FR2802879A1 - Blade for cleaning an automobile window has a rigid inferior plane face with teeth in contact with the window surface - Google Patents

Abstract

The blade (20) is of elongated form and rests parallel to the window surface (24). The blade has an interior face (28) with a longitudinal scraping edge (40) adjacent to the cleaning surface, a zone behind the scraper has teeth (44,46) which remove surface debris from the window. The blade operates in an orthogonal direction with respect to the body (20) of the blade, and the inferior face is made from a rigid material to lift solids from the surface.

Description

The present invention relates to a blade for cleaning a motor vehicle window.

The invention relates more particularly to a blade intended to be associated with a wiper mechanism for cleaning a window by moving the cleaning blade in an alternating sweeping movement in one direction is substantially orthogonal to the longitudinal direction body generally elongated shape of the blade and which generally parallel to the plane of the surface of the window to be wiped.

driving in the best safety conditions requires the driver to have the best possible visibility and it is for this purpose that different windows or windows of the vehicle, and in particular the windshield, the rear window, are as clean as possible.

In order to ensure the cleanliness of the panes, it is known to arrange one or more wiper mechanisms which each drive in alternating wiping a wiper blade of flexible elastomeric material having the essential function of removing the liquids present in the external surface of the window to be wiped, and in particular rain, to ensure good visibility in bad weather. Such a flexible wiping blade makes it possible to remove from the surface of the glass snowflakes or other elements, and in particular dirt, which are only deposited on the surface, that is to say which does not adhere to it too strongly.

When the external surface of a window to be wiped covered with deposits, of different natures, which are generally glued elements or which adhere to the surface of the window, one or more flexible wiping blades are most often ineffective for cleaning the window, that is to say, to "peel off" these elements from the surface of the window and evacuate them in an area which does not interfere with the driver. In order to solve this problem, it has already been proposed to associate with the wiping blade at least one wiping blade in several sections, of the type in which at least the lower part of the blade is made of rigid or semi-rigid material. rigid to remove solid bodies adhering to it from the surface.

The invention aims to propose a new design of such a cleaning blade and its articulation mounting means in order to obtain a perfectly effective cleaning of the window.

For this purpose, the invention provides a blade of the type mentioned above, characterized in that the underside of the blade has a longitudinal edge before cutting scraping, adjacent to the surface to be cleaned, and a rear scraping zone comprising teeth which are extend protruding towards the surface of the glass.

 Thanks to such a design, the surface of the glass to be cleaned swept by the blade alternately undergoes scraping from the rear part and scraping from the front cutting edge.

