GB2049797A

GB2049797A - Pivotal Mountings

Info

Publication number: GB2049797A
Application number: GB7901452A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Surrey Steel Components Ltd
Current assignee: Surrey Steel Components Ltd
Priority date: 1979-01-15
Filing date: 1979-01-15
Publication date: 1980-12-31
Also published as: FR2446201B3; FR2446201A1; GB2049797B

Abstract

This invention relates to pivotal mountings particularly but not exclusively for motor rear view mirrors. Mountings for motor rear view mirrors must be able to deflect in both forward and rearward directions under the action of a certain force and the mounting 10 shown comprises a base 11 and a mirror housing carrier 12. The base 11 has a pair of spaced parallel rod elements 16 held by means of catches 30 in recesses 27 on the carrier 12. The catches 30 are constructed such that an impact of a certain force on the carrier 12 frees the catches 30 adjacent the points of impact of the force and the carrier 12 pivots about the rod element 16 which is still held by the remaining catches 30. The catches 30 are arranged as interlocking oppositely facing pairs such that the freeing of one catch 30 of a pair precludes the freeing of the other catch 30 of the pair. Means may be provided for releasably locking the carrier 12 in its pivoted position. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in or Relating to Fitting Mounts This invention relates to fitting mounts, and in particular, but not exclusively, to fitting mounts for mounting rear view mirrors on land motor vehicles.

According to the present invention there is provided a fitting mount comprising a first member, a pair of spaced parallel cylindrical elements mounted on the base, a second member having a recessed edge to receive the two elements and to provide two pivot points about which one of the first second members can pivot about the respective element and two catches mounted on the second member for engaging the two respective elements to hold the second member on the elements, the arrangement being such that an impact above a certain force on the one of the first of second members which acts to turn the one member about either of the elements will cause the catch engaging the other element to release permitting the one member to pivot about the other element.

The fitting mount may further comprise means interconnecting the catches for locking, in response to the release of the release catch, the engaged catch against release.

The inter-connecting means may be constituted by an extension on each catch, the extensions being inter-engaged and each having a channel therein defining the path of travel of the other extension during the release of the catch of the other extension, the arrangement being such that when both catches are engaged the channels are positioned such that either extension may rotate along the channel of the other extension but on release of one of the catches the consequent rotation of its extension is such that the channel in that extension is moved to a position in which the extension of the other catch is precluded from moving along the channel and hence the other catch is held against release.

In any of the above cases the second member may have a portion formed adjacent the or each recess of the recessed edge whereby whenever the second element is turned about one of the elements the portion rotates around the other element to retain the element within the recess.

In any of the above cases there may be four or more catches arranged in pairs.

In any of the above cases there may be means for biasing the catches into their engaged positions.

The mount may further comprise means for releasably retaining the one of the first and second members in its rotated position whenever the rotation of the one element occurs.

The means for releasably retaining may comprise detent means pivotably mounted on one of the first or second member and engageable on the other of the first or second member.

The mount may further comprise a mechanism for simultaneously releasing all of the catches to allow the members to be separated.

One of the members may form at least part of or be fixed to a mirror housing, in which case the other of the members may form at least part of or be fixed to a support for a mirror.

In any of the above cases one of the members may be at least a part of a remotely operable workpiece controllable by means of wires or cables and the other of the members may be at least part of a support wherein the wire or cables pass between the elements and are spaced from the catches.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of a fitting mount; Figure 2a is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 2-2, in Figure 1, with the mount assembled; Figure 2b shows the mount of Figure 2a in which the mount has been caused to separate due to a force acting on the mount in one direction; Figure 2c shows the mount of Figure 2a, in which the mount has been caused to separate by a force acting in the opposite direction to the force acting on the mount of Figure 2b; Figure 3 is a perspective side view of a catch; Figure 4 shows the fitting mount mounting a rear view mirror housing on the side of a land vehicle with the support separated in the direction shown in Figure 2b; and Figure 5 is a view of the assembly of Figure 4 with the support separated in the direction shown in Figure 2c.

Figure 1 shows an exploded perspective view of a fixing mount generally indicated at 1 0. The fixing mount 10 consists of two parts or members, base 11 and carrier 12.

The base 11 has a frame 13, which consists of a web portion 14 having an upstanding T shaped projection 1 5 at either end, the T shaped projections extending parallel one to the other, and a rod element 1 6 extending between opposed pairs of arm portions 17 of the T shaped projections 1 5. Each end of each rod element 16 is secured in a respective aperture 1 8 in its respective arm 1 7 by conventional means such as welding or screw threading. A detent arm 19 is pivotably mounted, at one end, on one of the projections 1 5 to lie adjacent the inside face thereof and to project above the head thereof.The arm 1 9 has aligned notches 20, 21 formed just below its other end and a cord 22 passes through an aperture 23 in the other end of arm 1 9. The purpose of arm 19 will be described in relation to Figures 4 and 5.

