WO2001066389A1

WO2001066389A1 - Improved wiper blade

Info

Publication number: WO2001066389A1
Application number: PCT/KR2000/000172
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ki-Man Byun
Original assignee: Byun Ki Man
Priority date: 2000-03-04
Filing date: 2000-03-04
Publication date: 2001-09-13
Also published as: AU2946700A

Abstract

The present invention relates to an improved wiper blade which is connected to a wiper arm of vehicle for wiping dust, muddy water, rainwater or snow stained on front and rear windows. The wiper blade includes an auxiliary arm a clip of which is coupled to an operation arm of a wiper, a supporting arm having a plurality of holders connected to opposite ends of the auxiliary arm, and an element made of a rubber material and having a wing section which is protruded downward and connected to the holder of the supporting arm, wherein the wiper blade further includes: an elastic section inserted into the holder and having a plurality of insert sections formed in the right below direction thereof, wherein a packing is seated on the upper surface of the elastic section and a pair of packings are disposed at right and left sides of the insert sections; an element having a plurality of connection holes in which the insert sections are inserted, a plurality of shaft holes in which a plurality of shaft sections of a shaft rod are inserted, and a plurality of wing sections protruded side by side in the right below direction of the connection holes; a pair of fixing caps mounted on opposite ends of the elastic section, each fixing cap having an insertion hole and a concave hole; a pair of moving caps, each of which is arranged inside the fixing cap and elastically connected to the fixing cap by a spring, each moving cap having insertion holes; and a rotary member interposed inside the moving cap, wherein each of the ends of the shaft rod is inserted into one of the insertion holes of the moving cap, forcedly inserted into a fixing hole of the rotary member, and then inserted into the other insertion hole.

Description

IMPROVED WIPER BLADE

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a wiper blade which is connected to a wiper arm of vehicle for wiping dust, muddy water, rainwater or snow stained on front and rear windows. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved wiper blade which is more promoted in its durability and convenience in use.

Background Art

In general, a wiper, which is one of essential devices of vehicle, wipes various foreign matters stained on front and rear window surfaces with a circular-arc movement to provide a driver with a clear field of vision, thereby securing a safe driving. The conventional wiper includes a wiper motor, a linkage, a wiper arm and a wiper blade. As their functions have been generally known, the wiper blade consists of an auxiliary arm a clip of which is connected to an operation arm, a supporting arm which is connected to opposite ends of the auxiliary arm and has a plurality of holders, and an element which is made of a rubber material and connected to the holder. When the auxiliary arm is operated by a circular-arc movement with the operation arm, a wing section of the element which is in contact with a surface of a window wipes snow or rainwater running down the window surface, keeping an angle of 30~ 50°from the window surface.

As shown in Figure 6, the conventional wiper blade has a single wing section protruded from the element. When the wing section of the element reciprocates in contact with the window surface by the circular-arc movement for a long time, the edge of the wing section is worn away. Therefore, the driver must replace with a new one whenever the wing section is worn. Furthermore, the speed of the circular-arc movement of the operation arm must be increased to wipe the window surface clean, thereby resulting in damage of the window surface due to an excessive friction with the window surface. To solve the above problems, the inventor has been invented "a wiper blade" and it is described in detail in Korean Utility Model Application No. 1997-40741 . However, the wiper blade has problems in its durability and a convenience in use.

Disclosure of the Invention

It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide an improved wiper blade, which has a promoted durability and convenience in use.

To accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a wiper blade comprising an elastic section having a plurality of insert sections in the right below direction of the elastic section, an element having a plurality of wing sections divided at an angle of 120°, a plurality of holes formed at intervals of an angle of 120° for inserting the insert sections, and a plurality of shaft holes, a shaft rod which has a plurality of shaft sections and is inserted into the shaft holes, a fixing cap connected to opposite ends of the elastic section, and a moving cap which is disposed inside the fixing cap and connected to the fixing cap by a spring, wherein the shaft rod is inserted into the moving cap so that the rotation of the element is simply manipulated by a rotary member of the moving cap, thereby resulting in changing the location of the wing sections.

Brief Description of the Drawings Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are, therefore, not to be considered limiting of its scope, the invention will be described with additional specificity and detail through use of the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of a wiper blade according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a side view showing an assembled state of the wiper blade;

Figures 3a and 3b are partially cutaway views in perspective of the wiper blade; Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of a wiper blade according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 5 is a side view showing an assembled state of the wiper blade of the second preferred embodiment; and Figure 6 is a side view of a conventional wiper blade.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

The present invention will be described in detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout several views. It is to be understood that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are, therefore, not to be considered limiting of its scope.

Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of a wiper blade according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention and Figure 2 is a side view showing an assembled state of the wiper blade. Figures 3a and 3b are partially cutaway views in perspective of the wiper blade;

The wiper blade, as shown in Figure 6, includes an auxiliary arm 12 a clip 14 of which is coupled to an operation arm(not shown) of a wiper, a supporting arm 13 which has a plurality of holders 13a connected to both ends of the auxiliary arm 12, and an element 15 made of a rubber material and having a wing section 16, which is protruded downward and connected to the holder 13a of the supporting arm 13.

The wiper blade according to the present invention further includes an elastic section 5 which has a plurality of insert sections 5a formed in the right below direction thereof and is inserted into the holder 13a, a packing 7 seating on the upper surface of the elastic section 5, a pair of packings 7a disposed at right and left sides of the insert sections 5a, a pair of fixing caps 8 which are mounted on opposite ends of the elastic section 5 and each of which has an insertion hole 8a and a concave hole 8b, a pair of moving caps 9 each of which is arranged inside the fixing cap 8, elastically connected to the fixing cap 8 by a spring 1 1 and has insertion holes 9a and 9b, an element 1 which has a plurality of wing sections 2 protruded outward side by side, a plurality of connection holes 3 which are formed at an angle of 120°, and a plurality of shaft holes 4 which are formed at an angle of 120°and in which a plurality of shaft sections 6a of a shaft rod 6 are inserted, and a rotary member 1 interposed inside the moving cap 9.

The insert sections 5a of the elastic section 5 are respectively inserted into the holes 3.

The ends of the shaft rod 6 are inserted into the insertion holes 9a and forced to be inserted into a fixing hole 10a, and then, inserted into the insertion holes 9b.

The structure of the present invention will be described hereinafter in more detail.

The insert sections 5a are vertically protruded from the lower central portion of the elastic section 5 at regular intervals to be smoothly inserted into the connection holes 3 of the element 1 and to secure the elasticity of the elastic section 5 which is inserted into the holder 13a of the supporting arm 13. The packing 7 is disposed on the upper portion of the elastic section 5 and the packings 7a are closely disposed on right and left sides of the insert section 5a beneath of the elastic section 5. The elastic section 5 is tightly inserted into the holder 13a.

The ends of the elastic section, which are longer than the packings 7 and 7a, and are inserted into the insertion holes 8a of the fixing caps 8.

The shaft rod 6 is inserted into the concave hole 8b of the fixing cap 8 and connected to the fixing cap 8 to move vertically without interference of the fixing cap 8.

Each moving cap 9, which has the insertion holes 9a and 9b, is inserted into the inside of the fixing cap 8, the spring 1 1 is located between the inner surface of the fixing cap 8 and the outer upper surface of the moving cap 9 and connected by welding, and thereby the moving cap 9 hangs on the inner surface of the fixing cap 8 through the spring 1 1 . The element 1 is constructed in such a manner that the connection holes 3, in which the insertion sections 5a are inserted, are formed at intervals of 120°, the shaft holes 4 are formed at the center of the element in the same direction of the connection holes 3, and the wing sections 2 are protruded outward from the element 1 in the right below direction of the connection holes 3.

The shaft rod 6, which has the shaft sections 6a formed at the regular intervals, is inserted into the shaft hole 4 of the element 1 . The shaft sections 6a have the same shape as the shaft holes 4.

Each opposite end of the shaft rod 6 inserted into the shaft hole 4 of the element 1 is pushed into the concave hole 8b of the fixing cap 8 in such a manner that it is tightly inserted into the fixing hole 10a through the insertion hole 9a of the moving cap 9. The end of the shaft rod 6 is inserted into the center of the rotary members 10, and then inserted into the insertion hole 9b of the moving cap 9, thereby locating the rotary member 10 inside the moving cap 9.

The packings 7 and 7a and the elastic section 5 are connected to the holder 13a, the element 1 which has the shaft rod 6 is connected with the insert sections 5a of the elastic section 5, and the fixing caps 8 in each of which the moving cap 9 is interposed are mounted on the ends of the elastic section 5. The functions of the present invention will be described hereinafter in more detail.

When the auxiliary arm 12 connected to the operation arm of the wiper is operated by the circular-arc movement, The wing sections 2, which are in contact with the surface of the window, reciprocate on the window surface to wipe snow, rainwater or dust.

