Vehicle sun visor and method of making

Abstract: A sun visor comprises a first visor core half (15), with an integral flap (16) disposed to the first visor core half by an integral hinge (17), bonded to a second visor core half (18), except for the flap, which remains open. Two pieces of suitable material are joined together to form an envelope (10) in the shape of a visor core assembly (9). The visor core assembly is inserted into the envelope, and the material along an open edge of the envelope (38) is inserted into the core and attached along an interior edge (46) of the flap and along an interior edge (48) of the second visor core half. The flap is attached to the second visor core half by use of a plurality of snap fasteners (26, 27, 28), and the closure is further strengthened by inserting a mounting rod (7) into a plurality of aligned apertures (30) defined by a plurality of resilient interdigital bearings (31, 32) mounted to the second visor core half and the flap. A clean, neat seam results along all edges of the envelope.

Description: This invention relates to a sun visor for use in a motor vehicle according to the precharacterizing part of claim 1, and a method of manufacturing same. A sun visor of this type is known from US-A-4,763,946. The passenger compartments in most motor vehicles are equiped with sun visors which can be positioned against the windshield or a side window to protect the occupants' eyes from the sun. When the visor is no longer required, it can be stored against the headliner of the vehicle. Typically, the sun visor is covered with a material similar to the headliner material or other upholstery in the vehicle so that it blends in with the surrounding material and is esthetically pleasing. A standard method of assembling sun visors is to mold a visor core in one piece with an integral hinge (living hinge) disposed between two symmetric halves. Various component parts such as a mounting arm are attached to the visor core. Decorative cover material is then applied to the exterior surfaces of the core, and attached thereto by adhesive or an equivalent bonding technique, around the interior edges of the core. The entire assembly is then folded shut by pivoting the covered core halves about the living hinge. The halves are permanently bonded together with a suitable adhesion process such as fusion bonding or by means of pairs of projecting pins and mating recesses formed on the periphery of opposite core halves (US-A-4,763,946). Another method of assembling a sun visor is to first manufacture the visor core in two separate halves. Component parts are attached to the separate halves, and the external surfaces of each half are covered with decorative cover material which is attached by adhesive or an equivalent bonding technique around the interior edges of the halves. The two halves are then permanently bonded together using a suitable adhesion process such as fusion bonding. In both of the aforementioned prior art methods of visor assembly, the visor core and the decorative cover can not be separately assembled. Assembling the visor core separately from the decorative cover would eliminate a step from such prior art assembly processes; the decorative cover material would not have to be attached around all the interior edges of the visor core prior to assembly of the core. Eliminating a step from the visor assembly process would reduce the time required for assembly, and the reduced time and material required for assembly would reduce the cost to manufacture the visor. Separate assembly of the core and the decorative cover would also allow the preassembly of the decorative cover with neat, clean seams rather than the less attractive appearance of material clamped between two visor core halves. Provision of a sun visor with the refined appearance of neat, clean seams is important in the luxury automobile industry because of the intense competition for sophisticated and demanding consumers. The object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle sun virsor, with the refined appearance of neat, clean and finished seams on a pre-seamed outer decorative cover, which can be easily manufactured and assembled. According to the invention, a sun visor is provided having the features of claim 1. The decorative cover envelope is constructed by joining two pieces of a selected material, with the reversed side exposed, along a continuous seam, to form an open envelope in the shape of the visor core. The envelope is then turned right-side-out with the finished side exposed. An open edge of the envelope coincides to the edge of the core having the flap. The visor core assembly is then completely inserted into the envelope, and the material along the open edge of the envelope is folded into the cavity, and joined along the interior edges of the cavity by a suitable adhesion process. The flap is then pivoted so that snap fasteners on the flap and the rigid portion of the core permanently engage. The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent in the light of the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof, as illustrated in the accompanying drawing. Brief Description of Drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a sun visor in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2 is an exploded view of a visor core assembly being inserted into a decorative cover envelope, with a flap in the visor core shown open. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the visor core completely inserted into the decorative cover envelope. Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken in the direction of line 4-4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken in the direction of line 5-5 of Fig. 3. Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention Referring to Fig 1, a sun visor 6 is mounted on a pivot rod 7 which is fastened to a vehicle headliner (not shown) by a bracket 8. The sun visor comprises a visor core assembly 9 retained in a pre-seamed decorative cover envelope 10. A cylindrical roller sleeve (roller bearing) 11 mounts the visor to a headliner mounting clip (not shown). Referring to Fig. 2, a first visor core half 15 is molded of a suitable material such as polypropylene, with an integral flap 16 movable about an integral hinge 17 (living hinge). A second visor core half 18 is bonded to the first visor core half 15 by a suitable adhesion process such as hot-plate fusion, except for the flap 16, which remains open. The bonded core halves 15,18 form the visor core assembly 9. The area between the flap 17 and the second visor core half 18 defines a cavity 19. Referring to Fig 4, ultimately, flap 16 is permanently attached to the second visor core half 18 by a plurality of snap fasteners 25. The snap fasteners 25 are located in the cavity 19 and each comprise a resilient L-shaped dog 26 molded to the flap 16, a resilient slotted plate 27 molded to the second visor core half 18, and a resilient wedge shaped locking tab 28 molded adjacent to each slotted plate 27. In Fig. 5, the permanent attachment of the flap 16 to the second visor core half 18 is further accomplished by the insertion of the rod 7 into a plurality of aligned apertures 30 defined by a plurality of resilient interdigital bearings 31 molded to the second visor core half 18 and a plurality of resilient interdigital bearings 32 molded to the flap 16. Referring to Fig. 2, a suitable material such as leather, polyvinyl chloride, or cloth with a foamed backing is used to make the pre-seamed decorative cover envelope 10. The envelope is constructed by a suitable cut and seal technique such as laser cutting the material to the shape of the visor core and subsequently ultrasonically welding the material on the reverse side along a bottom seam 35 and two side seams 36 and 37. Skirts 38 defines an opening in the envelope for insertion of the core thereinto. The envelope 10 is then turned right-side-out with the finished side exposed. The interior of the envelope 39 can be accessed through the open skirts 38. The exposed seams 35, 36, and 37 have a high quality, finished appearance. The continuous tailored appearance of the seams is far superior to the appearance of a seam created by clamping material between two visor core halves because the tailored seam appears tighter and better defined, while the seam created by clamping the material between two visor core halves forms a deep V-shaped channel between the visor core halves at the seam. The visor core assembly 9 is then inserted into the interior of the envelope 39 as shown in Fig. 2, until the core is completely inserted as shown in Fig. 3. In Figs. 3, 4, and 5 the skirts 38 are folded over the flap 16 and the second visor core half 18 into the cavity 19, and attached thereto along interior edges 46 and 48 by adhesive or equivalent technique. Referring to Figs. 1 and 3, a pin and the cylindrical roller sleeve 11 are then installed. In Fig. 4, the flap 16 is pivoted about the living hinge 17 until the dogs 26 become completely engaged with the plates 27 so that the ends of the dogs are received in the slots. The dogs 26 are secured in place by the locking tabs 28. The locking tabs 28 act against the dogs 26 so that the ends of the dogs remain inserted in the slots. Referring to Figs. 3 and 5, the rod 7 is then inserted into the plurality of aligned apertures 30 of the interdigital bearings 31,32. The rod may have a metal clip or the like (not shown) fastened thereto to assist in holding it in position. This arrangement provides further strength to the visor assembly 9, and additional locking of the flap 16 to the second visor core half 18. Referring to Figs. 1,4 and 5, once the flap 16 is permanently attached to the second visor core half 18, the material on the skirts meet to make a clean seam appearance along a seam at the mounting edge 50 of the visor 6, as shown in Fig. 1. As illustrated, the envelope used to cover the visor core assembly is made of two pieces of material. However, there are other suitable means of forming the cover of the sun visor according to the present invention such as folding a piece of material with two symmetric halves in the shape of the visor core and joining two side seams, thereby forming an envelope. An envelope could also be formed by injection molding an envelope of suitable material. The visor core assembly is shown assembled from two separate halves. There are other suitable ways of manufacturing the visor core such as molding a core in one piece with a flap attached thereto by a living hinge along the mounting edge. There are also a number of processes, equivalent to hot plate welding, suitable for permanently bonding the first and second visor core halves. For example, bonding could be achieved by applying a fast drying adhesive to each half prior to assembly of the halves. Similarly, the seams on the decorative cover could be joined using an adhesive or stitching with a thread rather than by sonic sealant welding. The snap fasteners 26,27,28 and the interdigital bearings 31,32 are shown molded to the visor core. However, there are other suitable means of mounting the snap fasteners and the interdigital bearings to the core in accordance with the present invention such as bonding with a fast drying adhesive or attachment with rivets or screws. In addition, the permanent attachment of the flap to the second visor core half can be achieved using any permanent joining method rather than the mechanical catches described herein.

