JPH0117468Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to a device for remotely controlling the angle of so-called outer mirrors such as fender mirrors and door mirrors of automobiles from inside the vehicle.

This type of device initially used a wire method to adjust the angle by pulling the mirror through a wire, but later the drive motor and power transmission member were housed on the back of the mirror inside the mirror case. However, an electric method for electrically adjusting the angle has been provided, and various improvements have been made.

There are various types of electric devices, but they generally have the following structure.

That is, the substantially central portion of the mirror is rotatably connected to a predetermined location on the outer surface of the casing of the device using a universal joint method, and the mirror is tilted vertically either above or below the connection portion on the back of the mirror. One end of one rigid mirror push/pull operation shaft and one end of one mirror push/pull operation shaft for tilting the mirror in the left or right direction are connected by a universal joint method, respectively. Each other end is introduced into the casing. The other end of each mirror push/pull operation shaft is provided with an outer circumferential thread, that is, a male thread, and has a threaded hard flexible piece on the outer periphery of the thread, and is immovable in the axial direction. The rotary tube is fitted onto the outside, and the screw of the flexible piece is screwed onto the outer circumferential screw of the mirror push/pull operation shaft, and the rotary tube is rotated by the drive mechanism housed in the casing, and the mirror push/pull operation shaft is rotated. is moved in the axial direction, thereby tilting the mirror.

By the way, although this type of mirror is basically automatically tilted by its angle adjustment device, it may be manually operated during the manufacturing process or during use of the device.

However, in this case, in the conventional example described above, the screw engagement between the outer circumferential screw of the hard mirror push/pull operation shaft and the hard flexible piece of the rotary cylinder must be forcibly changed, which not only requires considerable force, but also requires considerable force. Moreover, there is a problem in that noise is generated.

In addition, in the conventional device described above, although the mirror rotates, the mirror push/pull operation shaft only moves linearly in a fixed direction. There is a problem in that an unreasonable force is applied between the push/pull operation axes.

The present invention is an attempt to solve the above-mentioned problems of the conventional device.The mirror push/pull operation shaft is made of an elastic material such as rubber and is hollow, and a male thread is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the operation shaft. , the male screw is composed of threaded portions in which threads are intermittently carved for a predetermined length in the circumferential direction so that threaded portions and non-threaded portions are arranged alternately in the circumferential direction; Each threaded portion is located opposite to each other in the diametrical direction of the operating shaft,
The rotary cylinder is made of a harder material than the mirror push/pull operation shaft, and has a female thread formed on its inner circumferential surface to be screwed into the male thread of the mirror push/pull operation shaft, and has an intermittent The diametrical interval between the non-threaded portions formed at the discontinuous portion between the threaded portions is sufficiently smaller than the thread diameter of the female thread of the rotary cylinder. Therefore, firstly, the operating shaft is made of an elastic material, and secondly, the operating shaft has a hollow structure, and the non-threaded portion has a deformation allowance (expansion allowance) for the thread diameter of the female thread.
Furthermore, since the non-threaded portions are thinned so that they are easily deformed, and the threaded portions face each other in the diametrical direction, the non-threaded portions, which are the main deformation points, are inevitably Because they face each other in the diametrical direction, when manually adjusting the angle of the mirror, the operating shaft itself elastically deforms into a flat shape, and this causes the male thread of the operating shaft and the female thread of the rotating tube to It is characterized by the fact that the mesh can be easily disengaged, making manual operation smooth and without noise, and that the unreasonable force that conventionally occurs when tilting the mirror is absorbed by the elastic force of the mirror push/pull operation shaft. There is.

The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. Although the present invention can be applied to a drive mechanism using a one-motor/one-electromagnetic solenoid type, this embodiment shows an example where it is applied to a drive mechanism using a two-motor type.

This device is housed on the back side of a mirror 1 within a mirror case (not shown), and the casing 2 is fixed within the mirror case. This casing 2 is formed by covering a lower casing 2a with an upper casing 2b. The substantially central portion of the bottom of the lower casing 2a and the substantially central portion of the rear surface of the mirror are rotatably connected to each other by a universal joint. That is, the mirror cover 1a holds the mirror body 1b on the front side.
has a hole 1g in its center, a cylindrical body 1c that protrudes to the back side around the hole 1g, and is connected to the interior of the cylindrical body 1c by a total of four rods 1e on the upper, lower, left and right sides. It has a sphere 1d. On the other hand, a bearing portion 2c is provided approximately at the center of the lower casing 2a. The bearing portion 2c has a spherical inner surface 2e into which the spherical body 1d fits, and a slit 2d into which each of the rods 1e fits.
Therefore, the sphere 1d and the rod 1e on the mirror side
are fitted into the spherical inner surface 2e and the slit 2d of the bearing portion 2c on the casing side, respectively, and the mirror 1
can be tilted vertically and horizontally with respect to the casing 2.

