Visor

Abstract: A visor (10) includes a moulded polymeric core (20) having a plurality of channels (41) on at least one side (22) defined by a pair of spaced upstanding walls (40,42) with one of the walls (42) having a plurality of spaced notches (54) formed therein for receiving tabs (30) projecting outwardly from aligned upstanding walls (28) formed in the corresponding mating visor half (24). The tabs (30) extend into the corresponding slots (54) and a backing wall (40) prevents their removal. Visors embodying another aspect of the present invention integrally include a plurality of outwardly projecting pins (25) and corresponding mating recesses (26) formed around the periphery on opposite visor core halves for compressing the edges of upholstery material (16) and clamping them in a secure position as the visor halves (22,24) are brought together during manufacturing.

Description: The present invention pertains to vehicle visors and particularly visors having a folded moulded core. Visors for vehicles and particularly those employing an illuminated vanity mirror insert such as disclosed in US-A-3,926,470 have been manufactured using a clamshell-type folded polymeric core made of a suitable polymeric material such as polypropylene. In earlier visor construction, such as that disclosed in the above identified patent, the edge of the upholstered visor was trimmed using a trim bead and in some cases the trim bead was attached to the edge of the core by stitching through the polymeric material itself although this method was quite difficult. The clamshell visor core was also held together in some cases using cement or with interlocking arms as shown by element 48 in Fig. 6 of the above identified patent. The interlocking arms, however, were used in connection with the edge bead which assisted in holding the visor core halves together and in some instances rivets were also employed for holding the visor core halves together. Subsequent to this earlier technology, visor halves were bonded together using in some cases heat fusion or through an adhesive material as disclosed in US-A-4,570,990. In connection with this newer construction, the edge bead was eliminated and the upholstery fabric was wrapped around the edges of the visor core halves prior to the folding of the clamshell-type core together. Thus, the folded core halves provided a duel function. First they folded in an assembled position for the visor shape but also, the edges served to clamp the edge of the fabric around the periphery of the visor core to provide a neat and trim appearance without allowing the fabric to pull from the abutting peripheral edges of the visor core. The utilisation of the fusion process worked successfully; however, it adds the additional steps of either heat fusing the core halves prior to folding and/or using an adhesive material either for bonding the core halves together and/or attaching the upholstery to the core prior to the folding and bonding of the core halves together. US-A-4,458,938 (or EP-A-0 058 742) discloses a foam core visor with a wire frame and one or more braces with snap-together pins and holes. The visor cover is wrapped around the core halves and extends between them. Thus, although the newer generation clamshell-type visors have an improved appearance by removing the edge bead and provide a folded core with some cores of sufficiently rigid construction and having a depth sufficient for inserting an illuminated vanity mirror therein, the manufacturing of such visors is somewhat expensive due to the foam core construction or the attachment of the upholstery material to the visor core and the subsequent bonding of the core halves together. The visor of the present invention aims to overcome the deficiencies of the prior art by providing a visor core which is folded together and which according to a preferred embodiment snap fits together while mechanically securely clamping the edges of the upholstery covering around the periphery of the core halves. It accomplishes the desired visor appearance in the preferred embodiment with a stiff but resilient core without the need for bonding by heat fusion or utilising an adhesive material thereby reducing the cost of the visor. US-A-4,570,990 discloses those features set out in the pre-characterising potion of Claim 1. There is provided a visor divided along a centre hinge line to define two visor core halves and, according to the invention as defined in claim 1, one core half has a plurality of alternate, peripherally spaced pins and recesses extending along the peripheral edge thereof and aligned with alternate recesses and pins respectively of the other core half such that, after wrapping the upholstery material around the external faces and the edges of the core halves, folding and bringing together said halves, the edges of the upholstery material are clamped securely in place between the edges of the two halves. The edges of the upholstery may thus be compressed and then clamped in a secure position as the visor halves are brought together during manufacturing. Further developments in line with claim 1 are referred to in the dependent claims. Additionally, one of the halves may include a plurality of tabs projecting outwardly therefrom and the other half may include slot means for captively receiving the tabs, the core including wall means positioned to urge the tabs into locking engagement with the slot means for holding the said halves together. The backing wall