Inside mirror assembly of vehicle

• US 10,227,045 B2
• Filed: 09/02/2015
• Issued: 03/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), Kia Motors Corporation (Kia Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), Kia Motors Corporation (Kia Corp.)
• Inventors: Lee, Jin Hee, Oh, Young Sub, Lee, Bock Cheol, Kong, Nak Kyoung, Kim, Hyun Sub
• Primary Examiner(s): Tallman, Robert E.
• Application Number:
  US14/843,678
• Publication Number:
  US 20160114730A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,287 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/04 mounted inside vehicle B60R1/025, B60R1/08 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/086 using a mirror angularly movable between a position of use and a non-glare position reflecting a dark field to the user, e.g. situated behind a transparent glass used as low-reflecting surface; Wedge-shaped mirrors

Abstract

An inside mirror assembly of a vehicle, the assembly having an improved structure capable of implementing reflective surfaces of a day mode and a night mode according to light reflectivity. The mirror assembly has a simplified mechanism for operating a tilting reflective plate by adopting two pivot shafts to it. The tilting reflective plate is prevented from vibrating, and play is prevented using the tensile force of a spring.

Claims

1. An inside mirror assembly of a vehicle comprising:

a housing having an opening formed in a front side thereof;

a fixed reflective plate fixed in the opening of the housing;

a tilting reflective plate in the housing, disposed parallel to a rear side of the fixed reflective plate when in a day reflection mode, or disposed such that an upper end thereof is tilted rearward by an angle about the lower end to reduce light reflectivity when in the night reflection mode; and

a tilting mechanism connected to the tilting reflective plate and mounted inside and outside of the housing to adjust a tilting angle of the tilting reflective plate;

wherein the tilting mechanism comprises;

a tilting plate bonded to the rear side of the tilting reflective plate;

a tilting linkage having an upper end hinged to the upper side of the tilting plate and a lower end formed with a spring coupling unit;

a spring engaged with the tilting linkage and pivotally supported by spring supporting ends formed in the housing;

a tilting lever moving the lower end of the tilting linkage forward and rearward;

guide ends upwardly inclined toward a front side of the inside mirror assembly and integrally formed on a bottom of the housing, wherein the tilting linkage is lifted during a forward movement of the tiling linkage and lowered during a rearward movement of the tilting linkage; and

locking steps integrally formed on upper sides of the guide ends to provide to a user an operative feeling when the user manipulates the tilting linkage forward and rearward.

2. The inside mirror assembly of claim 1, wherein the spring is inserted into a spring coupling slot and having both ends pivotally supported by spring supporting ends formed on the wall of the housing.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the spring comprises a linear rod coupled with the tilting lever and inserted into the spring coupling slot and supporting rods bent from both ends of the linear rod twice and pivotally supported by the spring supporting ends.

4. The inside mirror assembly of claim 1, wherein the upper end of the tilting linkage is hinged by pivot shaft formed on the rear upper side of the tilting plate and a lower end on which the spring coupling slot is formed as a spring coupling unit for coupling the spring.

5. The inside mirror assembly of claim 1, wherein upwardly inclined guide ends are integrally formed on the bottom of the housing forward such that the tilting linkage is lifted during the forward movement of the tilting linkage and is lowered during the rearward movement.

6. The inside mirror assembly of claim 5, further comprising locking steps integrally formed on the guide ends to provide operative feeling to a user during the forward and rearward movements of the tilting linkage.

7. The inside mirror assembly of claim 1, further comprising lever hinge supporting ends into which the lever hinges of the tiling lever are integrally formed on the bottom of the housing.

8. The inside mirror assembly of claim 1, wherein the tilting lever is coupled with the spring to move the lower end of the tilting linkage forward and rearward.

9. The inside mirror assembly of claim 1, wherein the tilting lever includes an upper end having a coupling recess, into which the spring is inserted, integrally protruding and the lower side integrally formed with a lever handle extending outwardly through the bottom of the housing.

10. The inside mirror assembly of claim 1, wherein the fixed reflective plate is made of transparent plastic of a prescribed thickness.

11. The inside mirror assembly of claim 1, wherein the four edges of the fixed reflective plate are curved rearward and are integrally bonded to the opening of the housing to form a frameless structure.

12. The inside mirror assembly of claim 1, wherein the tilting reflective plate includes a front side made of a plastic material coated with reflective material of a prescribed thickness.