Mounting structure for the vehicle auxiliary mirror

The present invention provides a mounting structure for the vehicle auxiliary mirror, including an attachment plate enabling said auxiliary mirror to be attached to the rear-view mirror, at least one first hook configured on the edge of said attachment plate corresponding to the mirror frame opening of the rear-view mirror and allowed to hook the abutting mirror frame opening of the rear-view mirror, a fixing belt with one end fastened to the housing of said auxiliary mirror disposed on the middle of the rear face of said auxiliary mirror and adjustable in length, and a second hook secured to the other end of said fixing belt and allowed to hook the rim of the rear-view mirror frame opening opposite to the rim hooked by the first hook via the rear face of the rear-view mirror, so that said auxiliary mirror may be tightly attached to the rear-view mirror.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a mounting structure for the vehicle auxiliary mirror, and more specifically, to a mounting structure that allows the auxiliary mirror to be tightly attached to the rear-view mirror as an integral whole. Further, the auxiliary mirror disclosed in the present invention may engage with a different type of rear-view mirror only by making a replacement with the type of attachment plate corresponding to the shape of the attached surface of the rear-view mirror and thereby reinforce the joining tightness between the auxiliary mirror and the rear-view mirror. In addition, the product cost may be lowered because only those types of attachment plates which correspond to different shapes of the attached surfaces of the rear-view mirrors need making new moulds so as to save the cost.

2. Description of the Prior Art

In order to reduce the blind spots as well as to enhance the visual field for safe driving, some drivers would have their vehicles mounted with an auxiliary mirror on the outer side of the rear-view mirror. Said auxiliary mirror is coupled with the rear-view mirror by a mounting device so as to enable said auxiliary mirror to be fixed on the outer side of the rear-view mirror. The published cases, such as USD544820, USD545256, U.S. Pat. No. 5,724,199, U.S. Pat. No. 7,059,734, U.S. Pat. No. 7,6284,981, TW 514041, TW 1256357, TW 1256358, TW M292513, TW M354748 etc., all disclosed a mounting device for fixing the auxiliary mirror to the rear-view mirror. According to the aforementioned prior art, the mounting device allows the auxiliary mirror to be secured to the rear-view mirror by means of upper as well as lower supports and a fixing belt. The mounting device with a bulky structure, discordantly configured between the two mirrors, not only lacks the joining tightness for being attached to by the two mirrors but also looks unbeautiful. It is against this background and the deficiencies associated therewith that the present invention has been developed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a mounting structure for the vehicle auxiliary mirror which allows the vehicle auxiliary mirror to be tightly attached to a rear-view mirror so as to enable both to be unified into an integral whole.

It is another object of the present invention that the mounting structure for the vehicle auxiliary mirror is also provided with an attachment plate which allows the vehicle auxiliary mirror to be attached to the rear-view mirror and which may be mounted to a different type of rear-view mirror by means of making a replacement with the type of attachment plate corresponding to the shape of the attached surface of the rear-view mirror so as to enable the vehicle auxiliary mirror to be tightly secured to different types of rear-view mirrors, and thus it does not require making a new mould for the whole set of the auxiliary mirror corresponding with a different type of rear-view mirror, so that the cost spent on mould making and producing may be lowered.

According to the main feature of the present invention, the mounting structure for the vehicle auxiliary mirror includes an attachment plate enabling said auxiliary mirror to be attached to the rear-view mirror, at least one first hook configured on the edge of said attachment plate corresponding to the mirror frame opening of the rear-view mirror and allowed to hook the abutting mirror frame opening of the rear-view mirror, a fixing belt with one end fastened to the housing of said auxiliary mirror disposed on the middle of the rear face of said auxiliary mirror and adjustable in length, and a second hook secured to the other end of said fixing belt and allowed to hook the rim of the mirror frame opening of the rear-view mirror opposite to the rim hooked by the first hook via the rear face of the rear-view mirror, so that said auxiliary mirror may be tightly attached to the rear-view mirror as an integral whole. In addition, the auxiliary mirror may be mounted to a different type of rear-view mirror by means of making a replacement with the type of attachment plate matching the shape of the attached surface of the rear-view mirror, so that it does not require making a new mould for the whole set of the auxiliary mirror.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

The means for achieving the aforesaid objective and the functions of the present invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein a preferred embodiment of the present invention is disclosed.

