MECHANICAL OUTSIDE REAR VIEW MIRROR WITH EFFECTIVE CONTROL
Field of Invention:
The present invention relates to an adjustable rear-view mirror assembly, particularly, the present invention relates to a control mechanism of an adjustable rear-view mirror assembly, more particularly, the present invention relates to side rear-view mirror assembly mounted outside the vehicle which is operable from a control mechanism mounted inside the vehicle.
Back ground of invention:
In automobiles or vehicles, construction equipments, agricultural equipments and the like, one or more rear view mirrors are provided for the driver at the exterior of the vehicle at either the right or the left side or both the sides of the vehicle in order to view the rearward field of vision while driving. Mechanically adjustable exterior rear view mirrors are used in the motor vehicle engineering in a multitude of different designs so as to provide adjustment of the angle of view to the drivers irrespective of their stature and seat position. Conventionally, the side rear view mirror assembly is controlled by three pull type control cables (As shown in figure 1).
US 4,372,177 describes a mechanically adjustable rear view mirror control actuator which comprises an adjustably held mirror sub-assembly which is controlled by three pull type control cables. These three control cables remain in preloading condition to transmit stroke to the rotating part with the help of lever actuator sub-assembly. The main problem with the prior-art three cable mechanism that in case any one of the cable is damaged or not working, the said lever actuator sub-assembly stops functioning i.e. it will not transmit stroke to the rotor for setting or adjustment of the mirror. On the other hand, there is always an add-on cost of one control cable with conduit to the cost of final product. In addition, the maintenance of the prior-art rear view mirror assembly is more difficult or not possible. It is therefore, required to use less number of control cables or remove at least one control cable from the prior art mirror assemblies to make the design or construction simple, easy to assemble, easy for maintenance, cost effective and having effective control.
Objects of present invention:
The main object of the present invention is to provide an adjustable rear view mirror assembly. Another object of the present invention is to provide an adjustable side rear view mirror assembly which overcomes at least one of the problems of prior art.
Summary of the Invention:
The present invention provides a novel control mechanism for adjustment or setting of mirror of the mechanically adjustable side rear-view mirror with only two pull type control cables which minimizes the risk of breaking or damaging one wire. The assembly and control mechanism of the present invention is easier in operation with effective control, more vibration proof and cost effective.
Main aspect of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks of the mechanically adjustable rear view mirrors with three control cables. The present invention eliminates one pull type control cable followed by a novel mechanism for controlling the angular position of mirror as per requirement of the driver.
Another aspect of the present invention is the mechanism for controlling the angular position of the mirror with two pull-type control cables in such a way that the driver can be able to view the rear side of the vehicle by rotating mirror plate as required with respect to a universal ball joint.
In yet another aspect, the present invention provides a mechanism for controlling the two pull type control cables length for rotating mirror plate to view the rear side of the vehicle by the inventive control lever mechanism mounted in such a way that lever knob remains in the interior of the vehicle near to the driver's side and co-driver's side or any one side for easy operation.
Statement of Invention:
Accordingly, the present invention relates to a mirror adjustment assembly for manually adjusting position of vehicle side rear-view mirror of automobile, said assembly comprising:
(A) a mirror sub-assembly comprising:
(i) a rotor and a stator pivotally assembled with each other by means of a universal ball joint inside a housing; said stator is attached to the housing with the help of fastening means;
(ii) a pair of springs connecting the said rotor with stator and disposed there between at angularly spaced points about 90° apart;
(B) a control lever sub-assembly comprising:
(i) an elongated cylindrical lever housing comprises a curved end portion provided with an opening for coaxially extending a portion of a control lever inside the housing; said lever comprising a radial extending flanged portion so as
to form a curved circular disc adapted to abut with outer radial surface of the said curved end portion;
(ii) a cup shaped control element accommodated coaxially inside the said lever housing and outer radial surface of the control element is adapted to abut with inside radial surface of the said curved end portion; said control element comprising a bore for receiving the portion of the control lever extending inside the lever housing;
(iii) a fastening means adapted to cooperate with the portion of the control lever and a spring coaxially disposed inside the bore; thereby movably securing the control element and the said portion of the control lever inside lever housing under force of the said spring which is more than force of spring disposed and connected between the rotor and the stator; (C) a pair of tension member secured to the flanged portion of the control lever at angularly
spaced points about 90° apart; said tension members are connected to the rotor at
angularly spaced points about 90° apart.
Brief Description of the drawings:
Figure 1 illustrates side rear view mirror assembly controlled by three pull type control cables.
