Distance indicating mirror
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A distance indicating mirror device for attachment to a vehicle to indicate a safe distance for a passing vehicle to pull into the lane of a just passed vehicle, the device comprising:
- a convex mirror having a transparent panel member having a front side and a back side and an image reflecting layer in intimate face to face contact with one side of the transparent panel member for reflecting an image of a passed vehicle;
the image reflecting layer having at least one indicia shaped opening therethrough; and
a reflective indicia layer of contrasting visibility to the image reflecting layer positioned on the transparent panel member of the mirror in registry with the indicia shaped opening so as to be visible, as indicia, therethrough;
said indicia being positioned in such a location that an image of a passed vehicle appears at a predetermined position on the mirror with respect to the indicia when the passing vehicle is at a safe distance for pulling into the lane of the passed vehicle;
said indicia being visible under both daylight conditions and reduced light conditions when exposed to the headlights of the just passed vehicle.
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Abstract
A vehicle mirror having an image reflecting surface and a distance indicating light reflective indicia of contrasting reflectivity to the image reflecting surface, the indicia being located in such a position on the mirror that when a just passed vehicle appears on the mirror at a certain location with respect to the indicia, it is safe to pull over into the lane in front of the just passed vehicle. One embodiment of the distance indicating indicia is a reflective horizontal line located below the center of the mirror.
203 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A distance indicating mirror device for attachment to a vehicle to indicate a safe distance for a passing vehicle to pull into the lane of a just passed vehicle, the device comprising:
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a convex mirror having a transparent panel member having a front side and a back side and an image reflecting layer in intimate face to face contact with one side of the transparent panel member for reflecting an image of a passed vehicle; the image reflecting layer having at least one indicia shaped opening therethrough; and a reflective indicia layer of contrasting visibility to the image reflecting layer positioned on the transparent panel member of the mirror in registry with the indicia shaped opening so as to be visible, as indicia, therethrough; said indicia being positioned in such a location that an image of a passed vehicle appears at a predetermined position on the mirror with respect to the indicia when the passing vehicle is at a safe distance for pulling into the lane of the passed vehicle; said indicia being visible under both daylight conditions and reduced light conditions when exposed to the headlights of the just passed vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A distance indicating mirror device for attachment to a vehicle to indicate a safe distance for a passing vehicle to pull into the lane of a just passed vehicle, the device comprising:
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a convex mirror having a transparent panel member having a front side and a back side and an image reflecting layer in intimate face to face contact with one side of the transparent panel member for reflecting an image of a passed vehicle; the image reflecting layer having at least one horizontally extending indicia shaped opening therethrough; and a horizontally extending reflective indicia layer of contrasting visibility to the image reflecting layer positioned on the transparent panel member of the mirror at a location near the vertical midpoint thereof and in registry with the indicia shaped opening so as to be visible, as indicia, therethrough; whereby when the image of a passed vehicle appears above the indicia, the passing vehicle is at a sufficiently safe distance ahead of the passed vehicle to pull into the lane of the passed vehicle; said indicia being visible under both daylight conditions and reduced light conditions when exposed to the headlights of the just passed vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A distance indicating mirror device carried by a passing vehicle for indicating a safe passing distance between the passing vehicle and a passed vehicle comprising:
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a convex mirror having a transparent panel member having a front side and a back side and an image reflecting layer in intimate face to face contact with one side of the transparent panel member for reflecting an image of a passed vehicle; the image reflecting layer having at least one indicia shaped opening therethrough; and a reflective indicia layer of contrasting visibility to the image reflecting layer positioned on the transparent panel member of the mirror in registry with the indicia shaped opening, so as to be visible, as indicia, therethrough and positioned on the mirror for providing a location of reference on the mirror for judging the distance between the passing vehicle and the passed vehicle; said indicia being visible under both daylight and nighttime conditions when exposed to the headlights of the just passed vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification