A WINDSCREEN WIPER DEVICE

Abstract

A windscreen wiper device, particularly for automobiles, comprising an elongated wiper blade of a flexible material, which can be placed in abutment with a windscreen to be wiped, the wiper blade comprising a connecting device for an oscillating arm, wherein the oscillating arm near one end thereof is pivotally connected to the wiper blade (2) and near the other end thereof is connected to a mounting head on a drive shaft for transferring a reciprocal movement to the wiper blade, wherein the windscreen wiper device further comprises a cap detachably connected to the mounting head at the location where the oscillating arm is connected to the mounting head, wherein the cap is snapped onto an outer wall of the mounting head in axial direction thereof, with the special feature that the cap comprises at least one resilient, downwardly extending tongue having a hole, wherein the outer wall of the mounting head comprises a laterally outwardly extending protrusion engaging in the hole of the tongue, and wherein the resilient tongue is hingeable along an hinge axis between an inward position retaining the cap onto the mounting head and an outward position releasing the cap from the mounting head.

Claims

1. A windscreen wiper device, particularly for automobiles, comprising an oscillating arm connected to a mounting head mountable on a drive shaft for transferring a reciprocal movement, wherein said windscreen wiper device further comprises a cap detachably connected to said mounting head at the location where said oscillating arm is connected to said mounting head, wherein said cap is snapped onto an outer wall of said mounting head in axial direction thereof, wherein, said cap and said outer wall of said mounting head comprises mutually cooperating resilient tongue/protrusion features, wherein said protrusion snappingly engages in a hole of said resilient tongue, and wherein said resilient tongue is hingeable along an hinge axis between an inward position retaining the cap onto the mounting head and an outward position releasing the cap from the mounting head.

2. A windscreen wiper device according to claim 1, wherein said outer wall of said mounting head comprises at least one resilient tongue having said hole, and wherein an inner wall of said cap comprises a laterally inwardly extending protrusion engaging in said hole of said tongue.

3. A windscreen wiper device according to claim 2, wherein said resilient tongue extends upwardly.

4. A windscreen wiper device according to claim 2 wherein said resilient tongue extends downwardly.

5. A windscreen wiper device according to claim 2, wherein said inner wall of said cap comprises a guiding element for guiding said resilient tongue.

6. A windscreen wiper device according to claim 1, wherein said cap comprises at least one resilient tongue having said hole, wherein said outer wall of said mounting head comprises a laterally outwardly extending protrusion engaging in said hole of said tongue.

7. A windscreen wiper device according to claim 6, wherein said outer wall of said mounting head comprises a guiding element for guiding said resilient tongue in downward direction.

8. A windscreen wiper device according to claim 7, wherein said guiding element has a U-shaped cross-section.

9. A windscreen wiper device according to claim 7, wherein said guiding element is in one piece with the mounting head.

10. A windscreen wiper device according to claim 7, wherein said protrusion is facing towards a windscreen to be wiped, and wherein said guiding element is facing away from a windscreen to be wiped.

11. A windscreen wiper device according to claim 6, wherein said resilient tongue is in one piece with said cap.

12. A windscreen wiper device according to claim 6, wherein said hole has a closed circumference.

13. A windscreen wiper device according to claim 6, wherein said cap comprises two opposing resilient, downwardly extending tongues cooperating with two laterally outwardly extending protrusions on said outer wall of said mounting head.

14. A windscreen wiper device according to claim 6, wherein said cap comprises at least one clamping claw for clamping around said outer wall of said mounting head.

15. A cap as defined in a windscreen wiper device according to claim 1.

Description

[0018] The invention will now be explained in more detail with reference to figures illustrated in a drawing, wherein:

[0019] FIG. 1 is a perspective and schematic view, partly cut away, of a preferred embodiment of a windscreen wiper device in accordance with the invention, without a connecting device for a wiper blade and without a wiper blade;

[0020] FIGS. 2 and 3 correspond to FIG. 1 in a view from above and in a side view, respectively, on the understanding that the cap is partly cut away;

[0021] FIG. 4 corresponds to FIG. 1 in a view from below; and

[0022] FIG. 5 shows a perspective and schematic view of the cap, seen from below.