According to other characteristics of the invention, the cutting edge for scraping the blade is defined by a flat lower face adjacent to the surface of the glass and a concave curved upper face; lower face of the blade is a flat face, the front part of which constitutes the lower face of the scraping cutting edge, the teeth of the scraping zone extend from the rear part of the flat lower face of the blade; blade scraping area is adjacent to the rear longitudinal edge of the blade; blade scraping zone has at least one row of teeth aligned longitudinally; blade scraping area has at least two parallel rows of teeth; - the teeth of each row are spaced at a regular pitch; - The teeth of a row are offset longitudinally with respect to the teeth of the adjacent parallel row, in particular by half a step; each tooth has a polyhedral profile, in particular the shape of a pyramid with a square or rectangular base; - At least the lower part of the blade is produced by molding, in particular by molding in synthetic material; - The blade comprises means for mounting it on a component of a motor vehicle windscreen wiper which allow it to be articulated around at least one transverse substantially parallel to the plane of the surface of the glass to wipe its movement parallel to its direction longitudinal; - The mounting means comprise a support arm which extends in a direction generally perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the blade and perpendicular to the plane of the glass to be wiped, and the lower free end of which is connected to the body of the blade by means of articulation; - The free end of the support arm conforms to a hinge sphere which is received in a longitudinal groove of complementary cylindrical profile formed in an upper face of the body of the blade; - The free end of the support arm is articulated relative to an intermediate mounting element which is slidably mounted longitudinally relative to the upper body of the blade; - The free end of the support arm conforms to an articulation sphere which is received in a complementary housing, to constitute a ball joint, which is formed in the intermediate mounting element; - The free end of the support arm is mounted articulated around a transverse articulation rod carried by the intermediate mounting element; - the intermediate mounting element a horizontal plate mounted to slide longitudinally inside the upper part of the body of the blade; - The intermediate element is a jumper overlaps in longitudinal sliding the upper part of the blade body; - The free end of the arm has a lumen, of generally longitudinal orientation which is crossed by a transverse articulation rod carried by the upper part of the body of the blade; - The free end of the carrying arm carries a transverse articulation rod which extends through a lumen, of generally longitudinal orientation, formed in the upper part of the body of the blade.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear on reading the detailed description which follows for the understanding of which reference will be made to the appended drawings in which - FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a first example of production of a section of a cleaning blade produced in accordance with the teachings of the invention in association with a first example production of its mounting and articulation means; - Figure 2 is a longitudinal end view of the blade of Figure 1; - Figure 3 is a side along arrow F3 of the figure - Figure 4 is a detail view on a larger scale of the lower part of Figure 3; - Figure 5 is a schematic exploded perspective view which illustrates another embodiment of the mounting and articulation means of a cleaning blade according to the invention; - Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view of the mounting and articulation means of Figure 5 which are shown in the assembled position; - Figure 7 is a schematic exploded perspective that illustrates an alternative embodiment of the mounting and articulation means shown in Figures 5 and 6; - Figure 8 is an exploded perspective view, similar to that of Figure 5 which illustrates another example embodiment of the mounting and articulation means of a cleaning blade according to the invention; - Figure 9 is a side view along arrow F9 of Figure 8 in which the various components are illustrated in the assembled position; - Figures 10 to 12 are three schematic perspective views illustrating yet three other design variants of the mounting and articulation means of a cleaning blade according to the invention; - Figure 13 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an alternative embodiment of the example illustrated in Figure 12. In the following description, identical, similar or analogous components will be designated by the same reference numerals.

FIG. 1 shows a cleaning blade, by scraping and scraping, which is intended to clean the external surface of a window 24 shown in silhouette in FIG. 2.

By way of non-limiting example, and in order to facilitate understanding of the description and of the claims, a horizontal and vertical orientation will be used with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. cleaning blade is essentially constituted by an elongated body 26 of general longitudinal orientation L which is here, by way of example; a single piece produced by molding in a rigid or semi-rigid material.

molding material for implementing the teachings of the invention consists, for example, of polyamide (PA66) or polycarbonate (PC) or of acrylobutadiene styrene (AZA).

elongated body 26 is a piece of generally rectangular parallelepiped shape which is delimited vertically by a substantially horizontal lower face 28, by a parallel upper face 30, by two longitudinal front and rear lateral faces 34 and by two transverse lateral end faces 36 and 38.

lower part of the body 26 of the cleaning blade 20 constitutes the active part of the blade 20 in the sense of the invention, that is to say that it is it which has a front part, on the right considering the extras 1 and 2 scraping a rear part, left considering Figures 1 and 2 scraping.

front scraping part is formed a longitudinal edge before cutting or cutting 40 which provided to cooperate with the external surface 22 of the window 24.

cutting edge or wire 40 is formed by the intersection of the front part of the horizontal and substantially planar lower face 28 of the body 26 with a concave surface 42 of longitudinal orientation which extends the front side face downwards towards the bottom 32 .

As can be seen in FIG. 2, the lower face 28 which is generally planar is slightly inclined relative to the theoretical horizontal plane corresponding to the planar and horizontal local portion of the external surface 22 to be wiped, that is to say that the surface 28 gradually moves away from the surface 22 from front to back.

The rear part of the lower face comprises the means for scraping the external surface which here consist of scraping teeth.

In the example illustrated in FIGS. 1 ′ the scraping teeth consist of two series of teeth 44 and 46 which are aligned longitudinally in the direction L, that is to say which are parallel to the cutting front edge 40.

