GB2156294A - Anti-glare shield - Google Patents

Abstract

An anti-glare shield (17) is attached or adapted for attachment to a vehicle interior sun visor (16) and comprises a plate of light-dimming translucent and preferably transparent material which, when in use, swings and/or slides into a position in which it projects below the bottom edge of the visor, and when not in use is stowed against a face of the visor. Advantageously, the plate is specifically adapted to swing about the bottom edge (12) of the visor when being moved manually into and out of use, and is substantially flat to stow neatly against the top face of the visor (i.e. that face which, when the visor is stowed, lies against the vehicle roof headlining). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Anti-glare shield The invention relates to an anti-glare shield specifically adapted for use with a vehicle interior sun visor.

It is well known that the interior windscreenmounted sun visors of conventional vehicles do not cater for all situations where the vehicle driver might find the sun annoying or even dangerous.

When the sun is low in the sky, conventional visors even when swung fully down into position are not large enough to blank it out completely. Because conventional visors are not translucent, i.e. they do not let light through, they are very often not swung down completely because the driver does not wish so large an area of his view to be blocked. He will rather attempt to combat the sun's glare with minimal assistance from the visor. This can be dangerous.

Even when the sun is high enough in the sky to be successfully conteracted by conventional visors, situations can arise where the glare reflected from the road in front of the driver cannot successfully be counteracted.

In addition it is well known that the glare from the headlights of oncoming and following vehicles at night can be just as annoying and tiring (and hence just as potentially dangerous) as the glare from the sun during the day. Conventional visors are virtually useless at night, partly because they blank off too large an area of the driver's vision for safety, mainly because the headlights of oncoming vehicles are in any event outside the area which the visors cover.

This last situation is well recognised in the number of vehicles now fitted with so-called "dipping" interior rear view mirrors.

For all these reasons there is a need for an antiglare shield which can conveniently be used by a vehicle occupant and which is effective over a larger area than the conventional interior sun visor without dangerously obstructing the driver's forward view.

According to the present invention an anti-glare shield is attached or adapted for attachment to a vehicle interior sun visor and comprises a plate of light-dimming translucent material which, when in use, swings and/or slides into a position in which it projects below the bottom edge of the visor, and when not in use is stowed against a face of the visor.

Preferably the plate is transparent as well as translucent, i.e. objects viewed through it will be seen clearly and without any appreciable distortion.

Preferably also the plate is specifically adapted to be manually moved into and out of use on the visor rather than being automatically moved by power operated means.

Advantageously the plate is specifically adapted to swing about the bottom edge of the visor when being moved into and out of use.

The plate may curve along its length but preferably is substantially flat to stow neatly against the face of a conventional sun visor which is also substantially flat.

The plate can with advantage be attached to stow against the top face of the visor (i.e. that face which, when the visor is stowed, lies against the vehicle roof headlining).

Vehicle users who have bought accessories such as the so-called "wide-angle" interior rear view mirror will have experienced the difficulty of clipping such accessories onto the appropriate existing vehicle surface. Sometimes the clips provided are elastic bands, which inevitably break sooner or later. In other conventional versions the clips may be coiled tension springs carrying at each opposite end a hooked member. Here again the tension springs grow and/or the hooked members are too easily pulled of the surface by the combined effects of vibration and the tension exerted by the springs.

In another broad aspect of the invention, therefore, a clip, for attaching an anti-glare shield or other accessory to a vehicle interior sun visor or to another surface having opposed spaced-apart edges resiliently deformable towards one another, is characterised in that it comprises two elongate parts each separable from the other and with one carrying or adapted to carry the accessory; each such part is hooked at one respective end to embrace a respective one of the surfaces resiliently deformable edges; the other ends of the clip parts are adapted to interlock in a manner which allows the overall length of the assembled clip to be set, altered if needs be, and set again; and each clip part is itself essentially unalterable in length.

Such a clip combines ease of fitting and adjustment with positive location, and differs from conventional clips essentially in that it uses the resilience of the surface edges to hold it in a state of tension rather than attempting to incorporate resilient means within itself.

Two visors each fitted with anti-glare shields embodying the invention are shown in the accompanying drawings. They will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to those drawings in which: Figures 1 and 2 show the visors and their attached shields respectively in perspective; and Figure 3, 4 and 5 show in a series of elevations (and to an enlarged scale) parts of the shield of Figure 2.

In Figure 1, an initially conventional interior car sun visor pivots about an axis referenced 11 which runs basically along one longitudinal edge of the visor. At each end of this axis the visor is pivotted to the headlining of the vehicle roof (not shown) by means which are known in themselves and which position the axis 11 adjacent and essentially parallel to the top inside edge of the vehicle windscreen.

When not in use, the visor is stowed adjacent the roof headlining. To bring it into use, it is swung manually and clockwise (when viewed as in Figure 1) about the axis 11 and in an extreme inuse position its free edge 12 contacts the wind screen interior surface.

A round wire rod defines the axis 11. Plastics clips 13, 14 embrace the rod so that they can pivot in unison clockwise about it. Another wire rod 15 is bent into a rectangle to define the periphery of the visor. The rectangle is, at least at each opposite end of the edge 12 of the visor, literally right-angled.

