Vanity mirror

A vanity mirror including: a mirror body arranged with a mirror; a cover turnably received by the mirror body so that it may be opened/closed relative to the mirror; and spring means for urging the cover in at least the closing direction. A shaft is fixedly received by one of the mirror body and the cover for receiving the other and is formed with a friction surface part having an enlarged coefficient of friction on the surface to be brought into sliding contact with the other.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to a vanity mirror to be attached to an 
automobile or the like and, more particularly, to a vanity mirror having a 
cover for protecting its surface. 
2. Related Art 
Generally, a vanity mirror is attached to a sun visor which is mounted at 
the driver's or passenger's seat of automobiles. The vanity mirror is 
constructed to have an openable cover to prevent a mirror surface from 
being exposed at all times and to protect the surface. FIG. 11 is a 
schematic diagram showing the vanity mirror of this type. A vanity mirror 
1 is attached to an inner face of a sun visor 2 mounted on an automobile, 
i.e., a face which will confront the passenger when the sun visor 2 is 
turned downward. 
The vanity mirror 1 is integrally equipped with an illumination part 15. 
Specifically, a mirror body 11 is molded of a resin and holds a 
horizontally elongated mirror 14 on one side thereof, and the illumination 
part 15 is disposed on the other side and adjacent to the mirror 14. On an 
upper end part of the mirror body 11, on the other hand, there is turnably 
supported by hinge mechanisms a cover 21 which can be manually opened and 
closed by turning the same. When the cover 21 is turned upward, the mirror 
14 and the illumination part 15 are exposed and simultaneously the 
illumination part 15 is turned ON so that the passenger can use the vanity 
mirror 1 even in night time. The cover 21 is made of a resin and has a 
surface made of such a material as is identical to that of the surface of 
the sun visor, when desired. 
This vanity mirror is devised to keep a stable closed state of the cover 21 
by making use of a spring force, for example, so that the cover 21 may 
take the closed state stably relative to the mirror body when the cover is 
closed. FIG. 12A is a perspective views showing one example of the 
construction of the device and 12B is a sectional view showing the 
assembled state of the construction. A shaft 71 is so fitted and fixed in 
each shaft receiving part 22 of the cover 21 that two end parts of which 
are turnably received in paired shaft receiving parts 31 and 32 which are 
formed at the mirror body 11. In this case, the shaft 71 is formed at an 
intermediate part with a serial part 72 which has its circumference 
knurled, and is unified with the shaft receiving part 22 by press-fitting 
the serial part 72 in the shaft receiving part 22 of the cover 21. 
Moreover, both end parts of the shaft 71 are fitted in the aforementioned 
shaft receiving parts 31 and 32. 
On the other hand, the aforementioned shaft receiving part 22 has an outer 
circumference formed into a cam part 24, and a plate spring 35, which is 
bent to correspond to the cam part 24, is so received by the mirror body 
11 as to elastically contact with the cam part 24. As a result, as the 
cover 21 is turned, the cam parts 24 of the shaft receiving parts 24 are 
accordingly turned to ride over the bent parts of the plate springs 35 
thereby to establish spring forces. These spring forces can be used to 
hold the cover 21 snugly in its closed position and its open position, 
respectively. 
If the vanity mirror thus constructed is designed to increase the spring 
forces of the plate springs 35, the force to bring the cover 21 into 
elastic contact with the mirror body 11 can be increased to improve the 
fully closed position of the cover 21 more stably. With this construction, 
however, the speed for turning the cover 21 in the closing direction is 
also increased by the increased spring forces of the plate springs 35 so 
that the cover 21 is vigorously turned to full closed position. At this 
time, the cover 21 impinges upon the mirror body 11 with a "bang" or 
impact, which may deteriorate the high quality of the vanity mirror. 
With the spring forces of the plate springs 35 being reduced, on the other 
hand, the cover 21 can be opened and closed by a light force while 
eliminating the bang or impact at the closing time. However, the quality 
of the vanity mirror is also deteriorated because the cover 21 is hard to 
stably hold in the fully closed position and is partially open. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention was made in view of the foregoing difficulties 
accompanying the conventional vanity mirror. Therefore it is an object of 
the present invention to provide a vanity mirror which is enabled to have 
a high grade or quality by reducing its cover closing speed to damp the 
bang or impact while enhancing the stability at the cover closing time. 