Each of the teeth 44, 46 is here a tooth in the form of a pyramid trunk with a square base.

The teeth 44, 46 of each series are spaced longitudinally at a regular pitch "P" teeth of the rear longitudinal row 44, adjacent to the rear longitudinal side face 34, are offset longitudinally with respect to the teeth of the front row 46 by half not P12.

the same way, the two rows of teeth 44 and 46 are spaced apart transversely by half a step. The invention is not limited to the numbers and to the shape of the teeth shown in the figures.

Each tooth may in particular have a different profile and the number and arrangement of the teeth may correspond to different combinations without departing from the scope of the invention.

In order to ensure the best possible effectiveness of cleaning by scraping and scraping, in accordance with the teachings of the invention, the cleaning blade 20 is mounted articulated and in longitudinal sliding relative to the wiper mechanism of the door (not shown) .

In the first embodiment shown in Figures 4, the mounting and articulation means comprise an arm which carries the blade 20, which is generally of vertical orientation and which can be animated by such a movement by means ( not shown) to bring the blade 20 into contact with the glass or to move it away from the latter.

The free lower end 50 of the support arm 48 here conforms to a ball or sphere 52 formed at the end of the rod 54 at the end of the support arm 48.

body 26 of the cleaning blade 20 has a longitudinal groove or groove 56 of cylindrical arc profile, that is to say of circular cross section which extends longitudinally inside the body 26 and which, in the illustrated example, the cross member longitudinally right through, opening into the transverse lateral faces 36 38.

dimension of the cylindrical groove 56 is complementary to that of the sphere 52, that is to say that the latter can be introduced therein and slide with a reduced.

cylindrical longitudinal groove 56 open vertically upwards, that is to say that the body has a longitudinal vertical slot 58 which opens into the upper horizontal face 50, and this so as to allow the passage of the rod 54 of the support arm 48 .

When the support arm 48 with its end rod 54 and its sphere 52 is in the position mounted in the groove 56 and the slot, it is understood that the body 26 of the cleaning blade 20 can generally slide longitudinally in the direction and pivot or tilt around a transverse axis T passing the center of the sphere and which is generally parallel to the external surface 22 of the window 24 to be cleaned.

By cons, according to this design, the blade can not tilt about the axis A of the groove 56 because the parallel side faces 60 of the slot 58 cooperate with rod 54 to oppose such a tilting. The first alternative embodiment of the mounting and articulation means illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 will now be described.

According to this embodiment, an intermediate element 62, here in the form of a horizontal plate 64, is interposed between the support arm 48 and the upper part of the body 26 of the cleaning blade 20.

The intermediate plate 64 is mounted articulated by an articulation of the ball joint type with respect to the support arm 48, while it is mounted in longitudinal sliding with respect to the body 26.

for this purpose, the central part of the horizontal plate 64 comprises a hemispherical housing 66 in which the sphere 52 is retained, by lugs or claws 68.

For the guide in longitudinal sliding, without play in vertical direction, of the plate this comprises two transverse cheeks of ends 70 and of semicircular contour 74, which are received in a concave semi-cylindrical housing 78 formed in the face upper 30 body 26.

To vertically retain the intermediate plate 64 in the housing 78, the latter has four tabs or hooks arranged in two pairs 80 and 82 carried the body 32 and arranged in the vicinity of the longitudinal edges 84 and 86 of the housing 78, and which extend vertically down to be received in two complementary longitudinal slots 88 and 90 the plate 64.

