US2782447A

US2782447A - Windshield wiper

Info

Publication number: US2782447A
Application number: US404279A
Authority: US
Inventors: John W Anderson
Original assignee: Productive Inventions Inc
Current assignee: Productive Inventions Inc
Priority date: 1954-01-15
Filing date: 1954-01-15
Publication date: 1957-02-26
Anticipated expiration: 1974-02-26

Description

Feb; 26, 1957 I J w, ANDERSQN 2,782A47 WINDSHIELD WIPER Filed Jan. 15, 1954 .INVENTR- JOHN W NDERSON ATT RNEY United States Patent :O r'ice WINDSHIELD WIPER Application .anuary 15, 1954, Serial No. 404,279

8 Claims. (Cl. -245) This invention relates generally to windshield wipers and more particularly to a wiper which will wipe a curved or flat windshield.

The wiper may be constructed in various ways but as herein shown comprises a blade assembly and a pressure distributing device operatvely connected to the blade assembly. The blade assembly includes a resilient wiping element and a resiliently flexible support detachably connected to the element and the pressure device preferably includes a pair of secondary yokes having their ends connected to the blade at longitudinally spaced points, a primary yoke or bridge having its ends connected to intermediate portions of the secondary yokes, and a connector carried by the primary yoke for attachment with a wiper arm.

This application is generally related to my copending applications Serial Nos. 612,542 and 573,012 and the pending applications of Fred A. Krohm, Serial Nos. 297,098; 334,147; and 341,051, all of which disclose different forms of locking means as abutment means for detachably holding a blade unit and a pressure unit together and/or whereby the components of -a blade unit are detachably connected.

An important object of the invention is to provide a blade assembly having a resilient wiping element and a resiliently flexible support having anelongated slot with the element secured therein so that portions of the element overlie opposite sides of the support, and a pressure device including -a pair of yokes having channel end portions slidably mounted on the support, and a pair of fittings located adjacent the end of the blade assembly for limiting relative longitudinal movement between the blade assembly and pressure device, each of said fittings having a portion interposed between the support and said overlying portion of the element and with portions respectively extending in one end of the slot and a channel end portion of a yoke.

Another object of the invention is to provide fittings which are formed to more or less appear as continuatons of the outer ends of secondary yokes so as to promote the general appearance of the wiper.

An additional object of the invention is to provide an arrangement whereby the end portions of the resilient wiping element assist in holding the fittings in place to protect such end portions.

A specific object of the invention is to provide fittings which facilitate assembly and disassembly of the blade assembly and pressure device.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent after the description hereinafter set forth is considered in conjunction with the drawings annexed hereto.

ln the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side view of the windshield wiper;

Figure 2 is a partial enlarged side view of Vthe wiper shown in Figure 1;

2.,782,447 Patienten Feb. 26, 1957 Figure 3 is a transverse section taken substantially on line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a transverse section taken substantially on the line 4-4 of Figure 2 showing certain details of con- Struction;

Figure 5 is a bottom view of one of the pair of fittings utilzed to hold the pressure device on the blade assembly;

Figure 6 is a top view of a portion of one form of a resiliently flexible support of a blade assembly; and

Figure 7 is a top view .of a portion of another form of support.

As exernplitled in the drawings, the blade assembly includes a resiliently flexible support 1 and a resilient wiper element 2. The support is elongated and preferably of uniform thickness and provided with an elengated narrow slot 3 tci'minating short of the ends of the support to provide connecting portions constituting abutmcnts 4, one of which is shown in Figure 6. The slot is interrupted adjacent its ends to provide a pair of openings 5, one of which is shown in Figure 6. These openatford a means whereby the resilient wiping element can be threadcd endwisc into connection with the support.

The resilient element 2 is preferably formed in one piece With opposed longitudinally extending exterior grooves 6 therein to provide a neck '7. When the element is properly threaded into the slot the grooves 6 wiil receive inner marginal edge portions of longitudinal portions of the support with the neck 7 between such portions and so that upper portions 9 and the lower portions lt of the element will respectively engage the upper and lower surfaces of the support as depieted in Figures 3 and The element is further formed with a pair of opposed longitudinally extending exterior grooves it to provide a hiuge 12 to permit a controlled pivotal movement of a wiping head 13 having wiping edges thereon as shown.

