FR2531920A1 - WIPER BLADE COMPRISING AN ADDED LOCKING PART - Google Patents

Abstract

THIS WIPER BLADE FEATURES A MOUNTING INCLUDING A MAIN HANDLEBAR WHICH PROVIDES AN OPENING, BETWEEN ITS ENDS, AND TWO HOLE HOLES IN ITS WINGS AND CROSS-ALIGNED, A CYLINDRICAL AXLE ADJUSTING THESE HOLES AND PRESENTING A GORENTIGE A PLASTIC LOCKING INSERT 11, WHICH INCLUDES A BODY 12 ADJUSTING IN THE SAID OPENING OF THE BACK OF THE HANDLEBAR, WITH, AT EACH END, A LIP 16 WHICH LIES ON THE BACK OF THE HANDLEBAR, THIS REPORTED PART HAVING FLANCING OPPOSES PRESENTING A LATERAL RIGIDITY, WHICH ARE ADJACENT TO THE SIDE WALLS OF THE LIFT BAR AND A BRIDGE 14 INCLUDING TERMINAL PARTS 32, 34 CONNECTED TO THE BODY AND A CENTRAL PART 30 WHICH, WHEN THE BODY IS IN THE OPENING AND THE AXIS IN THE HOLES, IS ENGAGED IN A PART OF THE THROAT OF THE AXLE, THE AXLE IS BETWEEN THE BODY AND THE BRIDGE. THE BRIDGE SHOWS A LATERAL RIGIDITY BUT CAN BE ELASTICALLY DISTRIBUTED FROM THE BODY, SO AS TO RESIST THE CLEARING OF ITS CENTRAL PART FROM THE THROAT BUT TO ALLOW TO DISTRIBUTE THIS CENTRAL PART OF THE BODY DURING THE ASSEMBLY AND SEPARATION OF THE BODY. SHAFT AND AXLE.

Description

The present invention relates to brushes such as those which can

  be used for vehicle windshields, vehicle rear windows or for

other applications.

  An existing type of wiper blade comprises a frame composed of a lifter which comprises along the length of its back an elongated opening situated between the ends of this lifter and defined by opposite side walls, as well as two holes , one in each

  side wall, which are aligned in the trans-

  spreader of the spreader The means used to connect the

  ture to a wiper arm include a cylindrical shaft having parts which can fit into the holes

  and a circumferential groove located -between said parts-

ties.

  The object of the invention is to make it possible to place a wiper arm along the lifter and to connect it.

  to the spreader in a way that is safe but removable.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, the elements of the wiper blade comprise a mount and an axis as described above, and a locking insert of plastic material. This locking insert comprises a body which can be adjusted in the opening which has, at each end, a lip which then covers the back of the lifter, the insert having opposite sides having a lateral and which are

  then roughly coincident with the length of the

  verture and closely adjacent to the side walls of the lifter, and a bridge-shaped element which has end portions each of which has come integrally with the body and a central portion which, when the body is in the opening and the axis is in the holes, is in a part of the groove of the axis is between the body and the bridge-shaped element;

  the bridge-shaped element, has a lateral stiffness

  but is elastically flexible in the direction away from the body so as to resist the release of the central part relative to the groove but to allow the central part to move away from the body during manipulations intended to assemble and separate the spreader and the axle. According to another aspect of the present invention, a wiper blade element consisting of a plastic locking insert comprises a generally rectangular body having a length significantly greater than its width, and having a lip which protrudes in the longitudinal direction of the body at each end and also comprises a bridge-shaped element having a central part and two parts

  extremes, the central part, in the insert

  taut, being spaced from one of the two large faces of the body and being of a width less than the width of the body, the element in the form of a trigger guard being of a thickness such that it can deviate from the way flexible and elastic of the body while being practically rigid in a direction parallel to the width of the body and the end portions connecting the ends of the central portion to the body in the region of the ends of the body, each lip projecting in the longitudinal direction of the body beyond the respective end portion of the shaped element

trigger guard.

  Other features and advantages of the

  vention will appear during the description which follows

  vre. In the accompanying drawings, given solely by way of example, FIG. 1 is a plan view of the central part of the main lifting beam; Fig 2 is a side elevation view of a

  locking insert, with the positions of the po-

  beam and axis shown in phantom; the fia 3 is a section along line III-III of Fig 2 Fig 4 is a view of the insert of

  locking, bottom grip, with the position of the tackle

  deny represented in dashed lines; Fig 5 is a side elevational view of a second insert; Fig 6 is an end elevational view of the second insert; Fig 7 is a bottom view of the second insert; Fig 8 is a side elevation view and

  on a smaller scale of several parts of a test arm

  soot and a wiper blade, in assembled state.

