WO2003049963A1

WO2003049963A1 - Protective cover for vehicle windshields

Info

Publication number: WO2003049963A1
Application number: PCT/KR2002/002284
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yong-Sik Lee
Original assignee: Lee, Sung-Hyun
Priority date: 2001-12-08
Filing date: 2002-12-05
Publication date: 2003-06-19
Also published as: KR200266498Y1; AU2002366625A1

Abstract

Disclosed herein is protective cover for vehicle windshields. The protective cover includes a shank, provided at its first end with a handle and at its second end with a suction cup. A main boss is fitted over the shank in such a way as to be reciprocated along the shank. A plurality of ribs are radially mounted to a body of the main boss. A waterproof cloth is fastened at its center to the main boss and at its edge to the ribs. A subsidiary boss is fitted over the shank in such a way as to be positioned under the main boss. The protective cover also has a plurality of first and second spreader members. A rotatable boss is fitted over the shank at a predetermined position adjacent to the second end thereof. A spring is mounted to the shank between the subsidiary and holding bosses.

Description

PROTECTIVE COVER FOR VEHICLE WINDSHIELDS

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to a protective cover for protecting windshields of a vehicle parked outdoors, and more particularly, to a protective cover, which covers a vehicle's windshields so that the windshields are not directly exposed to the environment, thus preventing frost from forming on the windshields of the vehicle parked outdoors or preventing snow from being frozen on the windshields, even when the temperature suddenly drops after a snowfall, so a user needs not remove frost or frozen snow from the windshields before driving a vehicle, thus saving a user trouble.

Background Art

Generally, in winter, it is very troublesome to remove frost or frozen snow from a vehicle's windshields.

The frost is formed from the atmosphere upon the ground or exposed objects when they have cooled by radiation below the dew point, and when the dew point is below the freezing point. That is, when the temperature of the atmosphere is lowered to approach the freezing point (0°C), moisture is primarily condensed from the atmosphere to form dew on exposed surfaces, and the temperature of the dew is gradually lowered, so the moisture is frozen to form ice, and additional moisture is further condensed on the ice to be sublimated to form frost. In addition, when the ground or exposed objects have cooled by radiation below the dew point and atmospheric air comes into contact with the ground or the exposed objects, moisture is condensed from the air and may be cooled below -10°C to be sublimated on the ground or the exposed objects, so that frost is formed. Generally, when the weather is clear, wind is weak, the minimum temperature is -3 ^°C or less, and the minimum temperature of the ground surface reaches below 0^°C, frost is formed on the windshields of a vehicle. Thus, in order to prevent frost from forming on the windshields of a vehicle, it is desirable that the windshields be covered with a cover so that cool air does not come into direct contact with the windshields.

In the case where the temperature is relatively mild and it snows heavily, snow lies on the windshields while thawing. When the temperature falls at night in such a state, the snow lying on the windshields of a vehicle parked outdoors is frozen.

Thus, in order to remove frost or frozen snow from the vehicle's windshields, there has been proposed a method using a synthetic resin plate which has a shape of a relatively thin blade. That is, frost or frozen snow is scraped off the vehicle's windshields using the synthetic resin plate. Alternatively, after a vehicle's engine is started to preheat the vehicle, a climate control unit is operated to blow hot wind toward a windshield or a heating wire is operated, thus removing frost or frozen snow from the vehicle's windshields. However, the first method is problematic in that it is very troublesome to carry out in cold weather. The latter methods are problematic in that fuel is wasted and excessive pollution is produced due to idle operation ofthe vehicle.

Such problems occur when removing frost or frozen snow from a vehicle's windshields. Thus, in order to prevent frost or frozen snow from being formed on a vehicle's windshields, the vehicle's windshields may be covered with a cover made of paper or cloth when the vehicle is parked outdoors.

However, the cover made of paper or cloth is not usable for a lengthy period of time. Above all, in the case of a cover which is made of paper, it is difficult to prevent the cover from being damaged, so the cover may be wasted after only a single use.

In order to overcome the problems experienced with the paper or cloth cover which is suitable to use for a short period of time, there have been developed several kinds of protective covers for vehicle windshields. For example, there has been proposed a protective cover which is provided at its corners with suction cups. Further, there has been proposed another protective cover which is provided at its both corners with elastic cords. That is, the protective cover is mounted to a vehicle's windshield by wrapping the elastic cords around outside mirrors. Such protective covers are almost the same in structure.

However, when one desires to use the protective cover with the suction cups, the suction cups provided at the corners must be manually attached to a vehicle windshield by a user. Meanwhile, when one desires to use the protective cover with the elastic cords, the elastic cords must be manually wrapped around the outside mirrors by a user. Thus, such protective covers are complicated to use. Further, such protective covers must be folded to a predetermined size to be easily stored after use, thus being inconvenient to use.

