Patent Application
20090066108
The present patent application claims the benefits of priority of commonly assigned Canadian Patent Application No. 2,559,486, filed on Sep. 8, 2006, at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office.
The present invention generally relates to accessories for small vehicles. More particularly, the present application relates to supports for windshields and other similar protection apparatuses for all-terrain vehicles and other similar vehicles.
Nowadays, there are an ever-increasing number of people which enjoy riding all-terrain vehicles and other similar off-road vehicles, either in trails specifically designed for this sport or even on totally uncharted terrain.
In order to adapt the vehicles to the increasing variety of terrain onto which they are ridden, companies have long been offering after-market accessories such as support racks, supplementary seats, trailer hitches, traction kits and so on.
Since these vehicles are generally subjected to vibration, it is important that the accessories mounted to the vehicles be relatively fixedly mounted in order to prevent accidental failure.
In the particular case of windshields, this is of utmost importance since the windshield generally protects the rider of the vehicle. However, on some occasions, it would be practical to be able to remove the windshield, at least temporarily. For example, when there are low branches partially blocking a trail or when the ATV must be stored or loaded onto a trailer for transport. Hence, on some occasions, it would be useful to remove the windshield in order to avoid damaging it.
Unfortunately, in the prior art, the only way to remove a windshield from the vehicle to which it was installed was to physically remove its support from the handle bar onto which it was generally fixedly mounted. This process was usually effected via the use of tools. Still, this process could not only be time consuming, it could can also be impossible when no tools were immediately available.
There is thus a need for a novel support system which allows easy mounting and removal of a windshield onto a small vehicle which obviates the aforementioned drawbacks.
The invention may be best understood by reference to the following detailed description and considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:
The present invention will now be described according to a preferred but by no means limitative embodiment. Consequently, the skill addressee will understand that different variants are possible and are within the scope of the claims.
To begin with,
Generally speaking, the windshield support assembly comprises a base support 2 to which a windshield panel 1 can be fixedly mounted with fasteners such as screws, a left support bracket 5, a right support bracket 3, a left mounting assembly comprising first fastening bracket 4, first knob or handle 13, left mounting bracket 7 and first U-shaped bracket 18 and a right mounting assembly comprising second fastening bracket 4, second knob or handle 13, right mounting bracket 7 and second U-shaped bracket 18.
During normal use, the windshield panel 1, the base support 2 and the left and right support brackets 5 and 3 form a single removable element. More particularly, the windshield panel 1 is fixedly mounted to the base support 2 with fasteners such as screws. To the base support 2 are also fixedly mounted left and right support brackets 5 and 3, also with fasteners such bolts, nuts and washers.
Still during use, the remaining components are generally fixedly mounted to the handle bar of the vehicle. More particularly, the left mounting bracket 7 and the first U-shapes bracket 18 are fixedly mounted to the left side of the handle bar with fasteners such as nuts and bolts and the right mounting bracket 6 and the second U-shapes bracket 18 are fixedly mounted to the right side of the handle bar, also with fasteners such as nuts and bolts. Moreover, the first fastening bracket 4 is fixedly mounted to the left mounting bracket 7 with fasteners such as screws and the second fastening bracket 4 is fixedly mounted to the left mounting bracket 6, also with fasteners such as screws.
At this point, with reference to
Finally, in use, the left and right support brackets 5 and 3 each comprise a protruding portion which is slid into first and second fastening brackets 4 respectively (see
Now referring to
Referring now to
Referring now to
As shown in
Once the U-shaped brackets 18, the frustro-conical washers 20 and the mounting brackets 7 and 6 are mounted to the handle bar, as shown in
Referring now to
Finally, with reference to
As explained above, once fully mounted, the windshield panel 1, the base support 2 and the left and right support brackets 5 and 3 act as a single element which can, according to the present invention, easily installed or removed simply by manually actuating locking means such as the knobs 13.
From the above-recited description, the skill addressee will understand that the windshield panel 1 of the present invention is preferably transparent or at least translucent.
Although preferred embodiments of the invention have been described in detail herein and illustrated in the accompanying figures, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to these precise embodiments and that various changes and modifications may be effected therein without departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention.