[0023] The windscreen wiper device 1 relates to a so-called “flat blade” built up in a usual manner of an elastomeric wiper blade, in the longitudinal sides of which opposing longitudinal grooves are formed, and of longitudinal strips made of spring band steel, which are fitted in said longitudinal grooves. Said strips form a flexible carrier element for the wiper blade, as it were, which is thus biased in a curved position (the curvature in operative position being that of a windscreen to be wiped).

[0024] Neighbouring ends of the strips at both ends of said wiper blade may be interconnected by means of a connecting piece or “end cap” functioning as clamping member. The connecting pieces may be a separate constructional element, which may be form-locked (“positive locking” or “having a positive fit”) or force-locked to the ends of the strips. In another preferred embodiment, said connecting pieces may be in one piece with the strips made of spring band steel. In the latter case said connecting piece forms a transverse bridge for the strips, as it were.

[0025] As a skilled person would appreciate, the windscreen wiper device 1 is furthermore built up of a connecting device of plastic material for an oscillating. Alternatively, the connecting device may also be made of metal, such as steel or aluminium. The connecting device may comprise clamping members that are integral therewith, which engage around longitudinal sides of the strips that face away from each other, as a result of which the connecting device is firmly attached to the unit consisting of the wiper blade and the strips. The oscillating arm is pivotally connected to said wiper blade.

[0026] As illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 4, the windscreen wiper device 1 according to the invention comprises a plastic or metallic mounting head 2 which can be fixed for rotation to a shaft 3 driven, via a mechanism not illustrated, by a small motor. In use, the shaft 3 rotates alternately in a clockwise and in a counter-clockwise sense carrying the mounting head 2 into rotation also, which in turn draws an oscillating arm 4 in rotation and thereby moves the wiper blade.

[0027] The windscreen wiper device 1 further comprises a plastic or metallic cap or cover 5 being detachably connected to said mounting head 2 at the location where said oscillating arm 4 is connected to said mounting head 2. Said cap 5 is snapped onto outer walls 6 of said mounting head 2 in axial direction thereof. More in particular, said cap 5 comprises integral therewith two opposing resilient, downwardly extending tongues 7 cooperating in the following manner with two laterally outwardly extending protrusions 8 on said outer walls 6 of said mounting head 2.

[0028] By pressing said cap 5 in vertical direction onto said mounting head 2, said resilient tongues 7 are first pressed outwardly under the influence of said protrusions 8 on said outer walls 6 of said mounting head 2, that is in outward direction, until said resilient tongues 7 are subsequently allowed to spring back (in a direction of arrows shown in FIG. 4) against a spring force, thus snapping or clipping said cap 5 onto said mounting head 2. Said protrusions 8 on said outer walls 6 of said mounting head 2 then engage into holes 9 of said resilient tongues 7. As shown, said holes 9 each have a closed circumference.

[0029] As shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, said outer walls 6 of said mounting head 2 comprise opposite guiding elements 10 having a U-shaped cross-section for guiding said resilient tongues 7 in downward direction towards said protrusions 8 between legs and a base of said U-shaped cross-section and between the corresponding outer wall 6.

[0030] As an extra retention use is made of two spaced-apart, U-shaped clamping claws 11 integral with the cap 5 (see FIG. 5) in order to clamp the mounting head 2 between legs 12 of said U-shape thereof.

[0031] The invention is not restricted to the embodiment shown, but extends also to other preferred embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims. For example, a skilled person will appreciate that the use of said cap 5 is not restricted to so-called “flat blades”, but also extends to traditional blades having yokes. The connecting device may then be formed by a main yoke to be connected to said oscillating arm 4.