Trailer tow mirror

• US 6,276,805 B1
• Filed: 09/17/1999
• Issued: 08/21/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Britax Rainsfords Pty Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Britax Rainsfords Pty Ltd.
• Inventors: Orme, Simon, Henion, Paul R., Whitford, Barry, Rothe, Peter Robert, Fimeri, Trevor, Woollard, David Henderson, Home, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Spyrou, Cassandra
• Assistant Examiner(s): Juba, Jr., John
• Application Number:
  US09/399,293
• Time in Patent Office: 704 Days
• Field of Search: 248/476, 248/477, 248/478, 248/479, 248/495, 248/496, 248/549, 248/900, 248/512, 248/513, 248/514, 248/466, 359/841, 359/844, 359/881, 359/871, 359/872, 359/838, 403/109.1, 403/109.2, 403/109.3, 403/109.5, 403/109.8
• US Class Current: 359/841
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/06 mounted on vehicle exterior B60R1/025, B60R1/08 take precedence
• 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: B60R 1/078 easily removable; mounted for bodily outward movement, e.g. when towing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 248/90 Movable or disengageable on impact or overload
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 403/32467 Telescoping members
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 403/32483 Spring biased
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 403/32524 Self-locking
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 403/7075 including discrete retainer
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 403/7077 for telescoping members

Abstract

A mirror assembly has a pair of telescoping tubular supports extending between a support base and a mirror head to provide adjustment of the mirror head toward and away from the support base. Friction shoes within the tubular supports releasably hold such supports against unintentional telescoping movement. Cooperating stops on the telescoping supports limit outward movement of the mirror head and prevent complete separation of the telescoping supports. The tubular supports are hingedly attached to the support base for rotation about a vertical axis, and cooperating detents and spring elements on the supports and support base releasably hold the supports against rotation.

Claims

1. In a vehicle rear view mirror assembly, a support base having a pair of spaced-apart parallel support tubes extending outwardly therefrom, a mirror head having a pair of spaced-apart parallel mounting arms received within said support tubes to support said mirror head on said support base and provide selective adjustable movement of said mirror head toward and away from said support base, and said support tubes having support tube inner surfaces facing inwardly of said support tubes toward said mounting arms, and at least one of said mounting arms having a releasable holding device carried thereby completely internally of the said support tube in which it is received to and engaging said inner surface of said support tube in which said one mounting arm is received with sufficient force to releasably hold said mounting arms in a desired adjusted position against longitudinal movement relative to one another.

2. The mirror assembly of claim 1 wherein said releasable holding device comprises a friction shoe having a friction surface engaging said tube inner surface of said support tube in which said one mounting arm is received.

3. The mirror of claim 2 wherein said friction shoe is biased in a direction to engage said friction surface with said tube inner surface of said support tube in which said one mounting arm is received.

4. The mirror assembly of claim 3 wherein said mounting arms are tubular and said friction shoe is carried internally of said one mounting arm, and said one mounting arm having an opening therein through which said friction shoe projects to engage said friction surface with said tube inner surface of said support tube in which said one mounting arm is received.

5. The mirror assembly of claim 1 wherein said releasable holding device comprises a pair of releasable holding devices spaced-apart longitudinally of said one mounting arm.

6. The mirror assembly of claim 5 wherein said pair of releasable holding devices comprise friction shoes having friction surfaces engaging said tube inner surface of said support tube in which said one mounting arm is received.

7. The mirror assembly of claim 1 wherein both of said mounting arms have a releasable holding device carried thereby.

8. The mirror assembly of claim 7 wherein each of said mounting arms has a pair of said releasable holding devices carried thereby, and said pair of said releasable holding devices on each of said mounting arms are spaced longitudinally of said mounting arms.

9. The mirror assembly of claim 8 wherein all of said releasable holding devices comprise friction shoes having friction surfaces engaging said inner surfaces of said support tubes.

10. The mirror assembly of claim 9 wherein said friction shoes are yieldably biased in a direction to engage said friction surfaces with said inner surfaces of said support tubes.

11. The mirror assembly of claim 1 wherein said support tubes have open ends through which said mounting arms extend, at least one of said pair of support tubes having at least one stop thereon adjacent said open end thereof for cooperation with an abutment on at least one of said mounting arms to prevent separation of said arms from said tubes, and said stop and abutment being independent of said releasable holding device.

12. The mirror assembly of claim 1 wherein said support tubes have open ends through which said mounting arms extend, said support tubes having stops thereon adjacent said open ends thereof, said mounting arms having abutments thereon for cooperation with said stops to prevent removal of said arms from within said tubes, and said stops and abutments being independent of said releasable holding device.