According to the present invention, there is provided a vanity mirror in 
which a cover of a mirror body supporting a mirror is turnably supported 
and biased at least in its closing direction by spring member. A shaft is 
fixedly received by one of the mirror body and the cover, the other of 
which receives the shaft. The shaft is formed with a friction surface part 
which has friction coefficient enlarged on the face to come into sliding 
contact with the shaft hole of the other member. 
Here, the friction surface part of the shaft may be formed into a 
circumference having a smooth face to contact with the other member of the 
mirror body and the cover, and the shaft per se may be made of a resin 
having a large coefficient of contact friction with the other member. 
Since the friction coefficient between the mirror body or cover and the 
shaft is increased by the friction surface part formed on the shaft, the 
closing speed of the cover to be turned by the spring member is 
decelerated by the frictional force so that the bang or impact at the 
cover closing time is suppressed while improving the stability of the 
closing operation.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
The present invention will be described in connection with its embodiments 
with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a partially 
exploded perspective view showing one embodiment of the vanity mirror of 
the present invention. A sectional structure of the state, in which a 
vanity mirror 1 is assembled in a sun visor 2, is shown in FIG. 2. 
Further, the exterior of the assembled state is similar to the 
aforementioned one of FIG. 11. In FIG. 2, the sun visor 2 is formed in an 
inner face with a shallow recess 2a which is shaped into such an rectangle 
as to receive the vanity mirror 1, and the vanity mirror 1 is fitted in 
that recess 2a and fixed on the sun visor by screws or insertion member. 
Here, the vanity mirror 1 is fixed by means of lances 1a formed thereon. 
The sun visor 2 is prepared by covering a core 3 made of a resin with a 
cushion member 4 and by coating this cushion member 4 with a sheet member 
5, and the aforementioned lances 1a are fitted in the core 3. 
As shown in FIG. 1, the vanity mirror 1 is mainly constructed of a mirror 
body 11 molded of a resin. In the mirror body 1, a horizontally elongated 
large rectangular window 12 and a smaller rectangular window 13 are 
juxtaposed to each other. The larger rectangular window 12 is formed on 
the back with a plurality of lances 12a which are so formed integrally 
with the mirror body 11 as to face open edge parts of the window 12, so 
that the mirror 14 has peripheral edge parts retained and received by the 
aforementioned lances 12a. On the other hand, an illumination part 15 is 
fixedly received by the smaller rectangular window 13. In this embodiment, 
the illumination part 15 includes a shallow-dished rectangular 
illumination box 16 and a lens 17 to be fitted in the illumination box 16. 
The illumination box 16 is fixed in the mirror body 11 by means of screws 
to receive an in-line type illumination lamp 18, and the lens 17 is 
retained in the opening of the illumination box 16 by means of lances 17a. 
In order to cover the surface of the aforementioned mirror body 11, i.e., 
the mirror 14 and the illumination part 15, on the other hand, there is 
prepared a sheet-shaped cover 21 which is formed to have a size 
substantially equal to that of the mirror body 11. The cover 21 is 
turnably received at the two side parts of the upper end edge of the 
mirror body 11. Here, the cover 21 is molded of an ABS, PC or PP resin. 
FIG. 3A is a partially exploded perspective view showing an essential part 
of the cover. The cover 21 is integrally formed at the two end parts of 
its upper edge with shaft receiving parts 22 which are individually formed 
generally into discs, and each shaft receiving part 22 is formed with a 
shaft hole 23 for receiving a shaft. Moreover, the shaft receiving part 22 
has an outer circumferential part partially protruded to form a cam part 
24. 
On the other hand, the aforementioned mirror body 11 is integrally formed 
at each side part of an upper end with a pair of shaft receiving parts 31 
and 32 which are positioned to hold the shaft receiving part 22 of the 
aforementioned cover 21 at two inner and outer sides. These shaft 
receiving parts 31 and 32 are respectively formed with shaft holes 33 and 
34 for receiving a later-described shaft 41. In this case, the shaft hole 
34 is blinded to prevent the deterioration of appearance, which might 
otherwise be caused by the exposure of the leading end part of the shaft 
41, as will be described hereinafter. Between these shaft receiving parts 
31 and 32, moreover, there is arranged a plate spring 35 which is bent in 
a shape like a letter "V". The plate spring 35 has a longer part 35a 
fitted in a groove 19 formed in the mirror body 11 so that it is fixedly 
received by the mirror body 11. The shorter part 35b of the plate spring 
35 is so interposed between the aforementioned shaft receiving parts 31 
and 32 as to have an elasticity in the direction of the thickness. 
