GB2048192A

GB2048192A - An external mirror for a motor vehicle

Info

Publication number: GB2048192A
Application number: GB8013831A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Daimler Benz AG
Current assignee: Daimler Benz AG
Priority date: 1979-04-25
Filing date: 1980-04-25
Publication date: 1980-12-10
Also published as: JPS55145042A; DE2916686C3; IT1145365B; DE2916686A1; FR2454939B1; IT8048408A0; GB2048192B; DE2916686B2; FR2454939A1; JPS6138052B2

Abstract

An external mirror for a motor vehicle which in use is adapted to be mounted on the outer body surface of the vehicle. The mirror assembly consists of a housing carrier (3) fastened to the vehicle and supporting a mirror housing (4) which contains an adjustable mirror (5). The mirror housing (4) is hingedly mounted in the housing carrier (3) so that it can pivot forwardly or rearwardly in each case about a respective axis (7, 8), the axes lying in a plane (10) and being mutually inclined to enclose an acute angle extending in the direction of the force of gravity, the apex of said angle being located at a point defined by the centre of a ball joint (11); the mirror being held in its erect position by spring means (12) acting perpendicularly to the plane (10) containing the two pivot axes (7, 8). The angle enclosed by the two intersecting axes (7, 8) is between 15 DEG and 30 DEG and is typically of the order of 23 DEG and with intersection located in a ball joint (11), the open ends of said axes are located in articulation points (14, 15) connected by a link (18) extending between a pair of brackets (16, 17) provided on the housing carrier (3) and the mirror housing (4) respectively; the axis (8) about which the mirror is pivotable rearwardly being substantially parallel with the rim (13) of an aperture in the mirror housing (4) that surrounds the mirror (5), the mirror housing (4) in its region adjacent the pivot axes (7, 8) is at most of a thickness corresponding to the length of the connecting link (18). Means are also provided for adjusting the mirror from inside the vehicle and the assembly includes means (28, 29) for enclosing the assembly enabling full deflection of the mirror housing (4) without exposing the parts of the assembly. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION External mirror for motor vehicles The invention relates to an external mirror for motor vehicles, comprising a housing attachable to the exterior of the vehicle and a mirror housing containing an adjustable mirror, in which the mirror housing is pivotable about two intersecting pivot axes, the mirror being held in its operative position by at least one spring. Such a mirror construction is already known for example from German Offenlegungschrift No. 2 436 339. It is intended that the external mirror shown therein be capable of folding in as many directions as possibie, above all in the event of impact obliquely from above, for which reason it is mounted on the vehicle by means of a plurality of polygonally disposed separable pivot axes in the simplest case of which the arrangement of the axes is triangular.

Another known mirror disclosed in German Auslegeschrift No. 2 647 731 sets out to meet a quite similar set of objects. In the case of this latter mirror, however, at the point of intersection of the two inclined separable pivot axes there is a shackle in the form of a bass journal which has no bearing function, which holds the mirror housing fast when the two pivot axes move apart from each other. The pivot axes of this mirror are over their entire length constituted by a solid pivot pin, which means that their construction is not immaterial.

For safety reasons, external mirrors of the type in question must be capable of folding forwardly and rearwardly - at least substantially -- as far as the flat position against the outer contours of the vehicle. A further safety requirement furthermore stipulates that in cases where the mirror is fitted by means of a housing carrier on a stand, then in the folded-over condition, a 1 65 mm diameter ball must be capable of swinging past at an angle of 45" to the direction of travel, at a definite height and at a definite distance from the mirror mounting. The aforesaid prior art external mirrors do not satisfy this safety requirement.A further safety regulation stipulates that it must not be possible for the external mirror to become completely detached from the vehicle. The prior art external mirrors of the aforementioned type only incompletely comply with this stipulation.

The present invention seeks to provide a mounting for an external mirror for a vehicle, which complies with the said safety regulations.

