1 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 RUILIANG LI, YUXING LI, JIAFENG LUO COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT Invention Title: A folding sun visor The following statement is a full description of this invention including the best method of performing it known to us:- A Folding Sun Visor Background of the Invention Technical Field 5 The present invention relates to a shading apparatus, and more particularly to a folding sun visor. Prior Art Vehicles are equipped with sun visors located at the ceiling just over the windshield for 10 both the driver and front passenger. At present a sun visor is usually completely opaque, and when manually rotated downward from the stowed position, can block unwanted sun and glare, but as it is completely opaque, the visor also affects the vision range of the driver, thereby creating safety problems. 15 Because of the limitations of the opaque sun visors described above, people keep looking for a better material for sun visors, which is expected to help block unwanted light from the sun entering through the windshield without posing negative impacts on the driver's vision. At present there is a sun visor in the market, which is made of colored organic glass and bundled under the original sun visor for use, it can block 20 strong light and glare in the high light intensity environment, but still has significant impacts on the driver's front vision in the environment with insufficient light, i.e., when entering a tunnel in a bright sun day, the driver may not able to see clearly through the colored organic glass, driving safety is so impaired. Furthermore, as the new sun visor is bundled under and extends from the original sun visor, the space in front of the diver 25 within the vehicle is shrunk as well. An alternative in the market is about using suckers to fix the sun visor on the top of the front windscreen glass of a vehicle, as the fixation of the sun visor relies on the suction of the sucker, considering the change of the temperature inside and outside the vehicle, 30 and the weight of the sun visor, the driver may not able to concentrate in driving, as he/she may worry about the possibility of the sun visor falling from the windscreen glass at all time. Another alternative in the market is designed to replace the original sun visor, in 35 installation the original sun visor must be removed and then the new one is mounted on the same position, but many users are not willing to remove the original sun visor equipped, therefore the use of this sort of sun visors is restricted. Summary of the Invention 5 To solve the above mentioned problems, the present invention aims to provide a folding sun visor with easy installation. The technical solution proposed by the present invention to solve the technical problems 10 could be described as follows: A folding sun visor, comprising a retractable snap-fit assembly to be attached to the original sun visor, a fixed block hinged with the bottom end of said snap-fit assembly through a universal shaft, and a color-changing sun visor body inlaid in said fixing 15 piece. Preferably, said fixing piece is capable of 360 degree rotation around said retractable snap-fit assembly through said universal shaft. 20 Furthermore, said retractable snap-fit assembly comprises a first sliding hook, a locking element, tooth grooves and a second sliding hook, wherein said locking element is engaged with said tooth groove and thus to adjust the distance between said first and second sliding hooks. 25 Said first sliding hook has a plane on one end thereof on which an inward teeth groove is located and said locking element is mounted, a protruding portion on the other end thereof on which a screw hole is provided for mounting said color-changing sun visor body and the universal shaft, and a downward single hook formation provided below said protruding portion. 30 Correspondingly, said second sliding hook has a plane on one end thereof on which an outward teeth groove is located, and a downward single hook formation provided on the other end thereof.