  FIG. 8 shows a wiper blade 50 connected to a mount which comprises a main lifting beam 1 and auxiliary lifting beams 52, 54 The wiper arm 56 ends in a mounting end piece 58 which extends along the main lifting beam 1 and which is articulated on the main lifting beam by a separate axis 17, (indicated in broken lines in FIG. 3) which can be separated at the same time

  of the brush 50 and of the arm 56 As a variant, the axis may constitute

  kill a permanent part of a wiper arm but can be locked on the blade in a removable way

  in the same way as the separate axis 17 A related part

  locking tee 11, such as that shown in

  Fig 2 to 4 or Fig 5 to 7 and which is described more fully

  in the following, contributes to connecting axis 17 to the

main lifting beam 1.

  Fig 1 shows a main spreader 1 in

  The largest part of the spreader has a sec-

  tion in inverted U, which includes a core 2 and wings 4, 6, In the central part, the lifter is slightly enlarged and a rectangular opening 8 is formed along its back This opening 8 extends over the entire width

  between the internal surfaces 9, 9 of the wings 4 and 6.

  In this way, the wings constitute the opposite side walls which delimit the opening 8 As we have

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  shown in Fig 2 and 3, the wings 4 and 6 are extended slightly upward along each side

  from the opening 8, to the upper edges 10.

  The locking insert 11, shown

  shown in Fig 2 to 4, is made of plastic and

  comprises a body 12 and an element 14 in the form of a trigger guard.

  The body is generally rectangular, it presents

  a length markedly greater than its width and a width

  geur clearly greater than its thickness The proportions of the body are such that this body has a rigidity

  lateral (i.e. rigidity in the left direction

  right-hand side in Fig 3), and, in this example, it is

  rigid or almost rigid in the vertical direction.

  As shown in Figs 2 and 3, the body 12 can be adjusted in the opening 8 and it has at each end a lip 16 which then covers the back of the lifter, that is to say rests on the upper face of the core 2, so that the body cannot descend from the position shown in Fig 2 and'3 The body has opposite sides 13 contained in vertical planes These sides have lateral rigidity and are practically coincident with the length of the opening

  8 and lie closely adjacent to the sides of the tackle

  deny, i.e. internal surfaces 9.9 of wings 4

  and 6, just below the top edges 10.

  Where the ends of the element

  14 in the form of a trigger guard meet the body 2, it is pre-

  seen from small vertical end faces 15 below the lips 16 These terminal eaoes abut against the blade 2 - at the places where the latter ends at the ends of the opening 8.

  The locking insert also cooperates

  Lement with the axis 17, the details of which are shown in Fig 3 The axis includes a central flange 18 and two cylindrical end parts, which have slightly different dimensions The part located on the right in Fig 3 has a circumferential groove and is intended to cooperate in a known manner with a

  end piece mounted on a wiper arm.

  The part on the left in Fig 3 com-

  takes two cylindrical parts 22, 24 and a circular groove

  conference 26 There is further provided an end

conical 28.

  In the assembled state of the elements, as shown

  felt in FIGS. 2 and 3, a central part 30 of the element

  ment 14 in the form of trigger guard is in part of the

  groove 26 In this way, it prevents axis 17 from coming off

  place axially in relation to the lifting beam 1.

  The bridge-shaped element also comprises end portions 32, 34 which are in one piece with the body 12 As shown in FIG; 4, the width of the terminal parts 32 34 is equal to the

  width of the body 12, that is to say that there are widenings

  lateral cements along each side of each end part while the width of the central part 30 is suitable for fitting in the groove 26 The limit

  on the left of the groove 26, seen in FIG. 3, is a spar-

  slightly perpendicular to the geometric axis of the axis and this shoulder cooperates with the left side of the central part

  30, this left side being in a vertical flank.

  The bridge-shaped element has a rigidity

  lateral dity and an elasticity in the directions which

  approach and move away from the body 12 This elasticity-em-

  fishes the central part 30 to disengage from the groove 26 but allows the central part to be moved away from the body during the manipulations carried out to assemble the lifter and

  the axis or to separate these two elements, as we ex-

  will plead more fully below.