According to the invention, there is provided an external mirror for a motor vehicle, comprising a housing carrier which in use is adapted to be fixed to the outer contours of the motor vehicle, a mirror housing which is held rigidly on the housing carrier during operation and in which there is an adjustably mounted mirror glass, the mirror housing being hinged to fold forwardly or rearwardly about a pair of pivot axes between the mirror housing and the housing carrier and substantially parallel with the external contours of the motor vehicle, said pivot axes - as viewed in side elevation -- enclosing an acute angle between them and extending in the direction of the force of gravity, a ball joint being located at the intersection of the two pivot axes, the mirror housing being tensioned in the operative position by the force of at least one erecting spring which acts transversly with respect to the plane defined by the pivot axes between mirror housing and housing carrier, wherein the two pivot axes enclose an angle between 15 and 300, and they are formed at one end by the ball joint and at the other end by, in each case, having on its axis orientated at the ball joint, a non-separable short pivot connection between supporting brackets disposed closely to the region of the bottom edge of the mirror housing and projecting substantially at the same level as each other from the mirror housing and from the housing carrier in the 'direction of the pivot axis plane and a connecting link between brackets, and the rear pivot axis as viewed in the direction of travel is substantially parallel with the marginal plane defined by the rim of an aperture for the mirror housing which surrounds the mirror glass, and on the side which is towards the pivot axes the mirror housing is at most substantially of the same thickness as the length of the connecting link is long. As a consequence of the very acutely angled disposition of the pivot axes with respect to each other and the correspondingly narrow construction of the mirror housing in the region of the pivot axis, the mirror housing has only minimal projection when it is in the folded-over condition so that a test ball can pass it obliquely at a very small distance.The low-down more or less level disposition of the two lower articulation or support points of the mirror housing and the immaterial construction of the pivot axes provides a certain clearance between these points of articulation and the upper common ball joint so that as it swings by, the test ball can to a certain extent extend into the immediate vicinity of a pivoting axis when the mirror is in the folded-over condition. Thanks to e fact that as seen in the direction of travel the rear pivot axis is located parallel with the marginal plane of the mirror housing, the mirror housing does not have to be recessed on the side which is towards the driver in order to allow the mirror housing to fold over flat in a rearwards direction.The fact that the two lower pivot or support points are connected by a connecting strip provides, together with the ball joint at the top, an inserparable double-axial pivot connection between mirror housing and housing carrier which maintains a secure connection between housing carrier and mirror housing even during relative separation or response of both pivot axes.An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of an example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a section through the mirror mounting parallel with the outer contours of the vehicle, looking inwards and a long the line l--l in Fig. 2; Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through the external mirror seen from above and taken along the line lI-lI in Fig. 3; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the external mirror, viewed in the direction of forward travel, and Figs. 4 and 5 are plan views of the mirror mounting in the position in which it is folded rearwardly (Fig. 4) and forwardly (Fig. 5).

The external mirror for private motor cars-which is illustrated in the drawings substantially comprises a mirror housing 4, a mirror glass carrier 6 which is ball-mounted for movement therein and on which the mirror glass 5 is secured for example by adhesion, and also a housing carrier 3 which is fixed directly to the vehicle bodywork. Of the motor vehicle, only its outer contours 2 are indicated by dash-dotted lines in Figs. 2, 4 and 5. The external mirror is mounted at a location in which it is accessible to the driver, manually preferably in the front triangular wedgeshaped region of the forward side window. The mirror housing is mounted to pivot about two mutually inclined, intersecting pivot axes 7 and 8 with respect to the housing carrier 3. The two pivot axes enclose an acute angle between 15 and 300, in the illustrated embodiment this included angle is substantially 230.The two pivot axes 7 and 8 lie in a pivot axis plane 10. At a common point of intersection of the pivot axes there is a ball joint 11. The pivot axes themsleves are substantially immaterial in construction, i.e. they are in each case simply defined by two pivotable supports disposed at their ends and one of which is the ball joint 11. The other pivotable support within a pivot axis is constitited by a pivot connection between a support bracket 16 or 17 and a connecting strip 18, the pivot connection being orientated at the ball joint 11. The two support brackets 16, 1 7 extend from different sides towards the pivot axis plane 10 and in fact one support bracket 1 6 is a fixed component of the mirror housing 4, whereas the other support bracket 17 is rigidly connected to the housing carrier 3. Both support brackets are disposed approximately at the same height as each other but are placed as low down as possible in the region of the lower edge of the mirror housing in order to define the largest possible base for the pivot axes. The axes of the two pivot connections 14, 1 5 between the supporting brackets and the common connecting link 1 8 also intersect at the ball joint 11. Approximately centrally between the pivot axes 7 and 8, and projecting from the housing carrier 3 above the connecting strip 18, is a bracket 1 9 to which it is possible to connect, serving as a traction spring, a heavily rated erecting spring 12, the other end of which is attached to the inside of the mirror housing.This spring tensions the mirror housing in the direction of the upright operative position of the external mirror as indicated in Fig. 2. For exact definition of such an operating position, there is, on the connecting strip 1 8 and facing the baseplate of the housing carrier 3, an abutment 21 (Figs. 2 and 3) which in the operative position ensures a specific spacing between the front pivot connection 14 and the housing carrier. The pivoted position of the mirror housing about this front pivot connection 14 in the operative position is defined by the back 21 a of the abutment which is connected to the support bracket 1 6 of the mirror housing and which bears on the outer periphery of the circularly contoured bearing lug of the support bracket 1 7 of the housing carrier.