prevents removal of the tabs. The invention may be carried into practice in a number of ways and one specific embodiment will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a visor embodying the present invention; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary top plan view of a visor core embodying the present invention; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical cross-sectional view of the visor core shown in Fig. 2 shown in a closed position and without a covering; Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view showing one of the several snap locks employed in the visor core of the present invention; Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view of the upholstery fastening structure employed in the visor of the present invention; and Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view taken through the edge of the visor core shown in the folded together position and further illustrating the upholstery fastening structure. Referring initially to Fig. 1 there is shown a visor 10 embodying the present invention and which is made employing a butterfly-type or clamshell-type folded core 20 (Figs. 2-6) of stiffly resilient polymeric material such as polypropylene. The core construction is shown in detail in Figs. 2-6 and supports therein a visor mounting elbow bracket 12 (Fig. 1) extending from one end and a mounting post 14 at the opposite end for mounting the visor to, in the case of the visor shown in Fig. 1, the driver side of the vehicle. The visor core 20 is covered by a suitable upholstery material such as foam backed fabric 16 which, as best seen in the left edge of Fig. 1, is tucked at 18 and clamped into position between the edges of the core to provide a neat and trim appearance to the visor without the utilisation of an edge trim bead. This feature, in itself, has been achieved by different structure in US-A-4,570,990 and is in widespread commercial use. The visor 10 may optionally include an illuminated vanity mirror package (not shown) by providing a suitable opening in the one side of the visor core for receiving an illuminated vanity mirror package such as that disclosed in US-A-4,227,241. Referring now to Fig. 2 there is shown the polymeric core 20 of the visor 10 which comprises an upper half 22 and a lower half 24 integrally formed and joined along an integral hinge 23 which holds the upper and lower halves together. The core 20 is moulded of a suitable stiff but resilient polymeric material such as polypropylene and includes along its outer peripheral edges a plurality of conically tapered pins 25 which are shown in greater detail in Figs. 3, 5 and 6 and which align with recesses 26 formed in the mating portion of the opposite core half. Thus a pin 25 from the upper half 22 will align with a corresponding recess 26 in the lower half 24 of the visor when the visor core is folded together as shown in Fig. 3 and in greater detail in Fig. 5. The pins and recesses 25 and 26 are thus alternately staggered in a continuous pattern along the entire peripheral edge of each half of the visor core and the recesses and pins on one of the visor core halves are likewise alternatively staggered with respect to the corresponding pins and recesses on the other visor core half such that they rest together as best seen in Figs. 5 and 6. In addition to the fabric clamping structure comprising the pins and recesses, the upper half 22 of the visor core includes a framework pattern of ridges or outwardly extending walls 28 which include, at spaced intervals, tab means 30. The lower core half 24 includes in an aligned and mating position, parallel spaced wall means 40 and 42 which follow the same shape and contour as the walls 28 which are spaced to define a channel 41 to allow the walls 28 to nest between the walls 40 and 42 as best seen in Fig. 3. Between the walls 40 and 42 at selected locations aligned with the tab means 30 are slot means 50 to permit (as best seen in connection with Fig. 4 described below) the tab means to snap-fit within the slot means 50 for securely clamping the visor cores together with the fabric wrapped around and captively held in a clamped fashion by the pins and slots 25 and 26, respectively. In the preferred embodiment of the invention also, the visor core 20 includes a pivot rod mounting assembly 60 (Fig. 2) comprising a plurality of spaced cradle halves 62 which form semicircular resilient sockets spaced longitudinally adjacent the hinge 23 and on opposite sides thereof such that a visor rod can be snap fitted therein. The assembly 60 also includes a flange 64 for anchoring an end of a torque-fitting such as the type disclosed in U.S. US-A-4,390,202. Similarly, on the opposite end of the visor there is provided a pair of semicircular sockets 70 for receiving the pin 14 of the visor. As can be seen in Fig. 2, the walls 28 form on the left edge of the visor a generally triangular pattern with correspondingly mated pair of walls 40 and 42 on the lower half of the visor. This closed loop half includes two snap locking tabs 30 and associated sockets 50. The central section of the visor includes a pair of generally square shaped sections of walls 28 and the right edge of the visor including a somewhat triangular section. Each of the sections of walls 28 align with and nest within the spaced walls 40 and 42 of the lower visor half 24 when the visor halves are folded over with the tabs 30 fitting within the aligned corresponding sockets 50. One of the