  Opposite the opening 8, two holes 36, 38 are provided, aligned one on the other, formed in: the opposite sides of the lifter, that is to say passing through the wings 4 and 6 L geometrical axis of these holes is indicated in in Fig 2 and 4 Since the lifting beam is also intended for other possible uses, this geometric axis is not located in the center of the length of the opening 8 but it is slightly deported to the ex-

  left end of the opening, seen in Fig 2 and 4.

  To assemble the elements, the locking insert is first introduced into the opening,

  from top to bottom, until it is in the posi-

  tion of work shown in Fig 2 and 3 Then we

  introduce the axis from right to left in Fig 3, -

  by inserting the conical end 28 into the hole 36 and

  pushing the axis to the left The result is that the extreme

  mite 28 bends the central part 30 of the trigger guard downwards, so that the part 24 of the axle can pass over the trigger guard element until the axle reaches

  the position shown in Fig 3, after which the elasticity

  city of the bridge-shaped element brings the cen-b trale part 30 to the position shown in Fig 2 and 3, The elements have thus reached the assembled state, in which, as mentioned above , the left side (seen on

  Fig 3) of the central part cooperates with the left limit

  che of the groove 26 and, in this way, prevents the axis 17 from separating from the lifter 1 At the same time, the flange 18 is closely adjacent to the outer surface of the wing 6, so that the relative axial movement between the axis 17 and the lifter 1 is minimal but that the mounting allows a relative tilting movement between the lifter 1 and

  the end fitting 58 of the arm in the assembly of FIG. 8.

  Disassembly can be carried out as follows

  boasts: pressure is applied from bottom to top, as indicated

  at Y, near the right end of the part shown

  locking surface 11, seen in FIG 2, at the same time as exerting pressure towards the right, as indicated by arrow X, by applying it to the left end of the locking insert The first result is that

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  pressing Y causes the locking insert to tilt slightly (counterclockwise as seen in Fig 2) until the end portion 34 of the shaped element trigger guard can mount to the right on the upper surface of the web 2 of the lifting beam The elasticity of the shaped element relative to the axis 17 When the right end is lifted, the pressure X brings the insert to move to the right As soon as the left lip 16 is released from the core 2, the left end of the insert slightly descends through the opening 8 The movement to the right continues until that a groove 42 formed in the lower part of the body 12 is located above the axis 17 This groove 42 has the effect of widening the gap between the bridge-shaped element and the body, to do this go from dimension a shown in Fig 2 to dimension b When the axis is below the groove e 42, the element 14 in the form of a trigger guard is in a relaxed position relative to the body 12 and the dimension b is sufficient to allow the axle to be extracted To allow the locking insert to be used in the opening 8 in any direction despite the fact that the axis 40 is not in the middle of the length of the opening, there are in fact two grooves 42 in the underside of the

body 12.

  The locking insert 1 i shown in Figs 2 to 4 has a number of advantageous features The rigid sides 13 of the body 12 support and stiffen the lifter ('in the lateral direction at

  where it was weakened by the presence of the

  verture 8, that is to say by 'removing the core 2 The operation of the locking insert is

  independent of the thickness of the metal of the core 2, The function-

  It is also independent of the depth of the wings.

  4 and 6 A certain variation in the position of the geometric axis 40 of the holes 36, 38 in the direction of the length of the lifter does not prevent operation

  of the locking insert, provided that natural-

  In the assembled state, the axis is not in

coincidence with the grooves 42.

  FIGS. 5 to 7 show a variant of a locking insert intended to be used with the same lifting beam and the same axis as those shown in FIGS.

  1 and 3 The following differences should be noted.

  Element 14 a in the form of a trigger guard a on all

  its length the width of the central part 30 a, ex-

  ception of bosses 44 which project on both sides of the end parts 32a, 34a at the two ends of the central part 30a When the insert is in the working position, these bosses fit into the side walls of the lifter practically without play In alignment with these extensions, the bridge-shaped part is thickened in the vertical direction by a rib 45 of

  partially cylindrical shape which is provided on its

  upper face The surface of the end face of each boss 44 is thus sufficient to be attacked by one of several ejectors which extract the insert

  of the mold in which this part is made.

  The grooves 42 a are wider, as can be

  see it in Fig 5, to facilitate the separation operation

ration.

  The element 14 a in the form of a trigger guard is also

  thickened to form alternate ribs 47, with flanks

  cellars, opposite the internal limits of the grooves 42 a The concave side 48 of each rib 47 enlarges the surface of

  cooperation between the side of the central part 30 a and the

payment provided on the axis.

