GB2278327A

GB2278327A - Vehicle sun visor mounting

Info

Publication number: GB2278327A
Application number: GB9414342A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Knight Kenny
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1990-10-03
Filing date: 1990-10-03
Publication date: 1994-11-30
Anticipated expiration: 2010-10-03
Also published as: GB2278327B; GB2248429A; GB2248429B; GB9021542D0; GB9414342D0

Abstract

A vehicle sun visor mounting comprises a mounting bolt 6 passing through a swivel boss 2 and engaging in a captive nut 8 behind the vehicle roof structure R. The visor blade pivot shaft 4 is held captive in a mounting body 1 by virtue of engagement of a spring blade 3 in front of a flange 4a on the pivot shaft. The mounting body has opposed faces of identical form to allow it to be used upright or invented for right or left hand drive vehicles. The pivot shaft is of D-cross-section in order to allow spring biased retention of the visor blade in a stowed position thanks to the presence of a spring blade 3 behind the shaft 4a of the visor blade 4. <IMAGE>

Description

VEHICLE SUN VIGOR MOUNTING The present invention relates to a mounting for a vehicle sun visor, of the type which allows the generally horizontal pivot axis of the visor blade to be swung between a first position in which the pivot axis lies parallel to the upper edge of the front windscreen and a second position in which that same pivot axis lies parallel to the front side window of the vehicle, and in which in either of these two positions there is the capability for pivoting the sun visor about said axis between a stowed and a screening position.

Sun visors are known which provide for pivoting between a "side sun screen" position and a "front sun screen" position on a pivot shaft which has a bent end rotatably secured to the vehicle roof and a longer portion on which the blade swings between its stowed and screening positions.

It is an object of the present invention to provide for a mounting which is capable of installation so as to mount the visor blade in the roof of the vehicle, and also one which can be made suitable for both right hand (RHD) and left hand (LHD) drive vehicles without the need for different designs for RHD as opposed to LHD.

Accordingly the present invention provides a vehicle sun visor mounting comprising pivot means and a mounting body adapted to engage the pivot means for rotation, and a sun visor adapted to be rotatably carried by said mounting body for swivelling between deployed and stowed positions, wherein said mounting body has opposed faces of substantially identical form and is symmetrical about a median plane between said opposed faces to allow it to be used in upright or inverted positions. Such a sun visor may be used in both an LD vehicle and an RHD vehicle.

In order that the present invention may more readily be understood the following description is given, merely by way of example, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle sun visor blade in position stowed flat against the head lining of the vehicle, as viewed from either the drivers seat or the passengers seat; FIGURE 2 is a cross-section through the assembled mounting showing a "non-handed" visor mounting suitable for both RHD and LHD vehicles; FIGURE 3 is a section, on the same plane as Figure 2, but showing the mounting body alone; and FIGURE 4 is a top plan view of the mounting body shown in Figures 2 and 3.

Referring now to Figure 1 there can be seen the visor blade mounting M supporting a visor blade B on the head lining of a vehicle V. This view also shows a cut-away portion C of the visor blade where part of the visor blade pivot shaft 4 is then exposed.

Detail of the installation of the pivot blade shaft 4 in the mounting M is shown in Figures 2 to 4. Installation involves first of all inserting the associated end of the pivot shaft 4, having a radially outwardly extending flange 4a, into an opening la of the mounting body 1. Once the end of the pivot shaft 4 has been thus positioned, with the flange 4a pushed well home in the hole la, and the end of the pivot shaft pushed home into the central blind bore 4c (Fig.3), a spring plate 3 can be placed in position on a rectangular support lb of the body 1, and support means comprising a swivel boss 2 then pressed down against the spring plate 3 until the extension collar 2a thereof is fully engaged through the central aperture of the spring plate.

The assembly is then ready to receive a swivel washer 5, and a mounting bolt 6. A lock nut may engage the upwardly protruding threaded end of the shank of the bolt 6 projecting through the swivel boss 2. This nut, with or without a further washer such as the washer 5, serves to mount the entire mounting M in position.

Preferably, the bore in the roof R has a captive nut (8 in Figure 2) welded to the upper surface of the metal roof structure, so that installation of the mounting M simply requires threading of the bolt 6 and washer 5 into position within the mounting body 1 and the swivel boss 2, after which the entire assembly can be offered up to the hole in the roof structure R for screwing of the bolt 6 into the captive nut 8.

The flush appearance of the underside of the mounting body 1 is completed by a cap 7 which simply clips into place so as to conceal the head of the bolt 6.

As can be seen in Figure 4, the mounting body 1 has two right angle cut outs lc which serve to receive the corresponding two corners of the spring plate 3 to allow them to descend into position within the mounting body 1 for threading of the spring plate into the bore already receiving the shaft 4, as shown in Figure 2 which illustrates that the left hand edge of the spring plate extends well under the roof of the mounting body 1.