The aforementioned shaft 41 is formed by working a metallic material or a 
resin material such as polyacetal processing into a round rod having 
substantially the same diameter as the internal diameter of the shaft 
holes 23, 33 and 34 formed in the aforementioned shaft receiving parts 22, 
31 and 32, respectively. The shaft 41 has a base end part radially 
increased to have a large-diameter part 42 knurled at 45 on an outer 
circumference thereof. The intermediate part 43 of the shaft 41 has a 
circumference embossed to provide a friction surface part 44 having fine 
corrugations. 
As shown in sectional front and side elevations of the assembled state in 
FIGS. 3A and 3C, with the shaft receiving part 22 of the cover 21 being 
positioned between the paired shaft receiving parts 31 and 32 of the 
mirror body 11, the shaft 41 has a leading end part inserted sequentially 
into the individual shaft holes 33, 23 and 34 of the outer, 30 
intermediate and inner shaft receiving parts 31, 22 and 32. Finally, the 
large-diameter part 42 of the shaft 41 is press-fitted in the shaft hole 
33 of the outer shaft receiving part 31 so that knurl bites the inner face 
of the shaft receiving part 31. As a result, the shaft 41 is unified with 
the mirror body 11. During the press-fitting operation, moreover, the 
friction surface part 44 of the shaft 41 is inserted into the shaft hole 
23 of the shaft receiving part 22. As a result, the shaft receiving part 
22 of the cover 21 receives the shaft 41 to turn relative to the mirror 
body 11. At this time, the cam part 24 of the shaft receiving part 22 is 
held in elastic contact with the shorter part 35b of the plate spring 35. 
Incidentally, the aforementioned illumination part 15 is equipped with the 
not-shown switch mechanism which is actuated, when the cover 21 is opened 
to a predetermined position, to turn on the illumination part 15, although 
the description will be omitted. 
According to this construction, the cover 21 can be turned on the shaft 
receiving part 22 and the shaft 41, when it is manually actuated by the 
passenger, so that it can be opened and closed relative to the mirror body 
11. Since, at this time, the shaft 41 is integrally received at a 
large-diameter part 42 in the mirror body 11, the cover 21 has a shaft 
receiving part 22 turned relative to the shaft 41 so that it is opened and 
closed. In these opening/closing operations of the cover 21, moreover, the 
closing force is applied to the cover 21 by an elastic force at the time 
when the cam part 24 of the shaft receiving part 22 abuts against the bent 
plate spring 35, so that the cover 21 is held in fully closed position by 
the spring force of the plate spring 35. 
When the cover 21 is turned in the opening direction, on the other hand, 
the cover 21 causes the cam part 24 of the shaft receiving part 22, when 
in a predetermined turned position, to ride over the plate spring 35. When 
the predetermined position passes, the elastic force is applied in the 
reverse direction to the cover 21 so that the cover 21 can be held in the 
open position even if it is released from the hand of the passenger. 
If the spring force of the plate spring 35 is enhanced, therefore, the 
force for holding the open/closed position of the cover 21 by the plate 
spring 35 can be enhanced to intensify the force for bringing the leading 
end part of the cover 21 into elastic contact with the mirror body 11, 
when the cover 21 is fully closed, so that the snugness of the fully 
closed position of the cover can be enhanced to improve the quality of the 
vanity mirror. Moreover, the cover 21 can be held in the fully open 
position. On the other hand, the shaft receiving part 22 of the cover 21 
is made turnable to have a shaft hole 23 internally contacting with the 
friction surface part 44 which is formed in the intermediate part 43 of 
the shaft 41, so that the frictional resistance between the inner face of 
the shaft hole 23 and the friction surface part 44 is increased. When the 
shaft receiving part 22 is turned along the circumference of the shaft 41 
as the cover 21 is opened or closed, the rate for the cover 21 to be 
turned in the closing direction is decreased although the spring force of 
the plate spring 35 is increased. 