  Fig 5 illustrates that when the par-

  central tie 30 a is located in the groove of axis 17, the element

  trigger guard is not necessarily in the state

  relaxed in which it was made (condition which is depicted

  felt in solid lines in FIG. 5) but that it can be in a slightly deflected position downward, as indicated by the lines in phantom 49 on the

Fig 5.

  Although the presence of grooves 42 or 42 a is preferred, it is possible to eliminate these grooves, in which case it may be necessary to spread the central part or 30 a downwards by means of a tool for separating the elements. -The lifter shown in Fig 1 is a

  inverted U-shaped sheet metal part The invention is also

  not applicable to devices in which the pal-

  denier is made of plastic and is of a trans-

  full side with the exception of the opening (corresponding to opening 8) which then passes entirely through the lifter,

  from the back of the latter to its underside.

Claims (9)

  1 Wiper blade comprising a frame which comprises a main lifting beam (1) which has, along the length of its back, an elongated opening (8) located   between the ends of the lifting beam and defined by two pa-   opposite lateral kings (4,6), this spreader also having two holes (36,38), one in each side wall, which are aligned transversely to the spreader, a cylindrical axis (17) comprising parts which can be fitting into the holes and having a LO circumferential groove (26) between said parts; and a locking insert (11) made of plastic, characterized in that this insert comprises a body (12) which can   fit in the opening (8) and which presents each ex-   end a lip (16) which then covers the back of the tackle   deny, the insert having opposite sides having lateral stiffness and which are approximately coincident with the length of the opening and closely adjacent to the side walls (4,6) of the lifting beam, and a shaped element (14) trigger guard which has end parts (32,34) each of which is in one piece with the body, and a central part (30) which, when the body is in the opening and the axis (17) is in the holes, is placed in a part of the groove (26) of the axis while the axis is between the body and the element in the form of a trigger guard; the element   trigger guard having lateral rigidity but being elastic   tically flexible in the direction away from the body so as to prevent the central part from disengaging from the throat but to allow the central part to be moved away from the body during the manipulations carried out to assemble   and to separate the spreader and the axle.   2 Wiper blade according to claim 1, characterized in that there is provided a groove (42) in a face of the body (12) directed towards the element (14) in the form of a trigger guard, this groove s' extending transversely to the body.   3 Wiper blade according to claim 1, characterized in that there are provided two grooves (42) in one face of the body (12> which is directed towards the element (14) in the form of a trigger guard, each groove extending transversely across the body and the grooves being both located at the same distance from the transverse axis of the body. 4 Wiper blade according to any one of   Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the groove (26)   of the axis (17) has a width less than the distance between the side walls (4,6) of the opening and that the central part (30) of the element in the form of   trigger guard has a width which fits in the groove of the axle.   5 Wiper blade according to any one   claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the element   in the form of a trigger guard also has two pairs of elar-   opposite lateral sliding (44) which end in faces which define a width equal to that of the body   and which are aligned on the faces of the body.   6 Wiper blade according to any one   claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the part   central (30 a) trigger guard has a transverse rib   the (47) directed towards the body and placed so that this rib constitutes a part of the central part   of the trigger guard which is placed in the groove of the axis.   7 Wiper blade element consisting of   a locking insert (11) made of plastic   tick comprising a body (12) -of generally rectangular   gular, which has a length significantly greater than its width and which has a projecting lip (16)   in the longitudinal direction of the body at each end   mity of it, characterized in that it also includes   a bridge-shaped element (14) which comprises a central part (30) and two end parts (32, 34), the central part being spaced from one of the two 12 2531920   large faces of the body when the insert is removed   taut and being of a width less than the width of the body, the bridge-shaped element being of a thickness   such that it can be moved away from the body by elastic flexion   tick, however, that it is practically rigid in a direction parallel to the width of the body and while the end portions (32, 34) connect the ends of the central portion (30) to the body (12) in the regions   adjacent to the ends of the body, each lip (16) is   protruding in the longitudinal direction of the body   beyond the respective terminal parts of the trigger guard.   8 wiper blade element in the form of a locking insert according to claim 7, characterized in that there is provided a groove (42) in the large face of the body (12) which is closest to the trigger guard (14), this groove extending transversely on the body.   9 element of wiper blade in the form of locking insert according to claim 7, characterized in that there are provided two grooves (42)   in said largest face of the body (12) which is the most   che of the element (14) in the form of a trigger guard, each groove extending transversely across the body and the grooves being equidistant from the transverse axis of the body.