JP4473749B2 - Wiper arm and wiper arm stopper member - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a wiper arm provided with a stopper member for appropriately restricting lockback.

  A wiper device that wipes the glass surface of an automobile includes a wiper blade that wipes the glass surface, a wiper arm that supports the wiper blade, and a drive motor that is linked to the wiper arm via a link mechanism. Here, the wiper arm includes an arm main body connected to the wiper blade and an arm head connected to the link mechanism, and is configured by rotatably connecting the arm main body to the arm head.

  In such a wiper arm, the arm body becomes completely upright with respect to the arm head (lockback state) due to the wrapping in the car wash machine at the time of car washing, and a load is applied to the arm body in this lockback state. And the hinge part which connects an arm main body and an arm head may break. For this reason, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-362326 has proposed that the rotation angle of the arm body with respect to the arm head is regulated.

FIG. 9 shows a part of the wiper arm 100 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-362326. As shown in the figure, the wiper arm 100 is configured by connecting an arm member (arm body) 101 to an arm head 102 so as to be rotatable. A head cover 103 is attached to the arm head 102. A stopper wall 105 is provided on the head cover 103 so as to be adjacent to the vertical wall 104 of the arm head 102, and the arm head 102 of the arm member 101 is brought into contact with the stopper wall 105 by contacting the base end portion of the arm member 101. Is limited to a predetermined range.
JP 2002-362326 A

  However, in the wiper arm 100, the stopper wall 105 is provided on the head cover 103. Therefore, if the head cover 103 itself is removed due to, for example, entanglement in a car wash machine, lockback regulation cannot be performed. Further, since the stopper wall 105 of the head cover 103 interferes with the assembly work of the wiper arm 100, the assembly work cannot be performed with the head cover 103 assembled to the arm head 102, and the work efficiency is lowered.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to such problems, and can reliably control the rotation of the arm main body with respect to the arm head, and does not reduce the work efficiency of the assembly work. An object of the present invention is to provide a stopper member.

  The present invention provides a wiper arm including an arm head and an arm main body rotatably connected to the arm head, the stopper arm for restricting the rotation of the arm main body with respect to the arm head, and the stopper A mounting hole for mounting a member was provided on the bottom surface of the arm head.

The arm head may be formed by resin molding, and the mounting hole may be a hole for resin molding.
The stopper member may include an abutting portion that abuts on the arm body and restricts the rotation of the arm body.

The stopper member may be made of an elastic member, and may be fitted into the mounting hole in a bent state.
The stopper member may include a back surface portion, and the mounting hole may include a rear inner surface having a shape that matches the back surface portion.

  The stopper member includes a front surface portion and a locking portion provided at an end portion of the front surface portion, while the mounting hole includes a locking step portion above a front inner surface, and the locking portion is You may make it engage with the said locking step part.

  In the present invention, the wiper arm stopper member that restricts the rotation of the arm body relative to the arm head in the wiper arm includes a back surface portion having a contact portion that contacts the arm body, and a front surface portion having a locking portion. When mounted in the mounting hole formed in the arm head, the back surface portion is bent, and the locking portion engages with a locking step formed in the mounting hole. It was made to fix to the mounting hole.

  According to the present invention, the stopper member (for example, the stopper member 20) is mounted in the mounting hole (for example, the mounting hole 17) formed in the bottom surface (for example, the bottom surface 4A) of the arm head (for example, the arm head 4). Do not expose to the front side of the arm. Therefore, the stopper member does not fall off from the arm head due to some contact when the wiper arm is used or assembled. Further, the appearance of the wiper arm is not impaired by the presence of the stopper member. Further, since the stopper member on the bottom surface side of the arm head does not interfere with the assembling work of the wiper arm, the assembling work is performed with the head cover (for example, the head cover 5) in a semi-assembled state (not completely but a certain degree). And the work efficiency of the assembly work can be maintained.

