Wiper apparatus

Abstract

A wiper apparatus which removes foreign matters from a windshield by rotating by a pivot of a vehicle may include an arm piece connected to one end of an arm retainer to connect a wiper blade, and a coupling portion having a step portion formed to extend along a longitudinal direction so that an upper surface of the arm piece and an upper surface of the arm retainer form a same surface when coupled to correspond to a coupling hole formed in the arm retainer.

Claims

1. A wiper apparatus which removes foreign matters from a windshield via rotating by a pivot of a vehicle, the wiper apparatus comprising: an arm piece connected to one end of an arm retainer, said arm piece for connection to a wiper blade, wherein a coupling portion of the arm piece has a step portion and is formed to extend along a longitudinal direction so that an upper surface of the arm retainer forms a substantially continuous surface with an upper surface of the arm piece when the coupling portion is inserted into a coupling hole formed in the arm retainer in a longitudinal direction of the arm retainer, and wherein a curling plate is formed at the arm retainer to extend from the arm retainer in a direction of the arm piece on a lower side of the coupling hole and contacts and compresses the arm piece, thereby tightening and fixing a lower portion of the step portion through a compression process therebetween, in a state in which the coupling portion of the arm piece is inserted into the coupling hole of the arm retainer; a U-shape elastic hook having a pair of hook portions at one end thereof, wherein the elastic hook connects a spring, connected to an arm retainer side rivet mounted in the arm retainer, to an arm head side rivet mounted in an arm head, and the hook is hooked to the arm head side rivet at an end of the arm head by the hook portions so that an overall appearance including the spring is not exposed to a lower outside of the arm retainer, the spring generating an elastic restoring force to bias the arm retainer towards the windshield; and a lock-back device for acting against the elastic restoring force to hold the arm retainer away from the windshield in a lock-back position, the lock-back device having a retention force of a greater magnitude than the elastic restoring force, wherein the lock-back device includes a catching opening formed in an edge of the arm head, an entrance to the catching opening includes protrusions therein that extends towards one another to define a reduce width entrance to the catching opening, and wherein the protrusions engage spaced leg portions of the U-shaped elastic hook in the lock-back positon to retain the U-shaped elastic hook in the catching opening.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, FIG. 1C, and FIG. 1D are diagrams showing a coupling structure between an arm piece and an arm retainer in a conventional wiper apparatus, wherein the FIG. 1B, FIG. 1C and FIG. 1D show a bottom surface, a top surface, and a side surface of the coupling structure.

(2) FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B are diagrams showing a lock-back structure of the arm retainer and the arm head in the conventional wiper apparatus.

(3) FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing a coupling structure of an arm piece and an arm retainer in an exemplary wiper apparatus according to the present invention.

(4) FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B are configuration diagrams showing a lock-back of an arm retainer and an arm head in the exemplary wiper apparatus according to the present invention.

(5) FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B are diagrams showing a disassembled state of lock-back structure in the wiper exemplary apparatus according to the present invention.

(6) FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an operational state of the lock-back structure in the exemplary wiper apparatus according to the present invention.

(7) It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarily to scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various features illustrative of the basic principles of the invention. The specific design features of the present invention as disclosed herein, including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations, and shapes will be determined in part by the particular intended application and use environment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(8) Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the present invention(s), examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described below. While the invention(s) will be described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments, it will be understood that the present description is not intended to limit the invention(s) to those exemplary embodiments. On the contrary, the invention(s) is/are intended to cover not only the exemplary embodiments, but also various alternatives, modifications, equivalents and other embodiments, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

(9) Typically, the present invention is directed to a wiper apparatus 1 which includes a wiper arm 100 in which an arm head 130, an arm retainer 120 and an arm piece 110 are sequentially connected to a pivot that is adjacent to the windshield 2 and installed in a portion of the vehicle to electrically rotate, and a wiper blade 200 which is connected to the end of the wiper arm 100 and is in close contact with the windshield 2 to remove rainwater and foreign matter from the windshield 2 by the rotation of the wiper arm 100.

(10) As shown in FIG. 3, in the wiper apparatus 1, the wiper arm 100 is connected to one end of the arm retainer 120 and the arm-piece 110 for connecting the wiper blade 200 is connected.

(11) Here, a coupling portion 112 having a step portion 114 is preferably formed to extend along the longitudinal direction in one portion of the arm piece 110.

(12) Therefore, when the arm piece 110 is correspondingly coupled to the coupling hole 122 formed in the arm retainer 120, the beautiful appearance can be provided so that the upper surface of the arm piece 110 and the upper surface of the arm retainer 120 form the same plane with each other.

(13) At this time, a curling plate 124 is formed to further extend in the direction of the arm piece 110 side on the lower side of the coupling hole 122, thereby tightening and further firmly fixing the lower portion of the step portion 114 through a compression process, in the state in which the coupling portion 112 of the arm piece 110 is inserted into the coupling hole 122 of the arm retainer 120.

(14) That is, when coupling the arm piece 110 to the arm retainer 120, the curling plate 124 is compressed against the step portion 114 side to form a single body, using a separate jig or using a compression press.

(15) Further, an auxiliary coupling hole 126 is formed through the lower surface of the arm retainer 120 adjacent to the coupling hole 122, and on the lower surface of the coupling portion 112, an auxiliary coupling protrusion 116 coupled in response to the auxiliary coupling hole 126 is formed so as to be able to prevent the arm piece 110 from being detached from the arm retainer 120.

