JP2003127773A - Door mirror - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a door mirror with a cover which can easily be removed without using a tool. SOLUTION: The door mirror 1 is provided with a door mirror body 2 to accommodate a mirror 4 and an engaging claw 6 to be engaged with the door mirror body 2, and has a cover 3 to be fixed to the door mirror body 2 with the engaging claw 6. A thinner part 12 of the cover 3 thinner than other parts is provided near the engaging claw 6 of the cover 3. When an external force is applied to the cover 3, bending occurs around the engaging claw 6 starting from the thinner part 12. The engaging claw 6 is moved by the bending, the engagement between the engaging claw 6 and the door mirror body 2 is released. Thereby, the cover 3 can be manually and easily removed from the door mirror body 2 without the use of a tool such as a driver or the like.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle door mirror, and more particularly to a technique effective when applied to a door mirror having a cover painted according to the color of a vehicle body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the color of door mirrors has been increasing due to design requirements, and various coatings have been applied according to the color of the vehicle body. On the other hand, since the door mirror is in a state of protruding more than the entire width of the vehicle body in a normal use state, the surface thereof is likely to be scratched, and the scratch is particularly noticeable in a painted door mirror. However, when repairing such a scratch, not only the repair cost becomes high if the entire door mirror is replaced, but also the undamaged main body portion is wasted, which is a resource problem. For this reason,
Recently, a door cover body with a painted cover is attached, and if the surface is scratched, the cover can be replaced by replacing it.

In such a door mirror, the cover is formed into a curved surface so as to cover the door mirror body, and a claw that engages with the body is provided inside the cover. For example, four claws are provided, one for each of the four sides, so that the cover is elastically coupled to the main body side so that the cover does not drop off from the main body due to a small impact or vibration during traveling. The cover is fixed to the door mirror main body by fitting the claw into the engaging portion of the main body, and the external appearance becomes the same color as the vehicle body color.

[0004]

On the other hand, when replacing a damaged cover, it is necessary to release the engagement of the aforementioned pawls. However, since the claw is set so that the cover does not easily come off, it cannot be easily removed from the outside of the cover. In particular, since the cover is entirely formed into a bowl-shaped curved surface, it is difficult to bend the claw portion,
Although the connection is strong, there is an adverse effect that it takes time to replace. For this reason, for convenience of removal, a method has been widely adopted in which a notch is provided at a joint with the main body of the cover and a minus (-) driver is inserted into the notch to remove the cover. There, a screwdriver is inserted between the cover and the main body, the cover is lifted open, the claws are removed, and the cover is removed from the main body.

However, the method of forcibly removing the cover with a tool as described above has a problem that the door mirror body may be damaged or destroyed when the cover is replaced. In this case, the cover itself is a replacement and there is no problem if it is destroyed, but if the main body side is damaged, the main body must be replaced after all, and the merit of using the cover cannot be utilized at all. Therefore, the improvement was desired.

An object of the present invention is to provide a door mirror having a cover which can be easily removed without using a tool.

[0007]

The door mirror of the present invention comprises:
A door mirror, comprising: a door mirror body that accommodates a mirror; and an engagement claw that engages with the door mirror body, and a cover that is fixed to the door mirror body by the engagement claw. A flexible portion, which is thinner than other portions of the cover, is provided in the vicinity of the mating claw.

Further, the door mirror of the present invention has a door mirror body for accommodating the mirror and an engaging claw for engaging with the door mirror body, and a cover fixed to the door mirror body by the engaging claw. In the door mirror, the cover allows a flexure to occur around the engagement claw by applying an external force to the cover, and the engagement claw is moved by the flexure to cause the engagement claw and the door mirror main body to move. It is characterized by having a flexible portion for releasing the engagement between.