Below and to the right of the sphere 1d of the mirror cover 1a, one end of mirror push/pull operation shafts 3a and 3b of the same shape made of an elastic material such as urethane rubber, natural rubber, silicone rubber, etc. is connected. , the other end side is introduced into the casing 2 through each hole 2f provided at the bottom of the lower casing 2a.

Each of the mirror push/pull operation shafts 3a, 3b has a threaded portion 3 which is hollow on its free end side and has male screw threads intermittently carved at predetermined lengths in the circumferential direction.
A rod-shaped part 3c having K, 3k' is formed, and a square piece-shaped stopper part 3e is formed on the connecting end side thereof, and a highly flexible narrow neck part 3d is formed between them. The threaded portions 3k, 3k' are provided at diametrically opposed positions on the shafts 3a, 3b, as best seen in FIG. On the other hand, the threaded portions 3 of the shafts 3a and 3b
The outer circumferential surface of the non-threaded portions 3, 3' between k and 3k' basically forms a cylindrical surface, but the intermediate portions 3m, 3k'
m' is chamfered to make the diameter of that portion smaller than the diameter of the cylindrical surface. Incidentally, as clearly shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the thread height of the threaded portions 3k and 3k' may be made low, and the shape thereof is preferably a round thread.

On the other hand, below and on the right side of the sphere 1d of the mirror cover 1a, there are square step portions 1 having holes 1h.
f, 1i. Therefore, the mirror push/pull operation shafts 3a, 3b are inserted into the holes 1f, 1i of the stepped portions 1f, 1i from the front side of the mirror cover 1a before the mirror body 1b is fixed to the mirror cover 1a.
h and its rod-shaped portion 3c and narrow neck portion 3.
d is made to protrude to the back side, and its stopper portion 3e is press-fitted and fixed into the recess of the step portions 1f and 1i. The stopper portion 3e press-fitted into this recess is prevented from coming off by engaging with the engagement protrusion 1j of the cover 1a.

Rotary cylinders 4a and 4b are fitted around the outer periphery of the bar-shaped portion 3c of each mirror push/pull operation shaft 3a and 3b introduced into the casing 2, respectively. Each rotating cylinder 4a,
4b are the mirror push/pull operation shafts 3a, 3b, respectively.
It is made of synthetic resin that is harder than the material of
It is provided with a female screw 4k that lightly engages with the threaded portion 3k, 3k' of the bar-shaped portion 3c of each mirror push/pull operation shaft 3a, 3b, and a gear 4d on its outer periphery. Further, each rotary cylinder is supported by the lower casing 2a and the upper casing 2b so as to be rotatable but immovable in the axial direction.

Each of the rotating cylinders 4a and 4b is connected to the casing 2.
It is designed to be rotated by a drive mechanism of the same structure housed inside. That is, each drive mechanism is
Reversible motor 7a or 7b, gear 8a or 8b fixed to the outer periphery of the output shaft of each motor 7a, 7b, gear 6a or 6b meshing with each gear 8a, 8b, coaxial with each gear 6a, 6b and each rotation mentioned above. Tube 4
It consists of a worm 5a or 5b that meshes with gears 4d of gears a and 4b. In addition, each of the above motors 7a, 7
Selection of the drives b and switching of the rotational direction of the output shafts can be remotely controlled by a switch (not shown) installed in the vehicle. In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, the non-threaded portions 3,
The outer diameter of 3' is sufficiently smaller than the inner diameter of the inner circumferential threads of the rotary cylinders 4a, 4b.

According to this device having the above structure, when one of the motors 7a, 7b is driven by a switch operation,
A series of transmission members 8a, 6a, 5a or 8b, 6
The rotary cylinder 4a or 4b is rotated via b and 5b. Then, the female screws 4k of the rotating shafts 4a and 4b rotate while meshing with the threaded portions 3k and 3k' of the rod-shaped portion 3c of the mirror push-pull operation shaft 3a or 3b, and as a result, the mirror push-pull operation shaft 3a or 3b rotates. It moves in the axial direction and tilts the mirror 1 vertically or horizontally about the sphere 1d.

When the mirror 1 tilts and becomes non-perpendicular to the axis as shown in FIG. 8 due to the movement of each mirror push/pull operation shaft 3a, 3b, the narrow neck portion 3d easily bends. This prevents the generation of excessive stress.