As set forth above the pressure distributing device preferably includes a pair of corresponding secondary yokes lat and 15 having their ends detachably connected to the support, a primary yoke 16 having its ends pivotally connected to intermediate portions of the secondary yokes, and a connector 17 carried by the primary yoke for detachable connection with a wiper arm. Fittings i detachably connectible with the wiper are provided for limiting longitudinal relative movement between the blade assembly and pressure device and will be described subsequently.

The secondary yokes f and 16 are preferably identical in design and construction, and each of each secondary yoke is preferably made in the form of a channel having a top wall 19, side walls 20 and generally U-shaped formations 21 extending outwardly from the side Walls for slidably receiving the outer longitudinal edge portions of the support as clearly shown in Figures 3 and 4. lt will be noted that the top walls 19 of the secondary yokes are spaced from the upper part ofthe wiping element. The secondary yokes are preferably assembled with the support by merely sliding the yokes inwardly on the support.

As clearly illustrated, each of the fittings 18 includes Ia top Wall 22 and side walls 23 straddling the upper part of the wiping element. The side walls are provided with inturned portions 24 which are located between the overlapping portions 9 of the element and the upper surface of the support as shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4. The top wall 22 of each fitting is provided with a continuation 25 which extends across the outer open end of the fitting and is provided with a curved finger 26 which projects 'through the slot 3 between the connectingwportionor abutmentw 4 of the support and the end of. the vwiping element as depicted in Figures 2 and 3. The finger 26 assists in holding the fitting in place and also facilitates v its detachable connection with the support and a secondary yoke. The top wall 22 of each fitting is further provided with a continuation 27 which is offset from the top wall and extends into a channel end of a secondary yoke in the space between its top wall portion 20 and the upper part of the wiping element.

Attention is directed to the fact that when the fittings are properly attached to the wiper, the side and top walls of the fittings more or less respectively appear as continu-ations of the top and side walls of the outer channel ends of the secondary yokes. In other words, the side walls of the end channels and the side walls of the fittings are substantially equally spaced apart and the distance from the upper surface of the support to the top walls of the channel ends and fittings are also substantially the same. The ofset continuation 27 also contrbutes to' the appearance of continuity and allows each of the fittings to maintain a closer position to the outer ends of the secondary yokes.

In assembling the pressure device and blade assembly, one of the fittings is first preferably attached to the blade assembly. The pressure device is then mounted on the Vsupport by threading the support through the channel ends of the secondary yokes until the foremost channel end receives the continuation 27 of the fitting and abuts the fitting, after which the other fitting is attached to the wiper to detachably slidably secure the pressure device between the fittings.

To attach the first fitting to the blade assembly, it is only necessary to slide the fitting in a direction to position its inturned portions 24 between the upper surface of the support and the overlying portions 9 of the wiping element and then slightly tilt and slide the fitting to locate the finger 26 opposite the slot 3, after which it is either manually pushed or forced into the slot by the wiping element which is under tension as shown in Figure 2. The wiping element resiliently forces and holds the inturned portions in place. In order to assist in this assembly operation, the wiping element is preferably pulled or pushed slightly away from the connecting portion 4 to form a gap or space to permit easy insertion of the finger 26 between the end of the element and portion 4. Also, t

the inner corners of the inturnecl portions of the fitting are preferably rounded as indicated at 28 in Figure to assist in piloting and threading the fittings onto the wiping element.

After one of the fittings is attached to the blade assemi bly as described above, the pressure device is connected to the blade assembly by threading the support 1 through the channel ends of the secondary yokes. The other fitting is then assembled with the other end of the blade assembly and the outer end of the secondary yoke that is last placed on the support in the same manner as the first mentioned fitting, except that the continuation 27 thereof is inserted into the yoke before the finger 26 is moved into the slot 3 between the connecting portion or abutment 4 and the end of the wiping element. With this novel arrangement the fittings are detachably connected with the support, wiping element and secondary yokes to operatively detachably connect the blade assembly and pressure device and determine the relative longitudinal movement therebetween.

