Abstract:
An improved sun shade device is a folding, fan-style interior windshield shade for vehicles, structured and arranged for permanent, yet removable mounting at the base of the windshield, easy to deploy when needed, with a “peacock tail” design which provides full-coverage shading of the windshield, keeping interior temperatures lower and blocking damaging UV rays from the vehicle&#39;s interior.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    The present application is related to and claims priority from prior provisional application Ser. No. 62/312,412, filed Mar. 23, 2016 which application is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     COPYRIGHT NOTICE 
       [0002]    A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 37 CFR 1.71(d). 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    The following includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention(s). It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art, or material, to the presently described or claimed inventions, or that any publication or document that is specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art. 
         [0004]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0005]    The present invention relates generally to the field of sun shades and more specifically relates to a folding fan-style interior windshield shade for cars, vans, pickups, SUVs, and other vehicles structured and arranged for permanent, yet removable mounting at the base of the windshield. Easy to deploy when needed, the efficient “peacock tail” design would provide full-coverage shading of the windshield, keeping interior temperatures lower and blocking damaging UV rays from the vehicle&#39;s interior. 
         [0006]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0007]    If the largest and most important single investment a consumer makes is in a house, the second largest, in most cases, will be in the vehicles they drive. Not only are home and car the most visible, expensive, and important of our possessions, but both require substantial upkeep on our part to retain their pleasing appearance and financial value. People throughout history have remarked that a person&#39;s self-respect extends to his or her possessions, pointing out that a self-respecting person is almost certain to have a neat and clean personal appearance, a clean and orderly home, and in our time, a neat and tidy car. A self-respecting person takes care of things, keeps his or her possessions in good shape, and considers it proper and necessary to have a place for everything and everything in its place. In our time, when a person&#39;s most significant possessions are his or her home and car, we keep these up with routine and regular maintenance. We have our car serviced regularly, and do our best to protect its body, paint, and finish. 
         [0008]    A car would not be much good to us if we kept it protected in a garage and never drove it. We can do our best to park where the hazards are minimal, but taking a car out into the world is unavoidably to put that car at risk—and one of the risks, both to the car itself and our own comfort, is direct sunlight. Not only does the sun heat up the interior of a parked, locked vehicle—sometimes to lethal levels—but the heat and Ultraviolet (UV) rays can damage the vehicle&#39;s dashboard, steering wheel, and upholstery. To reduce the interior&#39;s exposure to the sun, many drivers, after parking, place a folding sun-screen behind the windshield. But while these screens are reasonably effective, they are also cumbersome to unfold and deploy, and bulky to carry around. 
         [0009]    Various attempts have been made to solve the above-mentioned problems such as those found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,074 to Anthony J. Castellano; U.S. Pat. No. 5,751,488 to Craig Michael Wade; and U.S. Publication No. 2002/0171256 to Herbert Ward. This art is representative of sun shade devices used in vehicles. None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the invention as claimed. 
         [0010]    Ideally, a sun shade device should provide ease of installation, be durable, and yet would operate reliably and be manufactured at a modest expense. Thus, a need exists for a reliable improved sun shade device to avoid the above-mentioned problems. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0011]    In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known sun shade device art, the present invention provides a novel improved sun shade device. The general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail is to provide a folding, fan-style interior windshield shade for vehicles, structured and arranged for permanent yet removable mounting at the base of the windshield, easy to deploy when needed, with a “peacock tail” design which provides full-coverage shading of the windshield, keeping interior temperatures lower and blocking damaging UV rays from the vehicle&#39;s interior. 
         [0012]    An improved sun shade device for a vehicle is disclosed herein comprising a base member adapted to be attached to the dashboard or a lower section of the windshield of a vehicle via a suction cup, or two-sided adhesive tape, and a pair of shade members pivotally connected at distal ends to the base member, positioned adjacent to one another and adapted to be extended into a deployed position to cover a large portion of the surface of a windshield to block sunlight from passing through the windshield and entering the interior compartment of the vehicle. 
         [0013]    The pair of shade members are formed such that they are adapted to be extended into a deployed position of semi-circular shape as needed, and collapsed into a storage position when not in use. Further, the pair of shade members each has a center side portion adapted to be connected together with a clip member attached to a proximal end that are adapted to connect to one another, and each shade member also has magnetic members attached to the center side portions, such that the center side portions are able to be connected to one another in the deployed position. 
         [0014]    The shade members each include an elongated cord member attached to a proximal end that are adapted to be hung over a rear view mirror of the vehicle, such that when each respective one of the elongated cord members is pulled, a respective one of the pair of shade members is extended into the deployed position. The pair of shade members are formed from a plurality of interconnected slat members that is folded into an accordion-shape, and is adapted to be unfolded into deployed position and folded into storage position as needed for use. 
         [0015]    The shade members are formed from a group of materials consisting of cloth, cotton, bamboo, a mesh fabric, and a woven fabric having a reflective backing adapted to reflect sunlight away from the interior compartment of the vehicle. The base member is formed as a ball hinge adapted to allow the pair of shade members to pivot in a 360 degree fashion such that they are adjustable to match different slant angles of different windshields of different vehicles. 
         [0016]    The present invention holds significant improvements and serves as an improved sun shade device. For purposes of summarizing the invention, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features of the invention have been described herein. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any one particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taught or suggested herein. The features of the invention which are believed to be novel are particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings and detailed description. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0017]    The figures which accompany the written portion of this specification illustrate embodiments and method(s) of use for the present invention, improved sun shade device constructed and operative according to the teachings of the present invention. 
