FIELD
The present disclosure relates to wiper blades, and more particularly to protective caps for protecting wiper strips of wiper blades during packaging.
BACKGROUND
A wiper blade may include a support element and a rubber wiper strip attached to the support element. When the wiper blade is packaged, the rubber wiper strip may be in direct contact with the packaging box, which deforms the rubber wiper strip. The deformed wiper strip may not maintain a smooth contact with the windshield as designed, thereby adversely affecting the wiping performance of the wiper blade.
SUMMARY
Accordingly, a disposable protective cap for a wiper blade is provided for protecting the rubber wiper strip during packaging. The disposable protective cap includes a body defining a receiving space for receiving a wiper strip, and a securing mechanism for securing the body to the wiper blade.
In other features, the securing mechanism includes a pair of deflectable clamping legs extending from the body for clamping a support element therebetween, wherein the wiper strip is attached to the support element.
The protective cap includes a body and a pair of clamping legs. The body defines a receiving space for receiving a wiper strip. The clamping legs extend from the body for securing the protective cap to a support element to which the wiper strip is attached.
A wiper blade includes a support element including two longitudinal ends, a wiper strip attached to the support element and including two longitudinal ends, and at least one protective cap. The at least one protective cap is attached to at least one of the longitudinal ends of the support element for receiving the at least one of the longitudinal ends of the wiper strip.
A wiper blade includes a support element, a wiper strip, and a pair of protective caps. The support element defines two longitudinal ends and an elongated slot extending between the longitudinal ends. The wiper strip includes an upper end, a wiper portion, and a narrow portion connecting the upper end and the wiper portion. The narrow portion is inserted into the elongated slot. The protective caps are attached to the longitudinal ends of the support element. The protective caps each include a pair of side walls, a transverse wall, a pair of deflectable clamping legs, and a positioning member. The side walls define a receiving space for receiving a longitudinal end of the wiper strip. The transverse wall extends transversely between the side walls and connects the side walls. The deflectable clamping legs extend from the side walls toward the support element and clamp the support element therebetween. The positioning member extends from the transverse wall and is inserted into the elongated slot of the support element.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present disclosure will become more fully understood from the detailed description and the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a wiper blade with a protective cap according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure;
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a wiper blade, taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the protective cap of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a side view of the protective cap of FIG. 1;
FIG. 5 is a view showing mounting of the protective cap to a support element;
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a wiper blade with a protective cap according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure;
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a protective cap of FIG. 6; and
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a protective cap according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring to FIG. 1, a wiper blade 10 according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure includes a support element 12, a rubber wiper strip 14 attached to the support element 12, and a disposable protective cap 16 attached to the support element 12. Only one protective cap 16 is shown for clarity. It is understood and appreciated that a pair of protective caps 16 are generally mounted to the longitudinal ends of the support element 12 during packaging. The protective cap 16 is disposed before the wiper blade 10 is installed to a wiper arm (not shown) of a vehicle.
The support element 12 is a single-piece curved element and is made of metal. The support element 12 has longitudinal ends 15 and 17 and defines an elongated slot 20. The elongated slot 20 extends between the longitudinal ends 15 and 17 and along a longitudinal direction X of the support element 12. The wiper strip 14 is attached to the support element 12 by inserting the wiper strip 14 through the elongated slot 20.
Referring to FIG. 2, the wiper strip 14 includes an upper end 24, a lower wiping portion 26, and a narrow portion 28 between the upper end 24 and the lower wiping portion 26. The narrow portion 28 is disposed in the elongated slot 20. The upper end 24 is disposed against an upper surface 30 of the support element 12. The lower wiping portion 26 is disposed against a bottom surface 32 of the support element 12. As shown in FIG. 1, when the wiper strip 14 is attached to the support element 12, a part of the elongated slot 20 is exposed.
Referring to FIGS. 2 through 5, the protective cap 16 may be a single-piece molded component. The protective cap 16 includes a body 35 for protecting the wiper strip 14 and a securing mechanism for securing the body 35 to the wiper blade 10. The body 35 may define a pair of side walls 34 and a transverse wall 36. The transverse wall 36 connects the side walls 34 and extends transversely between the side walls 34. The side walls 34 each have a first edge 41 and a second edge 42. The first edges 41 are connected to form a closed end. The second edges 42 are spaced along a direction transverse to a longitudinal direction of the protective cap 16 to form an opening. A receiving space 38 is defined between the side walls 34 for receiving the lower wiping portion 26 of the wiper strip 14. While the receiving space 38 is shown to define a triangular shape, it is understood and appreciated that the receiving space 38 may define any shape suitable for receiving the lower wiping portion 26 of the wiper strip 14.
The securing mechanism may include a pair of clamping legs 40 extending from the second edges 42 of the side walls 34 away from the closed end of the body 35. The clamping legs 40 are deflectable and each include an upper flange 44, a lower flange 46, and a vertical wall 48 therebetween. The upper flange 44 and the lower flange 46 include opposing surfaces 45 facing one another. A slot 49 is defined between the opposing surfaces 45. The distance between the opposing surfaces 45 is slightly greater than the thickness of the support element 12. The distance between the vertical walls 48 is slightly greater than the width of the support element 12. Therefore, the support element 12 can be inserted into the slots 49 and clamped between the clamping legs 40.
