Patent Application
20120180958
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a sunshade, and more particularly to a sunshade assembly that is adapted to be installed on a side window of a vehicle and that has a sunshade cloth which can be wound automatically.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to
To use the conventional sunshade assembly 1, the user pulls out the sunshade cloth 13 from the housing 11 via the top opening 111, and the pull rod 14 is hung on the hanging seat 15, thereby placing the sunshade cloth 13 in a stretched position. When the pull rod 14 is removed from the hanging seat 15, the sunshade cloth 12 is quickly wound back onto the winding shaft 12. However, the quick winding of the sunshade cloth 12 back onto the winding shaft 12 can result on impact between the pull rod 14 and the housing 11 due to inertia. The impact may generate noise and cause vibration in the components of the conventional sunshade assembly. Hence, the conventional sunshade curtain 1 lacks sophistication, and is not suitable for use in luxury cars.
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a sunshade assembly that has a buffer unit which can prevent production of noise and vibration when a sunshade cloth is moved from a stretched position to a wound position.
According to this invention, a sunshade assembly comprises a sunshade unit, a guide unit, and a buffer unit. The sunshade unit includes a housing having a top opening, a winding shaft mounted rotatably in the housing, a sunshade cloth wound around the winding shaft, and a pull rod connected to one end of the sunshade cloth that is distal from the winding shaft and disposed external to the top opening. The guide unit includes a tubular casing mounted below the housing and extending in a top-bottom direction, and a guide rod extending downward from the pull rod and slidable in the tubular casing. The buffer unit includes a buffer disposed beside the tubular casing to provide a buffer resistance to the guide rod, and a driven member driven by the guide rod and that moves the buffer. When the sunshade cloth is moved by the winding shaft to a wound position from a stretched position external to the housing, the guide rod is moved downward along with the pull rod until the guide rod pushes downward the driven member, thereby reducing a downward moving speed of the guide rod.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:
Before the present invention is described in greater detail, it should be noted that like elements are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the disclosure.
Referring to
The sunshade unit 2 includes a housing 21 having a top opening 211, a rewindable winding shaft 22 mounted rotatably in the housing 21, a sunshade cloth 23 unwindably wound around the winding shaft 22, and a pull rod 24 connected to one end of the sunshade cloth 23 that is distal from the winding shaft 22 and disposed external to the top opening 211. The sunshade unit 2 may further include at least one biasing element (not shown) having one end that is fixed, and another end connected to the winding shaft 22. The biasing element is rotatable along with the winding shaft 22 to provide a winding biasing force to the winding shaft 22 along a winding direction. That is, in the absence of an external force, the sunshade cloth 23 is automatically wound into the housing 21 by the winding shaft 22.
The guide unit 3 includes a tubular casing 31 mounted below the housing 21 and extending in a top-bottom direction, and a guide rod 32 extending downwardly from the pull rod 24 and slidable in the tubular casing 31. The tubular casing 31 defines a guide groove 311 extending in a top-bottom direction, and has a slot 312 extending in a top-bottom direction at a bottom portion of the tubular casing 31.
The buffer unit 4 includes a mounting frame 41 connected to the bottom portion of the tubular casing 31, a buffer 42 mounted to the mounting frame 41 beside the tubular casing 31 to provide a buffer resistance to the guide rod 32, a driven member 43 driven by the guide rod 32 and moving the buffer 42, and a biasing element 44 disposed on the bottom portion of the tubular casing 31 and abutting against the driven member 43. The buffer 42 includes a mounting plate 421 mounted to the mounting frame 41 and facing the tubular casing 31, and a pinion 422 mounted rotatably to the mounting plate 421. Since the structure of the buffer 42 is conventional and is not an important aspect of the present invention, a detailed description of the same is dispensed with.
The driven member 43 includes a rack bar 431 extending in a top-bottom direction and meshed with the pinion 422, and a leg 432 connected to the rack bar 431 and extending into the tubular casing 31 below the guide rod 32. The leg 432 extends from a bottom end of the rack bar 431 into the guide groove 311 through the slot 312, and is slidable upward and downward along the slot 312. The biasing element 44 is configured as a compression spring that is disposed on the bottom portion of the tubular casing 31 to bias the leg 432 upwardly.
The sunshade cloth 23 is movable between a stretched position externally of the housing 21, as shown in
If it is desired to shift the sunshade cloth 23 from the stretched position shown in
Referring to
When the sunshade cloth 23 is shifted from the stretched position shown in
Referring to
From the aforesaid description of the sunshade assembly of the present invention, it is apparent that by mounting the guide unit 3 with the buffer unit 4 to provide a buffer resistance, the downward moving speed of the guide rod 32 and the speed of winding the sunshade cloth 23 can be slowed down when the sunshade cloth 23 nears its complete winding onto the winding shaft 22, thereby preventing the guide rod 32 from impacting other components that will produce noise and vibration. Hence, the present invention can effectively minimize noise and vibration during winding of the sunshade cloth 23, so that the sophistication of the product can be enhanced and the object of the present invention can be realized.
While the present invention has been described in connection with what are considered the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.
