A CONTROL SYSTEM FOR ADJUSTING THE REAR VIEW MIRROR OF A VEHICLE IN RESPONSE TO THE POSITION OF THE STEERING GEAR

Abstract: A control system for adjusting the rear view mirror (20 and 21) of a vehicle in response to the position of the steering gear and having a drive unit (18 and 19) for rotation of the mirror. The adjustment of the rear view mirror is provided in that a magnet (14) and a reed contact (15 and 16) are so positioned in connection with a movable part (11) of the steering gear that they move with respect to each other upon steering movements, and that the reed contact is adapted to actuate the drive unit of the mirror through a control unit (17) in predetermined positions of the movable part.

Description: Λ A control system for adjusting the rear view mirror of a vehicle in response to the position of the steering gear The invention concerns an apparatus of the type defined in the introductory portion of claim 1. Such an apparatus is known in principle from DE-A1-35 27 079 and in a special embodiment containing a rather complicated 10 hydraulic system from U5-A-3 640 609. The object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the present type which combines simplicity with great reliability in operation. 15 This object is achieved in that the apparatus is con¬ structed as stated in the characterizing portion of claim 1, the controlling parts, viz. a magnet and a reed contact being simple and inexpensive elements which can be so 20 positioned without difficulty as to sense the movements of the steering gear, and their function is quite unaffected by the rough conditions by way of road dirt, water and oil to which they may be subjected when placed below the front end of a vehicle. It will be appreciated 25 that the axis of rotation of the mirror may be arbitrarily positioned and also that, according to the same principle, two axes of rotation may be involved, viz. a vertical one and a horizontal one. Further, the mirror may be journalled in a ball link in a generally known manner. 30 Generally, it is most expedient that the magnet is placed on the movable part of the steering gear, e.g. on a steer¬ ing rod or a rack or a part connnected with it and that the reed contact is firmly mounted; but the reverse may also be the case, although such mounting involves movable connecting wires. A particularly simple embodiment, which only operates with two different mirror positions, is stated in claim 2. However, it has been found that this simple structure meets the practical needs satisfactorily. An embodiment of the apparatus of the invention is sche a- tically shown in the drawing and will be explained more fully, below with reference to said drawing. In the drawing, 10 is the front wheels of a vehicle, which can be turned in a generally known manner by displace- ment of a rack 11 whose ends are connected with pivotable arms 12 on the steering bolts through steering rods 13. The rack 11 mounts a relatively long bar magnet 14 which, in the neutral position of the steering gear, is present centrally between two firmly mounted reed contacts 15 and 16 without actuating any of these. The reed contacts are connected to their respective inputs to a control unit 17 having two outputs which are connected to their respective drive units 18 and 19 for a left rear view mirror 20 and a right rear view mirror 21, respectively, which are rotatable on vertical axes 22 and 23, respectively. When the rack 11 is moved a predetermined distance, e.g. to the left, the left end of the reed magnet 14 actuates the reed contact 15. The control unit 17 is adapted to cause the drive unit 18 to rotate the mirror 20 through a predetermined angle clockwise upon closing of the contact 15 and to rotate the mirror back again when the contact 15 is opened upon return of the rack and the magnet to the neutral position. Similarly, steering movements in <* the opposite direction cause actuation of the reed contact 16 and rotation of the right rear view mirror 19 through a predetermined angle counterclockwise. It is noted that the active pole area of the magnet is to have a sufficiently large extent in the direction of the rack for each reed contact to be kept actuated at all steering movements greater than the smallest actuation movement. 10 The details of the shown and described apparatus may be modified in many ways within the scope of the invention. For example, several reed contacts may be used for stepwise adjustment of the mirrors.

Claims: P a t e n t C l a i s 1. A control system for adjusting the rear view mirror of a vehicle in response to the position of the steering gear and having a drive unit for rotating the mirror, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that a magnet and a reed contact are so positioned with respect to a movable part of the steering gear that they more with respect to each other upon steering movements, and that the reed contact is adapted to actuate the drive unit of the mirror through a control unit in predetermined positions of the movable part. 2. A control system according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the control unit is adapted to cause the drive unit to rotate the rear view mirror through a predetermined angle upon actuation of the reed contact and to rotate the mirror back to neutral position upon deactuation of the reed contact.

Inventors: JENSEN KAJ BERG, JENSEN, KAJ, BERG
Applicants: JENSEN BENITA BERG, JENSEN KAJ BERG, PEDERSEN BENT, PEDERSEN INGE, JENSEN, BENITA, BERG, JENSEN, KAJ, BERG, PEDERSEN, BENT, PEDERSEN, INGE
Application year: 1987
Main classification: B60R1
IPC codes: B60R1