This requires the spring plate 3 to be inserted into the mounting body 1 before the swivel boss 2 is pressed home, so as to allow the left hand edge of the spring plate 3, as viewed in Figure 3, to be correctly positioned to align the hole in the spring plate 3 with the centre of the corresponding hole in the mounting body 1 intended to accommodate the spring detent ends 2k of the swivel boss 2.

As is also evident from Figure 2, the swivel boss 2 must be sprung in place in the mounting body 1 before the mounting bolt 6 is offered up into the central bore through the swivel boss 2.

The spring plate 3 can be seen in Figure 2 as sitting in front of the flange 4a of the pivot shaft 4 which can clearly be seen in Figure 2 as having a D-shaped crosssection (for reasons which will be explained later).

Hence once the spring plate 3 has been mounted in position it is no longer possible for the pivot shaft 4 to be withdrawn from the mounting body 1.

In the assembled configuration, the mounting body 1 is freely rotatably mounted around the swivel boss 2 which will normally be clamped to the roof structure R by virtue of the compression of the swivel boss 2 upon tightening of the mounting bolt 6.

The mounting body 1 is a one piece injection moulding which both acts as a bearing surface for the flange 4a on the visor blade pivot shaft 4, and provides a bearing surface cooperating with the cylindrical surfaces of both the upper flange of the swivel boss 2 at a radially outward location and its sprung fingers at the bottom, at a radially inward location. The injection moulded mounting body 1 also locates the spring blade 3.

Figure 2 also shows the flexible roof lining L which fits just below the roof structure R and has a suitable hole formed in it to receive the swivel boss 2. The recessing of the swivel boss 2 allows the boss to serve as a means for fixing the roof lining L to the roof structure R.

The visor blade B is a blow-moulded construction of polycarbonate which has been suitably modified to permit blow-moulding. Essentially, however, the polycarbonate retains the important properties normally associated with it in that it produces a lightweight, dimensionally stable moulding which can serve as a visor blade against which the vehicle occupants will sustain substantially no injury in the event of a crash. The blow-moulding includes the pivot shaft 4 and its flange 4a.

The use of polycarbonate also ensures continued stability over a wide range of operating temperatures, and also provides excellent resistance to exposure to ultraviolet radiation.

When the visor blade B is pivoted between its front screen position, as shown in Figure 1, and a side screen position in which it is rotated through 90 in the clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 1, the rotation is question is permitted by free rotation of the mounting body 1 relative to the swivel boss 2 (with the longitudinal axis of the mounting bolt 6 serving as the axis of rotation). The horizontal displacement of the axis of the pivot shaft 4 from the perpendicular axis of the mounting bolt 6 permits the associated edge of the visor blade B to lie very close to the upper edge of the front windscreen of the vehicle, so that in practice there will be no light visible by the driver between the edge of the visor blade B and the upper perimeter of the vehicle front windscreen, regardless of the position of the visor when its axis lies in the position shown in Figure 1.

When now the visor is intended to be brought down into its screening position from the stowed position shown in Figure 1, the visor blade is pulled down so as to rotate the D-section shaft 4 so that whereas originally the flat 4b of the pivot shaft 4 was parallel to the spring blade 3 and the blade 3 hence constrained the shaft 4 against rotation from the "visor stowed" position, the spring blade now rides off the flat 4b and presses more firmly against the highest point of the cross-section of the D-section pivot shaft 4 to impose frictional drag on the shaft 4 preventing it from rotating inadvertently.

As will be appreciated, the visor blade B has the same degrees of freedom as a conventional blade, but the mounting M is able to be dismantled to allow exchange of one visor blade by another, and is also of robust construction and designed so that the nearest longitudinal edge of the visor blade B can readily be brought substantially coincident with the top edge of the vehicle front windscreen.

The visor mounting is "non-handed" in that it can be used either on the right hand side of the vehicle or the left hand side.

The swivel body 1 has a rectangular support lb on both its upper and lower faces, which are thus mirror images of one another. For example, given that in Figure 3 the pivot shaft of the visor will be inserted into the swivel body 1 by depressing it into the plane of the paper to enter the blind end bore 4c and the communicating main bore 4a the configur ation is suitable for RHD vehicles if the swivel body 1 is in the position shown in Figure 3, but if the swivel body is inverted from that position the configuration is suitable for LHD vehicles. In each installation, the axis of the pivot shaft 4 will be as close as possible to the top edge of the front windscreen and the swivel body will also allow the visor to be folded up against the roof lining of the vehicle or pulled down against the spring detent and adjusted to any desired position either in front of the driver's head (between the driver's eyes and the upper region of the front windscreen) or to one side (shading the driver from sun entering the driver's window/door aperture).