As a result, when the cover 21 comes into the fully closed position, the 
cover 21 can be prevented from impinging upon the mirror body 11 at a high 
speed, to prevent the bang or impact so that a high quality can be 
achieved in the vanity mirror. Especially in a case where the shaft 41 is 
made of polyacetal, not only the sliding property but also the wear 
resistance can be enhanced against the ABS, PC or PP resin making the 
cover 21, so that a high reliability for a long time period can be 
retained even for the repeated operations to open and close the cover. 
Here in the embodiment described above, the friction surface part 44 of the 
shaft 41 is embossed. However, the friction surface part 44 may be formed 
with a smooth circumference without any such working such as the 
embossing, if the shaft 41 is made of one of the above-specified resins 
and set to have an external diameter proper for establishing a frictional 
force between itself and the inner face of the shaft hole 23 of the shaft 
receiving part 22 of the cover. Then, no working process is required for 
forming the friction surface part, but what is required is to mold the 
shaft of a resin so that the shaft can be easily manufactured. 
One modification of the afore-mentioned shaft will be described. FIG. 4A 
shows a shaft 41A in which a base end part has a large-diameter part 42A 
formed in a circumference with a plurality of axial depression grooves 46. 
Moreover, the intermediate part 43A of the shaft 41A has a circumference 
embossed with corrugations to provide a friction surface part 44A. As 
shown in FIG. 4B, moreover, the shaft 41A is inserted into the shaft 
receiving parts 31 and 32 and the shaft receiving part 22, and an adhesive 
X is injected through the depression grooves 46 into the outer shaft 
receiving part 31, so that the large-diameter part 42A can be adhered and 
fixed in the shaft hole of the outer shaft receiving part 31. The rate to 
close the cover 21 is decreased as in the foregoing embodiment by the 
friction surface part 44A formed on the intermediate part 43A of the shaft 
41A. In this modification, further, the shaft hole 34 of the shaft 
receiving part 32 is formed as a through hole so that it can be more 
easily worked than the case in which it is blinded. 
FIG. 5A shows a modification in which a large-diameter part 42B to be made 
at the base end portion of a shaft 41B is formed into a polygon such as a 
hexagon having a larger diagonal size than that of the shaft diameter and 
in which the intermediate part 43B of the shaft 41B is formed on a 
circumference with axial ridges 48 to provide a friction surface part 44B. 
The shaft 44B can be unified with the mirror body 11, as shown in FIG. 5B, 
by fitting the large-diameter part 42B of the shaft 41B in the shaft hole 
33 of the outer shaft receiving part 31 of the mirror body 11 and by using 
the polygonal deformation of the large-diameter part 42B. Moreover, the 
shaft receiving part 22 of the cover 21 to turnably receive that shaft 41B 
has a friction coefficient increased when turned, because the shaft hole 
23 has an inner face held in contact with the friction surface part 44B 
formed of the axial ridges 48. As a result, like the foregoing 
embodiments, the cover 21 can be closed at a low rate by the frictional 
force between the shaft receiving part 22 of the cover and the friction 
surface part 44B of the shaft 41B, so that the vanity mirror can be given 
a high quality. In this embodiment, moreover, the blind shaft hole 34 has 
a bottom formed into a conical surface, and the shaft 41B has a leading 
end part formed with a surface chamfered part 47, so that the shaft 41B 
can be easily centered with the shaft hole 34 by the abutting contact 
between the surface chamfered part 47 and the conical surface. 
In FIG. 6A, a large-diameter part 42C formed at the base end part of a 
shaft 41C is knurled at 49 in a circumference and is partially protruded 
in a radial direction to form a key 50. Moreover, the intermediate part 
43C of the shaft 41C is formed on a circumference with helical ridges 51 
to provide a friction surface part 44C. As shown in FIG. 6B, therefore, 
the shaft 41C can be fixedly received by the mirror body 11 by forming a 
key 36 in the shaft hole 32 of the outer shaft receiving part 31 of the 
mirror body and by press-fitting the large-diameter part 42C in the shaft 
hole 33 while fitting the key 50 of the large-diameter part 42C of the 
shaft 41C in the key 36. Further, the shaft 41C is inserted into the shaft 
hole 23 of the shaft receiving part 22 of the cover 21 so that the 
frictional force can be established in the turning motion of the cover 21 
to close the cover 21 at a low rate by increasing the friction coefficient 
of the friction surface part 44C. 
