Abstract
Disclosed is a method for producing a rod antenna for a vehicle, wherein a coil spring (10) is connected on at least one of its two ends to an antenna component, and wherein the connection between the coil spring (10) and the antenna component is established by expanding the inner diameter of the coil spring (10), by at least partially sliding the antenna component into the expanded coil spring (10), and by subsequently returning the coil spring towards the original inner diameter for securing purposes. The invention is characterized in that a wire (18) is inserted into the intermediate region between the coil spring (10) and the antenna component when the coil spring (10) is expanded.
Claims
1. In a method of making a vehicular rod antenna comprising a coil spring connected at at least one of its ends to an antenna component by expanding the inner diameter of the coil spring through the at least partial insertion of the antenna component into the expanded coil spring such that the subsequent return of the coil spring toward its original inner diameter serves for its attachment, the improvement wherein a wire is placed into an intermediate region between the coil spring and the antenna component while the coil spring is expanded.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the antenna component is a fastening pin of a mount and is arranged and fixed in place in the one end of the coil spring.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the antenna component is an antenna rod arranged at least partially in the coil spring and fixed in place.
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the antenna rod has an end fixed in the one end of the coil spring.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the rod antenna is provided with a sheath.
6. A tool assembly for carrying out the method according to claim 1.
7. The tool assembly according to claim 6, wherein the tool assembly has a holder for a mount and/or the antenna rod and means for holding and expanding the coil spring.
8. A method of making a rod antenna, the method comprising the steps of: elastically expanding an inner diameter of a coil spring having two opposite ends; inserting into one of the ends a fastening pin of a mount; positioning a wire across the other end of the spring; pushing an antenna rod against the wire and into the other end of the spring such that the wire is positioned inside the spring between the spring and the rod; and relaxing the spring such that the inner diameter of the spring decreases and the ends of the spring radially grip the pin and the rod and the wire is compressed against the rod.
9. The method defined in claim 8, wherein the rod and the pin are each inserted into the spring such that an empty space is left inside the spring between the pin and the rod.
Description
[0026] The known method will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.
[0027] A tool assembly for carrying out the method according to the invention is also described below and is shown in FIG. 4.
[0028] The method according to the invention will be also be described below with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7.
[0029] FIG. 1 shows the first step of the method of making a rod antenna, in which a force is applied to a coil spring in order to expand it. An antenna component has a mount 11 with a screwthread 12 and a fastening pin 13 and connected to an antenna rod 14 permanently by a coil spring 10 in this embodiment. Reference numeral 15 denotes the diameter ratios at the mount 11. The outer diameter of the fastening pin 13 is fixed and, expansion 16, is smaller than the spring so that it can be pushed into the expanded attachment region of the coil spring 10 without any application of force. The same applies to the antenna rod 14 that can be inserted without the application of appreciable force into the corresponding attachment region of the expanded coil spring 10. Even though it is shown near the right end of the coil spring 10 in FIG. 1 that the inner diameter of the last winding of the coil spring 10 corresponds approximately to the outer diameter of the antenna rod 14, the antenna rod 14 can be readily inserted into the interior of the coil spring 10 because the end of the winding of the coil spring 10 can also be expanded without applying much force, and the antenna rod 14 can be inserted into the other windings of the coil spring 10 (toward the left in FIG. 1).
[0030] FIG. 2 shows the state in which the at least one antenna component, namely the mount 11 and/or the antenna rod 14, has been inserted by displacement 17 into the interior of the coil spring 10. During this process, the coil spring 10 is still expanded, that is, an external force is still applied to the coil spring 10 for the expansion 16.
[0031] Finally, FIG. 3 shows that the external force for expansion 16 has been removed from the coil spring 10, so that the end windings of the coil spring 10 are under prestress around the fastening pin 13 and fix the latter permanently in place. The same applies to the end windings of the coil spring 10 at the antenna rod 14. An unillustrated sheath can be provided that begins approximately to the left of the fastening pin 13 of the mount 11 and extends at least over the coil spring 10, but preferably also over the antenna rod 14 (directional information refers to a consideration of FIG. 3).
