Vehicle sunvisor including mechanism for securing covering on sunvisor and supporting sunvisor within vehicle and method of making same

A sunvisor for an automotive vehicle has a shell or frame with two separate halves foldable along a common edge. The shell halves have juxtaposed notches along the common edge and clamping flanges or ribs on one surface thereof adjacent the notches. A visor body is formed by folding the shell halves along the common edge. After folding, the visor body has an inner cavity. A retainer or support pin is integrally formed with a fabric tucking flange. Before closing the shell halves, the support pin is placed and held so as to force the cover fabric into its final position. Upon closure of the shell halves, the clamping flanges cooperate to retain the support pin and cover fabric. The support pin cooperates with a sunvisor support latch to support the sunvisor with the vehicle.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
This application is related to co-pending applications entitled "Sunvisor 
with Covering Attachment Mechanism", U.S. Ser. No. 570,864 filed Aug. 22, 
1990 and "Sunvisor Including a Method and Attachment Mechanism for 
Securing a Covering to the Sunvisor", U.S. Ser. No. 609,159, , filed Nov. 
2, 1990, both of which have the same Assignee as the present application 
and both of which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference. 
TECHNICAL FIELD 
This invention relates to sunvisors and to a method for making them. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Sunvisors for vehicles have been manufactured of a plastic, shell-type core 
or frame covered with a material which is colored to match the interior 
upholstery of the vehicle. Early visor designs used a construction process 
wherein the edge of the material covered visor was trimmed using a trim 
bead. Particular designs stitched the trim bead directly into the plastic 
material shell or frame. This stitching is both expensive and difficult. 
In addition, these trim bead or stitched designs are unattractive to some 
users. Newer generation designs attempt to eliminate the trim bead and 
provide a neat and clean appearance of the visor edges while still 
effectively retaining the material covering on the visor shell. 
Visor designs of this new generation necessarily require that the material 
utilized as a covering for the visor be pre-tucked or adhered inside the 
body of the visor before the two visor halves are attached or bonded 
together because the material covering tends to pull out or loosen during 
or after shell closure. The material covering adhesion process requires 
that a bonding cement or glue be used to attach the material covering to 
the inside of a shell half prior to construction of the visor as a 
separate operation. 
One prior art visor discloses a visor core with a plurality of outwardly 
projecting pins and corresponding mating recesses and a framework pattern 
of ridges that act in conjunction as a fabric clamping structure when the 
respective halves of the visor core are brought together. The assembly 
process of this embodiment requires separate operations for placing and 
holding the fabric on the visor core, and insertion of a mounting post or 
support pin into a mating socket within the visor core. An additional 
operation is required to insert a sharpened metal pin through the end of 
the visor to hold the support pin in place. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,193,323 issued July 6, 1965, discloses a U-shaped yoke, the 
legs of which are pushed through the padding material so as to leave a 
recess and are hooked in a holder on the wire frame. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,990, issued Feb. 18, 1986, discloses in one embodiment 
the use of a snap ring combination or frame which compressively holds 
upholstery material against the walls of the core. In another embodiment, 
the upholstery material is wrapped around the free edges of the shell core 
and held in place around the peripheral boundary of the visor by adhesive 
and by the clamping action of the visor core itself. 
The present invention incorporates the neat and clean appearance of the 
nonadhesion mechanisms for material retention while improving the 
efficiency and cost of production of shell type sunvisors. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The visor of the present invention overcomes the deficiencies of the prior 
art by providing a mounting post or support pin having a tucking flange 
operatively connected to a visor frame or support means. The pin is a 
unitary mechanism that can be inserted in a single operation, thus 
overcoming the need in the prior art designs for an operation adhering the 
material to the inside of the visor body prior to closure of the visor 
halves and other separate operations of inserting the pin into the visor 
body and inserting a metal pin through the end of the visor. 
Accordingly, a general object of the present invention is to provide a 
relatively inexpensive method and mechanism for retaining sunvisor 
covering on a shell-type visor body while supplying a support pin on the 
visor for latching support of the sunvisor within the vehicle. 
More particularly, a sunvisor is formed with a foldable half shell-type 
visor body covered with a fabric material or the like. A support pin has a 
tucking flange which is utilized to push and tuck the material covering 
down inside the folded visor body sufficiently to engage clamping flanges 
contained on the inner walls of the visor body after the visor body halves 
are folded together. This pin has a support means opposite the tucking 
flange shaped or configured to correspond with a respective inboard 
support latch located on the inside of the vehicle above the windshield. 
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide an 
arrangement for covering a visor body with a material covering in an 
aesthetically pleasing fashion to prevent the material covering from 
pulling out or loosening when the visor halves are closed or folded to 
form the visor body. The visor halves are provided with flanges which are 
adapted by the closing of the visor halves to form clamping flanges. The 
support pin with tucking flange is used to push the material covering into 
a juxtaposed set of notches contained along a common edge or fold of the 
visor halves before the visor halves are brought together to form the 
shell-type visor body. The pin is present in the notches at the time the 
visor halves are initially closed or brought together and remains in the 
aperture formed by the juxtaposed notches until the visor body is formed. 