           [0018]      FIG. 1  shows a perspective view illustrating an improved sun shade device in an in-use condition according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0019]      FIG. 2  is an inside view illustrating an improved sun shade device in a deployed position according to an embodiment of the present invention of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0020]      FIG. 3  is an inside view illustrating improved sun shade device in a storage position according to an embodiment of the present invention of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0021]      FIG. 4  is an exploded view illustrating improved sun shade device according to an embodiment of the present invention of  FIG. 1 . 
       
    
    
       [0022]    The various embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings, wherein like designations denote like elements. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0023]    As discussed above, embodiments of the present invention relate to a sun shade device and more particularly to an improved sun shade device as used to improve the ability of a user to protect the interior of a vehicle with a folding fan style window shade that attaches adhesively, or with suction cups to the dashboard of a vehicle. 
         [0024]    Generally speaking, improved sun shade device consists of two collapsible, folding fanstyle, semicircular “wings”—one mounted at the base of the windshield on the driver&#39;s side, the other on the passenger side. These “wings” are made up of aluminum or vinyl slats like those found in window-blinds. The exterior-facing surface of the individual slats will be reflective white or silver. Each of the two “wings” is designed to collapse when not in use, like a folding hand fan, to lie flat along the top of the dashboard, where the base is mounted by means of suction-cups or by a peel-and-stick adhesive backing. Each of the two “wings” is constructed of individual slats which, when pulled upward, pivot from a single point nearest the center of the windshield. In deployment, the slats fan upward and across the windshield, opening in the manner of a peacocks tail to form a semicircular shade; and the two “wings” operate in concert to shade the entire windshield. 
         [0025]    The mechanism for lifting and collapsing the improved sun shade device is a pair of strings or cords—one for the driver side, one for the passenger side—which hang from the rear-view mirror. To deploy the shade members, the user will simply pull the two cords to lift the two “wings,” then clip the uppermost slat of each side&#39;s shade into a clip mounted at the top of the windshield. Detaching the uppermost slats from their clips will allow the shade members to collapse, and two similar clips in the base will secure and hold the two collapsed slat assemblies when the improved sun shade device is not in use. 
         [0026]    Referring to the drawings by numerals of reference there is shown in  FIG. 1 , a perspective view illustrating an improved sun shade device  100  in an in-use condition  102  according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0027]    Improved sun shade device  100  for vehicle  170  is disclosed herein comprising base member  106  adapted to be attached to dashboard  172  or a lower section of windshield  174  of vehicle  170  via suction cup  108 , or two-sided adhesive tape  110 , and a pair of shade members  120  pivotally connected at proximal ends  122  to base member  106 , positioned adjacent to one another and adapted to be extended into deployed position  130  to cover a large portion of the surface of windshield  174  to block sunlight from passing through windshield  174  and entering the interior compartment of vehicle  170 . 
         [0028]    Referring now to  FIG. 2 , an inside view illustrating an improved sun shade device  100  in a deployed position  130  according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0029]    The pair of shade members  120  are formed such that they are adapted to be extended into deployed position  130  of semi-circular shape  132  as needed, and collapsed into storage position  140  when not in use. Further, the pair of shade members  120  each has center side portion  144  adapted to be connected together with clip member  146  attached to distal end  150  which are adapted to connect to one another. Each shade member  120  also has magnetic members  148  attached to center side portions  144 , such that center side portions  144  are able to be connected to one another in deployed position  130 . 
         [0030]    Referring now to  FIG. 3 , an inside view illustrating an improved sun shade device  100  in a storage position  140  according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0031]    Shade members  120  each include elongated cord member  124  attached to distal end  150  that are adapted to be hung over rear view mirror  176  of vehicle  170 , such that when each respective one of elongated cord members  124  is pulled, a respective one of the shade members  120  is extended into deployed position  130 . The shade members  120  are formed from a plurality of interconnected slat members  126  that is folded into an accordion-shape  128 , and is adapted to be unfolded into deployed position  130  for use, and folded into storage position  140  when not in use. 
         [0032]    Referring now to  FIG. 4 , an exploded view illustrating an improved sun shade device  100  according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0033]    Shade members  120  are formed from a group of materials consisting of cloth, cotton, bamboo, a mesh fabric, and a woven fabric having a reflective backing  136  adapted to reflect sunlight away from the interior compartment of vehicle  170 . Base member  106  is formed as ball hinge  112  adapted to allow the pair of shade members  120  to pivot in a 360 degree fashion such that they are adjustable to match different slant angles of different windshields  174  of different vehicles  170 . 
         [0034]    Improved sun shade device  100  may be manufactured and provided for sale in a wide variety of sizes and shapes for a wide assortment of applications. Upon reading this specification, it should be appreciated that, under appropriate circumstances, considering such issues as design preference, user preferences, marketing preferences, cost, structural requirements, available materials, technological advances, or arrangements such as, for example, including more or less components, customized parts, different color combinations, parts may be sold separately, etc., may be sufficient. 
         [0035]    The embodiments of the invention described herein are exemplary and numerous modifications, variations and rearrangements can be readily envisioned to achieve substantially equivalent results, all of which are intended to be embraced within the spirit and scope of the invention. Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientist, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application.