In the door mirror of the present invention, when a part of the cover is pushed, the flexible part serves as a base part and the part bends,
The engaging claw moves and the engagement between the engaging claw and the door mirror body is released. Therefore, the cover can be easily removed from the door mirror body by hand without using a tool such as a screwdriver as in the conventional cover. Therefore, the cover removal work can be performed very easily without damaging the door mirror body with the tool.

In this case, in the door mirror, the flexible portion may be formed closer to the central portion of the cover than the engaging claw. Further, in the door mirror, an engaging portion between the engaging claw and the door mirror body,
It may be formed on a portion of the cover opposite to the flexible portion with respect to the position where the engaging claws are formed. Further, in the door mirror, at least one engaging claw may be arranged outside the flexible portion of the cover.

In addition, in the door mirror, the flexible portion may be formed by a thin portion formed on the inner surface of the cover. Further, the flexible portion may be formed by a groove formed on the inner surface of the cover.

On the other hand, in the door mirror, the engaging portion may be arranged laterally of the engaging claw, or the engaging portion may be arranged above the engaging claw.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION (Embodiment 1) Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. 1 is a perspective view showing an outline of a door mirror that is Embodiment 1 of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view of a cover used in the door mirror of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a cross section taken along line AA of FIG. Figure, Figure 4 is Figure 2
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the door mirror of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, a door mirror 1 according to the present invention has a door mirror body 2 fixed to a side portion of an automobile.
And a cover 3 attached to the outside of the door mirror body 2
It consists of and. Door mirror body 2 has a mirror 4
Are housed and are connected to the motor unit 5 stored in the door mirror body 2. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 4, the mounting angle of the mirror 4 can be adjusted appropriately.

The cover 3 is made of synthetic resin, and the outer side of the cover 3 is painted to match the color of the car body.
Inside the cover 3, four engaging claws 6 (6a to 6d), which are bent and formed in a U-shape at the tip side, are provided upright. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the cover 3 is fixed to the door mirror body 2 by inserting and engaging these into the mounting holes 7 provided on the door mirror body 2 side.

In this case, the U-shaped portion 8 of the engaging claw 6 is formed so that its tip end is directed to the side of the cover 3 (left in FIG. 2), and the tip end is stepped. The claw portion 9 is provided. Further, the mounting hole 7 is formed with a side wall portion 10 having a tapered slope. When attaching the cover 3 to the door mirror body 2, first, the U-shaped portion 8
While being bent, the claw portion 9 is pushed in along the side wall portion 10,
The claw portion 9 is hooked on the lower edge portion of the side wall portion 10 to form the engaging portion 11. At this time, the claw portion 9 is pressed against the side wall portion 10 by the elastic force of the U-shaped portion 8, and the step portion of the claw portion 9 and the side wall portion 1 are pushed.
The lower end surfaces of 0 fit together. As a result, the engaging claw 6 is fixedly engaged with the mounting hole 7, and the cover 3 is held so as not to fall off from the door mirror body 2.

On the other hand, in the vicinity of the engaging claws 6 of the cover 3, a thin portion 1 which is formed as a flexible portion and has a smaller thickness than other portions.
Two are provided. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the thin portion 1
2 is provided in a strip shape on the inner surface 13 of the cover 3 along the up-down direction, and is formed closer to the center O of the cover 3 than the engaging claws 6a and 6b. That is, in the cover 3, the engaging claws 6 a, 6 are provided outside the thin portion 12 when viewed from the center O.
b is located. Further, in this case, the engaging portion 11 between the engaging claws 6a and 6b and the mounting hole 7 is thin relative to the formation position P of the engaging claws 6a and 6b in the cover 3 with respect to the thin portion 1.
It will be arranged on the opposite side of 2.