After closing of the visor halves, the pin is trapped by the clamping 
flanges and effectively secures the material fabric within the visor body 
during the entire manufacturing process to produce a material covered 
visor with little or no loosening or "bagging" of the material. 
Another more specific object of the invention is to provide an improved 
material covered sunvisor. The improved sunvisor has a support pin that 
cooperates with a sunvisor support latch on a vehicle. The sunvisor is 
comprised of a shell with two halves foldable together along a common 
edge. Each half has a juxtaposed notch along the common edge and clamping 
flanges. Material is used to cover the shell and a support pin with a 
tucking flange is inserted into the aperture formed by the juxtaposed 
notches sufficiently to engage the clamping flanges and retain the 
material on the sunvisor shell. 
The support pin of the present invention has an inboard support means that 
cooperates with the inboard support latch to effectively retain the 
sunvisor in a particular position inside the vehicle. The pin additionally 
contains a tucking flange having a protruding member sufficient to engage 
clamping flanges contained within the sunvisor shell. These members are 
configured to tuck the covering material within the sunvisor while 
smoothing the material on the surface of the sunvisor. 
Another object of this invention is an improved method of making a 
material-covered sunvisor with a foldable frame and a support pin which 
tucks the material into the visor as the frame is folded and is trapped on 
the visor along with the material after the frame is folded. 
The features and advantages of the invention are readily apparent from the 
following detailed description of the present invention when taken in 
conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT INVENTION 
FIG. 1 shows the inside of a vehicle having a pair of improved sunvisors 10 
of the invention. As is conventional, each sunvisor 10 pivots in two 
directions about a fixed pivot 11 and is adapted to be releasably, 
pivotally fastened or latched to an inboard support latch 13 above the 
windshield of the vehicle. 
Referring to FIGS. 1 through 4, FIG. 1 illustrates the sunvisor 10, and a 
retainer or support pin generally indicated at 12. The sunvisor shell 14 
has two halves that are foldable along a common edge 16. 
A cavity 18 is formed when the two halves of the sunvisor shell 14 are 
brought together by folding along the common edge 16. Each sunvisor shell 
14 has juxtaposed notches 22 and 22' contained along the common edge 16. 
These juxtaposed notches 22 and 22' form an aperture 24 sufficiently large 
to allow a tucking flange 28 of the retainer pin 12 to be inserted into 
the shell cavity 18. These juxtaposed notches 22 and 22' are formed by 
clamping flanges 20 and 20' which are shaped so as to provide sufficient 
surface engagement with tucking flange 28 of the pin 12 when inserted into 
the cavity 18. 
A material covering 26 which may be colored and textured to match the 
interior upholstery of the vehicle is placed over the sunvisor shell 14 
prior to folding the shell 14. This material 26 is placed over the 
sunvisor shell 14 so that the material 26 covers the entire shell 14 and 
also the aperture 24 formed by the juxtaposed notches 22 and 22'. The pin 
12 with the tucking flange 28 on its retaining member 40 is operatively 
positioned inside the aperture 24 of the shell 14 to engage the material 
covering 26 prior to and during closure of the shell 14 that eventually 
forms the visor body. 
The pin 12 has an inboard support means 30 that cooperates with the inboard 
support latch 13 on the vehicle. This inboard support latch 13 and inboard 
support means 30 should be designed so that insertion and release of the 
support means 30 can be effectuated with minimal effort and still safely 
contain the sunvisor 10 in a pivotable storage position against the 
headliner of the vehicle. The specific embodiment disclosed in FIG. 2 has 
an inboard support means which is an elongate cylindrical member 36. 
FIG. 3 illustrates the tucking flange 28 with a central member 32 formed as 
a tee by two retaining members 35 and 38 which engage the material 
covering 26 as the flange 28 pushes the material 26 inside the shell 
cavity 18. Then as the shell 14 closes to complete the visor 10, the 
retaining members 35, 38 are trapped behind the clamping flanges 20, 20' 
along with the material 26. This frees the cylindrical member 36 for 
latching cooperation with the vehicle latch 13. 
Referring still to FIG. 3, the flange 28 is configured to smooth the 
material 26 around the notches 22, 22' as the shell 14 is folded, whereby 
to lock the retaining members 35 and 38 and the material 26 onto the 
sunvisor 10 at the notches 22 and 22'. The material is also secured in the 
bottom portion of the shell 14 when folded, as better illustrated in the 
above-noted application U.S. Ser. No. 570,864, filed Aug. 22, 1990. 
Referring to FIG. 4, the edges of the clamping flanges 20,20' are 
configured to include cut-outs respectively at opposite ends of the 
aperture 24 to provide clearance for the ends of the cylindrical member 36 
of the pin 12 when the shell 14 is closed. 
Although the best mode for carrying out this invention has been described 
in detail, those familiar with the art to which this invention relates 
will recognize various alternative designs and embodiments for practicing 
the invention as defined by the following claims.