Vehicle door mirror including vibration suppressing support

• US 10,730,438 B2
• Filed: 01/08/2016
• Issued: 08/04/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Minebea AccessSolutions Inc
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Honda Lock
• Inventors: Eto, Yasuyuki, Jin, Satoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Allen, Stephone B
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dabbi, Jyotsna V
• Application Number:
  US15/541,940
• Publication Number:
  US 20170368996A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,670 Days
• Field of Search: 359841, 359871, 359872, 343713, 248479, 248472
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/074 for retracting the mirror arrangements to a non-use position alongside the vehicle
• 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: F16F 1/373 characterised by having a particular shape F16F9/58 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F16F 1/377 having holes or openings F16F1/37 , F16F1/387 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F16F 15/08 with rubber springs grommet- or bushing-type resilient mountings F16F1/3732, F16F1/38; with springs made of rubber and metal arrangement of internal-combustion or jet-propulsion units B60K5/12; mounting of propulsion plants on vessels B63H21/30; mounting of vehicle drivers' cabs B62D33/0604

Abstract

A vehicle door mirror includes a base member mounted on a side door while having plural mounting holes and plural insertion holes coaxially communicating with the mounting holes, and a mirror housing pivotably supported on a support shaft which has a plurality of bosses, each boss having a tubular portion and ribs extending along an axial direction of the tubular portion. Screw members are inserted through respective ones of the insertion holes and screwed into the tubular portions of the bosses respectively inserted into the mounting holes so that the ribs of each boss abut against an inner peripheral face of the corresponding mounting hole. The ribs are projectingly provided on the outer peripheral face, at least on a base part side, of the corresponding tubular portion. Such arrangement suppresses vibration of the mirror even when the support shaft is made of a synthetic resin.

Claims

1. A vehicle door mirror comprising:

a mirror housing that has a mirror mounted thereon,

a base member that is mounted on a side door while having a plurality of boss mounting holes and a plurality of screw member insertion holes coaxially communicating with the boss mounting holes,

a support shaft that pivotably supports the mirror housing and has a mounting member with a plurality of bosses which are respectively received in the boss mounting holes, each of the bosses having a tubular portion and ribs extending along an axial direction of the tubular portion and projectingly provided on an outer periphery of the tubular portion, and

screw members respectively inserted through the screw member insertion holes being respectively screwed into the tubular portions of the bosses received in the boss mounting holes so that the ribs of each boss abut against an inner peripheral face of the associated boss mounting hole,

wherein the ribs of each said boss are projectingly provided on the outer periphery, at least on a base part of the tubular portion of the boss, the base part of the tubular portion of the boss being connected integrally to the mounting member of the support shaft and projecting away from the mounting member toward the base member, and portions of the ribs at the base part of the tubular portion of the boss engage an inner peripheral surface of the associated boss mounting hole, and

wherein each of the ribs engages the inner peripheral surface of the associated mounting hole along substantially an entire longitudinal length of the rib and only partially along a longitudinal length of the associated mounting hole.

2. The vehicle door mirror according to claim 1, wherein the support shaft comprises first to third bosses,

a pair of the ribs of the first boss are disposed so as to project in a vehicle fore-and-aft direction, a pair of the ribs of the second boss are disposed so as to project in a vehicle left-and-right direction, and a pair of the ribs of the third boss are disposed so as to project in a longitudinal direction of the mirror housing when the mirror housing is in a raised position thereof projecting away from the side door.

3. The vehicle door mirror according to claim 2, wherein the pair of ribs of the first boss are disposed on opposite sides of the first boss, the pair of ribs of the second boss are disposed on opposite sides of the second boss and the pair of ribs of the third boss are disposed on opposite sides of the third boss.

4. The vehicle door mirror according to claim 1, wherein the boss mounting holes and the bosses are substantially cylindrical in shape.

5. The vehicle door mirror according to claim 1, wherein each of the boss mounting holes includes a smaller diameter portion and a larger diameter portion with an annular step part therebetween.

6. The vehicle door mirror according to claim 5, wherein:

each of the tubular portions also has an extremity part extending away from the base part, the extremity part is received in the smaller diameter portion of the associated boss mounting hole so as to abut against the annular step part of the associated boss mounting hole, and the ribs of the tubular portion abut against the inner peripheral face of the larger diameter portion of the associated boss mounting hole.

7. The vehicle door mirror according to claim 1, wherein each of the bosses also has a reinforcing rib which extends along the axial direction of the tubular portion of the boss and projects from the outer periphery of the tubular portion toward a center hole defined in the mirror housing, and a structure of the reinforcing rib is different from a structure of the other said ribs of the boss.

8. The vehicle door mirror according to claim 1, wherein each of the ribs extends from the base part to an intermediate part of the associated tubular portion in the axial direction of the tubular portion.