When manually operating the mirror 1, if you forcefully push in any desired part of the mirror 1, the rod-shaped parts 3c of the mirror push/pull operation shafts 3a, 3b are hollow and elastic, and Since the non-threaded portion is particularly easily deformed elastically and is configured to absorb a large amount of deformation, it easily deforms and becomes flat in the meshing region with the rotary cylinders 4a and 4b, as shown in FIG. , the threaded portions 3k, 3k' and the female thread 4k are easily disengaged, and therefore the shafts 3a, 3b are connected to the rotating cylinders 4a, 4.
It is possible to slide smoothly without causing noise. Furthermore, as shown in Fig. 7, the axis 3
A chamfered portion 3 is provided on the non-threaded portion of the rod-shaped portion 3c of a, 3b.
m and 3m' to make the diameter of the part short, so that the rod-shaped part 3c is connected to the rotary cylinders 4a and 4.
It tends to become flat within b.

As is clear from the detailed description of the embodiments above, in the angle adjusting device for an outer mirror of an automobile according to the present invention, the mirror push/pull operation shaft is made of an elastic material such as rubber, so that the mirror is attached to the housing. On the other hand, even if it is tilted, the unreasonable stress that occurs at that time is absorbed by the elastic material, which is very convenient. Also, the male thread of the mirror push/pull operation shaft and the female thread of the rotary cylinder are engaged, but since the male thread is made up of a pair of opposing threads and the shaft itself is hollow, the angle of the mirror can be adjusted manually. In case,
By pushing in a designated part of the mirror from the outside, the shaft is easily deformed into a flat shape, and the male thread of the shaft and the female thread of the rotating tube can be easily removed, allowing the mirror push/pull operation shaft to slide smoothly against the inner circumferential surface of the rotating tube. It can be slid. Furthermore, when only the threads are elastically deformed, the amount of diameter reduction of the threads affects the amount of pushing force required in manual operation, and the thread diameter of the male thread is High dimensional accuracy of the thread is required, but in this invention, we can expect elastic deformation of the operating shaft itself rather than just the thread, so the thread of the male thread of the operating shaft is different from the female thread of the rotating cylinder. The pushing force required for manual pushing operation can be kept small without maintaining the dimensional accuracy of the material at a very high level.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 1 is a rear view showing the device attached to the back of the mirror with the upper casing removed, Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line shown in Fig. 1. 1 is a partially exploded perspective view, FIG. 4 is an enlarged half-sectional side view and an enlarged rear view of the mirror push/pull operation shaft, and FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of the rotating cylinder.
Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing the normal engagement between the mirror push/pull operation shaft and the rotating cylinder, Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken along the - line in Fig. 6, and Fig. 7 is the mirror push/pull operation shaft relative to the rotating cylinder. Figure 7 is an enlarged sectional view showing the state when it is forcibly moved.
FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of main parts showing a state when the mirror is tilted with respect to the mirror push/pull operation axis. 1...Mirror, 1a...Mirror cover, 1b...
...Mirror body, 2...Casing, 3a, 3b...
...Mirror push/pull operation shaft, 3c...rod-shaped part, 3k, 3
k'...Threaded part, 3, 3'...Non-threaded part, 4a,
4b...Rotating tube, 4k...Female thread.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] (1) A substantially central portion of the rear surface of the mirror is rotatably connected to a predetermined location on the outer surface of the casing of the device, and either the upper or lower portion of the central connecting portion on the rear surface of the mirror, or the left or right One end of the mirror push/pull operation shaft is connected to either one, and the other end is introduced into the casing, and a rotary cylinder whose movement in the axial direction is restrained is removed from the outer periphery of the other end. In an angle adjustment device for an outer mirror of an automobile, the angle adjustment device for an outer mirror of an automobile is configured to rotate each rotary tube by a drive mechanism housed in a casing and move a mirror push/pull operation shaft in its axial direction. is hollow and made of an elastic material such as rubber, and a male thread is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the operating shaft, and the male thread is threaded in the circumferential direction so that threaded parts and non-threaded parts are arranged alternately in the circumferential direction. The rotary cylinder is composed of threaded parts in which threads are intermittently carved at predetermined lengths, and these threaded parts are located opposite to each other in the diametrical direction of the operating shaft. It is made of a harder material than the operating shaft, and its inner peripheral surface is formed with a female thread that engages with the male thread of the mirror push/pull operating shaft. An angle adjustment device for an outer mirror of an automobile, characterized in that a diametrical interval between non-threaded portions formed at each location is sufficiently smaller than a thread diameter of a female thread of the rotary cylinder. (2) Each non-threaded portion of the mirror push/pull operation shaft is chamfered to shorten the diametrical distance between the non-threaded portions, as stated in claim 1 of the utility model registration claim. Angle adjustment device for outside mirrors of automobiles.