Patent Application
20240239268
This application claims priority to Taiwanese Utility Model Application No. 112200561, filed on Jan. 16, 2023.
The disclosure relates to a towing mirror, and more particularly to a towing mirror assembly adapted to be mounted to an exterior rear-view mirror.
A conventional towing mirror is adapted to be installed on an exterior rear-view mirror of a vehicle so that a driver of the vehicle may be able to drive safely with a broader field of vision.
Referring to
However, the fastening unit 1 of the fastening device is quite complex and has many parts which makes the fastening unit 1 difficult to assemble and manufacture. This may lead to higher costs for the manufacturers of the fastening device. Additionally, it should be noted that the straps 2 of the fastening device are serrated which may limit the available selection of materials for the straps 2, and this may also increase costs.
Therefore, an object of the disclosure is to provide a towing mirror assembly that can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art.
According to the disclosure, the towing mirror assembly is adapted to be mounted to an exterior rear-view mirror. The exterior rear-view mirror has a main mirror frame, and a main mirror that is mounted in the main mirror frame. The main mirror frame has a frame rim portion. The towing mirror assembly includes a positioning seat, an auxiliary mirror piece, and an engaging unit. The positioning seat is adapted for mounting over the exterior rear-view mirror, and has an external housing wall, an external housing rim, a hook set, and a receiving groove unit. The external housing rim extends transversely from the external housing wall and is adapted to surround the frame rim portion. The hook set extends from one side of the external housing rim and is adapted to engage removably the frame rim portion of the main mirror frame. The receiving groove unit is formed on another side of the external housing rim opposite to the hook set. The receiving groove unit has an engaging groove, and a connecting subunit that is adjacent to the engaging groove. The auxiliary mirror piece is mounted on the positioning seat and is adapted to be disposed at a lateral side of the main mirror. The engaging unit is detachably mounted to the receiving groove unit and has an insertion member, a cover plate, and an engaging subunit. The insertion member engages removably the engaging groove. The cover plate is connected to the insertion member, and is adapted to engage removably the frame rim portion of the main mirror frame. The engaging subunit is connected to at least one of the insertion member and the cover plate. The engaging subunit is matchingly engaged with the connecting subunit.
Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiment(s) with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is noted that various features may not be drawn to scale.
Before the disclosure is described in greater detail, it should be noted that where considered appropriate, reference numerals or terminal portions of reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements, which may optionally have similar characteristics.
It should be noted herein that for clarity of description, spatially relative terms such as “top,” “bottom,” “upper,” “lower,” “on,” “above,” “over,” “downwardly,” “upwardly” and the like may be used throughout the disclosure while making reference to the features as illustrated in the drawings. The features may be oriented differently (e.g., rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative terms used herein may be interpreted accordingly.
Referring to
The positioning seat 10 is adapted for mounting over the exterior rear-view mirror 100, and has an external housing wall 11, an external housing rim 12, a hook set 13, and a receiving groove unit 14. The external housing rim 12 extends transversely from the external housing wall 11 and is adapted to surround the frame rim portion 103. The hook set 13 extends from one side of the external housing rim 12 and is adapted to engage removably the frame rim portion 103 of the main mirror frame 101. The receiving groove unit 14 is formed on another side of the external housing rim 12 opposite to the hook set 13. More specifically, the hook set 13 of the positioning seat 10 has two resilient hooks 131 that are spaced apart from each other along a transverse direction (X) and that are adapted to engage removably the frame rim portion 103 of the main mirror frame 101, and each of the resilient hooks 131 is C-shaped. Referring to
The auxiliary mirror piece 20 is mounted on the positioning seat 10 and adapted to be disposed at a lateral side of the main mirror 102.
Referring to
When mounting the towing mirror assembly to the exterior rear-view mirror 100, the auxiliary mirror piece 20 is first placed within the positioning seat 10. At this state, the engaging unit 30 is not yet mounted to the receiving groove unit 14. Next, the positioning seat 10 is mounted over the exterior rear-view mirror 100 with the auxiliary mirror piece 20 in place so that the auxiliary mirror piece 20 can be mounted on the positioning seat 10 and disposed at a lateral side of the main mirror 102. During this stage, the resilient hooks 131 engage the frame rim portion 103 of the main mirror frame 101 to secure the positioning seat 10 with the exterior rear-view mirror 100.
Next, the insertion member 31 of the engaging unit 30 engages the engaging groove 144 of the receiving groove unit 14, while the slide members 311 engages the guiding grooves 147 in a sliding action until the notches 324 of the side ribs 323 of the engaging unit 30 engage the edge of the frame rim portion 103, the first engaging member 331 of the engaging unit 30 engages the first connecting member 145, and the two second engaging members 332 of the engaging subunit 33 of the engaging unit 30 respectively engage the second connecting members 146. At this point, the engaging unit 30 has been successfully mounted to the positioning seat 10 with the cover plate 32 being coupled to the edge of the frame rim portion 103.
In this embodiment, the positioning seat 10 is mounted over the exterior rear-view mirror 100, the auxiliary mirror piece 20 is mounted in the external housing wall 11 of the positioning seat 10, and the engaging unit 30 is detachably mounted to the receiving groove 14. This allows the towing mirror assembly to be easily mounted to the exterior rear-view mirror 100.
In summary, the towing mirror according to the present disclosure has the advantages of having a simple and easy-to-assemble structure and low manufacturing costs, thereby achieving the object of the disclosure.
In the description above, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details have been set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiment(s). It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that one or more other embodiments may be practiced without some of these specific details. It should also be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” an embodiment with an indication of an ordinal number and so forth means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic may be included in the practice of the disclosure. It should be further appreciated that in the description, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of various inventive aspects; such does not mean that every one of these features needs to be practiced with the presence of all the other features. In other words, in any described embodiment, when implementation of one or more features or specific details does not affect implementation of another one or more features or specific details, said one or more features may be singled out and practiced alone without said another one or more features or specific details. It should be further noted that one or more features or specific details from one embodiment may be practiced together with one or more features or specific details from another embodiment, where appropriate, in the practice of the disclosure.
While the disclosure has been described in connection with what is(are) considered the exemplary embodiment(s), it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiment(s) 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.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 112200561 | Jan 2023 | TW | national |
