Wiper blade with improved lever to yoke connector

A wiper blade is provided with an improved lever to yoke connection. The lever has a yoke-fitting part at each end defining a hooking hole with an opening which opens towards the opposite hooking hole. The yoke-fitting part includes an engaging part and a projection which defines the opening. The yoke has a lever-fitting part including a lever-setting shaft for engagement with the hooking hole. To prevent the yoke from dropping off the lever, a protrusion is provided on the lever. The particular wiper blade allows easy assembly and improved strength of the yoke.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to a wiper blade used for wiping a windshield or 
other window of, for example, an automobile. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
Heretofore, there has been such a wiper blade as shown in FIGS. 6 to 8. 
Namely, a wiper blade 100 shown in figures has a blade rubber 101 in 
contact with a wiper surface such as a windshield, a yoke 103 attached 
with said blade rubber 101 and provided with a lever-fitting part 103a for 
fitting to a lever 102, and the synthetic-resinous lever 102 provided with 
a yoke-fitting part 102a for fitting to the lever-fitting part 103a and 
provided with a wiper arm-connecting part 102b for connecting to a wiper 
arm 104. 
Hereupon, as shown in FIG. 8, there is an oblong opening 103b at the 
lever-fitting part 103a of the yoke 103 pierced through from side to side 
in FIG. 7, and there are projections 103c and 103c in said opening 103b 
protruding and facing each other in the inward direction. 
And the lever 102 has recesses 102c and 102c corresponding to respective 
projections 103c and 103c of said lever-fitting part 103a. 
Said projections 103c and 103c provided to the lever-fitting part 103a are 
fitted into said recesses 102c and 102c provided to the yoke-fitting part 
102a by forcing the yoke-fitting part 102a equipped to the lever 102 into 
the lever-fitting part 103a equipped to the yoke 103 attached with the 
blade rubber 101 (in this case, said wiper blade 100 has two yokes at 
positions shifted to both ends of said blade rubber 101) from the left 
side in FIG. 7, hereby said yoke 103 is so structured as to engage with 
the lever 102 rotatably. 
However, in the conventional wiper blade 100 as described above, of which 
the lever 102 is fitted to the yoke 103 by forcing recesses 102c and 102c 
of the yoke-fitting part 102a onto projections 103c and 103c of the 
lever-fitting part 103a, it is complicated to assemble because it is 
necessary to force the lever-fitting part 103a equipped to the yoke 103 
open in opposite directions in FIG. 8 when the lever 2 is forced in. There 
is a problem in that it is difficult to simplify the assembling of the 
parts. 
Furthermore, said lever-fitting part 103a equipped to the yoke 103 has the 
oblong opening 103b pierced through from side in FIG. 7, and said opening 
103b has projections 103c and 103c protruding and facing each other in the 
inward direction, therefore the strength at the lever-fitting part 103a 
decreases, there is another problem in that the lever 102 may come off the 
yoke 103 after the fitting of the yoke-fitting part 102a. Accordingly, it 
is desirable to develop a wiper blade which is very easy to assemble and 
is excellent in the strength of the yoke, and which is so structured as 
not to allow the disconnection of the yoke and lever so easily. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention is made in view of the above mentioned problems of 
the prior art as a result of particular considerations of the structure, 
it is an object to provide a wiper blade which is very easy to assemble 
and is excellent in the strength of the yoke, and of which the yoke and 
the lever are not disconnected so easily. 
The construction of the wiper blade according to this invention for 
attaining the above-mentioned object is characterized by having a blade 
rubber in contact with a wiped surface, a yoke attached with said blade 
rubber and provided with a lever-fitting part, and a lever provided with a 
yoke-fitting part for fitting to the lever-fitting part of said yoke and 
connected to a wiper arm, said lever-fitting part being equipped with a 
lever-setting shaft bridging said lever-fitting part, said yoke-fitting 
part being equipped with an engaging part having a projection for 
retaining said lever-setting shaft in a hooking hole, said lever being 
provided with a downward extending protrusion to restrict disengagement of 
said shaft from said yoke fitting part. 
Therefore, it is easy to assemble the parts, the strength of the 
lever-fitting part is high, and the wiper blade is so structured that the 
lever does not easily come off the yoke.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
An embodiment of the wiper blade according to this invention will be 
described below on basis of FIGS. 1 to 3. 
In a wiper blade 1 shown in the Figures, numeral 2 is a blade rubber in 
contact with a wiped surface (not shown), numeral 3 is a yoke attached 
with said blade rubber 2 and provided with a lever-fitting part 3a, and 
numeral 4 is a lever provided with a yoke-fitting part 4a for fitting to 
the lever-fitting part 3a of said yoke 3 and connected to a wiper arm 5. 
