Vehicle sunshield

A sunshield device for use in a parked vehicle to block sunlight from entering through the vehicle's windows is made of an assemblage of elongated panels. The panels are hingedly interconnected in a vertical array whereby the assemblage can be accordion folded to a compact storage state. The uppermost panel of the assemblage is provided with a suction cup adapted to attach to the window of the vehicle. The suction cup is provided with a mechanism extending through the uppermost panel for achieving release of the suction cup from the window.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to sun blocking devices, and more particularly 
concerns a folding, retractable sunshield adapted for use in a parked 
vehicle to block sunlight from entering through the vehicle's windows. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
Numerous vehicular sun blocking devices have been disclosed in the prior 
art. Sunlight entering the vehicle heats the interior and causes 
degradation of the seats and other components of the interior of the 
vehicle. Various sunshade devices have been employed to prevent sunlight 
from entering a parked vehicle, said devices being designed for use either 
upon the exterior or within the interior of the vehicle. The exterior 
devices may be comprised of an arcuate semi-transparent member mounted 
above the upper portion of the front window, thus filtering and shading 
part of the interior of the vehicle only when the sun is at the higher 
part of its orbit. Other exterior shade means may comprise a compliant 
tarp or covering which may cover the windows only or the entire vehicle. 
The interior shade devices generally are either curtains, venetian blinds, 
or roll-up shades which are permanently or semi-permanently mounted upon 
the windows or window frames of the vehicle. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 
3,003,812 to Haugland discloses a multi-pleated panel capable of folding 
downwardly accordion-style to a compact, horizontally elongated storage 
state. This design comprises a plurality of moving parts, lending itself 
to relatively expensive manufacture, and would more than likely require 
the use of two hands for raising or lowering. It is most preferable to 
have a shade which may be easily deployed with one hand, particularly for 
use interiorly of the rear window of the automobile. The other hand may 
then be used for supporting the user's weight while reaching toward the 
shade. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,758,042 to Liu discloses a sunshade having a plurality of 
horizontally disposed accordion folding panels which are held upon the 
window by means of suction cups. A coiled spring plate mounted upon a 
handle on the top panel of the shade achieves folding of the shade. This 
shade design is disposed at the bottom of the window while not in use, 
thereby obstructing visibility through the lower portion of the window. 
Another spring-urged shade is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,711 to 
Goebel. The Goebel device is comprised of a plurality of accordion pleated 
fabric panels having apertures penetrated by spring urged strings which 
have upper extremities fixedly associated with a top panel, and lower 
extremities associated with a shaft urged to rotate by a spiral wound 
spring. A suction cup is used to maintain the shade in the upright 
position. A similar device with yet greater complexity is disclosed in 
U.S. Pat. No. 2,345,106 to Erps. The Erps shade requires an elaborate 
mechanism which may not be adaptable to existing vehicle doors, and would 
have limited applicability to front and rear windshields which are 
generally curved. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,710 to Chen discloses a venetian blind device adaptable 
to the side windows of a vehicle. The venetian blind is not amenable to 
low cost manufacture, is not easily adaptable to front and rear curved or 
sloping windshields, and would limit visibility through the upper portion 
of the window when raised. 
Recent developments have been made in shade devices which are manually 
deployed and removed by the user. U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,304 to Elliot 
discloses a sun shield constructed of lightweight flexible fabric having 
vertical stiffening members at the center and lateral extremities. Velcro 
fasteners are used to maintain the shade in deployed position. U.S. Pat. 
No. 4,202,396 to Levy discloses a sun shield having a plurality of 
accordion folded vertical panels, some of which have suction cups at the 
top which secure the shield to the windshield when deployed. These devices 
must be manually folded and unfolded, using two hands, and stored 
elsewhere from the site of use when not in use. 
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a 
conveniently usable sunshade for a vehicle. 
It is another object of this invention to provide a sunshade as in the 
foregoing object which may be easily deployed and retracted with one hand. 