Figure 2 shows a flat 4b of the pivot shaft horizontal and held by the spring blade 3, corresponding to the position where the sun visor is flush with the roof lining of the vehicle.

In summary, the operation of assembling and installing the visor mounting M will now be described.

First of all the visor pivot shaft 4 is inserted in the corresponding recess in the mounting body 1 until its flange 4a is home as far as it will go and is clear of the position which will shortly be occupied by the spring blade 3.

Then the spring plate 3 is inserted in the mounting body 1 with its left hand edge well inside the bore intended to receive the shaft 4 and its flange 4a. As indicated above, the rectangular cut outs lc in the top of the mounting body 1 help the introduction of the spring plate 3.

Next the swivel boss 2 is pushed through the hole in the centre of the spring plate 3 and through the corresponding hole in the mounting body 1. The mounting bolt 6 can then be inserted, after first of all threading the washer 5 thereon.

The entire assembly is then offered up to the roof structure R and the threaded end of the shank of the bolt 6 is screwed into the captive nut 8 and the bolt 6 tightened until the entire assembly is securely held against the roof but with the ability of the mounting body 1 to rotate freely relative to the swivel boss 2.

Finally, the aesthetic appeal of the assembly is completed by springing the cap 7 in place.

Preferably the visor is in its "stowed" configuration during the assembly operation so that the flat 4b of the shaft 4 is horizontal and the spring blade 3 will not be subject to any appreciable bending deflection.

Once the mounting bolt 6 has been fully tightened, before or after the insertion of the cap 7, the visor can be readily swung between the front screen position and the side screen position by rotation of the mounting body 1 and the blade can be moved between its stowed position and its downwardly extending position by rotation of the integrally moulded pivot shaft 4.

The advantages of the above sun visor mounting system over prior art systems are that the assembly operation is simplified by the use of a single central mounting bolt which both secures the complete visor assembly to the roof or vehicle header bar and avoids the need for providing a separate second screw or pin to orient the visor relative to the vehicle front windscreen, as is common on all right angled pivot arm systems. Furthermore, since the swivel boss is fixed firmly to the vehicle structure, its upper flange can also be used as an additional headliner fixing without influencing the assembled position of the visor or its performance.

Because of the dimensional offset between the vertical and horizontal axes of rotation, the forward edge of the visor is much closer to the windscreen than is normal for conventional sun visor systems.

There is much greater scope for replacing individual items of the system in the event of one or more of the components being damaged or otherwise unusable.

Claims

1. A vehicle sun visor mounting comprising pivot means and a mounting body adapted to engage the pivot means for rotation, and a sun visor adapted to be rotatably carried by said mounting body for swivelling between deployed and stowed positions, wherein said mounting body has opposed faces of substantially identical form and is symmetrical about a median plane between said opposed faces to allow it to be used in upright or inverted positions for adaptation to right hand drive or left hand drive vehicles.

2. A vehicle sun visor mounting according to claim 1, including support means having a cylindrical guide surface and adapted to be fastened to a vehicle structure, said mounting body being adapted to engage said cylindrical surface for rotation about the axis of said cylindrical surface for displacement of the visor between a front screen position and a side screen position; said mounting body having a bore extending perpendicular to its axis of rotation and adapted to receive rotatably the pivot shaft of the blade of a visor to be mounted to the vehicle by means of said mounting.

3. A vehicle sun visor mounting according to claim 2, and including a spring plate adapted to be held captive between said support means and said mounting body, and to extend into said bore to receive the visor blade pivot shaft to prevent the pivot shaft of the visor blade from being withdrawn from said bore.

4. A vehicle sun visor mounting according to claim 3, and including a first support formation on the mounting body to define, together with the support means, a recess to clamp said spring blade, and a second similar said support formation on an opposite face of the mounting body to allow the mounting body to be used erect or inverted as a clamp cooperating with the support means.

5. A vehicle sun visor mounting according to any one of the preceding claims, and including a mounting bolt adapted to extend parallel to the axis of said cylindrical surface, there being a through bore in said support means coaxial with said cylindrical surface for receiving said mounting bolt.

6. A combination of a vehicle sun visor mounting according to claim 3, alone or together with either one of claims 4 and 5, and a visor blade having fixed thereto a pivot shaft which is able to be received in said bore of the mounting body, wherein said pivot shaft includes a flange which holds the pivot shaft captive against withdrawal once said spring blade is inserted in the mounting.

7. A combination according to claim 6, wherein said visor blade pivot shaft is integral with said visor blade and includes a flat formed thereon for giving it a D-crosssection enabling the spring blade to bias the visor blade pivot shaft into a position in which said visor blade is held substantially parallel to the roof of a vehicle in which it is installed.