13. The mirror assembly of claim 1 wherein said releasable holding device comprises a friction shoe carried by said one mounting arm for transverse movement relative thereto, and a spring biasing said friction shoe into engagement with said inner surface of said one support tube to prevent relative longitudinal movement between said mounting arm and said one support tube.

14. The mirror assembly of claim 1 wherein said support tubes are attached to said support base by hinged connections for rotation about a common vertical axis, and releasable detent devices between each of said support tubes and said support base adjacent said hinged connections to releasably hold said support tubes against rotation about said vertical axis when said detent devices are engaged and to permit such rotation when said detent devices are released.

15. The mirror assembly of claim 14 wherein said detent devices comprise a detent in each of said support tubes adjacent said hinged connections and a resilient element on said support base releasably received in each said detent.

16. The mirror assembly of claim 15 wherein said resilient element comprises a single spring rod having opposite rod end portions received in each said detent.

17. In a rear view mirror assembly, a support base having an elongated tubular support arm extending outwardly therefrom, a mirror head having an elongated mounting arm slidably received in said support arm to support said mirror head on said support base and provide selective adjustment of said mirror head toward and away from said support base, said tubular support arm having a support arm inner surface extending along the length thereof and facing inwardly of said tubular support arm toward said mounting arm, a friction device carried by said mounting arm completely internally of said support arm and having an outer friction surface engaging said inner surface of said tubular support arm, and said friction device being yieldably biased in a direction to engage said friction surface with said inner surface of said support arm with sufficient force to releasably hold said mounting arm in a desired adjusted position against longitudinal movement relative to said support arm.

18. The mirror assembly of claim 17 wherein said friction device comprises a pair of friction shoes spaced from one another longitudinally of said mounting arm.

19. The mirror assembly of claim 17 wherein said support base has a pair of elongated parallel tubular support arms extending outwardly therefrom and said mirror head has a pair of elongated parallel mounting arms extending outwardly therefrom and being slidably received in said pair of tubular support arms, and each of said mounting arms having a said friction device carried thereby.

20. The mirror assembly of claim 19 wherein said friction device carried by each of said mounting arms comprises a pair of friction devices spaced-apart longitudinally of said mounting arms.

21. The mirror assembly of claim 20 wherein said mounting arms are tubular and each of said pair of friction devices comprise friction shoes carried by said mounting arms internally thereof, and said mounting arms having openings therein through which said friction shoes extend into engagement with inner surfaces of said support arms.

22. A telescoping trailer tow mirror assembly having a support base and a mirror head, cooperating telescoping mounting and support tubes extending between said support base and said mirror head for supporting said mirror head on said support base, one of said tubes being an inner tube and the other of said tubes being an outer tube in which said inner tube is slidably received, said outer tube having an inner surface that faces inwardly thereof toward said inner tube, said tubes being longitudinally movable relative to one another to provide adjustable movement of said mirror head toward and away from said base, and a releasable holding device carried by said inner tube completely internally of said outer tube and engaging said inner surface of said outer tube to releasably hold said tubes against longitudinal movement relative to one another.

23. The mirror assembly of claim 22 wherein said support tube is attached to said support base and said mounting tube is attached to said mirror head, said inner tube comprising said mounting tube and said outer tube comprising said support tube.

24. The mirror assembly of claim 23 wherein said mounting and support tubes extend along a longitudinal tube axis and said support tube has an inner surface extending along the length thereof and facing toward said mounting tube, said releasable holding device comprising a friction shoe biased into engagement with said inner surface of said support tube in a direction transversely of said tube axis.

25. The mirror assembly of claim 22 wherein said releasable holding device comprises a pair of friction shoes spaced-apart longitudinally of said tubes.

26. In a vehicle rear view mirror assembly including a support base having a pair of vertically-spaced parallel mirror support arms extending outwardly therefrom, said support arms being attached to said support base by hinged connections for rotation about a vertical axis, each of said support arms having a detent adjacent to said hinged connections, and a single spring rod having opposite rod end portions releasably received in each of said detents for releasably holding said support arms against rotation relative to said support base.

27. The mirror assembly of claim 26 wherein said hinged connections include support arm end portions having outer peripheries spaced radially outwardly of said vertical axis, and said detents being in said outer peripheries.

28. The minor assembly of claim 27 wherein said spring rod is secured to said support base intermediate said opposite rod end portions.