Said blade rubber 2 which is made of rubber and has a nearly T-shaped cross 
section, which is provided with a base part 2a for attaching the yoke on 
the upper side in FIG. 1 along the longitudinal direction thereof, and a 
vertebra 2b energizing the said blade rubber 2 into straight line on the 
lower side of base part 2a in FIG. 1, furthermore which is provided with a 
contact part 2c in contact with the wiped surface (not shown) in the lower 
end side in FIG. 1. 
On the one hand, said yoke 3 is made of synthetic resin of hard type as a 
material, in this embodiment two yokes 3 are attached to said blade rubber 
2, however in another application three or four yokes 3 can be used 
according to the full length of the blade rubber 2. 
Said yoke 3 as shown in FIG. 2, is provided with a holding part 3b holding 
the base part 2a of said blade rubber 2 at both ends in the Figure 
respectively, and is provided with the lever-fitting part 3a for fitting 
to the lever 4 at the nearly middle position in the Figure. 
And said lever-fitting part 3a is provided with an oblong opening 3c cut 
off through the yoke 3 vertically in FIG. 1, and is equipped with a 
cylindrical lever-setting shaft 3f bridging side walls 3d and 3e existing 
at the upper and lower sides in FIG. 3 in the vertical direction in FIG. 
3. 
On the other hand, said lever 4 is made of synthetic resin of hard type in 
the same manner as said yoke 3, is provided with a connecting part 4b for 
connecting to an end of the wiper arm 5 at the nearly middle position 
thereof, and is provided with the yoke-fitting part 4a for fitting to the 
yoke 3 at both ends thereof respectively. 
And, said yoke-fitting part 4a is equipped with a projection 4d protruding 
upwardly in FIG. 2 of the inside of the end extending into U-like shape 
from an end wall 4c existing at the position shifted to the end of said 
lever 4 to the lower side in FIG. 2, and is equipped with a hooking hole 
4e having an inner diameter slightly larger than an outer diameter of the 
lever-setting shaft 3f provided to the lever-fitting part 3a, an engaging 
part 4f comprising said projection 4d and said hooking hole 4e is so 
designed as to engage rotatably with the yoke 3 by setting said 
lever-setting shaft 3f. 
Furthermore, said yoke-fitting part 4a has a protrusion 4g extending 
downward in FIG. 2 from said end wall 4c, and so there is a gap 4h 
slightly larger than the outer diameter of the lever-setting shaft 3f 
between said protrusion 4g and the end of said engaging part 4f. Said 
projection 4d of the engaging part 4f serves to hold the lever-setting 
shaft 3f so as not to come off. 
Hereupon, at the state in which the yoke 3 is attached to the blade rubber 
2 by holding the base part 2a of said blade rubber 2 with respective 
holding part 3b, said engaging part 4f is fitted onto the lever-setting 
shaft 3f by putting the gap 4h of the yoke-fitting part 4a over the 
lever-setting shaft 3f of the lever-fitting part 3a. 
In this way, respective yoke 3 is engaged to the lever 4 rotatably. 
In this embodiment, fitting structure of said wiper blade 1 is suitable for 
a large-sized wiper blade comparatively, because the area of the 
sliding-contact surface between the lever-setting shaft 3f of the 
lever-fitting part 3a and the engaging part 4f having the projection 4d of 
the yoke-fitting part 4a is large. 
The wiper blade according to another embodiment of this invention is shown 
in FIGS. 4 and 5. 
In the case of this embodiment, the lever-fitting part 3a is equipped with 
the lever-setting shaft 3f having flat notched surfaces 3g and 3h opposed 
at left and right sides in FIG. 4, and the part of the wiper blade 
excepting above-mentioned part is much the same as before-mentioned 
embodiment. 
In this case, the yoke 3 is so designed as to engage with the lever 4 
rotatably by pushing down the lever 4 in the clockwise direction in FIG. 4 
after fitting the yoke-fitting part 4a to the lever-fitting part 3a in the 
standing position of the lever 4 in FIG. 4. 
Therefore, fitting structure of this embodiment is suitable for a 
small-sized blade comparatively, because area of the sliding-contact 
surface between the lever-setting shaft 3f of the lever-fitting part 3a 
and the engaging part 4f having the projection 4d of the yoke-fitting part 
4a is small. 
As mentioned above, the wiper blade according to this invention has a blade 
rubber in contact with a wiper surface, a yoke attached with said blade 
rubber and provided with a lever-fitting part, and a lever provided with a 
yoke-fitting part for fitting to the lever-fitting part of said yoke and 
connected to a wiper arm, said lever-fitting part is equipped with 
lever-setting shaft bridging said lever-fitting part, and said 
yoke-fitting part is equipped with an engaging part having a projection 
for engaging with said lever-setting shaft rotatably. Therefore an 
excellent effect is obtained that it is possible to assemble easily 
comparing with the conventional wiper blade, the strength of the yoke is 
high and the yoke does not come off the lever easily.