GB2259272A

GB2259272A - Vehicle accessory

Info

Publication number: GB2259272A
Application number: GB9219037A
Authority: GB
Inventors: James John Mcdaid
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1991-09-06
Filing date: 1992-09-07
Publication date: 1993-03-10
Also published as: GB9219037D0

Abstract

A vehicle windscreen protector comprises a thin transparent sheet of plastics material of a size to fit a windscreen or the like, which is placed over the windscreen at the start of a journey on which significant insect impact on the windscreen is expected. At the end of the journey, the sheet can be removed, leaving the windscreen itself clean. The sheet may be unrolled and attached by water, from the sheet container or the windscreen wipers. The sheet may be at least partially tinted, and may be robust enough for repeated used. The sheet may be provided with drawstrings attached to one side so that it can be pulled off from inside the car, and may comprise several layers, each of a single film, with their edges staggered at one edge of the stack, and attached to each other by drawstrings. A similar sheet may be used for vehicle lights.

Description

Rr e ci - A c c S SO y The present invention relates to vehicle accessories, and more specifically to means for cleaning windscreens and the like.

The problerns associated with a windscreen becoming obscured have existed for as long as windscreens.

One form of obscuring is by rain; windscreen wipers are generally effective at dealing with this.

Another form of obscuring is by dirt. This is more difficult to deal with.

The use of a windscreen wiper to attempt to clear dirt is likely to be counterproductive, since it will often smear the dirt over the windscreen rather than removing it. To deal with this, windscreen washers have been introduced.

These spray the windscreen with water (with a suitable detergent in it), so that the windscreen wiper is then able to wipe away the dirt rather than spreading it over the windscreen.

This washer plus wiper combination is still, however, not wholly satisfactory. A common situation is that of driving in warm fine weather through the country. In such conditions, there are many insects in the air, and these impact upon the windscreen and become squashed. The result is the deposition of patches of sticky fluid on the windscreen, with or without the insect bodies themselves. The warmness of the weather and the rapid flow of air over the windscreen produces rapid drying of the sticky patches In these circumstances, the use of winascreen wipers, even in combination with a windscreen washer, Is often worse than useless. It is impracticable to attempt to clean the windscreen instantly upon every insect impact.Once an irnpact has occurred and the smear has dried, washing the screen clean takes a very considerable time, if it can be achieved at all. Leaving the washing until there is sn accurnulation of patches makes it dangerous to try to clean the screen at all, because washing in such conditions rapidly smears the patches over large areas of the screen, with a major reduction of visibility through it.

The result is that in such conditions, drivers tend to drive on regardless of the build-up of insect patches. In general, a driver will be prepared to stop and clean the windscreen only under very extreme dirtying of this kind.

The inconvenience arises partly from the need to stop and partly because the actual cleaning of the screen is messy and long-winded.

The main object of the present invention is to provide means for reducing the problem of cleaning vehicle windscreens and the like.

The crux of the present invention lies in the use of a thin transparent sheet of plastics material of a size to fit a windscreen or the like. ' This sheet is placed over the windscreen at the start of a journey on which significant insect impact on the windscreen is expected. At the end of the journey, the sheet can be removed, leaving the windscreen itself clean.

It is of course necessary for the sheet to be attached adequately to the windscreen. Although the sheet may have a releasably adhesive surface, this is preferably achieved by wetting the windscreen before placing the sheet over it.

The wether layer ensures good adhesion, and has the further advantage of greatly reducing reflections from the inner surface of the sheet and the outer surface of the windscreen. Obviously, the liquid need not be pure water; an antifreeze such as a glycerol solution may, for example, be used. (The term "water" will be used to include antifreeze.) The sheet can readily be spread or unrolled over the wetted screen gradually, with any air bubbles being easily smoothed out, and the thin water layer achieves excellent adhesion between the sheet and the-screen. Any tendency of the water may tend to evaporate around the edges of the screen will normally. be negligible.

The water required to achieve adhesion may be obtained by operating the windscreen washer. In that case, the sheet is preferably provided rolled up in the form of two rolls each of half the sheet. The double roll can then be placed vertically down the centre of the windscreen, with each roll then being unrolled towards the edge of the screen; as each roll is unrolled and smoothed and spread out, the water layer beneath it is spread out with it. The two rolls may be rolled on formers or supports if desired.

Alternatively, the sheet may be provided in the form of a roll in a waterfilled container, so that the water in the container cen be poured over the screen and the sheet (which will already be wet) then unrolled across the screen frorn one edge.

Conditions may of course arise where the use of the windscreen wipers is desirable. If there is a substantial accumulation of insect fluids on the sheet, then it will be necessary to remove the sheet. This will necessitate a brief stop, but the windscreen will then be clean and no smearing will result from the use of the wipers. If the sheet is reasonably clean, however, then the wipers can be operated in the usual manner over the sheet. For this, all that is necessary is that the bottom edge of the sheet should be tucked under the wipers when the sheet is being placed in position, and that the sheet should be robust enough to resist deformation or tearing if the wipers are operated. The water layer holds the sheet in position against the operation of the wipers.

If desired, the sheet may be tinted, either partially (e.g. across its upper part) or wholly. Similarly, a name or slogan may be printed across the upper ,xrt of the sheet.

