Optical: systems and elements – Mirror – Retractable vehicle mirror
Reexamination Certificate
2002-01-10
2003-04-08
Robinson, Mark A. (Department: 2872)
Optical: systems and elements
Mirror
Retractable vehicle mirror
C359S877000, C248S900000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06543902
ABSTRACT:
DESCRIPTION
The invention relates to an outside rearview mirror for a motor vehicle. Said rearview mirror comprises a mirror base, to be attached to the motor vehicle; a mirror head, which carries a mirror glass and can be swivelled about a swivel axis and which can be driven by a self-blocking drive, which is arranged in a multipart drive housing. Said drive comprises an electric motor, which can be slid slightly in the axial direction axially with respect to the drive housing and whose output shaft engages in gear with a reduction gear, whose output gearwheel is held in engagement with the mirror base by means of unlockable locking means under the force effect of a compression spring, whereby the mirror head can be folded out of a service position (F to P) about the swivel axis and hinged to the motor vehicle under the effect of an external force, whereby the mirror head can be moved along with the unlockable locking means and,can perform, thus, with respect to the mirror base a relative displacement along the swivel axis. Said displacement is detected by electromechanical or electronic means, arranged in the drive housing, and the motor connections can be led out of this drive housing at a plurality of different places on a peripheral line of the drive housing.
In a known outside rearview mirror of the aforementioned class, the electromechanical or electronic means and the motor connections are soldered or crimped to the stranded conductors, which are led through the drive housing to the outside. These stranded conductors are part of a cable harness, which connects other electric consuming devices in the outside mirror to the electrical system of the motor vehicle. For engineering reasons, the electromechanical or electronic means are disposed in a relatively inaccessible place inside the drive housing and their connections are at a distance from the connections of the electric motor. Therefore, the cost of installing the components, which have been already previously soldered or crimped to the cable harness, into the drive housing is relatively high. To facilitate the startup of the electric motor from a blocked position, the prior art outside rearview mirror exhibits an electric motor that is slightly moveable in the axial direction. Owing to the moveable electric motor the motor shaft can be accelerated first, before the gear unit has to be actuated. For flexibility reasons it should be possible to lead the connections for the electric motor out of said drive housing at a plurality of places on a circumference about the drive housing. Should, in addition to the motor, electromechanical or electronic means be connected, a plug solution is poor.
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to design an outside rearview mirror of the aforementioned class in such a manner that there are a relatively arbitrary number of ways of leading out the motor connections, while it remains possible to move reliably out of a blocked position, and yet it is easy to assemble the said outside rearview mirror.
The invention solves this problem in that the drive can be connected electrically by means of a first plug socket, which is a component of a first part of the drive housing, and the electromechanical or electronic means can be connected by means of a second plug socket, which is a component of a second part of the drive housing, to a control unit in the motor vehicle. Thus, the first plug socket is connected electrically to the electric motor by means of the first guide plates; and the second plug socket is connected electrically by means of the second guide plates to the electromechanical or electronic means. The first plug socket can be installed with respect to the second plug socket in a plurality of different positions; and the guide plates between the first plug socket and the electric motor are flexible in the axial direction of the electric motor. Owing to the use of the two plug sockets, there is no need for an expensive cable connection between the electric motor and the electromechanical or electronic means, thus significantly simplifying the assembly. Owing to the flexible guide plates it is also possible for the electric motor to move in the axial direction when the plug sockets are used. This arrangement allows the electric motor to start reliably from a blocked position. Owing to the arrangement of the plug sockets on different drive housing components, it is possible to lead the motor connections out of the drive housing in an almost arbitrary number of ways. The plug position for the electromechanical or electronic means is stationary.
Other advantageous variants of the invention are disclosed in detail in the dependent claims.
A plurality of positions between the first plug socket and the second plug socket are possible by providing a gear tooth system, whose pitch defines the number of positions, between the drive housing part, which is made as one piece with the plug socket, and another part of the drive housing.
The use of a rim gear tooth construction between the first part of the drive housing and a third part of the drive housing to ensure that the parts will not rotate makes the production of the parts of the drive housing especially economical, because there is no need to provide any undercuts, which would be a drawback in releasing the shaped parts from the molds, by means of the geometric configuration of the tooth construction.
The parts of the drive housing are easy to assemble because of the snap-on means, which can be snapped on arbitrary positions about the drive housing, whereby they hold the first part of the drive housing at the third part of the drive housing. In so doing, the number of possible positions of the first plug socket is not limited.
A preferred embodiment of the inventions provides four parts of the drive housing, wherein the first part of the drive housing is made as one piece with the first plug socket; the second part of the drive housing is made as one piece with the second plug socket; and a fourth part of the drive housing is connected to the first part of the drive housing by means of a slide connection. This arrangement renders it even simpler to install the electric motor with the first guide plates into the first plug socket by sliding the plug socket sideways onto the guide plates and then installing the motor into the second and third part of the drive housing and finally by installing the fourth part of the drive housing in the axial direction of the motor into the slide connection to the first part of the drive housing and into the toothing and the snap-on means of the third part of the drive housing.
It is expedient for the second part of the drive housing to be also held at the third part of the drive housing by means of snap-on means.
Even with the use of four drive housing parts, it is advantageous, as described above, to have a rim gear tooth construction and a snap-on connection, in this case between the third part of the drive housing and the fourth part of the drive housing.
Advantageously clamping joints are provided for the connection between the guide plates and the electric motor or the electromechanical or electronic means. They are to be made more reliably and environmentally friendlier than soldered joints.
Experience has shown that a microswitch is very well suited as the electromechanical or electronic means to detect the unlocked state.
When using two plug sockets, it is practical to make both of them identical in order to reduce the number of different parts. Furthermore, a polarity reversal protection must be realized by means of a suitable shape of the plug sockets by providing two insides whose width varies. When using two connecting pins per plug socket, simple commercial plugs can be used.
The outside rearview mirror, according to the invention, is characterized primarily by it flexible connecting options. In this respect the two plug sockets (
10
,
11
) can be arranged perpendicularly, parallel or antiparallel to each other.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5781354 (1998-07-01), Sakata
patent: 6022113
Bühler Motor GmbH
Jacobson & Holman PLLC
Robinson Mark A.
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