Disclosure of the Invention

Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a protective cover for vehicle windshields, which is mounted to or removed from a windshield with a single manipulation, and which is designed to be foldable in the same manner as an umbrella when the cover is removed from the windshield, thus being easy to mounted on the windshield and being easy to store.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a protective cover for vehicle windshields, including a pipe-shaped shank provided at its first end with a handle and at its second end with a suction cup, the suction cup mounted to the shank in a nut-and-bolt fastening method, a rotatable boss fitted over the shank at a predetermined position adjacent to the suction cup such that the rotatable boss is rotatable around the shank but not movable along the shank, a ring-shaped main boss fitted over the shank in such a way as to be reciprocated along the shank between the rotatable boss and the handle, a plurality of ribs radially and rotatably mounted to the main boss, and a plurality of first and second spreader members.

When the protective cover for vehicle windshields is mounted to a windshield, the suction cup, the rotatable boss, a spring, a subsidiary boss, the main boss, and the handle provided at the first end of the shank are sequentially arranged in a direction away from the windshield.

When the protective cover is closed, the subsidiary boss and the main boss are axially reciprocated along the shank, so that the subsidiary boss approaches the rotatable boss which is not movable along the shank while the main boss moves away from the rotatable boss. Meanwhile, when the protective cover is opened, the subsidiary boss moves away from the rotatable boss while the main boss approaches the rotatable boss. The spring is fitted over the shank at a position between the subsidiary and rotatable bosses to elastically bias the subsidiary boss toward the handle, thus allowing the protective cover to be automatically opened. In cooperation with the main boss, the ribs function to support a waterproof cloth covering the windshield. When the protective cover is opened, the ribs are spread in such a way as to be downwardly inclined, and each first spreader member, which is rotatably connected at its first end to the subsidiary boss and at its second end to a middle portion of each rib, is also spread to support each rib.

Further, each second spreader member is rotatably connected at its first end to the rotatable boss and at its second end to a middle portion of each first spreader member, thus preventing the subsidiary boss from being moved away from the rotatable boss beyond a predetermined distance, when the protective cover is opened and the subsidiary boss is forwardly moved by a restoring force of the spring. Meanwhile, when the protective cover is closed, the subsidiary boss approaches the rotatable boss.

The waterproof cloth is provided at its center with a through hole. The circumferential edge of the through hole is fastened between a body of the main boss and a cap. The waterproof cloth is fastened at its edge to second ends of the ribs which are connected at their first ends to the main boss.

When the suction cup is attached to the windshield so that the protective cover is mounted to the windshield, the suction cup may be undesirably removed from the windshield due to elastic force of the ribs and other reasons. Thus, in order to solve the problem, a cup cover is interposed between the second end ofthe shank and the suction cup which is mounted to the shank in a nut-and-bolt fastening method.

The suction cup and the cup cover both have hemispherical shapes. The suction cup is lower in height than the cup cover, and is provided at its center with a locking projection which has external threads at its outer surface. The locking projection projected from the center of the suction cup is inserted into the hollow shank at the second end of the hollow shank in a nut-and-bolt fastening method. The cup cover is supported at its center by the second end ofthe shank.

Thus, when the suction cup is firmly attached to the windshield in such a way that an edge of the suction cup is in close contact with an edge of the cup cover, and then the shank is rotated, the suction cup, which is supported at its edge by the windshield and the cup cover, is pulled at its center toward the cup cover. At this time, an internal space defined between the windshield and the suction cup is enlarged while a vacuum pressure in the internal space is increased, so the suction cup is more firmly attached to the windshield, thus allowing the protective cover to be firmly mounted to the windshield.

Further, a string is provided at a portion of the main boss. The string is connected to the edge of the suction cup so as to remove the suction cup from the windshield. When the protective cover of the present invention is closed, the main boss moves away from the suction cup. At this time, the edge ofthe suction cup is lifted by the string, thus allowing the suction cup to be easily removed from the windshield.

When the protective cover is completely opened, the ribs, which are mounted at their first ends to the main boss, must be in close contact with the edge of the windshield at the second ends of the ribs. Thus, when the protective cover is fully opened, it is preferable that the ribs are downwardly inclined such that their second ends are positioned below the lower surface of the suction cup, so that the second ends of the ribs are come into close contact with the edge of the windshield. Preferably, the ribs are made of a metal having an appropriate elastic force or a soft material, such as synthetic resin. That is, when the protective cover is placed on the windshield in such a way that the protective cover is opened to be convex at its center, the ribs, radially mounted to the main boss at the first ends thereof, are in contact with the edge of the windshield at the second ends of the ribs, but the suction cup is still spaced apart from the center of the windshield. In such a state, when the suction cup is attached to the windshield, the ribs come into close contact with the edge of the windshield due to the elastic force ofthe ribs.