A modified form of support for the wiping element is exemplified in Figure 7 of the drawing. This support is provided with an elongated slot 29 forming a pair of parallel portions 30 for embracing the element. The portions 30 are joined by connecting hinge portions 31 at the ends of support so as to allow spreading of the portions 30 to widen the slot to permit entry of a wiping element as distinguished from threading the element entirely through either of the openings 5 and into the slot 3 of lthe support 1.

Having thus described my invcntion, it is obvious that various modifications may-be made in the same without eparting from the spirit of the invention, and, therefore, I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the exact form, construction, arrangement and combination of parts herein shown and described.

I claim:

1. A windshield wiper comprising: a blade assembly havingl a resilient wiping element and a resiliently flexible support having an elongated slot with the element secured therein so that portions of the element overlie opposite sides of the support, a pressure device including a pair of yokes having channel end portions slidably mounted on the support, and a pair of fittings located adjacent the end of the blade assembly for limiting relative longitudinal movement between the blade assembly and pressure device, each of said fittings having a portion interposed between the support and an overlyng portion of the element and portions respectively extending in the ends of the slot and the channel end portions of the yokes.

2. A windshield wiper comprising: a blade assembly having a resilient wiping element and a resiliently flexible support secured thereto so that portions of the element overlie the upper surface of the support, abutment means carried by the ends of the support, a pressure device including a pair of yokes each having integral channel ends slidably mounted on the blade assembly, and a pair of fittings for limiting relative longitudinal movement between the pressure device and blade assembly, each of said fittings having a portion engaging an abutment means for limiting outward movement of the fitting, another portion extending into the outer end channel of a yoke, and other portions disposedbetween the upper surface of the support and the overlying portions of the element.

3. A windshield wiper comprising: a blade assembly having a resilient wiping element and a resiliently flexible support having an elongated slot with the element Secured therein so that portions of the element overlie opposite sides of the support, a pressure device including a pair of yokes having channel end portions slidably mounted on the support, and a pair of fittings located adjacent the end of the blade assembly for limiting relative longitudinal movement between the blade assembly and pressure device, each of said fittings having a portion interposed between the support and an overlying portion of the element and a portion extending in one end of the slot.

4. A windshield wiper comprising: a wiper blade assembly having a resilient wiping element and a lexible support therefor, a pressure device mounted on the support, said support having an elongated slot with the wiping element Secured therein, means adjacent one end of the blade assembly for limiting movement of the pressure device thereon in one direction, and means adjacent the other end of the assembly comprising a fitting having portions caught in the slot and under a portion of the element for limiting movement of the blade assembly in the opposite direction.

5. A windshield wiper comprising a blade assembly having a resilient wiping element and a resiliently Flexible support having an'elongated slot with the element Secured therein so that portions of the elernent overlie opposite sides of the support, a pair of fittings located adjacent the ends of the blade assembly for limiting relative longitudinal movement between the blade assembly and a pressure device adapted for connection With the blade assembly, one of said fittings having a portion interposed between the support andan overlying portion of the element and a portion extending in one end of the slot.

6. A windshield wiper comprising: an elongated flexible support and a resilient wiping element Secured to the support and having portions overlapping the support, spaced abutment means on the wiper for limiting sliding movement of apressure device ladapted to be mounted on the wiper, and one of said abutment means having a portion interposed between the support and overlapping portion of the element whereby to assist in holding said one abutment means in a predetermined position.

7. A Windshield wiper coxnprising: a Wiper blade assembly having a resilient Wiping element and a flexible support therefor, a pressure device monnted on the support, said support having an elongated slot with a wiping element Secured therein, means adjacent one end of the blade assembly for limiting movement of the pressure device thereon in one direction, and means adjacent the other end of the assembly comprising a fitting having portions caught in the slot and pressure device for limiting movement of the blade assembly in the opposite direction.

8. A Windshield Wiper comprising: a wiper blade assembly having a resilient Wiping element and a flexible support therefor, a pressure device mounted on the support, said support having an elongated slot with the Wipng element secured therein, said pressure device in- 6 cluding a pair of secondary yokes having outer channel end portions slidably connected to the support, and a pair of corresponding means located adjacent the ends of the blade assembly and pressure device, each of said means comprising a fitting having a portion disposed in the end of the slot and a portion caught in a channel end portion of a yoke.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,54S,090 Anderson Apr. 10, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 487,846 Canada Nov. 4, 1952 683,375 Great Britain Nov. 26, 1952