substantially identical tabs and sockets 30 and 50, respectively are shown in detail in Fig. 4 which will now be described. The tab 30 is integrally formed on the wall 28 and includes a slightly longer downwardly-projecting end 32 having an outwardly projecting flange 34 with and inclined leading edge 36 for assisting in the insertion of the tab 30 into the channel 41 formed between the walls 40 and 42. Formed adjacent each of the tabs 30 and through the visor side 22 are relief apertures 31 (Figs. 2 and 4) which adds to the resiliency of the tabs 30 and permits clearance of the upwardly projecting walls 42 during assembly. Each of the slots 50 are defined by an opening 52 spanning both sides of the wall section 42 as best seen in Figs. 2 and 4 and a horizontally extending slot 54 extending through the wall section 42 spaced downwardly from the reinforced top 41′ of the wall as best seen in Fig. 4. The wall 40 extends behind and opposite the slot 54 to prevent the tab flange 34 from slipping out of mating engagement with the surface 54 of the slots 50 thereby holding the tabs in a securely locked position. There is sufficient resilience of the walls 40 and 42 with the slots 52 and 54 that the inclined wall 36 of the tab wedges between the walls such that the tab can be inserted between the walls into an engaging position with the slot 50. Once engaged, however, it is virtually impossible to remove the tabs without ripping off the projection 34 from the tab itself. The backing wall 40 thereby provides the desired structure which in connection with the continuous channel 41 securely hold the visor core halves together. During assembly of the visor, the upholstery is cut in a pattern slightly larger than that of the silhouette visor core as seen in Fig. 2 and held in overlapping engagement around the core halves by relatively thin fingers of an assembly machine. Prior to folding the visor core halves 22 and 24 together, the pin 14 is inserted into the socket 70 and the visor elbow bracket assembly 12 is inserted in the socket 60 so that when the visor core halves are snapped together, the visor assembly is completed. As the core halves are folded together, the conically tapered end of the pins 25 will begin to compress the relatively thick foam padded upholstery materials 16 before the tabs 30 and the slots 50 interengage. The upholstery holding fingers can then be withdrawn from the visor and the visor halves pushed together driving the pins 25 partially through the upholstery material and compressing it into the slots 26 as best seen in Fig. 5 As seen in Fig. 6, the pins 25 are alternately staggered with the slots 26 so that viewed along the edge of the visor, the two layers of upholstery material 16 undulate between the visor core halves 22 and 24 and are securely held by the piercing of the fabric by the pointed conical projections 25. The projections 25 have a height of approximately 0.1 inches (0.25 cm) and are spaced approximately 0.6 inches (1.5 cm) apart continuously along the peripheral edge of the visor core. Similarly, the recesses 26 have a width of 0.1 inches (0.25 cm) corresponding to the diameter of the base of the pins and have a depth of 0.05 inches (0.13 cm) so that the pins 25 substantially pierce the material 16 and extend closely adjacent the floor of the recesses of the corresponding visor half.

Claims: A visor core (20) divided along a centre hinge line (23) to define two visor core halves (22,24), such that, after wrapping an upholstery material (16) around the external faces and the edges of the core halves (22,24), folding and bringing together said halves, the edges of the upholstery material (16) may be clamped securely in place between the edges of the two halves (22,24), characterised by one core half (22) having a plurality of alternate, peripherally spaced pins (25) and recesses (26) extending along the peripheral edge thereof and aligned with alternate recesses (26) and pins (25) respectively of the other core half (24), the edges of the upholstery material, in use, being clamped by the pins and recesses. A visor core as claimed in Claim 1 in which the pins (25) extend around substantially the entire peripheral edge of the core (20). A visor core as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 in which the pins are conical. A visor core as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3 including tab means (30) on one of the visor core halves (22,24) and aligned slot means (50) on the other of the visor core halves for snap locking the visor core halves together. A visor core as claimed in Claim 4 in which the slot means (50) is defined by a pair of spaced walls (40,42) having a channel (41) therebetween with an aperture (54) formed in at least one of the walls (42) for receiving the tab means (30). A visor core (20) as claimed in any of Claim 1 to 5 having two halves, one of the halves (22) including a plurality of tabs (30) projecting outwardly therefrom and the other of the halves (24) including slot means (50) for captively receiving the tabs (30), the core including wall means (40,42) positioned to urge the tabs into locking engagement with the slot means (50) for holding the said halves (22,24) together.

Inventors: LANSER MICHAEL L, ROBBINS CRAIG, VAN ORDER KIM L, WEBER JOSEPH H, LANSER, MICHAEL L., ROBBINS, CRAIG, VAN ORDER, KIM L., WEBER, JOSEPH H.
Applicants: PRINCE CORP, PRINCE CORPORATION
Application year: 1988
Main classification: B60J3
IPC codes: B60N2, B60J3