GB1234025A - - Google Patents

Abstract

1,234,025. Vehicle rear view mirrors. DESMO Ltd. 31 May, 1968 [3 June, 1967], No. 25748/67. Addition to 1,196,266. Heading B7J. An exterior rear-viewing mirror comprises a base 13, Fig. 1, adapted to be fitted to a vehicle body and a mirror mounting or arm 10 connected to the base by a joint yieldable under a blow of predetermined severity to allow the mounting and base completely to separate from each other, but which normally retains the mounting on the base without significant relative movement, the joint comprising a spring metal retainer 16 of substantially cross-shape secured on the arm and insertable into a correspondingly shaped hole 22 in the base, so that the outwardly curved ends 27 of the retainer arms 25 are deflected towards one another by inwardly sloping surfaces 23 until they spring under shoulders 24. A flexible wire tie 30 serves to couple the arm and base together in the event of complete separation, and locating domes 17 on the arm together with complementary depressions in the base resist angular displacement of the arm, in use, about a vertical axis. In another embodiment, Fig. 2, to permit return of the arm when rotated slightly relative to the base, a bearer 37 in the form of a collar having on its upper surface a diametral rib 38 of triangular cross-section is slidably and rotatably mounted above a spring retainer 43 on a spindle 45 moulded into the arm 10 and is normally held in a complementary shaped socket 35 in arm 10 by a spring 46, the retainer 43 engaging in a hole 48 of square cross-section at its upper end. In a modification (Fig. 4, not shown), the bearer (37) is omitted and the portion (39) of the base is extended upward to form a cylindrical spigot (52) with two diametrically opposed ribs (53) at its end which fit into a groove (36) in the socket (35), the retainer (43) having only two arms operating in a hole (48) of rectangular cross-section and being slidably mounted above spring (46) on spindle (45), movement being restricted by stop (55) on the spindle. As further alternatives, the rib may be provided on the arm 10, and the groove in the base, there may be more than one pair of ribs and grooves, to give a plurality of positions for the arm about a vertical axis, or other locating formations may be used.