The above function is general, but, three wing sections 2 of the element 1 according to the present invention wipe the window surface at the same time by one reciprocating motion. Therefore, the element 1 of the present invention has the same effect that the single wing section 16 of the conventional wiper blade reciprocates three times.

The wiper blade of the present invention has a high degree of efficiency in wiping the window surface and can easily wipe the window surface without the increase of speed of the circular-arc movement, thereby resulting in preventing an early abrasion of the blade edge and a damage of the window surface occurred by an excessive reciprocating motion of the wing section.

After using, when the wing sections 2 are severely worn away, a driver can separate the element 1 from the insert section 5a of the elastic section 5 by pulling downward the moving cap 9 with hand. When the driver takes the driver's hand off the moving cap 9 after rotating the rotary member 10 mounted to the shaft rod 6 and directing another connection hole 3 toward the insert sections 5a, the element 1 is connected to the insert section 5a by the restitutive force of the spring 1 1 and another wing sections 2, which are not used, are directed downward.

By the above method, when the wing sections 2 are worn away, the element 1 is rotated by a simple manipulation so as for another wing sections 2 to wipe the window surface, thereby resulting in prolonging the life of the element 1 and raising the efficiency in wiping the window surface.

Meanwhile, as shown in Figure 4, the shaft rod 6 and the element 1 can be modified in their construction. In the second preferred embodiment, the wiper blade includes three elements 101 each of which has a plurality of wing sections 201 and a rod which has a plurality of connection holes 302 formed between curved sections 301 in the same direction as the wing sections 201 for inserting the insert sections 5a, a plurality of grooves 303 formed at intervals of an angle of 120° for inserting the elements 101 , and opposite shafts 304 formed on the opposite ends thereof. The shafts 304 are respectively inserted and fixed into the moving caps 9.

After each element 101 is inserted into each groove 303 of the insertion member 301 , the insert sections 5a are inserted into the connection holes 302 of the insertion member 301 . Besides the above structure, the second embodiment has the same effect in its function as the first embodiment.

That is, when one of the elements 1 is worn away, the driver pulls the moving cap 9 downward with hand and directs the wing sections 201 of another element 101 toward the window surface. If the driver takes the driver's hand off the moving cap 9, the fixing cap 8 returns its original position by the spring 1 1 and one of the holes 302 is moved toward the insert section 5a and inserted thereinto, and thereby the element 1 is fixed.

When all the elements 101 inserted into the grooves 303 are worn away, the driver can replace the worn elements 101 with new elements after separating the shafts 304 from the insert sections 5a and pulling the elements 101 from the insertion member 301 .

Industrial Applicability

As previously described above, the wiper blade according to the present invention results in an increase of the efficiency of working and a convenience in use and maintenance, because the wing sections 2 of the element 1 can be directed toward the window surface by the simple manipulation.

Those skilled in the art will readily recognize that these and various other modifications and changes may be made to the present invention without strictly following the exemplary application illustrated and described herein, and without departing from the true spirit and scope of the present invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1 . An improved wiper blade which includes an auxiliary arm a clip of which is coupled to an operation arm of a wiper, a supporting arm having a plurality of holders connected to opposite ends of the auxiliary arm, and an element made of a rubber material and having a wing section which is protruded downward and connected to the holder of the supporting arm, the improved wiper blade further comprising: an elastic section inserted into the holder, the elastic section having a plurality of insert sections formed in the right below direction thereof, wherein a packing is seated on the upper surface of the elastic section and a pair of packings are disposed at right and left sides of the insert sections; an element having a plurality of connection holes in which the insert sections are inserted, a plurality of shaft holes in which a plurality of shaft sections of a shaft rod are inserted, and a plurality of wing sections protruded side by side in the right below direction of the connection holes; a pair of fixing caps mounted on opposite ends of the elastic section, each fixing cap having an insertion hole and a concave hole; a pair of moving caps, each of which is arranged inside the fixing cap and elastically connected to the fixing cap by a spring, each moving cap having insertion holes; and a rotary member interposed inside the moving cap, wherein each of the ends of the shaft rod is inserted into one of the insertion holes of the moving cap, forcedly inserted into a fixing hole of the rotary member, and then inserted into the other insertion hole.

2. An improved wiper blade as claimed in claim 1 , wherein three elements each of which has a plurality of wing sections are respectively inserted into grooves formed at intervals of an angle of 120°, shafts formed at opposite ends of a rod which has a plurality of connection holes, in which the insert sections are respectively inserted, and curved sections formed at regular intervals are respectively connected to the moving caps.