GB2220395A

GB2220395A - Sunscreen for a vehicle

Info

Publication number: GB2220395A
Application number: GB8906349A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Night Kenny
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1988-07-08
Filing date: 1989-03-20
Publication date: 1990-01-10
Anticipated expiration: 2009-03-20
Also published as: DE3906393C2; GB2220395B; GB8906349D0; ES2007956A6; IT8967108A0; FR2633881B1; IT8952887V0; FR2633881A1; IT1231857B; SE468844B; SE8900709L; SE8900709D0; DE3906393A1

Description

SUNSCREEN FOR A VEHICLE The present invention relates to a sunscreen or sun visor for vehicles, composed of a panel connected to the roof of the vehicle by means of an articulation formed by a pin and bushing, which can be plugged into each other.

These screens are meant to serve as a means of protecting from the sun the occupants of the front seats of an automobile vehicle. In its inoperative or inactive position the screen is fixed to the ceiling of the vehicle, whilst when needed it can be lowered and turned to the desired angle by means of the articulation which serves to connect the screen to the ceiling of the vehicle.

In traditional sunscreens, the panel and the components of the articulation constitute independent elements so that, once the screen is formed or during its formation, it is necessary to fix one of the components of the articulation to the screen.

Generally, the panel of the screen is composed of a nucleus or truss, for example formed of wire, to which truss one of the components of the articulation, generally the pin, is held. This nucleus or truss is covered, generally by card and foam and an exterior covering of plastic.

There are also sunscreens in which the screen is formed by the injection of a plastic foam material. In this case the nucleus or resistant truss and the component of the articulation and other elements are placed in the mould before foaming. Subsequently, the moulded body is covered with plastic.

The sunscreens, of the aforementioned construction are slow to manufacture and excessively expensive because of the machinery which has to be used and of the number of processes necessary to prepare the panel and the articulation component for fixing to the ceiling of a vehicle.

The object of the present invention is to provide a sunscreen for automobile vehicles, constructed in such a way that it can be made in one single operation by means of a single process and which moreover includes one of the elements or components of the articulation, formed of the same material as the panel. Moreover, the panel of the screen can be made directly in any shape or design.

Another advantage of the screen of the invention is that the panel constitutes a non-rigid body which is deformable on impact, thus avoiding its causing injuries in case of accident.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sunscreen or visor for a motor vehicle, comprising a panel and an articulation for mounting the panel to the vehicle body, wherein said panel is a blowmoulded plastic component formed integrally with either a pin or a bushing forming part of said articulation to connect the panel to a vehicle body.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sunscreen for a vehicle, comprising a panel to be connected to the ceiling of the vehicle by means of an articulation consisting of a pin and a bushing which can be plugged into each other, wherein the pin and the bushing include cylindrical portions each having at least one longitudinal flat so that the flats cooperate with one another to define a first position of the panel, and the pin is rotatable relative to the bushing to bring the flats out of parallelism with one another to hold the panel frictionally in one of a plurality of alternative positions of the panel.

With this constitution, the panel is of reduced weight, is easy to manufacture in any shape and includes the components or elements necessary for its articulation and the fixing of it to the ceiling of the vehicle.

The rod and the pin are joined to each other, so that, when the panel is up against the ceiling of the vehicle, the longitudinal flats of (i) the rod of the pin and (ii) the tubular portion of the bushing are closed up together.

When it is necessary to lower the sunscreen or visor a certain resistance and elastic deformation between the bushing and pin is produced on relative rotation of these elements as the flats of the rod are angularly displaced relative to the tubular portion of the bushing, which serves to fix the screen at any angle, thus avoiding the need of auxiliary means of retention.

To facilitate this operation, the bushing may include a longitudinally extending groove substantially coinciding with one of the longitudinal edges of said flat of the bushing, and at the ends of said longitudinally extending groove respective annular grooves coincident with the width of said flat of the bushing, whereby said annular grooves and said longitudinal groove define between them a tab movable radially with respect to the bushing and coincident with said flat of the bushing.

The pin has, moreover, at its proximal end, a cylindrical track of greater diameter than the rod of the pin, and the bushing may have at its distal end a first cylindrical portion of equal section and axial length as the aforementioned track of the pin.

There now follows a more detailed description of the screen of the invention, to be appreciated with the help of the accompanying drawings in which a non-limiting embodiment is represented.

In the drawings: FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a screen in accordance with the invention; FIGURE 2 is a section on an enlarged scale, taken on the section line II-II of Figure 1; FIGURE 3 is a perspective of the articulatory bushing; FIGURE 4 is a section taken on the line IV-IV of Figure 3; FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of the portion of the screen from which the articulatory pin protrudes; and FIGURE 6 is a section of the pin taken on the section line VI-VI of Figure 5.

The screen shown in Figure 1 represents a hollow panel 1 having a semi-rigid wall and made by blow moulding process using plastic material. This panel has on one of its longitudinal edges an intermediate gap 2 in which there is a bridging piece 3 formed of the same material as the panel 1. At one end of this same edge there is a gap 4 which is traversed lengthwise by one of the components of the articulation which is used for fixing the panel 1 to the ceiling of a vehicle. In the described case, the articulatory pin 5 forms part of panel 1 and fits into the bushing 6 which can itself be fixed to the ceiling of the vehicle.