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a sunshade of 
the aforesaid nature which is easily stored in a ready position while not 
in use. 
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a sunshade of the 
aforesaid nature which may be easily adapted to fit a myriad of automobile 
windows. 
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a sunshade 
of the aforesaid nature which is durable, compact, easily installed, 
efficient, and amenable to low cost manufacture. 
These and other beneficial objects and advantages will be apparent from the 
following description. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The above and other beneficial objects and advantages are accomplished in 
accordance with the present invention by a sunshade adapted for use in a 
vehicle having windows having upper and lower extremities and fixed 
structure disposed above and below said upper and lower extremities, 
respectively, said sunshade comprised of: 
a) a plurality of panels of elongated, substantially rectangular 
configuration, each panel having inner and outer surfaces and upper, lower 
and side edges, each lower edge hingedly associated with the upper edge of 
the next adjacent panel, thereby disposing said panels in a vertical array 
bounded by an uppermost and a lowermost panel, said uppermost panel having 
at least one mounting aperture communicating between said inner and outer 
surfaces, said lowermost panel having means for releasible attachment to 
said fixed structure below a vehicle window, said panels adapted to stack 
with vertical travel in an accordion-folded storage state disposing said 
inner and outer surfaces in alternating overlying juxtaposition, 
b) at least one suction cup associated with said uppermost panel and having 
a suction surface of circular perimeter outwardly directed from said outer 
surface, a stem adapted to penetrate said mounting aperture, and release 
means for causing said suction surface to release from engagement with 
said window, said release means penetrating said panel and terminating in 
a distal extremity spaced apart from the inner surface of said panel, and 
c) strapping means fixedly associated with said lowermost panel and adapted 
to be wrapped around said stacked panels, said strapping means having 
fastening means adapted to secure said panels, 
whereby, 
a) the sunshade may be deployed from said storage state by releasing said 
fastening means, lifting said uppermost panel, and pressing said suction 
surface against said window, and 
b) the shade may be returned to its storage state by releasing said suction 
surface from said window, folding said panels downwardly in accordion 
fashion to form a compact stack, and wrapping said strapping means around 
said stack. 
In an alternative embodiment, the shade may be attached at the lowermost 
panel to the lower extremity of said window by at least one suction cup 
arrangement similar to those used to attach the uppermost panel to the 
upper extremity of the window. Upon removal of the shade from the window, 
the shade may be conveniently stored upon the dashboard or rear deck of 
the vehicle, or elsewhere in the vehicle. 
In a preferred embodiment, the shade may be constructed from a plurality of 
independent panels fabricated from sheet plastic or paperboard. The panels 
may be hingedly fastened by compliant fabric adhesive tape or hinges 
molded into the plastic panels. Alternatively, the shade may be 
constructed from a single sheet of cardboard and molded or embossed along 
bifurcating lines to create hinges between panel sections. 
The shades may be trimmed along their side edges to adapt the shade to fit 
the shape of the vehicle window. In alternative embodiments, the suction 
cups associated with the uppermost and lowermost panels may be replaced by 
other fastening means such as snaps, magnets, or VELCRO hook and loop 
fastening material.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to FIGS. 1-4, an embodiment of the shade of the present invention 
is shown comprised of a plurality of panels 10 of elongated rectangular 
contour, each panel having inner and outer surfaces 11 and 12, 
respectively, and upper, lower and side edges 13, 14 and 15, respectively. 
In the illustrated embodiment, the panels are all part of a single 
monolithic sheet which has been folded to produce the separate panels 10. 
Each fold line 16 represents hinge means joining the lower edge of one 
panel to the upper edge of the next lower panel. In such embodiment, the 
starting monolithic sheet may be comprised of cardboard, corrugated paper 
laminate, or thermoplastic polymer. The thickness of the panels may range 
from about 1/8" to 1/4", and the panels should be sufficiently rigid as to 
be substantially non-sagging when extending horizontally with the plane of 
the panel vertically oriented. In other embodiments, the panels may each 
be separate entities interconnected by hinge means. 