Brief Description ofthe Drawings

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a protective cover for vehicle windshields according to a primary embodiment of the present invention, with the protective cover mounted to a windshield of a vehicle;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing the protective cover according to the primary embodiment of the present invention, with the protective cover being closed;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing the protective cover according to the primary embodiment of the present invention, with the protective cover being opened;

Fig. 4 is a detailed sectional view showing a suction cup mounted to a shank included in the protective cover according to the primary embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view showing the shank of the protective cover according to the primary embodiment of the present invention, in which the shank includes first and second parts and the first part of the shank is inserted into the second part thereof;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view showing a protective cover according to a second embodiment of the present invention, with the protective cover being closed; and

Fig. 7 is sectional view showing the protective cover according to the second embodiment of the present invention, with the protective cover being opened.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

Reference should now be made to the drawings, in which the same reference numerals are used throughout the different drawings to designate the same or similar components.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a protective cover for vehicle windshields according to a primary embodiment of the present invention, with the protective cover mounted to a windshield of a vehicle. Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing the protective cover according to the primary embodiment of the present invention, with the protective cover being closed. Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing the protective cover according to the primary embodiment of the present invention, with the protective cover being opened. Fig. 4 is a detailed sectional view showing a suction cup mounted to a shank included in the protective cover according to the primary embodiment ofthe present invention.

As shown in the drawings, a protective cover 1 for vehicle windshields according to the present invention includes a pipe-shaped shank 11. The shank 1 1 is provided at its first end with a handle h and at its second end with a suction cup 21. The suction cup 21 is mounted to the shank 11 along with a cup cover 20 in a nut-and-bolt fastening method. A stopper S is rotatably provided at a predetermined portion of the shank 11 to stop a main boss 12 when the protective cover 1 is closed.

The main boss 12 includes a pipe-shaped body 12B and a nut-shaped cap 12A. The body 12B is fitted over the shank 11 in such a way as to be axially reciprocated along the shank 11 under the handle h, and is provided at its outer surface with external threads. The cap 12A engages with the body 12B in a nut- and-bolt fastening method. A through hole which is formed at a center of a waterproof cloth 19 is fastened, at its circumferential edge, between the body 12B and the cap 12 A. Further, the main boss 12 is provided with a string R. The string R is connected to an edge ofthe suction cup 21 to remove the suction cup 21 from the windshield.

A plurality of ribs 16 are radially and rotatably mounted to the body 12B of the main boss 12 at first ends of the ribs 16 to be opened or closed. In this case, when the protective cover 1 is opened, the ribs 16 are downwardly inclined.

A waterproof cloth 19 is fastened at its center to the main boss 12 and at its edge to second ends ofthe ribs 16.

A ring-shaped subsidiary boss 13 is fitted over the shank 11 in such a way as to be axially reciprocated along the shank 11 under the main boss 12. The protective cover 1 also includes a plurality of first spreader members

17. Each ofthe first spreader members 17 is rotatably connected at its first end to the subsidiary boss 13 and at its second end to a middle portion of each rib 16.

A ring-shaped rotatable boss 15 is fitted over the shank 1 1 at a predetermined position adjacent to the second end ofthe shank 11. The rotatable boss 15 engages with the shank 11 by a set pin P which is provided at a position adjacent to the second end of the shank 11 and two washers which are provided above and below the set pin P, so that the rotatable boss 15 is not axially movable along the shank 11 , but is rotatable around the shank 11.

Further, the protective cover 1 includes a plurality of second spreader members 18. Each of the second spreader members 18 is rotatably connected at its first end to the rotatable boss 15 and at its second end to a middle portion of each ofthe first spreader members 17.

A coil spring 14 is fitted over the shank 11 at a position between the subsidiary and rotatable bosses 13 and 15 to elastically bias the subsidiary boss 13 toward the first end of the shank 11.

When the protective cover 1 is mounted to the vehicle windshield, the shank 11 is too long to provide a good appearance. Thus, it is preferable that the shank 11 is divided into two parts each having a short length such that one part is inserted into the other part, as shown in Fig. 5. That is, the shank 11 is divided into a first part 11A having a predetermined outer diameter and a second part 1 IB having an inner diameter which is not smaller than the outer diameter ofthe first part 11 A. In this case, the first part 11 A is telescopically connected to the second part 1 IB such that the first part 11A is not undesirably removed from the second part 1 IB. Thus, when the protective cover 1 is not in use, the first part 11 A is pulled out from the second part 1 IB, thus maximally extending a length of the shank 11. Meanwhile, when the protective cover 1 is completely mounted to the windshield, the first part 11A is pushed into the second part 1 IB, thus reducing a length ofthe shank 11.