Furthermore, said inward teeth groove of said first sliding hook and said outward teeth groove of said second sliding hook are engaged, and said locking element 8 is set on the first sliding hook for locking the relative position of the first and second sliding hooks. 5 The ball end of said universal shaft 3 is mounted in the upper portion of said color-changing sun visor body, and the cylindrical portion of the universal shaft connected with said ball end is mounted in said protruding portion of said first sliding hook. 10 Said hook formation of said first sliding hook has a same extending direction as the universal shaft, which are both downward. Alternatively, said hook formation of the first sliding hook has an opposite extending direction to the universal shaft, wherein the hook formation extends upwards while the 15 universal shaft extends downwards. As another aspect of the present invention, the color-changing sun visor body is powered by a solar battery mounted on the top of said sun visor body, accordingly an adjusting knob is provided on the upper left of the sun visor body for adjusting the 20 brightness. The advantages of the present invention could be described as follows: The present invention keeps the original sun visor equipped in vehicle, and provides 25 both easy assembly and disassembly; the sun visor disclosed by the present invention uses photochromic material for better protection to driver's eyes, and allows users to set the depth of the color according to their visual habits; the use of universal shaft allows users to adjust the position of the sun visor according to their habits; resulting from above, an outstanding design for maximum user comfort is constituted, and thus could 30 be widely used in vehicles. Brief Description of the Drawings The subject matter will become more clearly understood in light of the ensuing 35 description of embodiments herein, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: FIG. I is a front view of a folding sun visor in the first embodiment of the present invention; 5 FIG. 2 is a rear view of the folding sun visor in the first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a left view of the folding sun visor in the first embodiment of the present invention; 10 FIG. 4 is a left enlarged view of the first sliding hook in the first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 5 is a pictorial view of the second sliding hook in the first embodiment of the 15 present invention; FIG. 6 is a pictorial view of the first sliding hook in the first embodiment of the present invention; 20 FIG. 7 is a view of the universal shaft in the first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 8 is a left view of a sun visor in the second embodiment of the present invention. Reference Numerals 25 1. color-changing sun visor body 2. fixing piece 3. universal shaft 4. first sliding hook 30 5. solar battery 6. adjusting knob 7. second sliding hook 8. locking element 9. tooth groove 35 12. screw hole Description of the Preferred Embodiments As shown by FIG. I to 6, a folding sun visor disclosed by the present invention comprises a retractable snap-fit assembly, of which bottom end is hinged with a fixing block 2 by a universal shaft 3, the fixing block is further inlaid with a color-changing 5 sun visor body 1. Preferably, through the universal shaft, the fixing piece 2 is capable of 360 degree rotation around the retractable snap-fit assembly. 10 Preferably, the retractable snap-fit assembly comprises a first sliding hook 4, a locking element 8, tooth grooves 9 and a second sliding hook 7, wherein the locking element 8 is engaged with the tooth groove 9 to adjust the distance between the first sliding hook 4 and the second sling hook 7. 15 In the first embodiment, the first sliding hook 4 has a plane on one end thereof, on which an inward teeth groove 9 is located and the locking element 8 is mounted. The first sliding hook 4 further has a protruding portion on the other end thereof, on which a screw hole 12 is provided for mounting said color-changing sun visor body I and the universal shaft 3. In addition, a downward single hook formation is provided below the 20 protruding portion of the first sliding hook 4. Correspondingly, the second sliding hook 7 also has a plane on one end thereof, on which an outward teeth groove 9 is located. In addition, a downward single hook formation is provided on the other end of the second sliding hook 7. 25 The inward teeth groove 9 of the first sliding hook 4 and the outward teeth groove 9 of the second sliding hook 7 are engaged together, and the locking element 8 is set on the first sliding hook 4 for locking the relative position of the first and second sliding hooks 4 and 7 engaged. 30 As a preferred embodiment, the ball end of the universal shaft 3 is mounted in the upper portion of the color-changing sun visor body 1, and the cylindrical portion of the universal shaft 3 connected with the ball end is mounted in the protruding portion of the first sliding hook 4. 35 In this embodiment, the hook formation of the first sliding hook 4 has a same extending direction as the universal shaft 3, which are both downward. Alternatively, in the second embodiment, the hook formation of the first sliding hook 4 5 has an opposite extending direction to the universal shaft 3, wherein the hook formation extends upwards while the universal shaft 3 extends downwards. Preferably, the color-changing sun visor body I is powered by a solar battery 5 mounted on the top of the sun visor body 1, accordingly an adjusting knob 6 is provided on the 10 top left of the sun visor body 1 for adjusting the brightness. Because it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the hanger art that innumerable variations, modifications, applications, and extensions of the principles hereinbefore set forth can be made without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention, what 15 is hereby defined as such scope and is desired to be protected should be measured, and the invention should be limited, only by the claims.