Rear view mirror with reinforced ear member

A rear view mirror head for vehicles, especially automotive vehicles such as small trucks, comprises a mirror head body constituted by a unitary, resilient dish-shaped molding of a tough, weather-resistant organic polymer composition, preferably an ABS resin, which presents about its front side peripheral formations for supporting a reflecting mirror plate with an edge gasket of the plate adhered thereto and comprises a backwardly hollowed narrow ear-shaped portion the hollow of which opens to the front side of the molding and has fitted into it rigid ear-reinforcing arms of angled brackets of which rigid base portions extend over and are fixed to areas of the front side adjacent to the hollowed portion of the molding. The resin of the molding can be of an electroplatable type having a stiffening decorative metal coating plated onto at least the outside surfaces. The construction obviates unsightly corrosion and difficulties of mirror plate mounting experienced with previous mirror heads of similar type, while providing the required strength and security of mounting of the mirror head in viewing position on a vehicle.

This invention relates to a construction of a mirror head for a rear view 
mirror of a type used on automotive vehicles and, more particularly, on 
vehicles, sometimes referred to as "small trucks", such as pick-up trucks, 
vans, campers, or similar recreational or utility vehicles. 
A well known rear view mirror of the type mentioned has its mirror head 
provided as dish-shaped body of sheet steel presenting about its front 
side peripheral formations which support a reflecting mirror plate, and 
having on its back side a backwardly protruding ear member formed to be 
clamped to a support arm, such as an end portion of a "goose-neck" arm of 
a tripod mounting bracket, for holding the mirror in viewing position on a 
vehicle body. The dish-shaped sheet metal head body as the ear member 
fixed to an area of its back side, the ear member being constituted by a 
pair of angled steel brackets which have protruding ear portions arranged 
back to back against each other and have oppositely directed base portions 
bearing against and fixed by rivets to a central area of the head body. At 
least the exposed, or outside, surfaces of the dish-shaped sheet metal 
body with the ear member fixed to it are chromium plated or painted to 
enhance the appearance of the mirror and its resistance to corrosive 
influences of weather or other use conditions. 
The known mirror head construction mentioned above has presented problems 
in use, as the structure is susceptible to corrosion particularly at or 
about the ear forming brackets fixed to the steel body and thus to 
becoming unsightly and weakened objectionably. Also, the mirror head may 
vibrate excessively in use. Another shortcoming is that problems have 
existed in fastening the reflecting mirror plate onto the peripheral 
formations about the front side of the sheet steel body. In the current 
practice of crimping a flange of the peripheral body formations onto a 
gasket fitted about the edge of the mirror plate, the flange sometimes is 
crimped insufficiently with resulting loss of the plate from the head in 
the use of the mirror. 
The principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved 
rear view mirror head construction of the type mentioned, by which the 
problems of excessive head vibration and of corrosion at exposed areas of 
the head can be obviated, also the problem of fixing and keeping a mirror 
plate in place on a dish-shaped head body, while still providing at low 
cost the strength, durability and reliability required for a rear view 
mirror suited for use on vehicles such as small trucks. 
In accordance with this invention, a rear view mirror including a mirror 
head in the form of a dish-shaped body of sheetlike material presenting 
about its front side peripheral formations to support a reflecting mirror 
plate is provided as a unitary, resilient dish-shaped molding of a tough, 
weather-resistant organic polymer composition; and a backwardly protruding 
ear member, clampable to a support arm for holding the mirror in viewing 
position on a vehicle, is provided on the dish-shaped body by a backwardly 
hollowed ear-shaped portion of the molding, the hollow of which opens to 
the front side of the molding and has fitted into it a rigid 
ear-reinforcing arm. This arm is a projecting portion of rigid reinforcing 
means which also comprise at least one angled rigid base portion extending 
over and fixed to an area of the front side of the molding adjacent to the 
hollowed portion. 
A mirror head so constructed has all its exposed, or outside, surfaces 
formed by the organic polymer composition, so is not susceptible to being 
rendered unsightly by corrosion; yet the strength and stability required 
in the head body, and particularly in its backwardly protruding ear 
member, to enable secure clamping of the ear member to a support arm with 
secure holding of the mirror in viewing position on a vehicle is provided 
by the reinforcing action of the rigid arm fitted into the hollow of the 
ear member and the angled rigid base portion extending over and fixed to 
an area of the front side of the molding adjacent to the hollowed portion. 
As a further advantage of the construction, the reflecting plate forming 
the front of the mirror can be securely fixed and sealed in place by means 
of an adhesive suitably selected for joining a gasket fitted about the 
plate edge onto peripheral surfaces of the molding, without need for any 
forcible crimping operation.