Figure 2 illustrates an isometric view of mechanically adjustable rear view mirror assembly
according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 3 shows a sectional view of rear view mirror assembly shown in figure 1 taken at a
section A-A.
Figure 4 shows rotor and stator of the rear view mirror assembly according to an embodiment of
the present invention.
Figure 5 shows a partial view of a mirror sub-assembly.
Figure 6 illustrates an exploded view of control lever sub-assembly according to an embodiment
of the present invention.
Figure 7 illustrates a sectional view taken at a section B-B of the control lever sub-assembly
shown in figure 1.
Figure 8 shows control lever sub-assembly according to another embodiment of the invention.
Detailed description of the present invention:
Accordingly, the present invention provides a mirror adjustment assembly for manually adjusting position of vehicle side rear-view mirror of automobile, said assembly comprising:
(i) a mirror sub-assembly comprising:
(i) a rotor and a stator pivotally assembled with each other by means of a universal ball joint inside a housing; said stator is attached to the housing with the help of fastening means;
(ii) a pair of springs connecting the said rotor with stator and disposed there between at angularly spaced points about 90° apart;
(B) a control lever sub-assembly comprising:
(i) an elongated cylindrical lever housing comprises a curved end portion provided with an opening for coaxially extending a portion of a control lever inside the housing; said lever comprising a radial extending flanged portion so as to form a curved circular disc adapted to abut with outer radial surface of the said curved end portion;
(ii) a cup shaped control element accommodated coaxially inside the said lever housing and outer radial surface of the control element is adapted to abut with inside radial surface of the said curved end portion; said control element comprising a bore for receiving the portion of the control lever extending inside the lever housing;
(iii) a fastening means adapted to cooperate with the portion of the control lever and a spring coaxially disposed inside the bore; thereby movably securing the control element and the said portion of the control lever inside lever housing under force of the said spring which is more than force of spring disposed and connected between the rotor and the stator;
(C) a pair of tension member secured to the flanged portion of the control lever at angularly
spaced points about 90° apart; said tension members are connected to the rotor at
angularly spaced points about 90° apart.
In an embodiment of the present invention the universal ball joint comprises:a male portion and a female portion provided with the stator and rotor respectively or vice versa; and a pair of ribs attached to the male portion received in rectangular slots provided on female portion at 180° directly opposite to each other.
In another embodiment of the present invention the stator is provided with a pair of apertures which are angularly spaced at 90° apart for extending there through the pair of tension member.
In still another embodiment of the present invention the tension members are connected at points at the rotor which are directly opposite to the points on which the springs are connected.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention the stator and rotor, each provided with angularly spaced pair of ribs at 90° apart for connecting the said springs disposed between the rotor and the stator.
In a further embodiment of the present invention the rotor is in the form of casing defined by a planar wall surrounded by side walls and the said planar wall has outer surface adapted to accommodate the side rear view mirror.
In a further more embodiment of the present invention stator is provided with circular thin wall defining a cavity for receiving side wall of rotor, said circular thin wall provided with plurality of uniformly disposed slots so that the rotor is movable about X-X and Y-Y axes which are perpendicular to the Z-axis passing through the universal ball joint.
In another embodiment of the present invention the stator is provided with partial circular rib so as to abut with the peripheral end of the side wall of the rotor.
In one more embodiment of the present invention ends of the tension member are secured to the flanged portion of the control lever or the ends of the tension members are secured with two cantilever arms extending perpendicular to the axis of the lever and located at angularly spaced points 90° apart.
The present invention is described with reference to the figures and specific embodiments; this description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense. Various alternate embodiments of the invention will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description of the invention. It is therefore contemplated that such alternative embodiments form part of the present invention.
Figure 2 shows an isometric view of a mechanically adjustable rear view mirror assembly. As shown in figure 2, mechanically adjustable rear view mirror assembly comprises a mirror subassembly and control lever sub-assembly. The mirror sub-assembly can be mounted on either driver's side or co-driver's side or both the sides. According to an embodiment of the present
Invention the adjustable rear view mirror assembly comprises a mirror setting mechanism or control lever sub-assembly. The mirror setting mechanism includes a housing (1), a mounting (2) and a control lever (3) with pull type wires.
The housing (1) and control lever sub-assembly (3) can be mounted on the vehicle so that mirror side opens outside the vehicle and the control lever sub-assembly (3) remains interior of the vehicle respectively.