Further, if the mounting hole is a hole for resin molding of the arm head, it is not necessary to form a new mounting hole, and the conventional arm head can be used without changing its shape.
In addition, the rear surface portion (for example, the rear surface portion 22) of the stopper member is in contact with the rear inner surface (for example, the rear inner surface 32) of the mounting hole and is provided on the front surface portion (for example, the front surface portions 23a and 23b). If the stoppers (for example, the locking parts 26a and 26b) are engaged with the locking step part (for example, the locking step part 31) formed in the mounting hole, the stopper member is securely fixed in the mounting hole. , It can reliably prevent the arm head from falling off.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
1 and 2 show the overall configuration of the wiper arm 1. As shown in the figure, the wiper arm 1 includes a long arm body 2, an arm head 4 to which a base end portion of the arm body 2 is rotatably attached, and a head cover 5 that covers the arm head 4. The A wiper blade for wiping a surface to be wiped (for example, a glass surface of an automobile) is rotatably supported at the tip of the arm body 2. The arm head 4 is linked to a drive motor (not shown) via a connecting shaft (not shown). In the present embodiment, the arm body 2, the arm head 4, and the head cover 5 are all made of resin.

3 and 4 are sectional views showing the vicinity of the base end of the wiper arm 1. For simplicity, the head cover 5 is not shown in FIGS.
As shown in the figure, the arm head 4 includes a connecting hole 11 for mounting a connecting shaft on the base end side. A linking shaft holding link member 12 is embedded in the linking hole 11. On the other hand, a support shaft 13 extending perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction of the wiper arm 1 is provided on the distal end side of the arm head 4. 14 is fitted. Thereby, the arm main body 2 is supported so that rotation with respect to the arm head 2 is possible. Further, a pin 16 is fixed near the approximate center of the arm head 4. A base end of a spring 15 described later is attached to the pin 16.

  Near the center of the arm head 4, a mounting hole 17 is formed adjacent to the pin 16. A stopper member 20 that restricts the rotation angle of the arm body 2 with respect to the arm head 4 is mounted in the mounting hole 17. The mounting hole 17 is open to the bottom surface 4A of the arm head 4, and the stopper member 20 is mounted from the bottom surface 4A side of the arm head 4. Details of the configuration and operation of the stopper member 20 will be described later.

  The mounting hole 17 functions as a hollow hole (a cavity provided to reduce the amount of resin shrinkage during resin molding) when the arm head 4 is resin-molded. Further, it is also possible to use a lightening hole provided in the conventional product as the mounting hole 17.

  The arm body 2 has a hollow portion 2B having a U-shaped cross section. The spring 15 is disposed in the hollow portion 2B. The distal end portion of the spring 15 is locked to a locking portion 18 that extends from the upper surface 2C of the arm body 2 into the hollow portion 2B. The spring 15 urges the arm body 2 to rotate toward the surface to be wiped so that the wiper blade 6 supported by the arm body 2 is pressed against the surface to be wiped with an appropriate force. .

  As shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, the stopper member 20 is formed by bending a single metal plate, and includes a bottom surface portion 21 and a back surface portion 22 extending from the rear end of the bottom surface portion 21. The front surface portions 23 a and 23 b extend from the front end of the bottom surface portion 21. The back surface portion 22 has a gently curved shape. The front end portion of the back surface portion 22 extends forward beyond the front surface portions 23 a and 23 b, and serves as a contact portion 24 that contacts the base end portion 2 </ b> A of the arm body 2.

  The front surface portions 23a and 23b extend in parallel to the bottom surface portion 21 in a vertical direction, and a gap 25 into which the base end of the spring 15 enters is formed between the front surface portions 23a and 23b. Further, the front end portions of the front surface portions 23a and 23b are folded back to the bottom surface portion 21 side, and the front end portions of the front surface portions 23a and 23b are locked to a locking step portion 31 (see FIG. 8) of the arm body 2. The locking portions 26a and 26b are provided.

  FIG. 8 shows the state in which the stopper member 20 is mounted in the mounting hole 17 of the arm head 4 in detail. In the mounting to the mounting hole 17, the stopper member 20 is inserted into the mounting hole 17 from the contact portion 24 side of the back surface portion 22 and pushed until the back surface portion 22 contacts the rear inner surface 32 of the mounting hole 17. . Here, the rear inner surface 32 is a gently curved surface that matches the shape of the back surface portion 22. The back surface portion 22 is slightly bent by being pressed against the rear inner surface 32.

