Patent Document

TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to protectors for garages and vehicles, and more particularly to a protector having an indicator for lateral guidance of a vehicle moving through a garage door. 
     BACKGROUND ART 
     There are several known devices that help drivers park a motor vehicle at a selected distance from the back wall of a garage. A simple device of this type is a tennis ball suspended by a string from the garage ceiling at a selected location such that the vehicle is stopped when the tennis ball contacts a selected part, such as the windshield, on the vehicle. Other devices are electronic, using radar or ultrasound sensing, and audio, light or laser indicators, but these devices offer no meaningful lateral protection of the garage and the vehicle. 
     Due to the limited width of a garage door opening relative to the width of the vehicle, drivers often have difficulty avoiding hitting the garage door sides defining the garage door opening with the vehicle. Such collisions can damage the vehicle and the garage. The devices described above provide little assistance in aligning the vehicle laterally relative to the garage door opening. Sanders, U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,758 discloses a vehicle parking guide using vertically disposed deflectors positioned in longitudinally offset relation and a mirror to provide both lateral and longitude positioning guidance. This is a relatively complex and expensive device. A simple inexpensive device that provides lateral guidance for a vehicle entering a garage is desirable. 
     DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION 
     A garage and vehicle protector includes a resilient indicator and a resilient support connected to the indicator that mounts advantageously to only the left side of the garage of the garage door opening. A means for mounting connected to the support facilitates mounting the indicator and support so the indicator is positioned a selected distance into the garage door opening. The indicator is positioned such that when the vehicle, preferably the left side mirror, just touches the indicator when entering or exiting the garage, the vehicle is correctly laterally positioned in the garage door opening. The indicator is soft so as to not scratch the vehicle and resilient so as to deflect when contacted by the vehicle and return to the original position when the contact force is removed. A single or multiple fuzzy balls and a feather are examples of suitable indicators. The means for mounting fastens inside or outside the garage and one embodiment fastens to the roller track. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Details of this invention are described in connection with the accompanying drawings that bear similar reference numerals in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a top plan view of a garage door opening showing a vehicle partially inside the garage, embodying features of the present invention mounted on the inside of the garage and garage door. 
         FIG. 2  is a front elevation view of the illustration of  FIG. 1  as viewed from inside the garage. 
         FIG. 3  is an enlarged top plan view of a portion of the left side of the garage door opening of  FIG. 1  showing the protector clamped to the rail. 
         FIG. 3A  is an enlarged top plan view of a portion of  FIG. 3  showing the protector clamped to the rail. 
         FIG. 4  is a front elevation view of the protector shown in FIG.  3 . 
         FIG. 5  is an exploded perspective view of FIG.  3 . 
         FIG. 6  is a sectional view taken along line  6 — 6  of FIG.  4 . 
         FIG. 7  is a top plan view of the protector of  FIG. 1  mounted to the inside wall of the garage. 
         FIG. 8  is a top plan view of the protector of  FIG. 1  mounted to the outside wall of the garage. 
         FIG. 9  is a front elevation view of the protector shown in  FIG. 8  as viewed from the outside of the garage looking into the garage door opening. 
         FIG. 10  is a front elevation view of a portion of the protector shown in  FIG. 9  using only a single larger ball. 
         FIG. 11  is an elevation view of an alternative protector using a bird feather. 
         FIG. 12  is an elevation view of a modification of the alternative protector shown in FIG.  11 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 1 ,  2  and  3 , a garage and vehicle protector  10  embodying features of the present invention includes an indicator  11  and a support  12  connected to the indicator  11 . A means for mounting  14  is connected to the support  12 . The indicator  11  is resilient and has a clearly visible color such as red and an exterior of soft material that will not scratch a vehicle finish. A flourescent coating on indicator  11  to enable it to glow in the dark is desirable. The indicator  11  shown has a plurality of vertically arrayed, soft, fuzzy balls  12  attached to a flat, elongated, substantially rigid indicator strip  17  by double sided, adhesive, foam tape  18  therebetween. Other materials such as foam, fabric or feather are suitable. In the illustrated embodiment, six bright colored, typically red balls  16  are used and are attached to one force of tape  18  by the adhesive with each ball  16  having a diameter in the range of one and one half inches. The indicator strip, in the illustrated embodiment is metal, but other materials such as plastic could be used. This resilient construction enables the indicator to be deflected when contacted by a moving vehicle and return to the original position when the contact force is removed. 
     Support  12  is mounted to the indicator strip  17  and extends substantially horizontally therefrom. The support  12  shown is a thin, flat, elongated strip of material typically brass or stainless steel, with vertical side surfaces of substantial extent as comprised of the thickness and with a U-shaped end portion  20  that wraps around the indicator strip  17 . Due to the horizontally extending vertical orientation, the support  12  shown is vertically rigid to support the indicator  11 , and sufficiently elastic or flexible and resilient to bend laterally or horizontally if an object impacts the indicator  11  and returns to the original position when the contact force is removed without harming the vehicle. Other methods of mounting the support  12  to the indicator  11 , such as rivets, threaded fasteners or adhesives, are also suitable. 
