JPS641347B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to windshield wiper blades.

Windshield wiper blades are used to wipe snow, sleet, rainwater or condensed water vapor from the windshield of a vehicle, as well as foreign matter such as oil, insects, tree sap, etc. Such blades must have a long service life so that they do not need to be replaced frequently. However, as is well known, conventional wiper blades are prone to streaking and wear, and within a relatively short period of use the longitudinal portion of the blade loses its ability to perform an effective wiping action. Blade chemical strength against ozone and sunlight, shear strength, flexibility, tensile strength, hardness, stiffness,
It is difficult to eliminate these drawbacks due to various variables such as frictional forces and the uniformity of wiping pressure and contact of the entire length of the blade against the windshield. Until now, various attempts have been made to improve the functionality of wiper blades, such as giving the blade a special profile in its cross section, especially its wiping rib, selecting various materials for the blade, and chemically treating the blade. Efforts have been made to improve the blade holder design or change the design of the blade holder, but the problem of contamination has not been resolved.

The following US patents are known relating to various aspects of windshield wiper blades, including blade profile, materials of construction and manufacturing techniques: US Pat. Namely, No. 4103385,
No. 3903560, No. 3636583, No. 3566432, No.
No. 2090702, No. 2011015, No. 2179451, No.
No. 1940329, and Design Patent No. 212743.

A primary object of the present invention is to provide a windshield wiper blade with improved smudge-free properties and a longer operating life than conventional blades. This objective is achieved by equipping the blade with a unique tubular body having a plurality of parallel ribs of a special shape and arrangement that engage the windshield in a special manner during each wiping stroke. . In particular, the blade includes a central squeegee rib of unique cross-section and two scrape ribs of equally unique cross-section on either side of the squeegee rib. The size, shape, and arrangement of these ribs is such that when the blade moves in one direction over the windshield, the scrape rib on one side of the squeegee rib, the side in the direction of blade movement, crosses the windshield and the squeegee rib contact the glass in advance of one edge of the scraper rib and the other edge of the scrape rib and squeegee rib on the other side of the squeegee rib, i.e. on the side opposite to the direction of movement of the blade, leave the glass. Become a thing. When the direction of the blade is reversed by the wiper mechanism, the blade rotates slightly about an axis parallel to its longitudinal direction, causing the scrape rib on the opposite side of the squeegee rib to squeegee across the windshield. The other edge of the rib contacts the glass in advance. That rotation of the blade also puts the tubular body in a favorable position to push heavy debris or snow off the tip of the blade and supports the blade against lateral bending.

The blade comprises a tubular body portion made of two semicircular sections of different diameters joined by a radially extending shoulder. Five ribs project from the smaller diameter section generally radially relative to the longitudinal axis of the body. The center rib among those five ribs becomes a squeegee rib,
It is longer in the radial direction than the two scraped ribs.
Diametrically opposite the squeegee rib is a T-shaped mounting rib. This mounting rib has two functions:
One is to mount the blade to the windshield wiper mechanism, and the other is to be hinged to allow rotation of the blade at the reversal point of each wiping stroke. This rotation allows the scrape rib to engage the windshield on each side of the squeegee rib, as previously described.

A preferred material for the blade is a synthetic rubber, especially an ethylene propylene diene polymer such as "Nordel" from DuPont. This material is known to have an excellent combination of physical and chemical properties and can be extruded into multi-ribbed shapes such as those described above. In particular, this material has great mechanical and chemical durability, hardness, rigidity,
Having an excellent balance of flexibility, frictional properties, and elasticity, embodiments of the invention constructed as described above exhibit superior performance in terms of streak-free operation and long service life. It is known to do.

