Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Showa Aluminum Corporation

Hideto Sakane

Nobuyuki Okuda

Koichi Inoue

Hisayuki Yagi

Masaki Kobayashi

Hiromasa Tanaka

Yuichi Yamazaki

Makoto Saito

Yasuyoshi Tanaka

Noboru Ohta

A driver's seat and an engine are disposed side-by-side to maximize the advantages of a mid-engine vehicle layout. A driver's seat is offset leftwards with respect to a center line of a vehicle body in a one-seater vehicle, and a power unit integrally provided with the engine and transmission is disposed on the right of the center line of the vehicle body. When viewed from the side of the vehicle, the seat and the power unit overlap each other. Thus, the inertial moment about a yaw axis of the vehicle is minimized to enhance the turning performance and moreover, the distribution of load to front wheels Wf and rear wheels Wr is made uniform to enhance the performance of the vehicle when in motion.

Mid-engine vehicle with engine and driver's seat located laterally on

A pipe joint comprises a pipe formed with an annular projection on a connection end portion thereof, a member having a socket including a cylindrical portion for receiving the pipe therein and formed with apertures in the cylindrical portion, and a resilient stopper having circular-arc ridges fittable in the respective apertures of the socket to project radially inward. The stopper extends axially of the pipe and has portions which, when the stopper is mounted on the cylindrical portion of the socket, are beyond 180.degree. from the direction of mounting and at least have a circular-arc form to extend along the outer periphery of the cylindrical portion. The stopper further has an assembling error preventing flange that cooperates with a protrusion preventing erroneous installation of the stopper in the socket.

Pipe joint

A pipe joint comprises a pipe having a spigot formed with an annular projection on an outer periphery of an end portion of the pipe, a member having a socket including a tubular portion for receiving the spigot therein and formed with an aperture in a peripheral wall of the tubular portion, the socket being internally formed with a bearing portion for receiving and bearing on the annular projection when the spigot is inserted into the socket, a resilient stopper mountable on the tubular portion of the socket and having a fitting portion fittable in the aperture, and a tubular stopper holder capable of covering the stopper. The stopper holder is so fixed as to cover the stopper by a recess formed in an outer surface of the stopper and an inward protrusion formed on the stopper holder and fittable in the recess. The fitting portion of the stopper is fitted into the socket aperture in an inwardly projecting state when the stopper is mounted on the socket tubular portion, and the annular projection of the spigot is fixedly positioned between the bearing portion and the stopper fitting portion when the spigot is inserted into the socket.

Growing community of inventors

Saitama, Japan

Hideto Sakane