The carrier 12 comprises a pair of spaced end plates 24 which are inter-connected adjacent their upper edge by a pair of parallel spaced rods 25 and at their centres by an inverted, substantially U-shaped plate 26. Each end plate 24 defines a pair of spaced inverted recesses 27, each dimensioned to receive a respective rod element 16. The recesses 27 are defined by the lower edge of each plate 24 between the edge of a central downwardly projecting portion 28 of plate 24 and a respective one of downwardly extending edge of projections 29.

The carrier 12 has a catch 30 for each recess.

Each catch, the construction of which will be described in more detail with reference to Figures 2a to 2c and Figure 3, is pivotably mounted adjacent the end plate 24, in which its respective recess 27 lies, on rod 25. It will be appreciated that the catches 30 are thus mounted in oppositely facing pairs. The catches 30 of each pair are biased away from each other by a spring 31 for each pair disposed between the catches 30.

In normal use the fixing mount 10 is assembled by engaging the carrier 12 on the base 14 by urging the carrier 12 downwardly, in Figure 1, so that the catches 30 are deflected inwardly against their respective springs 31 by rod element 1 6, thus allowing the rod element 1 6 to be received in recesses 27. Once the rod elements 1 6 are located in recesses 27, springs 31 urge the catches back into their rest position in which, as can be seen in Figure 2a, the catches 30 retain rod elements 1 6 in recesses 27. Transverse channels 1 4a are provided in web 14 for catches 30. In this position any member or assembly attached to carrier 12 can be mounted on another member or assembly to which base 11 is attached.Typically the base 11 may be attached to the wing or side door of the motor car and the carrier 12 may be attached to the housing of a rear view mirror.

In this latter case the fitting mount 10 has to fulfil certain functions set out by law. One of the functions which is dealt with in the laws of many western countries is that if the mirror housing mounted on the carrier 12 should strike a pedestrain, such that a force acts on the housing in either a forward or a rearward direction relative to the car, then the housing must pivot relative to the base 11 so as to avoid injurying the pedestrian.

The construction of the catches will now be described in detail so that the operation of the fitting mount when either the carrier valve or base 10 receive a force which acts to turn one of the carrier or base about either one of the rod elements 1 6 can be fully understood.

Each catch 30 has a leg 32, which depends from its respective rod 25, attached to which leg 32 is a head portion 33. Each leg 32 is shaped such that a part of the head portion 33 lies immediately below a line joining aligned recesses 27, such that when an element 1 6 is engaged in the recesses 27 it is retained therein by the associated catches 30. The face 34 of the head portion 33 which engages the element 16 is shaped such that its engagement with the element is tangential.

The outer face 33a of the head portion which extends below the tangential face is shaped as a cam surface such that when the carrier 12 is engaged in the base 11 each catch 30 is deflected against the action of its spring 31 by the head portion 33 being cammed inwardly as the face 35 is pushed past rod element 16. It will be seen from Figure 2 that one end of each spring 31 is retained in an aperture in the back of leg 32 of its respective pair of catches 30.

Each head portion 33 is formed with a projection 36 which projects towards the other catch 30 of the pair and extends for a part of the width of the head portion from one side thereof.

The projection on the other catch of the pair of catches 30 extends from the opposite side of its catch 30, so that the projections 36 can lie side by side. The projections 36 are themselves formed with lateral projections 37 which together form a channel 38. The channel 38 in each catch is so positioned and shaped that when the catches 30 are in the position shown in Figure 2a, on rotation on one of the catches, about the axis of rod 25, under the action of the spring 31 one of the lateral projections 37 of that catch 30 moves into the channel 38 of the other catch 30 so that the other catch 30 is precluded from rotating because its lateral projection 37 will engage the lateral projection 37 of the catch 30 which has already rotated.

Referring to Figures 2b and 2c the action of fitting mount 10 under an impact above a certain force on the carrier 12 will now be described. In Figure 2b the carrier 12 has been struck by a force having a component along the arrow A in Figure 2a and in Figure 2c the carrier 12 has been struck by an impact having a component force along the arrow B.

Taking Figure 2b first, when the carrier 12 is struck by a force having a component along the arrow A the force will act in a sense to rotate the carrier 12 about the left hand rod element 1 6.

This causes a resultant radial force to act on the right hand catches 30 at their face 34 due to its engagement with the rod element 1 6. This resultant force causes the catches 30 to rotate about the axis of their rod 25 against the action of spring 31. As this rotation takes place the right hand side of carrier 12 is progressively freed from the rod element 1 6 and when it is completely freed the carrier 1 2 rotates about the left hand rod element 1 6 into the position shown in Figure 2b. As soon as the right hand catches 30 disengage from rod element 1 6 they rotate in the reverse direction, i.e. under the action of springs moving their lateral projection 37 into the channels 38 of respective left hand catches 30, thus locking the left hand catches 30 against rotation against the action of respective springs 31 and hence preventing the carrier 12 from being removed from the base 12.