The assembly is carried out for example elastic interlocking, vertically from top to bottom of the plate 64 in the housing 78 by elastic deformation of the hooks 80, 82 and / or by elastic deformation, in the transverse direction, of the upper part of the body 26 of the cleaning blade 20. According to the alternative embodiment shown in FIG. 7, the end rod 54 of the carrier arm 48 mounted articulated only around the transverse axis T, a rod 92 relative to a stirrup 94 of which the opposite longitudinal ends have hooks 96 and 98 for mounting in two notches 100 formed in the transverse cheeks 70 and According to this variant, there is therefore no overall possibility of articulation of the blade 26 relative to the support arm that is to say that the possibilities of displacement of the cleaning blade 20 relative to the support arm 48 are limited to a longitudinal sliding and a pivoting or ba sculement around the transverse axis T, that is to say at the same movements as those allowed by the first embodiment of Figures 1 to 4.

In the embodiment illustrated in Figures 8 and 9, the intermediate piece 62 is a stirrup or shoe which overlaps the upper part of the body 26 relative to which it is slidably mounted longitudinally by two longitudinal grooves 88 and 90 formed in the faces longitudinal sides 34 and 32 and each of which receives horizontal tabs or hooks 80 and 82 from the lower part of the shoe 102 to ensure the longitudinal sliding of the body 26 relative to the intermediate piece 62.

The lower end of the end rod 54 of the support arm 48 comprises a hinge part 52 in the form of a sector of disc of vertical orientation delimited by two parallel and opposite longitudinal side faces 110 and 112 and which comprises a through lumen 114 which is here in the form of an arc of a circle with its concavity turned vertically upwards.

The articulation piece 52 is received in a housing 66 of generally complementary shape which is formed in the shoe 02 and which opens into the horizontal upper face 116 of the latter.

internal longitudinal side faces 18 and 120 of the housing 66 are parallel to the faces 110 and 1 of the articulation piece 52 so as to receive the latter vertically and without in the transverse direction T, and each of these faces comprises a lug of joint 122, in the form of a cylindrical rod section which is received, when components are assembled as can be seen in FIG. 9, in the lumen 1 Thanks to this arrangement, as can be seen in FIG. 9, the body 26 can slide longitudinally in the direction L with respect to the shoe 102, and therefore with respect to the support arm 48 and it can pivot or tilt, with the shoe 102 intermediate around axis T corresponding generally to the center of the light in a circular arc 114.

FIG. 10 is a schematic illustration of another alternative embodiment of the lower end of the support arm 48, the lower free end 54 of which in rod form has a through transverse lumen 114 here extends generally in the longitudinal direction and in which a transverse articulation rod 122 is received which is carried by the body 26, the upper face 30 of which comprises open housing 78 in which the end 54 of the support arm 48 is received.

The articulation rod 22 is fixed and it is thus possible, on the one hand, to provide a pivoting movement about axis 122 as well as a longitudinal sliding movement by relative displacement of the articulation rod 122 in the lumen 114.

FIG. 11 is a variant similar to that of FIG. 10 in which the lower end of the support arm 48 is generally shaped in the same manner as that illustrated in FIG. 8, the lumen 114, on the other hand, being generally of horizontal and longitudinal orientation to allow both pivoting and relative longitudinal movement of the body 26 the blade 20 relative to the support arm 48.

FIG. 12 is another variant in which articulation piece 52 has at its lower part a notch or slot 120 of cylindrical profile complementary to that of articulation rod 122 and which is open vertically downwards so as to allow assembly by elastic fitting when the part 52 is inserted vertically from the top down into the housing 78. The rod 122 crosses right through two parallel holes 114 formed in corresponding lateral faces of the housing 78, that is to say in the material of the body 26, the slots 114 being generally of horizontal and longitudinal orientation to allow the longitudinal sliding movement as well as the pivoting.

For the assembly, the rod or axis is introduced through the slots 114, then the articulation piece 52 is introduced vertically up and down to seal it elastically.

At the end of the assembly, all the components are linked, together if the pinching or tightening force of the rod 122 in the housing 120 is sufficient to prevent this rod from escaping in the transverse direction T.

Finally, the variant of FIG. 13 is generally similar to that of FIG. 12 with the exception of the articulation rod 122 which is constituted by two lugs 122 and 124, similar to those of FIG. 8 which are received in a light 114 of part 52, the assembly being carried out here also by elastic interlocking.