A resiliently deformable plastics moulding 16 encases the wire rectangle 15 and is slit around three out of its four sides. The slit sides are the edge 12 and the two short sides which join it. A flat rectangular shield 17 of light-dimming translucent material (i.e. material which allows light through but reduces the intensity of that light as it travels through the material) is fastened by respective opposite-end clips 18, 19 to the rectangular round wire frame 15 and is provided with a pull-tab 21 so that the plate 17 can be slid along the frame 15 towards and away from the axis 11.

When the anti-glare shield is not in use, the plate 17 stows wholly within the area of the visor moulding 16 save for the pull-tab 21 which projects from the edge 12 of the visor. The visor is swung down about its axis 11 and used in the normal way. The clips 18, 19 are sufficiently tight frictional fit on the sides of the frame 15 (and the plate 17 to stay in its stowed position despite the action of gravity on it.

To use the shield, tab 21 is grasped manually by the vehicle occupant to slide plate 17 away from axis 11, overcoming the frictional resistance of clips 18, 19 in the process. Plate 17 can be slid part way out of the visor left in that position and maintained there by the frictional interaction between clips 18 and 19 and frame 15, and then slid farther out if needs be into an extreme in-use position in which clips 18, 19 rest adjacent the edge 12 of frame 15.

Plate 17 can be a suitably tinted lightweight translucent plastics material for example that manufactured and sold under the trade mark PERSPEX.

In Figure 2 a visor 16 again pivots about an axis 11 corresponding to the axis 11 indicated in Figure 1 and positioned, in use, in the same place in the vehicle to which the Figure 2 visor is fitted. A shield 17 of tinted PERSPEX material is held at each of two opposite corners in clamps 18,19 each of which pivots about an axis 22 on one respective half 23, 24 of a two-part clip which secures the shield 17 to the visor 16.

In this instance the visor 16 is initially conventional in that its resiliently deformable moulded casing is not slit but encases a wire frame 15 which is itself resiliently deformable to a limited extent.

The two parts of each clip are shown in greater detail in Figures 3 and 4 of the drawings. One end of each of the parts 23, 24 is notched as shown in Figure 3. The other end is hooked, also as shown in Figure 3. As Figure 4 shows, each opposite end of the other part of each clip is hooked; but whereas one of the hooks is identical to the hook of the clip-part 23, 24 the other end hook is much smaller and is cut away centrally as indicated at 25 in Figure 4.

When the cut away portion 25 of one clip-half is engaged with one of the notched recesses 26 in the other clip-half the two halves interlock and the overall length of the thus-assembled clip can be varied and can be set at predetermined stages.

Each clip-half in itself is however substantially unalterable in length and, in this particular instance, is made of thin aluminium sheet.

In use, as Figure 2 shows, the two-part clips are assembled and the inherent resilience of each opposite longitudinal edge of the visor 16 is used to tension the clips in their interlocked state. The plate 17 pivots anti-clockwise (when viewed as in Figure 2) about the bottom edge 12 of the visor (i.e. about that edge which, when the visor is in an extreme in-use position, contacts the interior surface of the vehicle screen).

Once again the frictional fit of clamps 18, 19 on their respective pivots is sufficient, when combined with the lightweight of plate 17, to allow plate 17 to remain automatically in any selected position of use and to stow against the top (i.e. roof-adjacent) surface of visor 16 even when visor 16 is swun down into use without using plate 17.

A clip 27 pivots about an axis 28 to hold plate 17 against visor 16 when plate 17 is not in use. This removes any possibility of plate 17 inadvertently swinging down if the frictional resistance of pivots 22 weakens. A clip similar to clip 27 could be fitted to the other two-part clips in Figure 2 i.e. the one to which clamp 19 is attached.

Claims (10)

1. An anti-glare shield attached or adapted for attachment to a vehicle interior sun visor and comprising a plate of light-dimming translucent material which, when in use, swings and/or slides into a position in which it projects below the bottom edge of the visor, and when not in use is stowed against a face of the visor.

2. A shield according to Claim 1 and in which the plate is transparent as well as translucent.

3. A shield according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 and in which the plate is specifically adapated to be manually moved into and out of use on the visor.

4. A shield according to any of the preceding claims and in wich the plate is specifically adapted to swing about the bottom edge of the visor when being moved into and out of use.

5. A shield according to any of the preceding claims and in which the plate is substantially flat.

6. A shield according to any of the preceding claims and in which the plate stows against the top face of the visor.

7. A clip, for attaching an anti-glare shield or other accessory to a vehicle interior sun visor or to another surface having opposed spaced-apart edges resiliently deformable towards one another, the clip being characterised in that it comprises two elongate parts each separable from the other and with one carrying or adapted to carry the accessory; each such part is hooked at one respective end to embrace a respective one of the surface's resiliently deformable edges; the other ends of the clip parts are adapted to interlock in a manner which allows the overall length of the assembled clip to be set, altered if needs be, and set again; and each clip part is itself essentially unalterable in length.

8. An anti-glare shield substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings.

9. An anti-glare shield substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated in Figure 2 of the accompanying drawings.

10. A clip, for attaching an anti-glare shield or other accessory to a vehicle interior sun visor or to another surface hjaving opposed spaced-apart edges resiliently deformable towards one another, the clip being constructed substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated in Figure 3 of the accompanying drawings.