Claims: A sun visor (6) for use in motor verhicles comprising: a visor core (9) having a first and a second core half (15,18) bonded to each other for defining a cavity (19) and a covering material preformed into an envelope (10) in the shape of the exterior of said core (9), the envelope being provided with two skirts (38) defining an opening edge in the envelope (10) for insertion of the core (9) with its mounting edge (50) thereinto, characterized in that said first core half (15) includes an integral flap (16) extending in the region of the mounting edge (50) of the core (9) and movable with respect thereto for closing said cavity (19), such that both open skirts (38) of the covering material are clamped between the second core half (18) and the flap (16) along the mounting edge (50) as the flap (16) is closing said cavity (19). The sun visor according to claim 1 further characterized by said core including an integral hinge (17) paralled to said mounting edge (50) of said core (9), whereby said flap (16) pivots about said hinge (17) to contact said core (9) at the mounting edge (50). The sun visor according to claim 1 or 2 further characterized by said open skirts (38) defining the open edge of the envelope (10) being permanently bonded along an interior edge (46) of said flap (16) and an interior edge (48) of said core (9). The sun visor according to any one of claims 1 to 3 further characterized by said flap (16) being attached to said core (9) by a plurality of snap fasteners (25). The sun visor according to claim 4 further characterized by said snap fasteners (25) each comprising a resilient L-shaped dog (26) mounted to said flap (16), the L-shaped dog (26) being received within a resilient slotted plate (27) mounted to said core (9), the L-shaped dog (26) being held in the resilient slotted plate (27) by a resilient wedge shaped locking tab (28) mounted adjacent to the slotted plate (27). The sun visor according to any one of claims 1 to 5 further characterized by said material covering the core (9) being a textile fabric. The sun visor according to claim 6 further characterized by said textile fabric being a cloth having a foamed backing. The sun visor according to any one of claims 1 to 5 further characterized by said material covering the core (9) being leather. The sun visor according to any one of claims 1 to 5 further characterized by said material covering the core (9) being polyvinyl chloride. The sun visor according to any one of claims 1 to 9 further characterized by a plurality of resilient interdigital bearings (31,32) mounted to said flap (16) and said core, the bearings (31,32) defining a plurality of aligned apertures (30) when said flap (16) is permanently attached to said core, the aligned apertures (30) receive a mounting rod (7) therethrough, thereby providing further strength and additional locking of said flap to said core (9). The sun visor according to any one of claims 1 to 10 further characterized by said core (9) comprising molded synthetic material. The sun visor according to claim 11 further characterized by said synthetic material being polypropylene. A method of manufacturing a sun visor for use in a motor vehicle according to claim 1 characterized by: providing said core (9) having said flap (16) and an adjacent recess therein; forming said open visor decorative cover envelope (10) in the shape of the core (9); inserting the core (9) into the envelope (10); inserting said two skirts (38) into said recess of said core (9); bonding said skirts (38) to an interior edge (46) of said flap and an interior edge (48) of said core (9); and attaching said flap (16) to said core (9). The method according to claim 13 further characterized by said envelope (10) being formed by attaching two pieces of material along a continuous seam (35-37). The method according to claim 14 further characterized by said material being attached along said seam by ultrasonic sealant welding. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 15 further characterized by said first and second core halves (15,18) being bonded together prior to insertion into said envelope (10). The method according to claim 16 further characterized by said first and second halves (15,18) being bonded together by hot plate welding.

Inventors: LAWASSANI ABDOLHOSSEIN RAZI, WASIK MARK J, LAWASSANI, ABDOLHOSSEIN RAZI, WASIK, MARK J.
Applicants: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES AUTOMOTIVE, UNITED TECHNOLOGIES AUTOMOTIVE, INC.
Application year: 1990
Main classification: B60J3
IPC codes: B60J3