056
    Abstract: The objective is to reduce the size of a lever switch device. Disclosed is a lever switch device provided with a restriction wall (49) which is formed between first and second arms (19, 23) and which restricts the movement of the first and second arms (19, 23) against the rotation of first and second levers (13, 15) relative to a movable body (31); and engagement walls (45a, 45b, 47a, 47b) which are formed on first and second fitting portions (45, 47) and which are engaged with the first and second arms (19, 23) by the rotational transfer of the first and second arms (19, 23) caused by the shaft rotation of the first and second levers (13, 15), to cause first and second movable boards (41, 43) to perform a contact operation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 25, 2011
    Publication date: January 3, 2013
    Applicant: Niles Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Hidekazu Wakita, Hisashi Matsuhashi
  • Publication number: 20120318652
    Abstract: A contact point member comprises contact point pieces extending from both ends of a base portion and a gripping portion extending from the center of the base portion. The base portion is placed on an upper surface of a holding portion in a base member and is inserted between a main wall of a surrounding wall and stoppers on the holding portion for positioning. After a front end of the base portion is pressed and inserted under a presser portion provided in the main wall, when the gripping portion is pressed on the holding portion, an engagement piece formed in the rear end of the gripping portion is engaged to a corner hole formed in a projection of the holding portion, thus preventing the falling-down of the contact point member. The mounting operation of the contact point member is easily completed simply by pressing down the gripping portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 22, 2012
    Publication date: December 20, 2012
    Applicant: Niles Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Taito Kokubu, Hideji Onodera
  • Patent number: 8265824
    Abstract: First and second temperature check portions 7 and 8 determine whether an ambient temperature T1 is lower than 20° C. or not, whether an external surface temperature T2 of a windshield S is lower than 25° C. or not and whether a temperature difference (T2?T1) is lower than 20° C. or not, and a weather condition check portion 9 determines whether a condition that condensation occurs over the windshield S is met or not based on results of the checks. A wiper control portion 10 controls a driving operation of a wiper W based on a rainfall state checked by a low sensitivity rainfall check portion 5 when the condition that the condensation occurs is met, and controls the driving operation of the wiper W based on a rainfall state checked by a high sensitivity rainfall check portion 4 when a condition that the condensation does not occur is met.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2012
    Assignees: Niles Co., Ltd., Suzuki Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Tatsuo Oishi, Tomoyuki Ohata
  • Patent number: 8237432
    Abstract: A rotation angle sensor providing excellent output characteristics is provided. The rotation angle sensor has a structure in which a ring-shaped permanent magnet provided so as to be rotatable integrally with a rotor connected to a member to be detected; magnetic flux gathering yokes surrounding the outer circumferential surface of the ring-shaped permanent magnet with a certain clearance being formed between the outer circumferential surface and the magnetic flux gathering yokes; and Hall ICs 30 arranged in gaps between the magnetic flux gathering yokes, are arranged inside a casing formed by a casing body and a cover. In the casing body, a guide tube surrounding the outer circumferential surface of the ring-shaped permanent magnet is formed with a certain clearance being formed between the outer circumferential surface and the guide tube.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2012
    Assignee: Niles Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tetsuya Inotsuka, Masanori Endo
  • Patent number: 8212170
    Abstract: A movable contact point board provided with contact points is urged in a direction of being away from stationary contact points by return springs each having the same size and the same characteristic, and is arranged as opposed to the stationary contact points. Return springs have the respective ends for supporting locations in the movable contact point board which are away from each other as having the contact points in the movable contact point board therebetween and support heights of the return springs at the stationary side differ with each other by D. When a plunger equipped with a holding portion having a flat surface as a bottom surface presses the movable contact point board, the contact point in the movable contact point board gets in contact with the stationary contact point at an inclined posture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2012
    Assignee: Niles Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takashi Horikoshi, Masanori Endo
  • Patent number: 8193463
    Abstract: A switch includes push knobs and a lens for guiding light from the light source on the pc board to illuminate the push knobs for changing the distance between the incident surface of the lens and the light source by moving the lens by operating the push knobs. The lens has a recess groove intersecting the light path of the incident light to the lens. The pc board has a protruding wall protruding toward the lens at a position corresponding to the recess groove. Upon movement of the lens directed to reduce the distance between the incident surface and the light source, the protruding wall is inserted into the recess groove by an amount corresponding to the lens displacement to shield the light path in accordance with the displacement. Light amount for illuminating the push knobs is kept constant irrespective of the lens movement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2012
    Assignee: Niles Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kotaro Mae, Hisashi Matsuhashi
  • Patent number: 8106648
    Abstract: There is provided a non-contact rotational detecting sensor comprising a ring-shaped permanent magnet which rotates integrally with a detection object of a rotational angle and of which a magnetic pole changes along the circumferential direction, a ring-shaped inside magnetic flux collecting yoke for surrounding an outer peripheral surface of the ring-shaped permanent magnet in a constant gap, a ring-shaped outside magnetic flux collecting yoke for surrounding an outer peripheral surface of the ring-shaped inside magnetic flux collecting yoke in a constant gap, and a hole IC arranged in a gap formed in the ring-shaped inside magnetic flux collecting yoke, wherein an axial height of the ring-shaped inside magnetic flux collecting yoke is changed along a circumferential direction of the ring-shaped inside magnetic flux collecting yoke.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2012
    Assignee: Niles Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Shunichi Sato
  • Patent number: 8089365
    Abstract: A wiper control method and a wiper control device which can stabilize wiping rhythm of a wiper while ensuring required wiping and smoothly respond to change of a rainfall situation are provided. An adhesion cycle of a raindrop adhering on a detection surface is detected, a current adhesion cycle to be the basis when determining an intermittence time of a wiper is determined based on the detected raindrop adhesion cycle, the wiper intermittence time is determined based on the current adhesion cycle, a raindrop adhesion cycle shorter than the current adhesion cycle is detected, and when the raindrop adhesion cycle shorter than the current adhesion cycle is detected a predetermined number of times, the current adhesion cycle is changed to a shorter adhesion cycle and the wiper intermittence time is determined based on the changed current adhesion cycle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2012
    Assignee: Niles Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuto Kokuryo, Yoshiteru Makino, Satoshi Furusawa
  • Patent number: 8080749
    Abstract: A switch comprises a switch housing including a cover, a terminal block welded to the cover and a fixed contact point therein, a moving block provided with a boss for fitting a manual shaft of an automatic transmission and a movable contact point corresponding to the fixed contact point and movable to the switch housing and elastic seal rings interposed between inner and outer peripheral surfaces of each of the terminal block and the cover, and the operation portion. One of the cover or the terminal block is formed of a colored, laser transmissive material and the other is formed of a laser non-transmissive material. The terminal block and the cover are automatically aligned with the moving block by an elastic force of the seal ring and a thermal welding part is circularly formed by means of a laser beam on the side of the outer periphery in each of the terminal block and the cover to be aligned for coupling the terminal block with the cover to fix the alignment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2011
    Assignees: Niles America Wintech, Inc., Niles Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hisashi Matsuhashi, Atsuko Hildebrand, Anthony C. Bormes, Kenji Amimoto