The cover 3 as described above is removed as follows. In this case, since the cover 3 has the thin portion 12, the portion outside the thin portion 12 is more easily bent than the other portions. Therefore, when the left end portion of the cover 3 in FIG. 4 is pushed toward the door mirror body 2 side, the engaging claws 6a,
The peripheral portion 6b bends with the thin portion 12 as the base portion, and the bending causes the engaging claws 6a and 6b to move, resulting in the state shown by the broken line in FIG. At this time, the pawl portion 9 separates from the side wall portion 10 as shown in FIG. 5, and the engagement between the engagement pawls 6a and 6b in the engaging portion 11 and the door mirror body 2 is released. Therefore, if the engaging claws 6a and 6b can be easily removed from the mounting hole 7 and two of the four engaging claws 6 can be removed, the remaining two can be easily removed. become.

If one engaging claw 6 can be removed, the remaining three can be removed relatively easily. Therefore, it is also possible to bend only the vicinity of one engagement claw 6 to facilitate removal. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, a thin portion 12 may be provided so as to surround the periphery of the engaging claw 6a so that the upper left end portion of the cover 3 can be easily bent. In this case, the engagement of the engaging claw 6a is released by pushing the upper left end portion of the cover 3, and the cover 3 can be easily removed.

Further, the shape of the flexible portion may be not only the wide cutout thin portion 12 as shown in FIG. 2 but also a groove 14 as shown in FIGS. In this case, the groove shape is not limited to the V-shape shown in the drawing, and various shapes such as a U-shape and a trapezoidal shape can be adopted. It is also possible to extend the flexible portion such as the thin portion 12 and the groove 14 not only to the inner wall 13a of the inner surface 13 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 8 but also to the upper wall 13b and the lower wall 13c.

As described above, in the cover 3, the cover 3 can be easily removed from the door mirror body 2 by hand without using a tool such as a screwdriver as in the conventional cover. Therefore, the cover removal work can be performed extremely easily without damaging the door mirror body 2 with the tool. On the other hand, the cover 3 can be easily removed by those who know the release method, but cannot be easily removed by those who do not know it. That is, the cover 3 can be easily removed by a person who has learned the essential points, but cannot be easily removed by a person who does not know the essential points, and there is little risk of mischief or theft. In particular, since the cover 3 can be formed in the same manner as a conventional cover in appearance, it is indistinguishable from a cover that is not easy to remove in appearance and there is no possibility of inducing mischief. The thin portion 12 allows bending due to a considerable external force,
It does not allow bending due to vibration during traveling, and maintains the same cover holding performance as the conventional product.

(Second Embodiment) Next, as a second embodiment, a structure of a flexible portion of the cover 21 in which the mounting direction of the engaging claw 6 is different from that of the cover 3 of the first embodiment will be described. 9 is a front view of the cover 21 used for the door mirror according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along the line D-D of the cover 21 of FIG. In the following, the same members, parts and the like as those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

In the cover 21, as shown in FIG. 10, the U-shaped portions 8 of the engaging claws 6a and 6c are different from those in FIG.
It is formed in a deviated direction, and the tip portion of the cover 2
Facing upward of 1. Therefore, the claw portion 9 also engages with the mounting hole 7 while being biased upward, and the engaging portion 11 is also located on the side of the engaging claws 6a and 6c in the cover 3, whereas Here, the shape is such that it is located above the engaging claws 6a and 6c. In this case, in order to release the engagement of the engaging portion 11,
It is necessary to move the claw portion 9 downward. Therefore, unlike the first embodiment, the cover 21 needs a flexible portion extending in the left-right direction in FIG. In FIG. 9, a thin portion 22 is formed in the left-right direction as the flexible portion.

In this case, in order to remove the cover 21, the upper end of the cover 21 is pushed into the door mirror body 2 side. As a result, the portion above the thin portion 22 bends, the two upper engaging claws 6a and 6c move accordingly, the engaging portions 11 disengage, and the cover 21 can be easily removed. Like

Also in the present embodiment, it is also possible to bend only the vicinity of one engaging claw 6 so that it can be easily removed. For example, as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. A thin portion 22 may be provided so as to surround the compound jaw 6a so that the upper left end portion of the cover 3 can be easily bent. In this case, the engagement of the engagement claw 6a is released by pushing the upper left portion of the cover 3 so that the cover 3 can be easily removed. In the present embodiment as well, the thin portion 22
Alternatively, the flexible portion may be formed in a groove shape.

