Door mirror for vehicles

• US 5,005,797 A
• Filed: 03/15/1989
• Issued: 04/09/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/1987
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ichikoh Industries Limited (Valeo SE)
• Original Assignee: Ichikoh Industries Limited (Valeo SE)
• Inventors: Shimizu, Hiroshi, Sato, Kenichi, Maekawa, Masashi, Ukaji, Ryoji, Kotani, Kunio
• Primary Examiner(s): FOSS, J
• Application Number:
  US07/330,085
• Time in Patent Office: 755 Days
• Field of Search: 248/900, 248/549, 248/485, 248/486, 248/487, 248/479, 248/285, 248/282, 248/289.3, 248/289.1, 350/637, 350/636, 350/639, 350/631, 350/604, 350/634
• US Class Current: 248/479
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/076 yieldable to excessive external force and provided with an indexed use position B60R1/0617, B60R1/074 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 248/90 Movable or disengageable on impact or overload

Abstract

The door mirror according to the present invention is a so-called tiltable door mirror for vehicles. The bearing member to bear the shaft of the mirror base which is to be fixed to the vehicle door is formed integrally with the synthetic resin-made mirror housing. The bearing member is formed as a bearing cylinder inside the mirror housing. Being in contact with the bearing surface of the bearing cylinder, the shaft pivotably supports the mirror housing. There is provided between the inner wall of the bearing cylinder and the shaft a U-shaped leaf spring which is in contact at the one end thereof with the inner wall of the bearing cylinder and at the other end with the flat surface formed at a part of the shaft, whereby the friction generated under the action of the leaf spring helps to block the mirror housing from pivoting and thus the mirror housing can be held in the normal position. The shaft has disposed at the end thereof a stopper to prevent the mirror housing from moving axially of the shaft. When a big external force is applied to the mirror housing, the portion of contact between the leaf spring and the shaft moves from the flat surface to the circumferential surface against the force of the leaf spring, so that the mirror housing is pivoted slowly from the normal position to a front or rear position with respect to the normal position. The door mirror of the present invention consists of a reduced number of elements and has a simplified structure. Furthermore, since it can be installed very easily, the manufacturing costs can be reduced very much.

Claims

1. A door mirror for vehicles having a mirror base to be fixed to the door of a vehicle and which has a substantially vertical shaft, a synthetic resin-made mirror housing tiltably supporting a mirror and pivotably supported on said shaft, and spring means for biasing the mirror housing toward the mirror base to maintain the mirror housing in a normal position, said mirror housing being pivotable from the normal position to a front or rear position with respect to the normal position when applied with an external force larger than a predetermined force corresponding to the elasticity of said spring means, said mirror housing having formed by an integral molding therein a bearing member which bears the shaft of said mirror base, wherein said bearing member is composed of a hollow inner cylindrical portion having formed thereon a bearing surface to bear the circumferential surface of said shaft, an outer cylindrical portion formed integrally with said inner cylindrical portion and opened at the lower end thereof, and a plurality of reinforcing ribs coupling said inner and outer cylindrical portions to each other and disposed radially, an end of said shaft being so constructed as to be inserted from a lower opening of said inner cylindrical portion and exposed outside of an upper opening thereof, an upper wall of said outer cylindrical portion being formed to have a flat surface substantially perpendicular to said shaft, said spring means being constructed in the form of a compression coil spring interposed between a spring receiving member fixed at the end of said shaft end and said flat surface.

2. The door mirror for vehicles according to claim 1, wherein there is interposed between said mirror housing and said mirror base spherical members pivotably supporting said mirror housing around said shaft, said spherical members including three balls disposed in spaces defined by three small semispherical concavities formed on said mirror base and three essentially semispherical concavities formed concentrically at ends of respective reinforcing ribs, the small semispherical concavities on said mirror base being provided corresponding to the normal position of said mirror housing and to front and rear positions with respect to the normal position.

3. The door mirror for vehicles according to claim 1, wherein said shaft is formed integrally with said mirror base.

4. A door mirror for vehicles comprising:

(A) a mirror base fixed to the door and having a substantially vertical shaft;

(B) a mirror housing, made of a synthetic resin, which tiltably supports a mirror and which is pivotally supported on a substantially vertical shaft of said mirror base, said mirror housing having a bearing member integrally molded therein which bears said shaft, said bearing member comprising a hollow cylindrical inner portion having formed thereon a bearing surface which bears the circumferential surface of said shaft, a cylindrical outer portion formed integrally with said inner portion and opened at a lower end thereof, and a plurality of radially extending reinforcing ribs coupling said inner and outer portions to each other; and

(C) spring means for biasing said mirror housing towards said mirror base to maintain said mirror housing in a normal position, said mirror housing being pivotable from the normal position to front and rear positions with respect to the normal position when applied with an external force larger than a force corresponding to the elasticity of said spring means.

5. The door mirror for vehicles according to claim 4, further comprising spherical members, interposed between said mirror housing and said mirror base, which pivotally support said mirror housing around said shaft, said spherical members comprising three balls disposed in spaces defined by three semispherical concavities formed on said mirror base and by three essentially spherical concavities formed concentrically at ends of respective reinforcing ribs, wherein the semispherical concavities are provided on said mirror base in locations corresponding to the normal position of said mirror housing and to front and rear positions with respect to the normal position.