Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Patent
1982-07-30
1984-12-11
Peters, Jr., Joseph F.
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
B62D 2518
Patent
active
044874227
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a vehicle splash apron, commonly called a mud flap, which is connected behind a tire and to the frame structure or equivalent of a vehicle.
Splash aprons are designed for preventing pebbles and other loose material, which are hurled off the road surface by the vehicle tires, from being flung around, so that no annoyance, harm or damage is caused to other vehicles and passengers on the road. The use of splash aprons in vehicles improves road safety.
The currently used splash aprons have a uniform and stationary structure. Such splash aprons cause harmful air flows and whirls, which send fine dust or fog from the road surface onto the windscreens of other vehicles moving on the road. The pebbles flinged from the tires towards the splash guards do not loose enough of their dynamic energy, but continue their motion after bouncing off the splash aprons and consequently cause a danger for other vehicles.
Stationary splash aprons increase the body draft of the vehicle, and thus also increase fuel consumption. Moreover, the average service life of splash aprons is comparatively short.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is, among other things, to eliminate the aforementioned drawbacks and to realize a splash apron which has a simple structure and low manufacturing costs.
Accordingly, another object of the present invention is to provide a splash apron which comprises a plurality of flap strips which are connected together.
Another object of the invention is to provide such a splash apron including means for rendering at least some of the flap strips more easily movable by a draft due to the motion of the vehicle than the remainder of the strip so that gaps are formed in the spaces between at least some of the flap strips when the vehicle moves.
Among the advantages of the present invention, the following can be pointed out. The flaps of the splash apron are made of an elastic and flexible material. They are arranged to bend in the driving draft in such a fashion that every second flap or strip is bent more than the rest. Thus there are formed vertical gaps in the splash apron and the air drag is considerably reduced.
Such separate flaps yield effectively when hit by a pebble hurled from a tire so that the pebble immediately looses speed and falls on the road. During winter time the formation of icy lumps in the splash aprons is prevented explicitly owing to their flexible fibrous and/or lamellated structure. Thus the strain directed towards the splash aprons is also diminished and their wear resistance is increased.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the following the present invention is described in detail with reference to the appended drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is an illustration of a preferred embodiment of the present invention seen from the back of a vehicle;
FIG. 2 is an illustration of the splash apron of FIG. 1, seen from the side, when a driving draft is not present.
FIG. 3 is an illustration of the splash apron of FIG. 1, seen from the side, when a driving draft is present;
FIG. 4 is an illustration of another preferred embodiment of the splash apron of the invention; and
FIGS. 5 and 6 show details of a third embodiment of the splash apron of the invention; and
FIG. 7 is a fragmentary view showing the lower parts of flaps forming a splash apron according to another embodiment of the invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
In the preferred embodiment of the splash apron according to FIGS. 1 and 2, the splash apron 1 is formed of straight, substantially vertical elongated, fibrous flaps or strips 2, 3, which are attached side-by-side in a row to a suitable supporting member 4. The supporting member can further be attached by conventional methods behind the tire 5, seen from the driving direction, to the frame structure or equivalent of a vehicle, which is not illustrated in the drawing. The fibrous flaps 33 of the splash apron are alternately long and short, respectively. The difference
REFERENCES:
patent: 1662545 (1928-03-01), Spelta
patent: 1709060 (1929-04-01), Candy
patent: 1899937 (1933-03-01), Brown
patent: 2605119 (1952-07-01), Earnest
patent: 4326727 (1982-04-01), Rock
Mar Michael
Peters Jr. Joseph F.
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