Frameless Wiper Blade

Abstract

The wiper blade comprises elastic wiping elements, a wiping element holder, a member for fixing to the windshield wiper finger, and end tips. The wiping elements are installed into a single wiping element holder made from a resilient metal strip. The wiping element holder is configured with two longitudinal parallel slots. Rectangular recesses are configured at the end of each slot for the elastic wiping element installation. The member for fixing to the windshield wiper finger is configured as a parallelepiped with conical outer side and a longitudinal bore. The projecting edges and fixation holes enable securing the wiping element holder with elastic wiping elements in the inner bore. Two holes and four cutouts at the wiping element holder's ends are provided for end tip fixing. Each tip is shaped as a flat parallelepiped with rounded corners with an open front end and a closed rear end.

Description

THE FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The device relates to vehicles, namely—to vehicle front and rear window cleaning systems, in particular, to wiper blades.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

One known windshield wiper (SU, Inventor's Certificate No. 1344647, published 15 Oct. 1987) comprises two holders with elastic wiping elements attached to the holder and coupled, by a driven arm, to a driving arm via gears. With such design, cleaning quality may be improved through constant uniform pressure exerted by the blades on the windshield.

One potential disadvantage of the above invention is its complex design, since the elastic wiping elements are installed in individual holders with lever arrangements and a gear transmission used to provide interaction between them.

The device of the same purpose closest to that taken as a prototype is a wiper blade assembly comprising one flexible blade installed into spoilers via two elastic members and not requiring any guide spring, clamps or caps (RF, U.S. Pat. No. 2,346,834, published 20 Feb. 2008). With this wiper blade design, the number of components may be reduced, thus facilitating the assembling operation.

Potential disadvantages of the above invention are that the spoiler has a complex design and that the elastic members are configured separately. Moreover, changing an elastic member implies fully dismantling the wiper and complicated re-assembling thereof.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of this invention is to improve the quality of windshield cleaning from impurities of any type and to improve the ease of operation through design upgrading.

The above object is accomplished via the availability, same as in the prior art, of: an elastic wiping element; a wiping element holder; a member for fixing to a windshield wiper finger; and an elastic wiping element fixing member.

To accomplish the above result, i.e. to improve the quality of windshield cleaning, a frameless wiper blade structure comprises: at least two elastic wiping elements installed into a single wiping element holder which is made from a resilient metal strip and configured with two longitudinal parallel slots and a rectangular recess at the end of each slot for elastic wiping element installation. To provide for coupling to the windshield wiper finger, the wiping element holder is configured with two holes along the central axis and two holes and four cutouts at its ends for end tip fixing. As such, the member for fixing to the windshield wiper finger is configured as a parallelepiped with conical outer side, a longitudinal bore and an axle for the finger coupling at one side, two parallel symmetrical projecting edges extending along both longitudinal lateral sides, and an inner bore, conforming to the shape of the wiping element holder with the elastic wiping elements installed in it, at the other side, and holes for attaching thereof.

Ease of operation is achieved through the possibility of replacing the elastic wiping elements, if the latter are fixed via two removable end tips made by molding from a flexible resilient material. Each tip is shaped as a flat parallelepiped with rounded corners, with an open front end and a closed rear end. As such, the tip's open end profile conforms to the shape of the wiping element holder with the elastic wiping elements installed in it, but is slightly larger in size, and has two vertical resilient snap-fit projections located at the open end and a vertical snap-fit projection located at the lower inner wall of the closed end.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a general view of a windshield wiper;

FIG. 2 shows a wiping element holder;

FIG. 3 shows an end tip;

FIG. 4 shows a member for fixing to the windshield wiper finger.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A frameless wiper blade (FIG. 1) comprises: a wiping element holder 1 (FIG. 2) having longitudinal slots 2 where two elastic wiping elements 3 are installed, the elastic wiping elements being fixed by two end tips 4 (FIG. 3). The end tip's open end has two vertical resilient snap-fit projections 5 and a vertical snap-fit projection 6 located at the lower inner wall of the tip's closed end. The wiping element holder is coupled to the windshield wiper arm (not shown) via a member for fixing to the windshield wiper finger 7 (FIG. 4), which further has an inner bore 8 and two fixation holes 9.

The frameless wiper blade is assembled as follows.

Elastic wiping elements 3 are installed through the rectangular recesses 10 at the end of each slot 2 of the wiping element holder 1. The entire structure is then installed into the inner bore of the member for fixing to the windshield wiper finger by means of projecting edges 11 and is screwed via the holes 9. The end tips are then installed onto the wiping element holder ends. The end tips are attached to the wiping element holder via two vertical snap-fit projections 5 entering into the cutouts 12 at the wiping element holder and the tip's snap-fit projection 6 which is fixed in the wiping element holder hole 13.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

Thus, with two elastic wiping elements, windshield cleaning quality is improved. By using a single wiping element holder and the end tips made from a flexible resilient material, and by timely replacement of the elastic wiping elements, ease of the wiper blade operation may be improved.

Claims

1. A frameless wiper blade of a vehicle comprising: a wiping element holder comprising two longitudinal parallel slots and a rectangular notch at one end of each slot, two openings and four recesses on the ends of the wiping element holder, the two openings being disposed along a central axis of the wiping element holder;an element for attachment to a wiper arm, and end caps for attaching no less than two flexible wiping elements;the no less than two flexible wiping elements being mounted in the wiping element holder;the wiping element holder being mounted to an internal longitudinal groove of the element for attachment to the wiper arm, fastened with two parallel symmetrically disposed projecting lips, and secured by means of two openings and four recesses on the end of the wiping element holder to which end caps are secured in a snapping manner by vertical protrusions, the vertical protrusions being disposed on an internal wall of an open end and a closed end of the end caps.

2. The frameless wiper blade of claim 1, wherein the end caps are shaped as a flat parallelepiped with rounded corners, wherein a profile of the parallelepiped conforms to a shape of the wiping element holder with the elastic wiping elements installed in it, and wherein the profile is larger than that of the shape.

3. The frameless wiper blade of claim 1, wherein the element for attachment to the wiper arm is configured as a parallelepiped with a conical outer side, a longitudinal bore and an axle for coupling the wiper arm at one side, and at another side an inner bore, conforming to a shape of the wiping element holder with the elastic wiping elements installed in it.

4. The frameless wiper blade according to claim 1, wherein the wiping element is made of a flexible metal strip with the two longitudinal parallel slots and the rectangular notch at one end of each slot.

5. The frameless wiper blade according to claim 1, wherein the end caps are made by molding from a flexible elastic material.