Figure 2 also shows viewing direction of sectional cuts A-A and B-B for describing the interlinking of internal parts of the rear view mirror sub-assembly of the present invention.
Figure 3 shows sectional cut A-A of the mirror sub-assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to figures 2 and 3, the mirror sub-assembly comprises a rotor (4), a stator (5), a mirror base (6), a mirror plate (7), four mounting screws (10) and the housing (1). The rotor (4) and the stator (5) are assembled by means of a universal ball joint (11) to have rotation of rotor (5) about the centre of the ball joint along X-X axis (14) and Y-Y axis (15) as required by the user. The mirror plate (6) can be press fitted to the mirror base (7) which is locked to the said rotor (4) by the universal snap locking (8). The rotor (4) is fixed firmly to the housing (1) by four steel screws (10) at the position (9) at four places normal to each other or at angularly spaced position 90° apart.
Referring figures 3 to 5, the rotor (4) and stator (5) of the mirror sub-assembly has been illustrated according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in figures 3 to 5, two extension springs (16, 19) have been disposed between the rotor (4) and the stator (5) for rotating plane (31) of rotor about the centre of the ball joint (11) with respect to the said X-X axis (14) and Y-Y axis (15) as required by the user. The spring (16) is provided with hooks (16a) and (16b) which can be hinged in grooves provided in rib (17a) of the stator (5) and rib (17b) of the rotor (4) respectively. Similarly, the spring (19) is provided with hooks (19a) and (19b) which can be hinged in grooves provided in rib (18a) of the stator (5) and rib (18b) of the rotor (4) respectively. As shown in figure4, the ribs (17a) and (18a) are provided at angularly spaced points 90° apart on the stator. Similarly, the ribs (17b) and (18b) are provided at angularly spaced points 90° apart on the rotor.
As shown in figure 4, two tension members or two pull-type control cables (21) and (23) run inside two flexible cable conduits (20) and (24) respectively. Said conduits (20) and (24) are
Provided with a diametric clearance so that cables are movable inside the conduits close and away from any of the end of the conduits. Two stoppers (22a) and (22b) are crimped over both the ends of the said conduit (20). Likewise, two stoppers (25a) and (25b) are crimped over the both ends of said cable conduit (24). It is to be clearly observed from figures 4 and 5 that the control cables (21) and (23) and the extension springs (19) and (16) are positioned opposite to each other respectively. In other words, each of the spring is located opposite to a control cable according to an embodiment of the present invention. As can be observed from figure 4, the control cable in the mirror sub-assembly is disposed at angularly spaced point 90° apart.
Referring to figures 3 to 5, the stopper (22a) of the cable (21) is assembled in an aperture (28) of the rotor at a position (38) by passing through apertures (32) and (34) of the stator (5) and the apertures (26) and (28) of the rotor. In the same fashion, the stopper (25a) of said cable (23) is assembled in an aperture (29) of the rotor (5) at a position (39) by passing through the aperture (33) and (35) of the stator (5) and the aperture (27) and (29) of said rotor. One end of the cable conduit (20) remains in mating condition at a position of (36) of the stator (5). Similarly, one end of the cable conduit (24) remains in mating condition at a position of (37) of the said stator (5).
According to an alternate embodiment of the present invention, the extension springs can be replaced by compression springs and these springs can be hinged to the stator (5) and the rotor (4) while disposing the compressing spring at location adjacent to the control cables. The compression springs can be also be coaxial/parallel with both of control cables.
According to an alternate embodiment of the present invention, a single extension spring can be used for the same purpose by hinging the said spring with the stator (5) and the rotor (4). The said extension spring can be located at an angle of 135 degree with both the control cables. In another embodiment of the present invention, the said single compression spring can be located at an angle of 45 degree with both the control cables.
Referring to figures 3 to 5, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the stator (5) comprises a partial circular rib (40) which limits the rotor (4) from rotation about the centre of the ball joint (11). Also, face (41) of the stator limits the said rotor (4) from rotation about the centre of the said ball joint (11) by mating face (42) provided in the said rotor. The rotor is in the form of casing having a planar wall surrounded by side wall or curved wall (48). The stator is provided with circular thin wall defining a cavity for receiving side wall of rotor. Eight standard and uniform
plots (30) provided on outer circular thin wall (47) of the stator (5) make it more flexible. The curved wall (48) of the said rotor (4) rotates about the ball joint (11) and rubs over the wall (47) of the stator (5). The wall (47) acts as vibration damper for the said mirror plate (6) delivering vibration free vision to the driver. Two standard coaxial cylindrical ribs (43) and (44) have been provided over the male portion of the said ball joint (11) in the said stator (5). Also, there is provided two standard rectangular slots (45) and (46) over the female portion of said ball joint (11) in the said rotor. Also it can be observed from figure 4, the cylindrical ribs (43) and (44) and the rectangular slots (45) and (46) forms standard sliding and rotation contacts. The sliding and rotation contact about the said ball joint (11) allows the rotor (4) to rotate about the X-X axis (14) and the Y-Y axis (15) and about the center of the ball joint (11) but the said contacts do not allow the said rotor (4) to rotate about the Z-Z axis (13).
