The present invention relates to a connecting device for a windshield wiper having no support frame and hook type windshield wiper arm, particularly contriving for the special connecting device exclusively used in conventional support frameless wiper and hook-type wiper arm; The replacing procedure of the support frameless wiper and hook-type wiper arm, Not only without any help from anyone else but also eliminating any interference, all the replacing process of the support frameless wiper and hook-type wiper arm can be easily and quickly completed by only one person.
Nowadays, the windshield wiper most used in automobiles can be categorized into two types of “support framed wiper” and “support frameless wiper”, wherein: the “support framed wiper” has been used on a mass scale in all old cars for being developed quite a long time; However, the “support frameless wiper” has been lately used in new cars with trend to gradually replace the obsolete “support framed wiper” overall owing to its better scrubbing effect and longer service life as well as environment protection effect in reducing material of support frame. Besides, most of the head type of the wiper arm matched said “support framed wiper” are hook type; A special connector of unitary plastic extruding molded body must be adopted to joint said “support framed wiper” with hook-type wiper arm into an integral unit so as to have the expected scrubbing effect on the windshield, such as USA issued patents disclosure in numbers of U.S. Pat. No. 6,640,380, U.S. Pat. No. 6,591,445, U.S. Pat. No. 6,539,576, U.S. Pat. No. 6,332,236, U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,249, U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,474 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,103.
Moreover, the head type of the wiper arm matched said “support frameless wiper” is different from the wiper arm to the wiper arm as the structure of said “support frameless wiper” is completely different from that of said “support framed wiper”; An exclusive connecting device for each head type of the wiper arm must be contrived to joint with said “support frameless wiper”, such as USA patents issued in numbers of U.S. Pat. No. 6,675,432, U.S. Pat. No. 6,799,348, U.S. Pat. No. 6,904,639, U.S. Pat. No. 6,874,195, U.S. Pat. No. 6,810,556, U.S. Pat. No. 6,643,889, U.S. Pat. No. 6,668,419, U.S. Pat. No. 6,687,948, U.S. Pat. No. 6,782,581, U.S. Pat. No. 6,836,926 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,910,244 as well as patent applications published in numbers of US2004/0216260, US2004/0010882, US2004/0211021, US2005/0011033, US2004/0025280, US2004/0098821 and US2005/0039292; All disclosed that the exclusive connecting device is adopted for each special different head type of the wiper arm.
However, for those huge number of consumers, who owns old car with said “support framed wiper” and wishes to replace into “support frameless wiper”, can not obtain what is desired because no suitably exclusive connector for the traditional hook-type wiper arm on their cars to joint with said “support frameless wiper”; For consumer, who insists on replacing into “support frameless wiper”, he must discard the existing hook-type wiper arm and replace into exclusive head type of wiper arm suitable with “support frameless wiper” on a higher expense basis; Therefore, some factories recently provide special connecting devices able to joint “support frameless wiper” with conventional hook-type wiper arm so as to remedy the aforesaid drawback as well as to reduce the economical burden of the consumers. The structure of such connecting device is shown in the figures of 1 through 7 and 16, comprising a base 20, a frame hood 30, a pivotal cover 40 and connector 50. Said base 20, which being pressed of rigid metal, has a pair of horizontal clipping grooves 21 longitudinally facing each other and parallel juxtaposed apart at the bottom section of both side panels; A pair of symmetrical and parallel vertical left side panel 23 and right side panel 24 of same shape are erected apart on the both edges of the top surface 22, which connecting with both of said clipping grooves 21; And, a horizontal cross fixing spindle 25 transversely straddles over said left side panel 23 and right side panel 24; By means of said clipping grooves 21, said base 20 can be fixedly clipped on the elastic metal strip 11 of the support frameless wiper 10; Said frame hood 30, which being an unitary extruding molded body of a plastic material, has a pair of symmetrical and parallel vertical left hood panel 31 and right hood panel 32 of same shape are erected apart on its both sides; For both said left hood panel 31 and right hood panel 32, a horizontal cross mating spindle 33 transversely straddles over their front end, a vertical mating plate 34 is erected at their rear end, and a pair of symmetrical and