29. In a vehicle rear view minor assembly, a support base having a pair of spaced-apart parallel support tubes extending outwardly therefrom, a mirror head having a pair of spaced-apart parallel mounting arms extending outwardly therefrom, said mounting arms being slidably received within said support tubes to support said mirror head on said support base and provide selective adjustable movement of said mirror head toward and away from said support base, at least one of said mounting arms having a releasable holding device carried thereby internally of the said support tube in which it is received to releasably hold said mounting arms in a desired adjusted position against longitudinal movement relative to said support tubes, said support tubes having open ends through which said mounting arms extend, said tubes having stops thereon adjacent said open ends thereof, said mounting arms having abutments thereon for cooperation with said stops to prevent removal of said arms from within said tubes, and said stops being on spring clips attached to said support tubes subsequent to insertion of said mounting arms into said support tubes.

30. In a rear view mirror assembly, a support base having an elongated tubular support arm extending outwardly therefrom, a mirror head having an elongated mounting arm extending outwardly therefrom, said mounting arm being slidably received in said support arm to support said minor head on said support base and provide selective adjustment of said mirror head toward and away from said support base, a friction device carried by said support arm internally of said support arm, said friction device having an outer friction surface and said support arm having an inner surface engaged by said friction surface, said friction device being yieldably biased in a direction to engage said friction surface with said inner surface of said support arm to releasably hold said mounting arm in a desired adjusted position against longitudinal movement relative to said support arm, said friction device comprising a friction shoe having a friction shoe head, a barbed guide stem extending from said head and having a barbed end portion, and said mounting, arm having an opening therein through which said barbed end portion is snapped to attach said friction shoe to said mounting arm.

31. The mirror assembly of claim 30 wherein said head has a friction surface on the opposite side thereof from said guide stem, and a coil spring surrounding said guide stem for biasing said head in a direction to engage said friction surface with said inner surface of said tube.

32. In a rear view mirror assembly, a support base having a pair of elongated tubular support arms extending outwardly therefrom, a mirror head having a pair of elongated mounting arms extending outwardly therefrom, said mounting arms being slidably received in said support arms to support said mirror head on said support base and provide selective adjustment of said mirror head toward and away from said support base, a friction device carried by each of said mounting arms internally of said support arms, said friction devices having outer friction surfaces and said support arms having inner surfaces engaged by said friction surfaces, said friction devices being yieldably biased in a direction to engage said friction surfaces with said inner surfaces of said support arms to releasably hold said mounting arms in a desired adjusted position against longitudinal movement relative to said support arms, said friction devices carried by each of said mounting arms comprising a pair of friction devices spaced-apart longitudinally of each said mounting arm, said mounting arms being tubular and each of said pair of friction devices comprising friction shoes carried by said mounting arms internally thereof, said mounting arms having openings therein through which said friction shoes extend into engagement with inner surfaces of said support arms, said friction shoes having guide stems attached to said mounting arms for movement of said friction shoes relative to said mounting arms longitudinally of said guide stems, and biasing devices positioned between said mounting arms and said friction shoes to bias said friction shoes into engagement with inner surfaces of said support arms.

33. A telescoping trailer tow mirror assembly having a support base and a mirror head, cooperating telescoping mounting and support tubes extending between said support base and said mirror head for supporting said mirror head on said support base and for providing adjustable movement of said mirror head toward and away from said base, a releasable holding device internally of said tubes for releasably holding said tubes against movement relative to one another, said support tube being attached to said support base and said mounting tube being attached to said mirror head, said mounting tube being received in said support tube, said releasable holding device being carried by said mounting tube, said support tube being hinged to said support base for rotation about a vertical axis, said support tube having a detent adjacent said support base, and said support base having a spring rod releasably received in said detent to releasably hold said support tube against rotation.

34. A vehicle rear view mirror including a mirror head assembly having a mirror head base and a mirror head escutcheon, a mounting base plate secured between said mirror head base and said mirror head escutcheon, at least one lateral opening in said mirror head base, said mounting base plate having at least one mounting arm thereon aligned with said opening, a support base having at least one support tube extending outwardly therefrom, said mounting arm being received in said support tube to support said mirror head assembly on said support base, said support tube having an inner surface that faces inwardly thereof toward said mounting arm, and at least one friction shoe carried by said mounting arm and engaging said inner surface of said support tube to provide adjustable movement of said mirror head assembly toward and away from said support base while frictionally holding said mounting arm against unintentional longitudinal movement relative to said support tube.

35. The mirror of claim 34 including a pair of vertically-spaced lateral openings in said mirror head base, said mounting base plate having a pair of mounting arms thereon aligned with said pair of openings, said support base having a pair of support tubes extending therefrom and receiving said pair of mounting arms, and a pair of friction shoes carried by each said mounting arm.