It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the position, orientation, number, etc. of the engaging claws 6 are not limited to those described above, and the present invention can be applied to, for example, three or five engaging claws. Further, the number of engaging claws that are easily removed is not limited to one or two, and the configuration of the present invention can be applied to all the engaging claws. Furthermore, the engaging claws that are targeted for easy removal are not limited to those at the end,
For example, the center of the three engaging claws may be the target.

In addition, the shape of the engaging portion 11 is not limited to the above-described shape, and the engaging claw 6 is elastically caught on the door mirror main body 2 and cannot be removed only by pulling the covers 3 and 21. I wish I had it. For example, a simple form in which a cantilevered spring piece having a retaining projection formed at the tip is snap-fitted into the mounting hole can also be adopted.

[0028]

According to the door mirror of the present invention, since the cover is provided with the flexible portion, when a part of the cover is pushed, the flexible portion serves as a base portion and the engaging claw moves. The engagement between the engaging claw and the door mirror body is released. Therefore, the cover can be easily removed from the door mirror body by hand without using a tool such as a screwdriver as in the conventional cover. Therefore, it is possible to extremely easily perform the cover removal work without damaging the door mirror body with the tool.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an outline of a door mirror that is Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a cover used for the door mirror of FIG.

3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the door mirror of FIG. 2 is attached to a door mirror body.

5 is an enlarged view of part B in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing the configuration of a modified example of the cover.
Only the vicinity of the engagement claw of the book is bent to facilitate removal.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing a configuration of a cover having grooves formed as flexible portions.

8 is a cross-sectional view of the cover of FIG. 7 taken along the line CC.

FIG. 9 is a front view of a cover used for a door mirror that is Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

10 is a cross-sectional view of the cover of FIG. 9 taken along the line D-D.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 door mirror 2 door mirror body 3 cover 4 mirror 5 motor unit 6 engaging claws 6a to 6d engaging claws 7 mounting holes 8 U-shaped part 9 nails 10 Side wall 11 Engagement part 12 Thin part (flexible part) 13 Inside 13a back wall 13b Upper wall 13c lower wall 14 groove (flexible part) 21 cover 22 Thin part O cover center P Engagement claw formation position

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A door mirror comprising: a door mirror main body that houses a mirror; and an engagement claw that engages with the door mirror main body, and a cover fixed to the door mirror main body by the engagement claw. A door mirror, characterized in that a flexible portion, which is thinner than other portions of the cover, is provided in the vicinity of the engaging claw of the cover. 2. A door mirror, comprising: a door mirror main body that houses a mirror; and an engagement claw that engages with the door mirror main body, and a cover fixed to the door mirror main body by the engagement claw. The cover allows the bending generated around the engaging claws by applying an external force to the cover, and the bending causes the engaging claws to move, thereby engaging the engaging claws with the door mirror body. A door mirror having a flexible portion for releasing. 3. The door mirror according to claim 1, wherein the flexible portion is formed closer to a central portion of the cover than the engaging claw. 4. The door mirror according to claim 1, wherein the engaging portion between the engaging claw and the door mirror body is
A door mirror, wherein the cover is formed at a portion of the cover opposite to the flexible portion with respect to the position where the engaging claw is formed. 5. The door mirror according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the cover is at least 1 outside the flexible portion.
A door mirror having a plurality of the engaging claws. 6. The door mirror according to claim 1, wherein the flexible portion is formed by a thin portion formed on the inner surface of the cover. 7. The door mirror according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the flexible portion is formed by a groove formed on the inner surface of the cover. 8. The door mirror according to claim 1, wherein the engaging portion is located on a side of the engaging claw. 9. The door mirror according to claim 1, wherein the engaging portion is located above the engaging claw.