In FIG. 7A, a large-diameter part 42D formed at the base end part of a 
shaft 41D has a circumference threaded as at 51. Moreover, the 
intermediate part 43D of the shaft 41D has a circumference formed with 
embosses or ridges to provide a friction surface part 44D having a large 
friction coefficient. Moreover, the shaft 41D has a leading end part 
radially reduced from the intermediate part to form a small diameter part 
52. If, therefore, the shaft hole 33 of the outer shaft receiving part 31 
of the mirror body is threaded at 37 in the inner circumference, as shown 
in FIG. 7B, the shaft 41D can be fixedly received by the mirror body 11 by 
fastening the large-diameter part 42D of the shaft 41D in the thread 51 of 
the shaft hole 33. Since, at this time, the small diameter part 52 is 
formed at the leading end part of the shaft 41D, the shaft hole 34 of the 
inner shaft receiving part 32 of the mirror body 11 can be radially 
reduced according to the small diameter of the part 52 so that the 
external diameter of the inner shaft receiving part 32 can be reduced. 
Owing to the reduced external diameter of the inner shaft receiving part 
32, the space to be occupied by the shaft receiving part 32 can be reduced 
to facilitate the arrangement of the aforementioned plate spring 35 
thereby to reduce the size of the vanity mirror. 
FIG. 8A shows a modification of the embodiment of FIG. 7. In this 
embodiment of FIG. 7, because of the provision of the small diameter 
portion 52, the corresponding portion cannot avoid more or less reduction 
in the strength. In the modification, therefore, the shaft 41D has the 
leading end part formed into a conical tapered part 52a. In a 
corresponding manner, on the other hand, the inner shaft receiving part 32 
of the mirror body has the shaft hole 34 formed into a shallow conical 
recess. As a result, the tapered part 52a can come into abutment against 
the conically recessed shaft hole 34 so that the shaft 41D is received in 
the shaft hole 34, when the shaft is received in the shaft receiving parts 
31 and 32. 
Owing to this construction, the shaft hole 34 is not extended through the 
shaft receiving part 32 but is shallowed, so that the shaft receiving part 
32 can have the radial size reduced as in the case of the construction of 
FIG. 7 while having the strength enhanced accordingly as the leading end 
part of the shaft 41D is not radially reduced. 
In FIG. 9A, a large-diameter part 42E formed at the base end part of a 
shaft 41E has a circumference knurled at 53, and an intermediate part 43E 
is radially reduced at the leading end part to form a small diameter part 
54, which has a circumference knurled at 55. Moreover, the intermediate 
part 43E of the shaft 41E has a circumference formed with the 
aforementioned embosses or ridges to form a friction surface part 44E 
having an enlarged friction coefficient. In this case, the knurl 55 of the 
small diameter part 54 is given a smaller external diameter than that of 
the intermediate part 43E. In the mirror body 11, on the other hand, the 
shaft hole 34 of the inner shaft receiving part 32 is given a smaller 
diameter than that of the shaft hole 33 of the outer shaft receiving part 
31. 
As a result, if the shaft 41E is forcibly inserted from the outer shaft 
receiving part 31 into the shaft hole 33, as shown in FIG. 9B, the 
large-diameter part 42E of the shaft 41E is press-fitted in the shaft hole 
33 of the outer shaft receiving part 31, and the small diameter part 54 at 
the leading end of the shaft is press-fitted in the shaft hole 34 of the 
inner shaft receiving part 32, so that the shaft 41E is firmly received at 
two ends by the outer and inner shaft receiving parts 31 and 32, 
respectively. As a result, therefore, the forces for receiving the shaft 
41E can be equalized and lightened at the two shaft receiving parts 31 and 
32 to reduce the sizes such as the thicknesses of the shaft receiving 
parts 31 and 32. Incidentally, the external diameter of the knurl 55 of 
the small diameter part 54 is made smaller than that of the intermediate 
part 43E of the shaft 41E so that the knurl 55 of the small diameter 
portion 54 will not damage the inner face of the shaft hole 23 of the 
shaft receiving part 22 when the shaft 41E is inserted through the shaft 
hole 33 of the shaft receiving part 31 and the shaft hole 23 of the shaft 
receiving part 22. 