(16) Ultimately, primarily, the step portion 114 is firmly held due to the compression of the curling plate 124, and secondarily, it is possible to minimize the movement caused by an external force through the mutual coupling between the auxiliary coupling hole 126 and the auxiliary coupling protrusion 116.

(17) Meanwhile, according to FIG. 4A to FIG. 6, in a portion which connects the arm head 130 and the arm retainer 120 in the wiper arm 100, a lock-back means is provided which converts a rotation direction depending on the magnitude of the elastic restoring force and the lock-back retention force based on the imaginary neutral shaft CL, by applying the elastic restoring force to the arm retainer 120 to the arm head 130 by the rotary shaft a.

(18) The lock-back means connects the spring S having the elastic force with the elastic hook 300 having the hook 320 in series, and is connected to each of the arm retainer 120 and the arm head 130 to give the elastic restoring force to the arm retainer 120.

(19) Therefore, when rotating the arm retainer 120, if it goes beyond based on the virtual natural shaft CL passing through rotary shaft a, the lock-back retention force is stronger than the restoring force, the arm retainer 120 is tilted in the advancing direction, and if it does not lead to natural shaft CL, since the restoring force is more strong, the arm retainer 120 is rotated in the direction of the windshield 2 side.

(20) At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, the spring S connected to the arm retainer 120 side rivet b is connected to the arm head 130 side rivet c, and the elastic hook 300 having the hook 320 hooked at the end so as to prevent the overall appearance including the spring S from being exposed to the lower outside of the arm retainer 120 is included.

(21) Therefore, by improving the structure of the lock-back means provided between the arm retainer 120 and the arm head 130, the interval between the windshield 2 and the elastic hook 300 can be applied to 7 mm closer than the related art, and the overall height can be limited to 10 mm.

(22) Here, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the elastic hook 300 has a U-shaped wire frame so as to have an elastic force in the left-right directions.

(23) In this case, the elastic hook 300 becomes a catching portion 310 so that a central portion bended to have a shape of U can catch one hook of the spring S.

(24) In addition, the hook 320, which is bended to be hooked on the rivet c of the arm head 130, is formed in the ends of a left portion 311a and right portion 311b, which are extended from the catching portion 310.

(25) Furthermore, a catching opening portion 132, which is inserted into the left portion 311a and right portion 311b of the elastic hook 300, is formed in the front end of the arm head 130.

(26) The catching opening portion 132 has a groove so that the left portion 311a and right portion 311b of the elastic hook 300 are inserted, and the left portion 311a and right portion 311b of the elastic hook 300 are inserted into the catching opening portion 132 when the arm retainer 120 makes relative rotation on rotating axis a.

(27) Accordingly, when the lock-back of he arm retainer 120 is achieved, the elastic hook 300, in which the catching portion 310 is connected to the spring S and the hook 320 is coupled to rivet c, enters the catching portion 132 of the arm head 130. The elastic hook 300 has a spring function, which is stretched in left and right directions.

(28) In this case, the catching portion 132 has a width smaller than a left-right width formed by the left portion 311a and right portion 311b of the elastic hook 300. Therefore, the elastic hook 300 is elastically modified and compressed when the left portion 311a and right portion 311b of the elastic hook 300 go to the inside of the catching portion 132 and then come close to meeting each other.

(29) Moreover, a width of the rear end of the catching portion 132 is relatively wider than that of the front end of the catching portion 132.

(30) When the left portion 311a and right portion 311b of the elastic hook 300 go to the rear end of the catching portion 132, the shape of the elastic hook 300, which is modified and compressed, is restored. The shape is restored in a direction where the left portion 311a and right portion 311b are opened, and then seated in the rear end of the catching portion 132.

(31) In this way, the arm retainer 120 is fixed and prevented from rotating and moving in the opposite direction until a force more than a predetermined level is applied.

(32) In this case, releasing the lock-back is achieved by applying a force more than a predetermined level on the arm retainer 120 so as to be rotated in the opposite direction. When the elastic hook 300 is out of the catching portion 132 of the arm head 130 as the elastic hook 300 is elastically compressed and restored again, the arm retainer 120 returns to the original place.

(33) Referring to FIGS. 5A and 5B, the left and right widths of the rear end of the catching portion 132 are expanded parts, and the front portion of the expanded parts, which is the inside of the inlet of the catching portion 132, comprises a catching protrusion 134, which tentatively restricts a movement of the elastic hook 300 as the left portion 311a and right portion 311b of the elastic hook 300 inserted into rear end are hooked forward.

(34) In other words, when the arm retainer 120 is rotated in order to change the wiper blade 200, the left portion 311a and right portion 311b of the elastic hook 300 are hooked in the catching portion 132, and then the catching portion 132 supports the elastic hook 300. In this case, as illustrated in FIG. 6, when the left portion 311a and right portion 311b of the elastic hook 300 are inserted into the catching portion 132 and then fixed even before the arm retainer 120 does not reach the position of CL, the lock-back is achieved.

(35) By providing the present invention configured as described above, there are effects in which the movement of arm piece 110 is prevented, the beautiful appearance is maintained, the appearance exposure and the external force fragility of the wiper arm 100 are reinforced and improved, and the manufacturing costs and weight are reduced.

(36) For convenience in explanation and accurate definition in the appended claims, the terms upper or lower, inner or outer and etc. are used to describe features of the exemplary embodiments with reference to the positions of such features as displayed in the figures.

(37) The foregoing descriptions of specific exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain certain principles of the invention and their practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to make and utilize various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as well as various alternatives and modifications thereof. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the Claims appended hereto and their equivalents.