A positioning member 50 extends upwardly from the transverse wall 36 of the protective cap 16. The positioning member 50 includes a vertical portion 52 and a horizontal portion 54. The horizontal portion 54 includes an abutting surface 55. When the protective cap 16 is attached to the support element 12, the vertical portion 52 is inserted through the elongated slot 20 of the support element 12 (see FIG. 1) and the abutting surface 55 of the horizontal portion 54 abuts against the bottom surface 32 of the support element 12 (see FIG. 4).
Referring to FIG. 5, the upper flanges 44 of the clamping legs 40 include chamfered surfaces 58 to facilitate insertion of the support element 12 into the slots 49. To mount the protective cap 16 to the support element 12, the positioning member 50 is inserted into the elongated slot 20 of the support element 12 and one of the longitudinal edges of the support element 12 is inserted into the slot 49 of one of the clamping legs 40. The longitudinal edges of the support element 12 extend along the longitudinal direction X and between the longitudinal ends 15 and 17. The other one of the clamping legs 40 is placed below the support element 12 (shown in dashed lines). When the other one of the clamping leg 40 is pushed against the support element 12, the support element 12 is guided by the chamfered surface 58 to move toward the slot 49. As the support element 12 is moved toward the slot 49, the other one of the clamping legs 40 is deflected laterally and outwardly. The distance between the clamping legs 40 is increased so that the support element 12 can be inserted into the slot 49 of the other one of the clamping legs 49. When the support element 12 is inserted into the slot 49, the other one of the clamping legs 40 returns to its original, non-deflected position by a biasing force generated when the clamping leg 40 is deflected. In the final installed position, the support element 12 is inserted into the slots 49 of the clamping legs 40. Therefore, the protective cap 16 is attached and secured to the support element 12. The lower wiping portion 26 of the wiper strip 14 is received in the receiving space 38.
While only longitudinal ends of the wiper strip 14 are received in the receiving spaces 38 of the protective caps 16 (when two protective caps 16 are attached), the entire wiper strip 14 is protected. As shown in FIG. 1, the support element 12 has a curved shape and the wiper strip 14 also has a curved shape when attached. In the curved structure, only the longitudinal ends of the wiper strip 14 are susceptible to deformation by the packaging box. Therefore, with the protective caps 16 at the longitudinal ends, the entire wiper strip 14 is protected without significantly increasing the manufacturing costs.
Referring to FIG. 6, a wiper blade 10′ according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. The wiper blade 10′ includes a support element 12, a wiper strip 14 and a disposable protective cap 60 secured to the support element 12. The protective cap 60 is structurally similar to the protective cap 16 in the first embodiment except that the protective cap 60 includes a shield structure 62 and a connecting wall 63 connecting the shield structure 62 to the transverse wall 36. The shield structure 62 is provided adjacent to and is spaced from the positioning member 50. The shield structure 62 includes a central plate 65, a first side plate 66 and a second side plate 68 to partially surround a part of the longitudinal end 15 of the support element 12 when the protective cap 60 is attached to the support element 12. When the protective cap 60 is attached to the support element 12, the endmost edge of the support element 12 is disposed between the positioning member 52 and the shield structure 62. The shield structure 62 prevents the longitudinal ends 15 and 17 (particularly the endmost edges) of the support element 12 that is in the form a metal sheet from contacting and damaging the packaging box during packaging, handling, shipping, and displaying. The shield structure 62 is made of a plastic material and does not have a sharp edge. Therefore, the shield structure 62 reduces the likelihood that the packaging box is damaged during packaging, handling, shipping, and displaying.
While FIGS. 6 and 7 show that the shield structure 62 includes a three-plate structure that partially surrounds the endmost edge of the support element 12, it is understood and appreciated that the first side plate 66 and the second side plate 68 can be eliminated without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Further, the shield structure 62 can have any structure as long as the shield structure 62 is disposed outwardly of the support element 12 along the longitudinal direction X to prevent the endmost edge of the support element 12 from contacting and damaging the packaging box.
Referring to FIG. 8, a disposable protective cap 70 according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. The protective cap 70 includes a body 72 and a securing mechanism 74. The body 72 includes a pair of side walls 76. Unlike the body 35 in the first and second embodiments, the body 72 does not include a transverse wall that connects the pair of side walls 76. The securing mechanism 74 includes a pair of clamping legs 78 at each side walls 76.
The protective cap 70 can be secured to any portion (for example, the middle section of the support element 12 to increase the protection of the wiper strip 14. Therefore, in addition to the protective caps 16 or 60 at the longitudinal ends 15 and 17 of the support element 12, the protective cap(s) 70 of the third embodiment can be provided at one or more locations between the longitudinal ends 15 and 17 to further protect the wiper strip 14. It is also understood that that the protective cap 70 of the third embodiment can also be secured to the longitudinal ends 15 and 17 by a method similar to that previously described, although a positioning member is not provided in this embodiment.
This description is merely exemplary in nature and, thus, variations that do not depart from the gist of the disclosure are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure. Further areas of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood that the description and specific examples, while indicating the preferred embodiments of the invention, are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure.
Patent Application
20100230426