[0032] For the sake of completeness, it should be mentioned that here (in particular FIG. 3), the antenna rod 14 is only partially inserted and into a portion of the coil spring 10 and fixed (clamped) in place. However, it is also conceivable for the antenna rod 14 to be inserted with its one end even farther into the coil spring 10, particularly up to the fastening pin 13.
[0033] FIG. 4 shows a tool assembly that can be operated manually to make a rod antenna. A holder for the mount 11 and means for holding and expanding the coil spring 10 are shown. The method according to the invention can be carried out with the aid of this holder and the means for holding and expanding the coil spring. If the rod antenna also has an antenna rod, this antenna rod 14 is clamped in an additional holder, in which case this holder as well as the holder for the mount extend axially of the coil spring 10 for the purpose of insertion (insertion process 17). After the coil spring 10 has been expanded and the mount 11 has been inserted with its fastening pin 13 and/or the antenna rod 14 has been inserted into the attachment region of the coil spring 10, this external force is removed from the coil spring 10, so that they can contract and thereby clamp the fastening pin 13 and/or the antenna rod 14 in the attachment region. In the illustrated tool assembly, it is important that the central axis of the mount 11, the central axis of the coil spring 10 and, if present, the central axis of the antenna rod 14 are coaxial in order to be able to make a rod-shaped antenna (rod antenna).
[0034] While the tool assembly shown is operated manually, an automated production of a rod antenna is also conceivable as an alternative.
[0035] FIGS. 5 to 7 show the method according to the invention in which a rod antenna is assembled on the basis of the method steps illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3.
[0036] The components such as the coil spring 10, the mount 11, and the antenna rod 14, for example, are retained. In addition, there is a wire 18 that, in the embodiment according to the FIGS. 5 to 7, is to be clamped between the antenna rod 14 and the coil spring 10.
[0037] FIG. 5 shows that the wire 18 has been moved with a portion into the region between the coil spring 10 and the antenna rod 14.
[0038] FIG. 6 shows that the one end of the antenna rod 14 entrains the portion of the wire 18, with the coil spring 10 being expanded in this state by an unillustrated mechanism and/or force effect such that the wire 18 can be inserted together with the antenna rod 14 into the expanded inner region of the coil spring 10.
[0039] Finally, FIG. 7 shows that the portion of the wire 18 that has been placed around the end of the antenna rod 14 has been pushed into the expanded inner region of the coil spring 10. After this has been done, the force acting on the coil spring 10 in order to expand it is removed, so that the coil spring 10 contracts and the wire 18 is fixed in place at least mechanically in the end of the antenna rod 14. If the coil spring 10 and/or the antenna rod 14 are made of an electrically conductive material and, at the same time, at least the portion of the antenna rod 14 is also electrically conductive, not only the mechanical fixing occurs, but also the electrical contacting.
[0040] FIGS. 5 to 7 show that the wire 18 is attached to the coil spring 10 in conjunction with the antenna rod 14. Alternatively or in addition, it is also conceivable for the wire 18 (and optionally an additional wire) to be fixed in place not only in the end of the antenna rod 14, but also in the attachment region 13 of the mount 11.
[0041] In order to form the finished rod antenna, the fixed wire 18 according to FIG. 7 is wound more coil or screws for Mac around the antenna rod 14, with the pitch being adapted to the function of the finished rod antenna.
[0042] The wire 18 is advantageously a copper wire that is sheathed with a paint, although materials other than copper can be conceivably used for the wire 18 and materials other than paint can be conceivably used for the sheath of the wire 18.
TABLE-US-00001 List of reference symbols 10 coil spring 11 mount 12 thread 13 fastening pin 14 antenna rod 15 diameter ratio 16 expansion 17 displacement 18 wire 50 coil spring 51 mount 52 antenna rod 53 attachment region