Figure 2c shows the reverse action under a force having a component along arrow B and it will be noted that in this case the left hand catches 30 move into position to lock the right hand catches 30 into engagement with the element 16.

Figures 2a to 2c have been described in terms of a single pair of catches but it will be appreciated that each pair of catches 30 acts in the manner described above. Referring to Figures 4 and 5 the base 11 is shown attached to a part of a motor vehicle 39 whilst the carrier 12 is shown engaged in a housing 40 for a rear view mirror.

As will have been seen in Figure 1 the end plate 24 which locates in the base 11 adjacent the projection 15, which carries the detent arm 19, has a pair of stub axle catches 41 at spaced locations on its central portion 28.

It will be seen in Figures 4 and 5 that the cord 22 is connected to a spring 42 which is in turn connected to the housing 40 and acts in a sense to keep the cord 22 in tension at all times. When the housing 40 hits a pedestrian in such a way as to receive a force along arrow A (Figure 4) or along arrow B (Figure 5) then the housing is rotated relative to the base and hence to the vehicle, such that it effectually folds along the side of the vehicle.

In some instances, for instance if the mirror housing experiences such a force during the movement of the vehicle on which it is mounted along an assembly line, it is desirable once the rotation of the housing has taken place to simply hold the housing in its rotated position. This is achieved by means of detent arm 19. As the housing 1 4 rotates in either direction it causes the detent arm 1 9 to rotate on the base 11 until such time as its notch 20, in the case of Figure 4 or 21, in the case of Figure 5, engages on a respective stub axle catch 41 on the carrier 12. The engagement of the catch 41 in the notch on the detent arm 19 and the tension in the cord 22 is sufficient to retain the housing in its rotated position. However when a force is applied to the housing 40 to return it to its original position the arm 19 can be easily disengaged from the catch 30.

If the mirror mounted in the mirror housing 40 is a remotely controllable mirror, then leads or bowden cables will generally extend between the housing and the vehicle. These leads can pass through the central web 14 between rod element 1 6 through the centre of plate 26 into the housing. It will be seen that the result is that even when the carrier 1 2 is rotated with respect to the base 1 4 there is no possibility of the wires or bowden cables becoming trapped between portions of the base 11 or carrier 12.

Claims

1. A fitting mount comprising a first member, a pair of spaced parallel cylindrical elements mounted on the base, a second member having a recessed edge to receive the two elements and provide two pivot points about which one of the first and second members can pivot about the respective elements and two catches mounted on the second member for engaging the two respective elements to hold the second member on the elements, the arrangement being such that on impact above a certain force on the one of the first and second members which acts to turn the one member about either one of the elements will cause the catch engaging the other element to release permitting the one member to pivot about the other element.

2. A fitting mount as claimed in Claim 1 further comprising means interconnecting the catches for locking, in response to the release of the released catch, the engaged catch against release.

3. A fitting mount as claimed in Claim 2 wherein the interconnecting locking means are constituted by an extension on each catch, the extensions being inter-engaged and each having a channel therein defining the path of travel of the other extension during the release of the catch of the other extension, the arrangement being such that when both catches are engaged the channels are positioned such that either extension may rotate along the channel of the other extension but that on release of the catches and the consequent rotation of its extension, the channel in that extension is moved to a position in which the extension of the other catch is precluded from moving along that channel and hence the other catch is held against release.

4. A fitting mount as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein if the second member has a portion formed adjacent the or each recess of the recessed edge whereby whenever the second element is turned about one of the elements the portion rotates around the other element to retain the element within the recess.

5. A fitting mount as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein there are four or more catches arranged in pairs.

6. A fitting mount as claimed in any one of the preceding claims further comprising means for biasing the catches into their engaged positions.

7. A fitting mount as claimed in any one of the preceding claims further comprising means for releasably retaining the one of the first and second members in its rotated position whenever the rotation of the one member occurs.

8. A fitting mount as claimed in Claim 7 wherein the means for releasably retaining comprises detent means pivotably mounted on one of the first or second members and engageable on the other of the first or second member.

9. A fitting mount as claimed in any one of the preceding claims further comprising a mechanism for simultaneously releasing all of the catches to allow the members to be separated.

10. A fitting mount as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein one of the members forms at least a part of or is fixed to a mirror housing end wherein the other of the members is at least part of or be fixed to a support for a mirror.

11. A fitting mount as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein one of the members is at least part of a remotely operable workpiece controllable by means of wires or cables and the other of the members is at least part of a support wherein the wires or cables pass between the elements and are spaced from the catches.

12. A fitting mount substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.