parallel left inset groove 35 and right inset groove 36 of same shape with opening facing downwards are formed apart on inside at their middle section; A pair of left baffle lump 37 and right baffle lump 38 are set on inside at the top edges of both said left inset groove 35 and right inset groove 36; And, two pair of snap-fitting noses 39 are set on inner sides at the bottom edges of both said left hood panel 31 and right hood panel 32 corresponding to the opening direction of said left inset groove 35 and right inset groove 36; By means of said left inset groove 35 and right inset groove 36 as well as four snap-fitting noses 39, said base 20 with left side panel 23 and right side panel 24 can be fixedly inset inside of said frame hood 30 (as shown in g view of the
The shown in the
Although the conventional connecting device aforesaid can achieve the purpose of jointing the “support frameless wiper” with said traditional hook head of the hook-type wiper arm, there are some drawbacks remain as below:
1. Refer to figures of 10 through 12, during the operation procedure of replacing support frameless wiper 10, said conventional connecting device is always interfered by said pivotal cover 40 and results in being not smoothly; The reason is that said hook-type wiper arm 60 must be in upright position whenever replacing support frameless wiper 10; Namely, apply an upwards force (as shown in the
2. Refer to figures of 9, 10-A, 13 and 14, a resultant force F will be produced when said hook-type wiper arm 60 swings back and forth on the windshield G; Said hook head 61 will continuously butt and push against two said buckling noses 54 on said connector 50 under the action of vertical component force F1 (as shown in the
3. Refer to figures of 3 and 15 through 17, each of said mating spindle 33 and mating plate 34 is disposed on the front and rear respectively of said frame hood 30 to facilitate the lifting up and closing down of said pivotal cover 40 with itself; The cross section in round shape with smaller area of said mating spindle 33 and the cross section in square shape with larger area of said mating plate 34 make them have different stress strength (as shown in the
The prime object of the present invention is to provide a connecting device for a windshield wiper having no support frame and hook type windshield wiper arm, which comprises a chassis, a saddle hood, a sliding cover and a connector; By means of buckling two insetting juts on the sliding rails with two insetting holes on the left side panel and right side panel of said chassis, said sliding cover can quickly sliding out away said saddle hood in buckling fixed position unable to detach off each other; Thereby, during dismounting and mounting procedure of the hook head on the hook-type wiper arm with said connector, not only without any help in holding said sliding cover from anyone else but also eliminating the interference of bumping from said sliding cover sliding back unwillingly only one person can easily and quickly complete all process.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a connecting device for a windshield wiper having no support frame and hook type windshield wiper arm; By means of two pressing tongues on said sliding cover filling the gap between said left side plate and the left side panel on the chassis as well as the gap between the right side plate and the right side panel on the chassis, two buckling noses on said left side plate and right side plate of the connector are prevented from displacing outwards to ensure having resistance to confront against the vertical component force and keeping the hook-type wiper arm from detaching off the connector during its swing motion; Thus, the 100% strict criterion in safety prerequisite under operation for the support frameless wiper and hook-type wiper arm can be achieved.
The other object of the present invention is to provide a connecting device for a windshield wiper having no support frame and hook type windshield wiper arm; The left hood panel and right hood panel on said saddle hood are spanned and jointed by the horizontal straddle panel and vertical rear hood panel of same rectangular cross section with equivalent area; Owing to four snap-fitting noses on said left hood panel and right hood panel being butted and pushed by the left side panel and right side panel on the chassis during inset mounting procedure of said saddle hood with chassis, Said straddle panel and rear hood panel can be evenly subjected to the axial stress owing to their same rectangular cross section with equivalent area; Thereby, no breaking damage of said straddle panel and rear hood panel of said left hood panel and right hood panel will happen; Thus, the overall yield of the connecting device can be increased in consequence of prevention of the damage of said saddle hood under such circumstance.