As shown in Figure 2 the pin 5, which forms part of panel 1, presents a first cylindrical portion 7, followed by a cylindrical rod 8 of smaller section and greater axial length, which is completed by a spherical head 9 of still lesser diameter, this head being separated from the rod by means of a narrowing or neck 10 of even smaller diameter than that of the spherical head 9.

As can be seen more clearly in FIGURES 5 and 6, the rod 8 of the pin 5 has a flat extending along a plane 11.

The pin may have a hollow centre surrounded by a semi-rigid wall of plastic material, or it could be solid and made of the same material as panel 1, and may itself form part of the panel.

As seen in Figures 2 and 4, the bushing 6 is a tubular configuration and includes a first portion 12 of section conforming to that of the cylindrical portion 7 of the pin, followed by a second portion 13 of the same section as that of the rod 8 of the pin. Continuing along the portion 13, the bushing has an annular constriction 14, of the same circumference as that of the neck 10 of the pin. As a continuation of this constriction narrowing there is a spherical chamber 15 of equal diameter to that of the head 9 of the pin. It is made more clear in Figure 4 that the portion 13 of the bushing also has a longitudinal flat 16 coincident to the flat 11 of the rod 8 of the pin.

Moreover, as can be better seen in Figure 3, the bushing can also have in its wall a longitudinal notch 17, coincident with one of the straight edges of the flat 16, and having extending peripherally from its ends two round notches 18, of the same angular extent as that covered by the flat 16. The notches 17 and 18 pass through and cover an intermediate area or tab 19 which can be deflected in a radial direction.

The bushing 6, which is closed from the spherical chamber 15 onwards, has on this side an extension 20 at a suitable angle, e.g. 90 , for connecting to the fixing element to the vehicle ceiling.

With the described embodiment, the pin 5, which is part of the panel, is introduced axially in the bushing 6 fixed to the ceiling of the vehicle, with the longitudinal flat 11 of the rod of the pin 5 parallel to the longitudinal flat 16 of the portion 13 of the bushing 6.

When it is necessary to lower the panel 1 to use the sunscreen as a shield, the pin 5 rotates in relation to the bushing, bringing the cylindrical surface of the rod 8 into contact with the longitudinal internal flat 16, producing an elastic deformation between the pin and the bushing which permits the fixing of the panel 1 in any angular position. The rotation of the pin 5 relative to the bushing 6 is made possible by means of the geometry represented in Figure 3 in which the area occupied by the longitudinal flat 16 of the bushing 6 forms the portion or tab 19 which can be moved radially outwardly, when the longitudinal flats 11 and 16 of the bushing and rod do not coincide and which can resume its radially inward position when the flats coincide which, as has been explained before, they do when the panel 1 is up against the ceiling of the vehicle.

The spherical head 9 of the pin is shaped and sized such that, on mounting the pin in the bushing, it may be necessary to press slightly in the axial direction so that the head 9 passes the annular constriction 14 which separates the spherical chamber 15 of the bushing from its tubular portion 13. Once the spherical head 9 is introduced in the spherical chamber 15, the pin is held in the bushing so that the panel 1 is prevented from accidentally separating from the bushing 6.

As it has been shown above, the bushing 6 can be an element which forms part of the panel 1, in which case the pin 5 constitutes an independent element for the fixing to the ceiling of the vehicle.

Claims

1. A sunscreen or visor for a motor vehicle, comprising a panel and an articulation for mounting the panel to the vehicle body, wherein said panel is a blowmoulded plastic component formed integrally with either a pin or a bushing forming part of said articulation to connect the panel to a vehicle body.

2. A sunscreen for a vehicle, comprising a panel to be connected to the ceiling of the vehicle by means of an articulation consisting of a pin and a bushing which can be plugged into each other, wherein the pin and the bushing include cylindrical portions each having at least one longitudinal flat so that the flats co-operate with one another to define a first position of the panel, and the pin is rotatable relative to the bushing to bring the flats out of parallelism with one another to hold the panel frictionally in one of a plurality of alternative positions of the panel.

3. A sunscreen according to claim 2, wherein one of said articulation components is integral with said panel.

4. A sunscreen according to claim 1, 2 or 3, and including detent means for resisting withdrawal of the pin from the bushing.

5. A sunscreen according to claim 4, wherein said detent means includes a spherical chamber at the blind end of a bore in the bushing, said spherical chamber being separated from the rest of said blind bore by way of an annular constriction of said bore; and wherein the pin includes a spherical head able to pass with difficulty through said annular constriction to enter said spherical chamber.

6. A sunscreen according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said pin is attached to the panel and said bushing includes a mounting plate for mounting it on the ceiling of a vehicle.

7. A sunscreen according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said panel has along one of its longitudinal edges a recess bridged by a longitudinal bridging piece made of the a same material as the panel, and at one end of the same longitudinal edge a corner recess at which the panel is connected to a respective one of the pin and the bushing.

8. A sunscreen according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said pin has near its proximal end a cylindrical portion of greater diameter than an intermediate portion of said pin, and wherein the bushing has at its distal end a cylindrical portion having the same length as said greater diameter cylindrical portion of the pin.

9. A sunscreen according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said bushing includes a longitudinally extending groove substantially coinciding with one of the longitudinal edges of said flat of the bushing, and at the ends of said longitudinally extending groove respective annular grooves coincident with the width of said flat of the bushing, whereby said annular grooves and said longitudinal groove define between them a tab movable radially with respect to the bushing and coincident with said flat of the bushing.

10. A sunscreen or visor for a vehicle, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.