Referring toFIG. 1 to 3, the auxiliary mirror1disclosed in the present invention is mounted on the transverse outer side of a vehicle rear-view mirror2. The housing10of said auxiliary mirror1is coupled with the attachment plate11fastened to the rear-view mirror2. Said joining device30is provided with a joining opening101located on the joining end where the mirror housing10and the attachment plate11are attached to each other, and the inner wall of said joining opening101is arranged with a holding lip102which is allowed to hold the outer edge of said attachment plate11when the attachment plate11is inserted onto the joining opening101. Said attachment plate11is disposed with a perforation110that may be perforated through, and the interior of said mirror housing10corresponding to the perforation110location is configured with a hollow cylinder104having a cavity103within, so that a screw12may go through the perforation110via the outer side of the attachment plate11to be fastened to the cavity103of the hollow cylinder104so as to attach the attachment plate11to the joining opening101of the mirror housing10.

The edge of said attachment plate11corresponding to the mirror frame opening20of the rear-view mirror2is arranged with at least one first hook111(two-hook configuration is preferable) on the side facing the mirror frame opening20, and said hook111is allowed to hook the abutting mirror frame opening20of the rear-view mirror2. The rear face of the housing10is configured with a fixing pin105in the middle thereof, and said fixing pin105allows one end of the fixing belt14to be anchored. Said fixing belt14is adjustable in length, and the other end thereof is provided with a second hook140which may hook the rim of the mirror frame opening20of the rear-view mirror2opposite to the rim hooked by the hook111via the rear face of the rear-view mirror2.

When being assembled, said attachment plate11is inserted onto the joining opening101arranged on the housing10of said auxiliary mirror1, and the edge of said attachment plate11is held by the holding lip102so as to cover the joining opening101. The screw12may go through the perforation110of the attachment plate11to be fastened to the cavity103of the hollow cylinder104so as to enable the joining device30to attach the attachment plate11to the joining opening101on the mirror housing10of the auxiliary mirror1. Said auxiliary mirror1is disposed on the transverse outer side of the rear-view mirror2by attaching the attachment plate11of said auxiliary mirror1to the mirror frame of the rear-view mirror2. The first hook111of said attachment plate11may hook the rim of the abutting mirror frame opening20of the rear-view mirror2, and by the second hook140and via the rear face of the rear-view mirror2, the adjusted and fastened fixing belt14is fastened to the rim of the mirror frame opening20of the rear-view mirror2opposite to the rim hooked by the hook111. According to the aforementioned, the auxiliary mirror1which is tightly attached to the outer side of the rear-view mirror2appears to be formed together with the rear-view mirror2as an integral whole (as shown inFIGS. 1 and 3).

When the auxiliary mirror1is to be mounted to the outer side of another type of rear-view mirror2, the attachment plate11has to be replaced by the type of attachment plate11corresponding with the shape of the attached surface of the rear-view mirror2in order to engage with the rear-view mirror2(as shown inFIG. 4). Further, if the outer edge of said replaced attachment plate11does not engage with the holding lip102on the joining opening101of the auxiliary mirror1, the outer edge of said attachment plate11may be arranged with an extended projecting edge112extending towards the joining opening101of the auxiliary mirror1when the attachment plate11is to be formed, so that the projecting edge112may be bound to the holding lip102of the auxiliary mirror1to eliminate the interspace which is between the attachment plate11and the holding lip102of the auxiliary mirror1and which results from changing the shape of the attachment plate11so as to enable the auxiliary mirror1to be tightly attached to the outer side of the rear-view mirror2as an integral whole (as shown inFIG. 5).

According to the mentioned above, it is very convenient for the users because the auxiliary mirror1disclosed in the present invention may be mounted to a different type of rear-view mirror2only by making a replacement with the type of attachment plate11corresponding to the shape of the attached surface of the rear-view mirror2. In addition, the cost spent on mould making and producing may be lowered because the body and the frame of the auxiliary mirror1is not changed and thus it does not require making a new mould for the whole set of the auxiliary mirror1which costs more, that is, only those types of attachment plates11corresponding to different shapes of the attached surfaces of the rear-view mirrors2which cost less need making new moulds so as to save the product costs.