The extruded multi-ribbed blade of the present invention also has the unique advantage that worn wiper blades of any design or length can be replaced very easily. That is, wiper blade replacement is accomplished by cutting a long wiper blade material to the required length and attaching the cut to the existing wiper blade backing member with a simple universal clip.
Rather than having to stock up on large numbers of pre-cut blades, sellers can simply purchase clips and extruded blades in long rolls from manufacturers.
Or you can purchase a separate package of the longest blade needed for any windshield (automobile, marine, or aircraft). Such blades are cut to size according to the customer's requirements and then installed in the customer's own wiper blade holder. Since the clip is designed to cooperate with the mounting rib, the profile of the blade does not need to match the existing wiper blade holder. The clip is also designed to work with all or substantially all existing wiper blade holders. The blade is therefore a universal replacement blade that can be cut to length and easily installed in virtually any existing wiper blade holder.

As shown in the drawings, a wiper blade 10 according to the present invention is comprised of an extruded synthetic polymer elastomer blade configured to fit within a wiper blade holder 12. The blade 10 has five integral ribs 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 extending in its longitudinal direction and projecting generally radially with respect to the longitudinal axis 24 of the upper tubular body portion 25. Equipped with The central rib 18 is a squeegee rib, and on each side of this are two ribs 14, 16 and 20, 2.
2 will be scraped ribs. As will be described in more detail later, the squeegee rib 18 is a scrape rib 14,
It is slightly longer than 16, 20, and 22.

Upper tubular body portion 2 as shown in FIG.
5. The dimensional relationship between support rib 26, lower tubular body portion 27, and ribs 14-22 is important to the proper functioning of blade 10.

In an embodiment of the structure of the invention, dimensions as listed in the table below are provided for each dimension shown in FIG. 2 in order to create a wiper blade with excellent wiping properties. Dimensions mm (inch) a 7.62-8.00 (0.300-0.315) b 5.33-5.72 (0.210-0.225) c 4.06 (0.160) d 4.19 (0.165) e 6.35 (0.250) f 8.89 (0.350) g 2.41 (0) .095) The angle between the ribs 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 is about 30° and the angle between the ribs 14, 16, 20,
The angle of the tip of 22 is approximately 45°.

Further, the squeegee rib 18 has a concave end surface 32,
This presents a relatively sharp edge to the glass surface being wiped.

radially projecting generally T-shaped support ribs 2;
6 is formed by a leg portion 28 and a top flange portion 30. The leg portion 28 has sufficient flexibility such that the top portion 30 acts as a hinge when secured within the wiper blade holder 12. A hinge of this type is described, for example, in U.S. Pat.
3903560 and 4103385, which are well known in the prior art. The contour shape of the flange portion 30 of the support rib 26 can be any shape as long as it can be gripped by the blade holder 12 such that relative rotation between the support rib and the blade holder 12 is possible.

Blade holder 12 as shown in FIG.
has a channel-shaped cross-section with spaced inwardly directed clip portions 40 that retain the top flange 30 of the blade 10. Blade holder 12
The web portion 42 of is coupled in a known manner to an arm (not shown) of a wiper drive mechanism.

As shown in FIG. 5, the wiper blade 10 of the present invention can also be attached to a conventional blade holder 50 by separate spaced clips 52 complementary to its T-shaped rib 26.

As previously mentioned, the preferred material for blade 10 is extruded synthetic rubber, particularly ethylene propylene diene polymer. Such materials and others are described in U.S. Pat.
It is described for wiper blades used in No. 4103385.

According to one feature of the invention, the upper tubular body portion 25 of the blade 10 serves as a snow and ice pushing device to reduce the scraping load on the scraping ribs 14, 16 or 20, 22. is made larger in diameter than that of the lower body portion 27. Furthermore, because the diameter of the lower tubular body portion 27 is smaller than that of the upper body portion 25, both body portions are separated by a pair of opposed radially extending shoulders 34 and 36. bonded, thereby creating a relatively stable support platform for ribs 14-22.