  Further, when the stopper member 20 is pushed into the mounting hole 17, the locking portions 26a, 26b of the front surface portions 23a, 23b of the stopper member 20 abut against the front inner surface 33 of the mounting hole 17, and as a result, the front surface portion 23a. , 23b are pushed in while being bent slightly inward. When the stopper member 20 is pushed into the mounting hole 17, the locking portions 26 a and 26 b reach the locking step portion 31 above the front inner surface 33, so that the front surfaces 23 a and 23 b return from the bent state to the original state. The locking portions 26 a and 26 b engage with the locking step portion 31. As described above, when the stopper member 20 is mounted in the mounting hole 17, the locking portions 26 a and 26 b are engaged with the locking step portion 31, and the back surface portion 22 is The front surface portions 23 a and 23 b are pressed against the rear inner surface 32, respectively, against the front inner surface 33. Thereby, the stopper member 20 is reliably prevented from coming out of the mounting hole 17.

  The stopper member 20 acts as follows. During normal use, as shown in FIG. 3, the arm body 2 extends straight forward from the arm head 4. From this state, when the arm body 2 is rotated in the upright direction, the base end portion 2 </ b> A of the arm body 2 comes into contact with the stopper member 20. Thereby, the further rotation of the arm main body 2 is prohibited. Therefore, it is possible to effectively prevent the arm main body 2 from being accidentally rotated greatly during the car wash and damaging the wiper arm 1.

  In this case, since the stopper member 20 is mounted in the mounting hole 17 formed in the bottom surface 4 </ b> A of the arm head 4, the stopper member 20 is not exposed to the front side of the wiper arm 1. Therefore, the stopper member 20 does not fall off the arm head 4 due to some contact when the wiper arm 1 is used or assembled. Further, the appearance of the wiper arm 1 is not impaired by the presence of the stopper member 20.

  Further, as in the case where the stopper member is provided on the head cover 5 (see FIG. 9), the stopper member does not interfere with the assembling work of the wiper arm. The assembly work can be performed in the state), and the work efficiency of the assembly work can be maintained.

  Further, if a hollow hole for resin molding of a conventional arm head is used as the mounting hole 17, there is no need to newly form the mounting hole 17, and the conventional arm head can be used without changing its shape. it can.

It is a side view showing the whole wiper arm and wiper blade composition in an embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view which similarly shows the whole structure of a wiper arm and a wiper blade. It is sectional drawing which similarly shows the base end part vicinity of a wiper arm. Similarly, it is sectional drawing which shows the base end part vicinity of a wiper arm, and shows the state which the stopper member has controlled rotation of the arm main body. It is a side view which similarly shows a stopper member. It is a bottom view which similarly shows a stopper member. It is a front view which similarly shows a stopper member. It is sectional drawing which similarly shows the state in which the stopper member was mounted | worn in the mounting hole of an arm head. It is sectional drawing which shows the conventional wiper arm.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wiper arm 2 Arm main body 2A Base end part of arm main body 4 Arm head 4A Bottom face of arm head 5 Head cover 6 Wiper blade 13 Support shaft 14 Fitting part 17 Mounting hole 20 Stopper member 21 Bottom face part 22 Back face part 23a Front face part 23b Front face Part 24 contact part 26a locking part 26b locking part 31 locking step part 32 rear inner surface 33 of mounting hole front inner surface of mounting hole

Claims (7)

In a wiper arm comprising an arm head and an arm body rotatably connected to the arm head,
A stopper member for restricting the rotation of the arm body relative to the arm head;
A wiper arm provided with a mounting hole for mounting the stopper member on a bottom surface of the arm head. 2. The wiper arm according to claim 1, wherein the arm head is formed by resin molding, and the mounting hole is a hollow hole for the resin molding. 2. The wiper arm according to claim 1, wherein the stopper member includes an abutting portion that abuts against the arm body and restricts the rotation of the arm body. The wiper arm according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the stopper member is made of an elastic member and is fitted into the mounting hole in a bent state. The wiper arm according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the stopper member includes a rear surface portion, and the mounting hole includes a rear inner surface having a shape coinciding with the rear surface portion. The stopper member includes a front surface portion and a locking portion provided on the front surface portion, while the mounting hole includes a locking step portion above a front inner surface, and the locking portion is the locking step portion. The wiper arm according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the wiper arm is engaged with the wiper arm. In the wiper arm stopper member for restricting the rotation of the arm body relative to the arm head in the wiper arm,
A rear portion having a contact portion that contacts the arm body, and a front portion having a locking portion;
When mounted in a mounting hole formed in the arm head, the back surface portion is bent, and the locking portion engages with a locking step formed in the mounting hole, thereby A wiper arm stopper member that is fixed to the mounting hole.

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