The sheet may be designed for either one-time or repeated use.

For one-time use, the sheet need only be sufficiently robust to allow the user to place it over the windscreen fairly easily and to withstand the action of the windscreen wipers. It will be used just for a single journey; at the end of the journey, it will be taken off and thrown away, and a fresh sheet used for the next journey subject to the hazard of insect impact.

For repeated use, the sheet must be sufficiently robust to withstand removal, cleaning, and re-use. Cleaning of the sheet will be easier than cleaning of the windscreen, because the sheet can be left in soak. (Cleaning of the windscreen can also be inconvenient, because of, for example, cold, rain, or darkness.) Generally, the sheet will last for the whole of a journey. In extrerne conditions, however, it may be necessary to remove the screen during a journey.

The sheet may therefore be provided with drawstrings or the like, attached to the passenger's side of the screen. These can be drawn across the screen and into the car through the window of the driver's door. By pulling on them, the driver can remove the sheet while driving.

This will of course leave the screen unprotected. This will be acceptable if there is a sudden burst of rain, because it will leave the screen clean for the use of the wipers. If the sheet has to be removed because it has become excessively dirty, and the driver does not want to stop and replace it, the worst that will result is that the windscreen itself will then become dirty as the journey continues. The driver may be able to finish the journey before the windscreen itself has to be cleaned; at worst, the distance travelled will be doubled before stopping the clean the screen becornes necessary.

There may however be circumstances where repeated cleaning of the windscreen is desirable or necessary; for example, in rallying. In such circumstances, a multiple sheet may be used. Such a multiple sheet will consist of several layers, each of a single sheet. The layers can be removed one by one, each removal uncovering a fresh clean sheet.

For this, the sheets may have their edges staggered at one edge of the stack, so that removal of them one after the other is made easy. Alternatively, they may be attached to each other by drawstrings or the like, each set of drawstrings connecting the left-hand edge of one sheet with the right-hand edge of the next, so that the sheets can all be pulled off one by one from the same side of the stack and frorn inside the car.

It will be realized that the sheet will also provide a degree of protection against chipping of the windscreen by small stones thrown up from the road by other vehicles.

It will also be realized that the sheet may also be used during cold nights to protect the windscreen from frost. For this use, it is of course desirable to use the sheet with a liquid containing antifreeze rather than pure water. It would of course be desirable to use the sheet dry, but there would be a danger of the sheet becoming detached frorn the screen. (It would be possible to use liquid down only the sides the the sheet, to maintain it is place but leaving the main area of the scr-een clear when the sheet is removed.) The description so far has been solely concerned with windscreens.It will be realized, however, that similar problems arise with vehicle lights, par- ticularly heedlights. Although one does not need to see through the headlight glass or lens, it is desirable for the light from headlights to emerge without scattering. If tfle glass becomes dirty, scattering will occur. This will produce a certain impairment of the efficiency of the headlight as fer as the driver is concerned, and will also result in a considerable increase of the blinding effect on other oncorning drivers.

This is sufficiently serious that the more expensive cars now often have t.eacllight washers fitted as well as windscreen washers.

It will be realized that the principles and features of the present invention can be applied equally well to vehicle lights, subject of course to an appropriate reduction in the size of the sheet used.

Claims

Clams

1 A vehicle windscreen protector comprising a thin transparent sheet of plastics material of a size to fit a windscreen or the like.

2 - A vehicle windscreen protector according to claim 1 in the form of two rolls each of half the sheet.

3 A vehicle windscreen protector according to claim 1 in the form of a roll in a water-filled container.

4 A vehicle windscreen protector according to any previous clairn wherein the sheet is at least partially tinted.

5 A vehicle windscreen protector according to any previous claim wherein the sheet is sufficiently robust to withstand removal, cleaning, and re-use.

6 A vehicle windscreen protector according to any previous claim wherein the sheet is provided with drawstrings or the like, attached to one side, which can be drawn across the screen and into the car through a door window.

7 A vehicle windscreen protector according to claim 6 wherein the sheet consists of several layers, each of a single film.

8 A vehicle windscreen protector according to claim 7 wherein the films have their edges staggered at one edge of the stack.

9 A vehicle windscreen protector according to claim 7 wherein the films are attached to each other by drawstrings or the like, each set of drawstrings connecting the left-hand edge of one film with the ri;ht-hand edge of the next, so that the films can all be pulled off one by one from the same side of the stack and from inside the car.

10 A vehicle windscreen protector substantially as herein described.

11 A method of protecting the windscreen of a vehicle, comprising covering it with a thin transparent sheet of plastics mater iso as defined in any previous claim.

12 A method according to claim 11 including wetting the screen before placing; the sheet over it.

13 A method according to claim 12 comprising operating the vehicle's windscreen washer.

14 A method according to claim 12 comprising using water from a container containing the sheet.

15 A method according to either of claims 13 and 14 including unrolling the sleet in both direction from the centre of the windscreen.

16 A method of protecting the windscreen of a vehicle substantially as herein descri bed.

17 A vehicle light protector substantially as herein described.

18 A method of protecting the lights of a vehicle substantially as herein described.

19 Any novel and inventive feature or combination of features specifically disclosed herein within the meaning of Article 4H of the International Convention (Paris Convention).