Figure 6 shows an exploded view of the control lever mechanism or control lever sub-assembly of the rear view mirror assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in figure 6, control lever mechanism or sub-assembly comprises a lever housing (49), a lever disc lower (50), a lever spring (51), washer screw (52), a control lever or lever knob (53). In figure 6, the mounting screws (10) and the mounting plate (57) constituting the lever control mechanism have been displayed in the form of exploded view of the mechanism sub-assembly. The control lever or lever knob (53) comprises two arms as horizontal lever arm (54) and a vertical lever arm (55) perpendicular to each other to maneuver the lengths of the control cables (23) and (21) for setting the angular displacement of the mirror plate (6) as required by the driver. Two cable stoppers as (22b) and (25b) have been crimped over the second ends of the said control cables (23) and (21) respectively. The control lever mechanism assembly is to be mounted over the mounting plate by fastening the lever housing (49) to three bosses (56) provided in the mounting plate (57) or in the like, by three mounting screws (10).
Figure 7 illustrates a sectional view of the control lever sub-assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 7 shows details of elements constituting the lever control mechanism through a section taken in a sectional direction B-B as shown in figure 2. As shown in figure 7, the control lever or lever knob (53) flanged portion extending radially thereby forming a circular disc having a radial surface (69). The lever housing (49) has a curved end provided with an opening for coaxially extending a portion of a control lever inside the lever housing. The curved end of the lever housing has a radial surface (70), an outside surface. The lever disc lower (50) is a cup shaped control element accommodated coaxially inside the
said lever housing. The lever disc lower (50) has a radial surface (71) and a bore for receiving the portion of the control lever extending inside the lever housing. The lever housing (49) also has a radial surface (72), an inside surface. As can be observed from figure 7 that the radial surface (69) co-operate with radial surface (70) and radial surface (71) cooperate with radial surface (72) so as to form universal ball joints (74b) and (74a) respectively. The ball joints (74b) and (74a) are spring loaded with the lever spring (51) by screwing washer screw (52) in a hole of the lever knob (53) through self threading. One horizontal face of the lever spring (52) is in mating condition with the face (68) of the said washer screw (52) while another horizontal face of said lever spring (51) is in mating condition with a face (67) of the lever disc lower (50). According to an embodiment of the present invention, a small quantity, as per the requirement, of any lubricating agent can be applied at the radial surfaces (69), (70), (71) and (72) which form the ball joints (74b) and (74a) for a smooth maneuvering of the mirror plate (6) by the driver. Also at least two cylindrical ribs just opposite to each other is to be provided on the lever knob (53) and at least two rectangular slots to be provided in the said lever housing to restrict the circular rotation of lever knob about the vertical axis of the lever mechanism housing.
In an embodiment, the present invention improves the man-machine interface by enhancing the outer profile (74) of the said lever knob (53) to attain ergonomical handling from the said lever knob (53) whenever contacted for maneuvering.
The following paragraph (with reference to figures 3 to 7) describes the interrelation of the control cable (21) and the cable conduit (20) with the vertical lever arm (55) according to an embodiment of the present invention. Also the following paragraph describes the interrelation of the control cable (23) and the cable conduit (24) with the horizontal lever arm (54) according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in figure 6, the horizontal lever arm (54) and the vertical lever arm (55) are cantilever arms extending perpendicular to the axis of the lever and located angularly 90° spaced part for securing the tension members or control cables.