     The means for mounting  14  attaches to he support  12 , opposite the indicator  11  and mounts on the garage  22 . In the illustrated embodiment, the means for mounting  14  mounts on a U-shaped or channel shaped garage door roller track inside the garage and garage door that guides the rollers  24  for the garage door  25  in the garage door opening  26 . The track  23  has a front portion  28 , an outside portion  29  and a rear portion  30 . The means for mounting includes a first clamp portion  32 , a second clamp portion  33 , a threaded bolt  34  and a threaded nut  35 . The first and second clamp portions  32  and  33  are each a thin flat, elongated strip, preferably of a malleable material and preferably brass or stainless steel. 
     The first clamp portion  32  is formed at one end to wrap around the front portion  28  and the outside portion  29  of the track  23 , with a hooked first end  37  that hooks onto the front portion  28  and a spaced striaght second end  38  that extends diagonally, rearwardly and outwardly from the track  23 , near the rear portion  30 . The second clamp portion  33  has a hooked first end  40  that hooks onto the rear portion  30  of the track. The second clamp portion  33  is formed to wrap around the rear portion  30  to meet the first portion  32  and to extend diagonally, rearwardly and outwardly from the track  23  in a parallel, overlapping configuration with the second end  38  of the first clamp portion  32 . The second clamp portion  33  bends at the elbow  21 , and extends therefrom inwardly to a spaced, straight second end  42 . 
     Aligned first and second apertures  44  and  45  extend through the first and second clamp portions  32  and  33 , respectively, near the second end  38  of the first clamp portion  32 . The bolt extends through the first and second apertures  44  and  45 , and the nut  35  is threaded into the bolt  34  to clamp the means for mounting  14  onto the track  23 . The support  12  is positioned to overlap the second portion  33  of the means for mounting  14 , between the elbow and the second end  42  of the second portion, with the indicator  11  located advantageously inside the garage door opening  26 . Two spaced clips  47  wrap around the overlapping support  12  and second portion  33  to adjustably secure the support  12  to the means for mounting  14 . The support  12  extends beyond elbow a substantial distance to provide a weight counterbalance for the balls. 
     A preferred procedure for installing the above described protector  10  is as follows:
         1. Drive the vehicle into the garage door opening so that the left side mirror is opposite the point of attachment to the roller track. The height of the point of attachment will be the same as the elevation of the left side rear view mirror. The lateral position of the vehicle ideally is centered in the garage door opening. This may be accomplished by first measuring the width W 1  of the garage door opening  26  and the width W 2  of the vehicle across the mirrors  50 . The clearance distance C is calculated as one half the distance between W 1  and W 2 . In practice the clearance distance on the driver&#39;s side would be slightly less than the clearance distance on the passenger side.   2. Place the first clamp portion  32  on the rail by hooking the hooked first end  37  over the front portion  28  of the rail and secure by squeezing the end  37  with a pliers.   3. Attach the second clamp portion  33  to the first clamp portion by inserting the ball  34  through the apertures  44  and  45  and threading the nut  35  on ball  35  to a tight position.   4. With strip  17  attached to support  21  and support  21  overlapping second end  42 , the strips  17  with balls  16  are moved laterally until the balls touch or is very close to the left side rear view mirror.   5. Squeeze the clips  47  together with a pliers to set the lateral length of support  21  for this installation.       

     Referring now to  FIG. 7 , the protector of  FIG. 3  is modified by providing a second clamp portion  42   a . This terminates in an angle portion  57  through which a screw  58  extends to fasten the protector on the inside wall of the garage instead of to the roller track. 
     Referring not to  FIGS. 8 and 9 , a second clamp portion  42   b  is made straight at the end and receives screw  58  to fasten the support  21  on the outside face of the garage at the garage opening. This would be used where there is no track or attachment to the track would interfere with the movement of the roller in the track. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 10  there is shown the use of a single indicator ball  16   a  that is larger in diameter than the previously described balls  16  such as two inches in diameter. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 11 , an alternative indicator and support is provided by a birds feather  56  having the stem thereof extending into a hole  59  in the face of the left side member  22 . The adjustment for a particular vehicle would by to cut the end of the feather so that it barely touches the rear view mirror. 
     A modification of the use of the feather shown in  FIG. 12  shows the stem of the feather slidable in a tube  53  having suction cup  54  at one end of the tube that fastens to the garage a set screw  60  would set the length of the feather for contacting the left side rear view mirror. 
     Although the present invention as been described with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure has been made by way of example and that changes in details of structure may be made without departing from the spirit thereof.

Technology Category: e