The rear view mirror 1 in the illustrated embodiment of the invention is 
composed of a plate supporting body, or housing, 2 and a reflecting mirror 
plate 4. The plate 4 preferably is a glass plate silvered over its back 
side and protected about its edge by an elastic gasket 6 of rubber or 
rubber-like material fitted onto the edge. 
The mirror head body 2 is made with a backwardly protruding ear member 8 
shaped for being clamped to a support arm, such as a "gooseneck" arm 10 of 
a conventional tripod mirror mounting device (not shown), for holding the 
mirror in viewing position on a vehicle. The viewing position in the case 
of vehicles such as small trucks is considerably outboard of the body or 
cab of the vehicle; so a mirror head body 2 supporting a reflecting mirror 
plate of considerable surface area, having for instance a width of about 7 
inches or more and a height (length) of about 10 inches or more, is 
provided for such use. 
The mirror head body 2 is constituted essentially by a unitary, resilient 
dish-shaped molding 20 of a tough weather-resistant organic polymer 
composition. Molding 20 is produced, for example, by injection molding of 
an acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) resin which may be of a type 
pigmented to a desired color, such for example as the ABS resin identified 
as CYCOLAC T, or, preferably, is of an electroplatable type such for 
example as the ABS resin identified as CYCOLAC EPB 3570, or KRALASTIC MPA 
2615. In the case of platable resin, after the body of the mirror head is 
molded, the molding is subjected to plating processes which provide it 
with a stiffening and decorative metal coating over its entire surface or, 
at the least, over its exposed outside surface areas. For instance, after 
suitable preparation of the surface of the molding, a base coating of 
so-called "mechanical nickel" may be precipitated onto it from a solution, 
and then successive coatings respectively of copper and nickel, and 
finally a chromium layer, may be plated onto the molding by electrolysis. 
As may be seen in the drawings, the molding 20 is a dish-shaped body, 
typically having a generally rectangular shape with rounded corners, which 
comprises a sheet-like body wall 22 and presents about its front side 
peripheral surface formations including a continuous ledge 24 surrounded 
by a rim 25. These formations support the reflecting mirror plate 4 with 
its edge protecting gasket 6 seated on and adhered by adhesive to the 
ledge 24 and the rim 25. 
In a central region of the molding 20 as considered in the horizontal or 
transverse direction, the body wall 22 is molded with a backwardly 
hollowed narrow ear-shaped portion 26 which forms the bounding and 
external part of the backwardly protruding ear member 8. 
The hollowed wall portion 26 bounds an ear-shaped narrow cavity or hollow 
27 that opens to the front side of the molding as seen in FIG. 2. This 
hollow 27 has fitted into it a rigid ear-reinforcing arm or projection of 
rigid angled reinforcing bracket means 30. The bracket means 30 may have 
other forms, but in the form shown in constituted by two rigid steel angle 
brackets which have respective arm portions 34 and 35 placed back to back 
to form the ear-reinforcing projection and have respective angled base 
portions 36 and 37 extending over and fixed to an area 28 of the front 
side of the molding adjacent to the hollow 27. The base portions 36 and 37 
are shown fixed to area 28 of wall 22, for example, by several rivets 38 
for each bracket piece. 
Thus, a backwardly protruding ear member 8 is provided which, although 
shaped and bounded externally by hollowed portion 26 of the molded wall 22 
of tough, weather-resistant polymer composition, is reinforced internally 
and kept rigid, so as to hold the mirror head securely in viewing position 
when mounted on a vehicle, by the steel arm projection 34, 35 of the 
bracket means 30 and the rigidity of the bracket base portions 36 and 37 
fixed to front side area 28 of the molding. 
In the regions of its front side disposed about the bracketed area 28, the 
molding 20 comprises integral reinforcing ribs 23a and 23b which protrude 
forwardly and extend along the dished area of the front side, one rib 
transverse to another, so as to provide additional strength in the mirror 
head. 
The assembled rear view mirror head, as indicated in FIGS. 1 and 3, can be 
mounted securely in viewing position on a vehicle simply by clamping the 
ear member 8 onto a suitable support arm of a mirror mounting bracket, 
such as a "gooseneck" arm 10. For this purpose, for example, the ear 
member 8 is formed with an opening 9 extending transversely through both 
its backwardly hollowed molded portion 26 and its inner, rigid reinforcing 
projection, so that member 8 can be fitted onto a threaded end portion 11 
of the support arm 10 and then can be clamped onto the arm between washers 
12 and 13 by tightening a screw 14 threaded onto end portion 11. Parts 9a 
of the opening 9 are preformed in the bracket arms 34 and 35. Parts 9b of 
the opening may be molded in the narrow hollowed portion 26 of the molding 
20. 
A mirror head having a body molding of the construction herein set forth, 
when made of the platable resin mentioned above and suitably chromium 
plated, will readily withstand tests for resistance to extreme weather 
conditions, such as repetitive cycles of heating in an oven at 150.degree. 
F. and chilling in a freezer at -20.degree. F., without showing any 
blistering or de-lamination of the plating. 
A mirror head construction as herein set forth withstands standard SAE 
mirror vibration tests, without failing structurally, at least as well as 
the above mentioned known construction of the same type. The present 
construction also has important advantages over the known one in that the 
mirror head vibrates much less under strenuous use conditions; and no 
unsightly corrosion of the head can occur in its use; and with proper 
selection of an adhesive for holding and sealing the mirror plate in place 
no problem of loss of the mirror plate from a head in use is to be 
expected.