One end of the cable conduit (24) is in mating condition with the face (36) of said stator (5) and another end of the cable conduit (24) is in mating condition with the face (58) of the lever mechanism housing (49). The mating condition of ends of cable conduit (24) with the face of the stator and lever housing restricts the relative movement between the control cable (23) and the cable conduit (24). Similarly, one end of the cable conduit (20) is in mating condition with the face (37) of the stator (5), another end of the cable conduit (20) is in mating condition with the
face (59) of the lever mechanism housing (49) to restrict the relative movement between said control cable (21) and the cable conduit (20). In addition, the face (60) of said stopper (25b) in the control cable (23) is in mating condition with the face (64) of the horizontal lever arm (54) into a through slit (62). In the same way the face 61 of the stopper (22b) in the control cable (21) is in mating condition with the face (65) of the vertical lever arm (55) into a through slit (63) and the vertical lever arm (55). The length of the control cables (21) and (23) and the cable conduits (20) and (24) are fixed to deliver uniform maneuver load over the lever knob.
Also maneuver load of the lever knob (53) can be adjusted by screwing or unscrewing the washer screw (52) with the said lever knob (53) in such a manner that this maneuver load is greater than the individual tension of the extension springs (16) and (19) so that the set position of the lever knob (53) is not disturbed by the self tensions of the said extension springs (16) and (19) but this maneuver load is uniform and furnishes smooth feeling to the user.
Figure 8 illustrates a sectional view of control lever mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in figure 8, the control lever mechanism or sub-assembly for the rear view mirror assembly of the present invention mirror position may not require vertical and horizontal arms for the effective control length of control cable. For the fixed value of maneuver angle, the effective length of control cable without cantilever effect is lesser than that of the lever with cantilever effect. In this case, the control cables or tension members can be secured with the flanged portion of the control lever.
The forgoing detailed description has described only a few of the many possible implementations of the present invention. Thus, the description is given only by way of illustration and nothing contained in this section should be construed to limit the scope of the invention.

We Claim:
1. A mirror adjustment assembly for manually adjusting position of vehicle side rear-view mirror of
automobile, said assembly comprising:
(A) a mirror sub-assembly comprising:
(i) a rotor and a stator pivotally assembled with each other by means of a universal ball joint inside a housing; said stator is attached to the housing with the help of fastening means;
(ii) a pair of springs connecting the said rotor with stator and disposed there between at angularly spaced points about 90° apart;
(B) a control lever sub-assembly comprising:
(i) an elongated cylindrical lever housing comprises a curved end portion provided with an opening for coaxially extending a portion of a control lever inside the housing; said lever comprising a radial extending flanged portion so as to form a curved circular disc adapted to abut with outer radial surface of the said curved end portion;
(ii) a cup shaped control element accommodated coaxially inside the said lever housing and outer radial surface of the control element is adapted to abut with inside radial surface of the said curved end portion; said control element comprising a bore for receiving the portion of the control lever extending inside the lever housing;
(iii) a fastening means adapted to cooperate with the portion of the control lever and a spring coaxially disposed inside the bore; thereby movably securing the control element and the said portion of the control lever inside lever housing under force of the said spring which is more than force of spring disposed and connected between the rotor and the stator;
(C) a pair of tension member secured to the flanged portion of the control lever at angularly
spaced points about 90° apart; said tension members are connected to the rotor at
angularly spaced points about 90° apart.
2. A mirror adjustment assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the universal ball joint comprises:
a male portion and a female portion provided with the stator and rotor respectively or vice versa;
a pair of ribs attached to the male portion received in rectangular slots provided on female
portion at 180° directly opposite to each other.
3. A mirror adjustment assembly as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the stator is
provided with a pair of apertures which are angularly spaced at 90° apart for extending there through the pair of tension member.
4. A mirror adjustment assembly as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the tension members are connected at points at the rotor which are directly opposite to the points on which the springs are connected.
5. A mirror adjustment assembly as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the stator and rotor, each provided with angularly spaced pair of ribs at 90° apart for connecting the said springs disposed between the rotor and the stator.
6. A mirror adjustment assembly as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the rotor is in the form of casing defined by a planar wall surrounded by side walls and the said planar wall has outer surface adapted to accommodate the side rear view mirror.
7. A mirror adjustment assembly as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein stator is provided with circular thin wall defining a cavity for receiving side wall of rotor, said circular thin wall provided with plurality of uniformly disposed slots so that the rotor is movable about X-X and Y-Y axes which are perpendicular to the Z-axis passing through the universal ball joint.
8. A mirror adjustment assembly as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the stator is provided with partial circular rib so as to abut with the peripheral end of the side wall of the rotor.
9. A mirror adjustment assembly as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein ends of the tension member are secured to the flanged portion of the control lever or the ends of the tension members are secured with two cantilever arms extending perpendicular to the axis of the lever and located at angularly spaced points 90° apart.
10. A mirror adjustment assembly substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.