Because of the relatively acutely angled disposition of the two pivot axes 7 and 8, the effective length L of the connecting strip or the distance between the two pivot connections 14 and 1 5 of the support brackets is relatively short so that when the mirror housing is folded over, (Figs. 4 or 5), the connecting strip projecting from the housing carrier 3 projects only a relatively short distance outwardly. The mirror housing is recessed relatively deeply at the back, by an amount T, (Fig. 2) and has at the place which is most towards the pivot axis plane 10 only a relatively small width B which substantially corresponds to the length L of the connecting strip or which may be even smaller than that length.As a result, in the folded-over condition, even the housing itself projects only a relatively small amount at this location and offers sufficient clearance for a test ball to swing past. The mirror .housing has on the side facing the driver, in other words the side which is at the rear with reference to the direction of travel 20, and surrounding the mirror glass, a rim which corresponding to the fiatness of the mirror glass, itself likewise extends substantially within a marginal plane 13. In order to permit of the rear folded over position which is shown in Fig. 4 and which occurs more frequently in practice, also without recessing the mirror housing on the side which is towards the driver, therein the direction of travel - rear pivot axis 8 of the mirror housing is located substantially parallel with this marginal plane 13.

The ball joint 11 common to the two pivot axes 7 and 8 consists of a ball 22 disposed on a ball journal and a cup 23 which embraces the ball. In the embodiment illustrated, the ball journal is fixed on a bracket connected to the mirror housing, whereas the ball cup is machined into a bracket connected to the housing carrier 4. The ball cup 23 is of rotationally symmetrical construction and accordingly has a line of symmetry 24 which projects from the ball cup. The ball cup and thus the line of symmetry is so disposed that the line of symmetry substantially coincides with the plane 10 of the pivot axes. In consequence, high centring forces can be applied by the ball joint in respect of the two pivot axes 7, 8; i.e. in the region of the ball joint it is possible to withstand high forces acting in the separation direction. Such forces occur due to inherent weight, due to vibration or due to gripping of the mirror housing, these forces seeking to pivot the mirror housing about a tilting edge located in the region of the lower support. In order to achieve clearance-free centring of the ball, the ball cup is conical rather than spherical. Furthermore, the ball joint is so tensioned by a tensioning spring 25 which is more or iess equiaxial in relation to the line of symmetry that the ball 22 is pressed into the conical ball cup. Constructed as a compression spring, the tensioning spring 25 is braced at one end on a spring bracket 25a connected to the mirror housing 4 and at the other on the underside of the ball cup 23.In order to be able to utilise the actual weight of the external mirror to provide additional tensioning of the ball joint, which is important particularly in the case of vibration or when the mirror is gripped and manually stressed, for example during adjustment, the ball journal and the ball cup are so located that the actual weight of the mirror (arrow 26) likewise tends to tension the ball joint.

In the embodiment illustrated, the mirror housing 4 is of multi-part construction, comprising a housing frame open on both sides and, bolted to it, a housing shell which encloses the housing frame and which also form the rear wall 27 of the mirror housing. As already mentioned, the mirror housing which is constructed in this way is, on the (in the direction of travel 20-front face) recessed to a depth T from the direction of the housing carrier 3 in order to permit also forwardly of as flat as possible a folded-over position (Fig. 5) and in order to allow a test ball to swing obliquely past In order to protect the pivotable mounting from the ingress of dirt and in order to make the mounting of the mirror visually more attractive, the cut-out is covered by a softly-elastic cladding 29 which for the rest is so constructed that it masks the entire triangular fixing wedge in the forward zone of the side window. In one embodiment, the cladding rests loosely against the wall joint surface 28 of the wall 27.This wall joint surface is rounded off with large-radiused areas so that on the one hand, when the housing is pivoted into the operative position, the lip of the softly-elastic cladding can automatically and the more easily regain its desired location and so that, furthermore, in the folded-over position shown in Fig. 4, there is far less danger of injury from this wall joint surface which is directed forwards in the direction of travel. In an alternative form of the softly-elastic cladding, indicated by dash-dotted lines, in the region of the front pivot axis 7, this cladding has a deeply penetrating double-layer stretching fold 30; for this purpose, the cladding is rigidly secured by adhesion to the rear wall 27 in the region of the wall joint surface 28. Upon the mirror pivoting back into the folder-over position shown in Fig. 4, the stretching fold opens out in accordion fashion.This has the advantage that also in the folded-over position the interior of the pivotable mirror mounting is protected from view and from ingress of dirt.