3 and 4 show the blade 10 moving in mutually opposite directions over the windshield 60. FIG. In FIG. 3, the blade 10 is moving to the left as indicated by the arrow. In this case, the body 25 of the blade 10 is twisted slightly counterclockwise due to the friction between it and the windshield 60 and the flexibility of the neck portion 28 of the support rib 26. In this position scrape rib 1
4 and 16 and the squeegee rib 18 contact the windshield 60. If snow accumulates on the windshield 60, the upper body portion 25 of the blade 10 acts as a pushing device. In addition, shoulders 34 and 36 strengthen blade 10 against lateral bending, and ribs 14, 16, 18
to surely contact the windshield 60.

The primary function of the scraping ribs 14 and 16 is to sweep away large amounts of rainwater, snow, sleet, and foreign matter such as insects and road dust. Ribs 14 and 1 are typically shorter and therefore less flexible than rib 18.
6 contacts the windshield 60 and is bent smaller than the rib 18. Squeegee rib 1 in contact with windshield 60
The edges of 8 provide a squeegee action, ie, remove substantially all liquid from the windshield 60.

When the blade 10 reaches the end of its stroke and reverses direction as shown in FIG. , and the inherent elasticity of the tubular structure of the blade 10 causes it to rotate clockwise. It should also be noted that the unique tubular cross-section of the blade 10
0 shape, while reducing its lateral bending and the resulting twisting of the ribs 14-22. It will be appreciated that the contact points of all rib edges with the windshield are sharp edges.

Although preferred embodiments of the invention have been described herein, it will be understood that the invention may be modified without departing from the scope of the claims.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a wiper blade of the present invention attached to a wiper arm, and FIG.
- A cross-sectional view of the blade along line 2; Figure 3 is a drawing similar to Figure 2 where the blade touches the windshield and moves to the left; Figure 4 shows the blade moving to the right. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the blade in the universal mounting clip. 10... Wiper blade, 12... Wiper blade holder, 14, 16, 20, 22...
Scrape ribs, 18...Squeegee ribs, 24
...Blade body longitudinal axis, 25...Upper body portion, 26...Support rib, 27...Lower body portion,
28...Support rib leg part, 30...Flange part, 34, 36...Shoulder part, 40...Blade holder clip part, 42...Same web part, 50
...Blade holder, 52...Clip.

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. A windshield wiper blade made of synthetic elastomeric material having an elongated body having a longitudinal axis, comprising: a longitudinally extending squeegee integral with and extending radially from the body; a rib, comprising a plurality of longitudinally extending scraped ribs integral with the body, the scraped ribs projecting radially outwardly from the body, and an outer edge of the scraped ribs is centered on the longitudinal axis; located on a circular arc formed around the squeegee rib, the squeegee rib having a radial length greater than the scrape rib, and integral with the body and from which the squeegee rib is opposite from a diametrically opposite point of the squeegee rib. mounting ribs projecting radially outward in the direction, the inherent flexibility of the mounting ribs forming a longitudinally extending hinge about which the body swings in both directions; a wiper blade configured to be movable such that when the blade moves relative to the windshield, the squeegee rib and the at least one scrape rib on the side of the blade in the direction of movement engage the windshield; . 2. The wiper blade according to claim 1, wherein the body portion includes an upper semicircular section supporting the mounting rib, and a lower semicircular section having a smaller diameter than the upper section and supporting the scrape rib and the squeegee rib. lateral semicircular sections, the upper and lower sections of the body being joined by a pair of radially extending shoulders that provide lateral strength to the blade. 3. The wiper blade of claim 2, wherein two scrape ribs are provided on each side of the squeegee rib. 4. The wiper blade of claim 3, wherein the shoulder is substantially the same length as the scrape rib. 5. The wiper blade of claim 1, wherein the squeegee rib has a concave surface creating two relatively sharp edges at its windshield-engaging end; a wiper blade, wherein the edge of the wiper blade engages the windshield and the other edge engages the windshield when the blade moves in an opposite direction. 6. The wiper blade of claim 1, wherein the scraping rib has a rib sidewall extending generally radially with respect to the central axis of the upper and lower semicircular sections; A wiper blade having a sharp edge formed by an intersection with an end face extending obliquely toward the squeegee rib at a 45° angle.