FIG. 10A shows an embodiment in which the shaft is divided into a thin pin 
shaft 61 made of a metal and having a circumference knurled at 63, and a 
collar 62 made of a resin and fitted on the pin shaft 61. The collar 62 is 
given a slightly smaller internal diameter than the diameter of the pin 
shaft 61 and has an outer circumference formed with embosses and ridges to 
form a friction surface part 64. Then, the collar 62 is inserted into the 
shaft hole 23 of the shaft receiving part 22 of the cover 21, as shown in 
FIG. 10B, and the pin shaft 61 is inserted through the collar 62 into the 
individual shaft holes 33 and 34 of the paired shaft receiving parts 31 
and 32 of the mirror body 11. As a result, by the action of the knurl 63 
formed on the pin shaft 61, the pin shaft 61 is press-fitted at the two 
end parts in the shaft holes 33 and 34 of the shaft receiving parts 31 and 
32 until it is fixed in the mirror body 11. 
Simultaneously, the pin shaft 61 is press-fitted and fixed in the collar 62 
so that the collar 62 is fixedly received in the mirror body through the 
pin shaft 61. As a result, the shaft receiving part 22 of the cover 21 has 
a friction coefficient increased by the friction surface part 64 of the 
outer circumference of the collar 62 so that it can be turned at a low 
rate even when the spring force of the aforementioned plate spring 35 is 
applied. In this embodiment, further, the pin shaft 61 having the small 
diameter is received by the shaft receiving parts 31 and 32 so that these 
shaft receiving parts 31 and 32 can be small-sized to advantageously 
reduce the space to be occupied. 
Incidentally, in the individual embodiments thus far described, the shaft 
is fixed and received by the mirror body so that the cover can be turned 
relative to the shaft. However, the shaft may be fixedly received by the 
cover so that it may be turned relative to the mirror body, and the shaft 
may be formed with the friction surface part on the surface to be brought 
into sliding contact with the mirror body, thereby to reduce the turning 
rate of the cover. 
Although, moreover, the foregoing embodiments are exemplified by applying 
the present invention to the vanity mirror having the illumination part, 
the present invention can also be applied to a vanity mirror having no 
illumination part. In the foregoing embodiments, moreover, the molding 
resin is exposed as it is from the surface of the cover, but the present 
invention can also be applied to the cover which has the surface coated 
with cloth or the like. 
In the present invention, furthermore, any construction other than those of 
the foregoing individual embodiments can be adopted as that for the 
large-diameter part for forming the shaft on the mirror body, if it can 
unify the shaft with the mirror body in the turning direction. On the 
other hand, the friction surface part formed on the intermediate part of 
the shaft may adopt any construction other than those of the 
aforementioned embodiments, if it increases the coefficient of friction 
between the friction surface part and the shaft receiving part of the 
cover. In this case, the coefficient of friction between the shaft 
receiving part of the cover and the friction surface part can be set to an 
arbitrary value by suitably designing the width size of the shaft 
receiving part of the cover, the shaft diameter and the shaft hole 
diameter of the shaft receiving part. 
As has been described hereinbefore, according to the present invention, the 
cover to be turnably supported relative to the mirror body is received by 
the shaft which is fixed and received by the mirror body or the cover, and 
the shaft is formed with the friction surface part which has the friction 
coefficient increased on the surface to be brought into sliding contact 
with the shaft hole of the cover or the mirror body. As a result, the 
closing rate of the cover to be turned especially by the spring means can 
be reduced by that frictional force. Thus, even in case the spring force 
of the spring means is increased to enhance the quality by enhancing the 
stability at the instant when the cover is closed, the rate to close the 
cover is lowered to provide an effect that the bang or impact at the 
closing time can be suppressed to give a high quality to the vanity 
mirror. 
If, moreover, the shaft is made of a resin so that a frictional force can 
be established between the shaft and the cover or the mirror body, the 
friction surface part can be formed merely as a smooth circumference to 
eliminate the step for forming the friction surface part, so that the 
shaft can be easily manufactured.