For adjustment of the mirror glass from inside the vehicle, a three-member adjustment linkage extends above the two support brackets 1 6 and 1 7 between the ball joint 11 and the lower articulated support of the mirror housing. The construction of the pivot axes 7 and 8 serves not only to provide adequate clearance to satisfy the test regulations but also for passing the adjustment linkage through, at a close distance from the pivot axes. The adjustment linkage consists of a hand lever 31 ball mounted to be movable in the housing carrier, a transmission lever 33 which is pivotable on the mirror housing in in respect of two different pivot axes, and a link 37 which articulatingly connects the two mutually facing lever ends.The doubie armed hand lever 31 which is mounted by means of a ball joint 32 in the housing carrier is provided with a handle at its end which projects into the interior of the vehicle (not illustrated). The other end 35 of this hand lever extends in the direction of the DiVot axis plane 1 0. The transmission lever 33 is mounted in an articulating member 34 which is first of all rotatably mounted in the wall of the mirror housing, the first pivot axis of this articulating member being located substantially equi-axially of the connecting line 41 between the ball joint 32 of the hand lever and the ball joint 40 of a movable ball mounting for the mirror glass carrier 6. The articulating member 34 is substantially of bifurcated or U-shape, having two side walls 42 parallel with this first pivot axis.Provided in each of these side walls is a bearing lug 44, the bearing lugs defining a second pivot axis 39, crossing the first pivot axis which is transversely situated in relation to the first pivot axis of the articulating member. The bearing lugs 44 are radially open in the direction of the pivot axis plane 10. Shaped on each side wall 42 are two U-shaped ratchet springs 45 (Fig. 4) which make the bearing lug a ratchet joint. The already-mentioned transmission lever 33 is mounted in the articulating member in relation to the two aforesaid pivot axes of the articulating member, for which purpose the latter has two bearing studs 43 which engage the bearing lugs of the articulating member.The end of the transmission lever which is towards the mirror glass carrier engages in length compensating and pivotable fashion but nonrotatably in relation to the line 41, into a sliding block 46. The end 36 of the transmission lever which is towards the housing carrier 3 projects beyond the pivot axis plane 10 as far as the height of the other end 35 of the hand lever. Both lever ends are offset in relation to each other in the direction of travel 20 and, in respect of the plane of the cross-section in Fig. 2, are articulatingly connected to each other by the link 37. With regard to the connection line 41, the connection between the two lever ends which is brought about by the link 37 is rotationally locked, i.e. with regard to this line which becomes a pivot axis, rotary movements of the hand lever 31 can be transmitted to the transmission lever 33 and finally, via the sliding block 46, to the mirror glass carrier. The link 37 is in respect of its length / dimensioned in keeping with the distance a between the two pivot axes 7 and 8 measured at the level H of this link. Preferably, the length of the link is somewhat greater than this distance a. The two mutually facing lever ends 35, 36 are so disposed or constructed that the link is off-set by a certain dimenions s in the direction of the housing carrier 3.As a result of this construction and disposition of the link, the transmission linkage is capable of freeiy foilowing the folding-over movements shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The link between the two layers 31, 33 permits not only of length compensation within the adjustment linkage and a sharply angled pivoting action but the three-member construction of the linkage allows a reversal of movement, the result being that when the handle of the lever 31 is pivoted forwards, the mirror glass also moves forwards and vice and versa. By reason of the reversal of movement within the adjustment linkage, therefore, an adjustment movement at the hand lever produces an imitative movement of the mirror glass in the same direction. The fact that the bearing lugs 44 are constructed as a ratchet joint which engages and disengages radially in the direction of the pivot axis plane 10 is provided so that the adjustment linkage may comprise a very narrow and very small lever and in order, on the other hand, also to provide the necessary compensation for length within the adjustment linkage which is required for the quite considerable folding-over movements, particularly as shown in Fig. 5, the said equalisation of length altogether exceeding the length equalisation of the relatively short link 37 alone.