The use of the protective cover for vehicle windshields which is constructed in this way will be described in the following in detail. When the protective cover 1 is closed as shown in Fig. 2, the stopper S, which is provided at a portion of the shank 11, is pressed. At this time, the subsidiary boss 13 is elastically moved toward the handle h by the coil spring 14 which is provided between the subsidiary and rotatable bosses 13 and 15, and the first spreader members 17 are radially spread. As the first spreader members 17 are spread, the ribs 16 are spread while the main boss 12 is moved toward the rotatable boss 15, thus automatically opening the protective cover 1.

According to the present invention, the ribs 16 comprise four long ribs 16A and two short ribs 16B. The long ribs 16A come into contact with corners of the windshield while the short ribs 16B come into contact with centers of top and bottom sides of the windshield. However, it may be inconvenient to store the long ribs 16A. Thus, in order to solve the problem, there are provided long ribs according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The ribs 16A' are designed to be collapsible, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7.

As shown in the drawings, each of the long ribs 16A' includes a first sub- link 16A'3, a second sub-link 16A'2, and a main link 16A' l . In this case, the first sub-link 16 A' 3 is rotatably connected at its first end to the body 12B of the main boss 12 and at its second end to a middle portion of each first spreader member 17. The second sub-link 16A'2 is rotatably connected at its first end to a middle portion of the first sub-link 16A'3. The main link 16A'l is rotatably connected at an end thereof to a second end of the second sub-link 16A'2 and connected at its middle portion to the second end of each first spreader member 17. In this case, the second embodiment is the same as the primary embodiment except for the construction of the long ribs. That is, the short ribs 16B ofthe second embodiment are equal to those ofthe primary embodiment.

In the protective cover 1 ' according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the long ribs 16A' corresponding to the long ribs 16A of the primary embodiment are collapsible, thus being convenient to store. In this case, the long ribs 16A' are collapsible by a predetermined length considering the length ofthe short ribs 16B.

Industrial Applicability

As described above, the present invention provides a protective cover for vehicle windshields, which is designed to be opened or closed with only a single manipulation, thus being easy to use, and which is designed such that long ribs are collapsible, thus being easy to store and carry, and thus being repeatedly used for a lengthy period of time. Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit ofthe invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.

Claims

1. A protective cover for vehicle windshields, which prevents frost from forming on a windshield of a vehicle parked outdoors or prevents snow from being frozen on the windshield, said protective cover comprising: a pipe-shaped shank provided at a first end thereof with a handle and at a second end thereof with a suction cup, said suction cup mounted to the shank along with a cup cover in a nut-and-bolt fastening method, with a stopper being rotatably provided at a portion ofthe shank adjacent to the handle ; a ring-shaped main boss fitted over the shank in such a way as to be reciprocated along the shank, and provided with a string, said string connected to an edge ofthe suction cup to remove the suction cup from the windshield; a plurality of ribs radially and rotatably mounted to a body of the main boss at a first end of each ofthe ribs to be opened or closed; a waterproof cloth fastened at a center thereof to the main boss and at an edge thereof to second ends ofthe ribs; a ring-shaped subsidiary boss fitted over the shank in such a way as to be reciprocated along the shank under the main boss; a plurality of first spreader members, each of said first spreader members rotatably connected at a first end thereof to the subsidiary boss and at a second end thereof to a middle portion of each of the ribs; a ring-shaped rotatable boss fitted over the shank at a predetermined position adjacent to the second end of the shank such that the rotatable boss is rotatable around the shank, but not movable along the shank; a plurality of second spreader members, each of said second spreader members rotatably connected at a first end thereof to the rotatable boss and at a second end thereof to a middle portion of each ofthe first spreader members; and a coil spring fitted over the shank at a position between the subsidiary and rotatable bosses.

2. The protective cover according to claim 1, wherein said main boss comprises: the pipe-shaped body having external threads at an outer surface thereof; and a nut-shaped cap engaging with the body in a nut-and-bolt fastening method.

3. The protective cover according to claim 1, wherein said shank comprises: a first shank part having a predetermined outer diameter; and a second shank part having an inner diameter which is not smaller than the outer diameter ofthe first shank part.

4. The protective cover according to claim 1, wherein said ribs comprise long ribs and short ribs.

5. The protective cover according to claim 4, wherein each of said long ribs comprises: a first sub- link rotatably connected at a first end thereof to the body of the main boss and at a second end thereof to a middle portion of each of the first spreader members; a second sub-link rotatably connected at a first end thereof to a middle portion ofthe first sub- link; and a main link rotatably connected at an end thereof to a second end of the second sub-link and connected at a middle portion thereof to the second end of each ofthe first spreader members.