The panels may typically have a width, measured orthogonally between said 
upper and lower edges, of between about 2 and 5 inches and a length 
measured between said side edges, of between about 15 and 40 inches. The 
lengths of the panels may be equal, whereby the front view of the fully 
deployed shade, as seen in FIG. 1, is rectangular. In other embodiments, 
however, the lengths of the panels may diminish step-wise in ascending 
order, whereby, the front view of the deployed shade will resemble a 
truncated isoiles triangle. Such configuration may be found to be a better 
fit for certain shapes of automobile windows. In certain embodiments, the 
material of construction of the shade is such as to easily enable the user 
to trim the side edges of the panels so as to better accommodate a 
particular window. 
The shade is comprised of between about 8 and 20 of said panels 10. The 
manner of interengagement of the panels 10, as by fold line 16, in such as 
to cause the panels to fold upon themselves in accordion-style alternating 
back-and-forth manner. In such manner of folding, as seen in FIGS. 2 and 
3, adjacent inner surfaces are in contact, and adjacent outer surfaces are 
in contact. This produces a compact stack 21 which represents the storage 
state of the shade. 
The shade is particularly adapted to use in a disposition wherein the 
direction of elongation of the panels is horizontal, and the plurality of 
panels is disposed in a vertical array. In such manner of deployment, the 
shade may be further characterized in having uppermost and lowermost 
panels, 18 and 19, respectively. 
Uppermost panel 18 of the exemplified embodiment is shown having mounting 
aperture 20 communicating between said inner and outer surfaces. A suction 
cup 24 having an axis of symmetry 28 is held by mounting surface 20. Each 
suction cup is comprised of suction surface 25 bounded by circular 
perimeter 37 and outwardly directed from outer surface 12, and a stem 26 
adapted to penetrate aperture 20. Release means in the form of elongated 
release tab 27, emerges from perimeter 37 as a continuous integral 
extension of suction cup 24, extends through control aperture 38 adjacent 
aperture 20 and parallel thereto and terminates in distal extremity 30 
spaced apart from inner surface 11 of uppermost panel 18. Pulling force 
exerted on tab 27 releases suction surface 25 from attachment to a window. 
Although the exemplified embodiment of uppermost panel 18 employs one 
suction cup, the number can vary between about 1 and 3, depending upon the 
size and total weight of the shade. 
Lowermost panel 19 is shown equipped with a suction cup 35 similar to that 
employed in uppermost panel 18. The function of suction cup 35 is to 
enable panel 19 to be releasibly attached to either the lower extremity of 
window 23, or to the fixed structure 22 adjacent the lower extremity of 
said window. 
Strapping means in the form of compliant belt 32 is shown penetratively 
secured by fold line 16 associated with lowermost panel 19, and positioned 
approximately mid-length thereof. Fastening means in the form of snap 
fasteners 33 secure belt 32 upon itself. In such manner, belt 32 embraces 
the stack of panels in its storage state, as shown in FIG. 3, enabling the 
shade to be easily removed to a place of storage, or permitting the shade 
to remain installed upon the vehicle, but in a small, neat configuration. 
It should be noted that the exemplified particular strapping means permits 
lowermost panel 19 to remain deployed in orthogonal disposition to the 
remaining, bundled panels. This feature enables the shade to remain 
affixed to window 23 or fixed structure 22 while in its compactly folded, 
storage state. Such manner of storage facilitates rapid redeployment of 
the shade. 
Because of the curvature and large size of many front and rear windows of 
automobiles, it is generally desirable to employ two of the sunshield 
devices of the present invention, each of a length approximately half the 
length of the associated window. Such expedient enables the sunshield 
devices to remain of small enough size to be manipulated with one hand, 
and make a more contoured fit with the window. 
While particular examples of the present invention have been shown and 
described, it is apparent that changes and modifications may be made 
therein without departing from the invention in its broadest aspects. The 
aim of the appended claims, therefore, is to cover all such changes and 
modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.