Claims

1. An external mirror for a motor vehicle, comprising a housing carrier which in use is adapted to be fixed to the outer contours of the motor vehicle, a mirror housing which is held rigidly on the housing carrier during operation and in which there is an adjustable mounted mirror glass, the mirror housing being hinged to fold forwardly or rearwardly about a pair of pivot axes between the mirror housing and the housing carrier and substantially parallel with the external contours of the motor vehicle, said pivot axes as viewed in side eievation -- enclosing an acute angle between them and extending in the direction of the force of gravity, a ball joint being located at the intersection of the two pivot axes, the mirror housing being tensioned in the operative position by the force of at least one erecting spring which acts transversely with respect to the plane defined by the pivot axes between mirror housing and housing carrier, wherein the two pivot axes enclose an angle between 1 5 and 300, and they are formed at one end by the ball joint and at the other end by, in each case, having on its axis orientated at the ball joint, a non-separable short pivot connection between supporting brackets disposed closely to the region of the bottom edge of the mirror housing and projecting substantially at the same level as each other from the-mirror housing and from the housing carrier in the direction of the pivot plane and a connecting link between brackets, and the rear pivot axis as viewed in the direction of travel is substantially parallel with the marginal plane defined by the rim of an aperture for the mirror housing which surrounds the mirror glass, and on the side which is towards the pivot axes the mirror housing is at most substantially of the same thickness as the length of the connecting link is long.

2. A mirror according to Claim 1, wherein the ball joint comprising a ball member and a bearing shell embracing the ball, is so located that the line of symmetry of the bearing shell is at least substantially in the vicinity of the plane containing the pivot axes.

3. A mirror according to Claim 2, wherein the ball joint is tensioned substantially parallel with the direction of the plane containing the pivot axes by spring force.

4. A mirror according to Claim 2 or Claim 3, wherein the ball joint is so disposed that when the external mirror is in its installed position, the ball joint is at least partialiy tensioned by its own weight.

5. A mirror according to any one of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the mirror housing and/or the wall forming the back of the mirror housing is formed by a softly-elastic cladding and/or is cut out from the housing carrier, beyond the plane of the pivoting axes and to a depth corresponding at least to the length of the connecting strip.

6. A mirror according to Claim 5, wherein the softly-elastic cladding bears separably on the rear wall, at a joint surface.

7. A mirror according to Claim 5, wherein the softly-elastic cladding has an expansion fold extending towards the region of the pivot axis plane.

8. A mirror according to any one of Claims 1 to 7, wherein an adjustment linkage extends from the housing carrier to the mirror glass between the ball joint and the connecting strip.

9. A mirror according to Claim 8, having a three-member adjustment linkage comprising a double-armed ball-mounted lever supported for movement in the housing carrier and projecting into the vehicle interior, a likewise double-armed transmission lever mounted on the mirror housing and pivotable in respect of two axes which are at right-angles to each other and which are connected in rotationally rigid manner to the back of the movable ball-mounted mirror glass in pivotable and length-compensating manner, and a link connecting the two mutually facing and, and in the direction of the pivoting axes, reciprocally offset lever ends of the double-armed lever and transmission lever, in an articulated manner, the link being disposed, when the mirror glass is in a central operative position, substantially parallel with the plane of the pivot axes, wherein the effective length of the link substantially corresponds to the distance between the pivot axes of the mirror housing measured within the triangle constituted by the ball joint and the connecting strip.

10. A mirror according to Claim 9, wherein the mutually facing lever ends of the double-armed lever end of the transmission lever are so dimensioned and located that the link is situated so as to be offset in relation to the pivot axis plane in the direction of the housing carrier.

11. A mirror according to any one of Claims 8 to 10, having a transmission lever bearing member mounted on the mirror housing substantially concentrically with the connecting line between the ball joint mounting the mirror glass and the ball-mounted movable hand lever and adapted to be pivotable along a first pivot axis, the bearing member for the transmission lever mounting the transmission lever in such a manner that said lever is pivotable along a second pivot axis which is substantially vertical and transverse with respect to the first pivot axis, the bearing member being substantially bifurcated or U; ;shaped and having two side walls parallel with the first pivot axis and accommodating the transmission lever between them and, on both sides of the transmission lever there are bearing studs which engage pivotablly into the side walls of the bearing member

12. A mirror according to Claim 11, wherein bearing lugs in the side walls of the bearing member which accommodate the bearing studs of the transmission lever are radially open in the direction of the pivot axis plane and are constructed as radially engaging and disengaging ratchet joints which clamp resiliently around the bearing studs.

13. An external mirror for a motor vehicle substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.