Claims (1)

<U> CLAIMS </U> 1. Blade (20) for cleaning a vehicle window (24) by moving the blade in an alternating sweeping movement in a direction which is substantially orthogonal to the longitudinal direction (L ) of the body (20) of generally elongated shape, of the blade (20) and which is generally parallel to the plane of the surface (22) of the wiping glass (24), type in which at least the lower part of the blade is a rigid or semi-rigid material for removing from the surface solid bodies which adhere to it, characterized in that the lower face (28) of the blade has a front longitudinal edge (40) cutting scraping, adjacent to the surface (22 ) to be cleaned, and a rear scraping zone comprising teeth (44,46) which project in the direction of the surface of the glass. 2. Blade according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the scraping cutting edge (40) is delimited by a flat lower face (28) adjacent to the surface (22) of the window (24) and by a concave curved upper face ( 42). 3. Blade according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the lower face (28) of the blade is a substantially planar face whose front part constitutes the lower face of the cutting edge (40) scraping, and in that teeth (44 , 46) of the scraping zone extend from the rear part of the plane lower face (28) of the blade. 4. Blade according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the scraping zone (44, is adjacent to the rear longitudinal edge of the blade (40). 5. Blade according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the scraping zone comprises at least one row of teeth (44, 46) aligned longitudinally 6. Blade according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the scraping zone comprises at least two parallel rows of teeth 46). 7. Blade according to one of claims 5 or 6, characterized in that teeth (44, 46) of each row are spaced according to a regular (P). 8. Blade according to previous claim taken in combination with claim 6, characterized in that the teeth (44) of a row are offset longitudinally with respect to the teeth (46) of the adjacent parallel row, in particular by a half (P / 2). 9. Blade according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that each tooth (44, 46) has a polyhedral profile, in particular in the form of a pyramid with a square or rectangular base. 10. Blade according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least its lower part is produced by molding, in particular by molding in synthetic material. 11. Blade according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises means for its mounting on a component of a windscreen wiper of a motor vehicle allow its articulation around at least one transverse axis (T) substantially parallel to the plane of the surface of the window (22) to be wiped and its displacement parallel to its longitudinal direction (L). 12. Blade according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the mounting means comprise a support arm (48, 54) which extends in a direction (V) generally perpendicular to the longitudinal direction (L) of the blade and perpendicular to the plane la glass to be wiped, the lower free end (54) of which is connected to the body (26) of the blade by means of articulation. 1. Blade according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the free end (54) of the carrying arm is shaped into an articulation sphere (52) which is received in a longitudinal groove (56) of complementary cylindrical profile formed in an upper face ( 30) of the body (26) of the blade. Blade according to claim 12, characterized in that the free end (54) of the support arm is articulated relative to an intermediate mounting element (62) which is slidably mounted longitudinally (L) relative to the upper part of the body ( 26) of the blade. 1. Blade according to claim 14, characterized in that the free end (54) of the support arm conforms to a sphere (52) of articulation which is received in a complementary housing (66), to constitute a ball joint, which is formed in the intermediate mounting element (62). 1. Blade according to claim 14, characterized in that the free end (54) of the support arm is mounted articulated around a transverse articulation rod (122) carried by the intermediate mounting element (62). 1. Blade according to any one of claims 14 to 16, characterized in that the intermediate mounting element is a horizontal plate (64) slidably mounted longitudinally inside (78) of the upper body (20) of the blade . 1. Blade according to any one of claims 14 to 16, characterized in that the intermediate element a jumper (102) overlaps in longitudinal sliding the upper part of the body (26) of the blade. 19. Blade according to claim 12, characterized in that the free end (54, 52) of the arm comprises a lumen (114), of generally longitudinal orientation which is crossed by a transverse articulation rod (122) carried by the upper body part (26) of the blade. 20. Blade according to claim 12, characterized in that the free end of the support arm carries a transverse articulation rod (122) which extends through a lumen (114), of generally longitudinal orientation, formed in the upper body (26) of the blade.