Referring to
A chassis 70, which being pressed of rigid metal, comprises a bottom panel 71, a left side panel 72 and a right side panel 73, wherein two fixing holes 711 are perforated in said bottom panel 71 to let two rivets (not shown in the figures) drive through so as to fix said chassis 70 onto the elastic metal strip 11 of the support frameless wiper 10; in which: A pair of symmetrical and parallel vertical left side panel 72 and right side panel 73 of same shape are longitudinally juxtaposed apart along both long sides respectively of said bottom panel 71 with a horizontal cross fixing spindle 74 straddling thereupon; Two insetting hole 76 are respectively formed on the pair of symmetrical and parallel front panels 75, which being disposed on both front ends of said left side panel 72 and right side panel 73; Two snap-fitting grooves 78 are respectively formed on both top sides of the pair of symmetrical and parallel vertical ledge panel 77, which being extended on both front ends of said front panels 75; Two pair of buckling grooves 79 are respectively formed on both of long jointing sides of said bottom panel 71 with said left side panel 72 and right side panel 73;
A saddle hood 80, which being an unitary extruding molded hollow cuboid of a plastic material, comprises a left hood panel 81, a right hood panel 82, a rear hood panel 83 and a straddle panel 84, wherein: Said left hood panel 81 and right hood panel 82 are a pair of symmetrical and parallel vertical panels of same shape being longitudinally juxtaposed apart; in which: A pair of horizontal left sliding groove 85 and right sliding groove 86, which being formed by two parallel arrays of some juts in up and down juxtaposition, are created on both corresponding insides at the middle section thereupon; A pair of left ceiling ledge 87 and right ceiling ledge 88 are protruded inwards on both corresponding top surfaces at the middle section thereupon; Two pair of snap-fitting noses 89 are disposed on both corresponding insides near the bottom edges thereupon to match with said two pair of buckling grooves 79; Said vertical rear hood panel 83 joints both rear ends of said left hood panel 81 and right hood panel 82 together to form an integral and continuous closed area; Said horizontal straddle panel 84 spans and joints near both front ends of said left hood panel 81 and right hood panel 82 such that a open mouthpiece being formed whereby;
A sliding cover 90, which being an unitary extruding molded body of a plastic material, comprises a left cover plate 91, a right cover plate 92, a front cover plate 93, a top cover plate 94, a pair of sliding rails 95 and a pair of pressing tongues 97, wherein: Said left cover plate 91 and right cover plate 92 are a pair of symmetrical and parallel vertical panels of same shape being longitudinally juxtaposed apart having front edges and top edges jointed together with the front cover plate 93 and top cover plate 94 respectively; A pair of symmetrical and parallel horizontal sliding rails 95 are longitudinally juxtaposed apart extending backwards on both corresponding insides at the bottom portion of said left cover plate 91 and right cover plate 92 with each insetting jut 951 being respectively set near each distal free end of said sliding rails 95; In the inner side of said top cover plate 94, a pair of symmetrical and parallel elastic buckling hook 96 are vertically juxtaposed apart extending downwards on both corresponding insides at each front fixed end of said sliding rails 95 thereupon; A pair of symmetrical and parallel pressing tongue 97 are also vertically juxtaposed apart extending downwards in the inner side adjacent to rear edge of said top cover plate 94; A pair of opposing direction arrows 99 are marked on the top surface of said top cover plate 94 to indicate the sliding direction; A pair of anti-sliding grid 98 are respectively formed on the outer surface of said left cover plate 91 and right cover plate 92 for increasing the holding friction of the fingers; and
A connector 100, which being an unitary extruding molded cuboid of a plastic material, mainly comprises a pair of symmetrical and parallel vertical left side plate 101 and right side plate 102 of same shape being longitudinally juxtaposed apart having top edges jointed together with a horizontal body plate 103 such that becoming an integral body, wherein: A pair of symmetrical buckling nose 104 are juxtaposed apart on the insides at each front end of said left side plate 101 and right side plate 102 respectively such that together with said body plate 103 forming a containing space just accommodating the hook head 61 of said hook-type wiper arm 60; A round groove 105 with opening downwards is formed on the front end of said body plate 103, which locating at the middle section of said left side plate 101 and right side plate 102; By said round groove 105 means of directly insetting with the fixing spindle 74 on said chassis 70, said connector 100 can freely pivot within a limited angle thereupon.
Refer to figures of 18, 27 through 33 and 34, the shown is the mounting way and step of the present invention. First, align two parallel sliding rails 95 on said sliding cover 90 with said left sliding groove 85 and right sliding groove 86 on said saddle hood 80, then apply slight force to push it so that said sliding cover 90 can inset with said saddle hood 80 each other; Next, align the bottom side of said saddle hood 80 with the top side of said chassis 70 and press and slip it downwards so as to inset with said chassis 70 each other; During this process, four snap-fitting noses 89 on said saddle hood 80 and left hood panel 81 will slightly expand outwards owing to the butting and pushing force from said left side panel 72 and right side panel 73 on said rigid chassis 70 first, then slip downwards until a buckling snap in finishing of insetting said saddle hood 80 with said chassis 70 each other (as shown in the
Refer to figures of 27, 28, 30 and 34 through 40 for showing the replacing support frameless wiper 10, Just as conventional windshield wiper aforesaid in the process of replacing wiper, apply a force upwards to the hook-type wiper arm 60, which being original pressed closely on the windshield G in horizontal manner (as shown in the
Refer to each view of the
Refer to figures of 21 and 42, said straddle panel 84 and rear hood panel 83 will be subjected to the axial stress f owing to the expansion outwards of said left hood panel 81 and right hood panel 82 during inset mounting procedure of said saddle hood 80 with chassis 70 in the present invention (as shown in view m of the