Bezel Locking Visor Mount

The present invention relates to automotive visors and particularly to a mounting assembly for attaching a visor to a vehicle.

Conventionally, visors are mounted to vehicles by an elbow bracket assembly which is secured to the sheet metal framework of the vehicle roof by fastening screws. There also exists a variety of snap-in mounts including those of the type shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,357,974; 4,178,035; and in German Patentschrift No. 23 41 940. Also known are the visor mounts disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,569,552; 4,553,797; 4,529,157; and 4,634,196 which are assigned to the present assignee. U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 989,913 filed Dec. 12, 1992 and entitled VISOR MOUNT also assigned to the present assignee discloses a twist-in visor mount.

Although snap-in and other types of visor mounting systems which avoid manual attachment to the vehicle using fastening screws are preferable, other fastening systems of the prior art tend to be either excessively complex, and therefore costly, or the visors are too easily removed, thus not providing secure installation. Snap-in visor mounts utilizing plastic materials, although preferable from a cost standpoint, tend to loosen due to creeping of the plastic material, thereby providing an unacceptable visor mount for long term use.

The system of the present invention provides a snap-in visor mount which can employ as its primary fastening structure a polymeric attachment member which includes at least one resilient spaced leg for gripping the upper surface of the sheet metal roof of the vehicle and which cooperatively is engaged by a snap-in bezel for both urging the leg of the attachment member into a locking position as well as interlocking the bezel with the attachment member. Such construction allows the relatively easy installation of a visor by the snap-in installation of the visor attachment member into an aperture in the vehicle roof which is subsequently locked into position by snap locking the trim bezel for the extending visor rod. This can be easily achieved during assembly without the use of specialized tools or labor.

Visor mounting systems embodying the present invention include a visor pivot rod having an L-shaped configuration with an integral attachment member and torque fitting secured to one end. The attachment member has a pair of opposed outwardly and downwardly extending spaced legs having a generally horizontally extending ledge spaced inwardly from an end of the legs for engaging the upper surface of a vehicle roof. The legs further include means such as slots formed therein for lockably receiving upwardly extending tabs of a trim bezel which encircles the pivot rod and includes a pair of spaced tabs aligned with and extending between the body of the attachment member and the outwardly extending legs for wedging the legs into an expanded position for locking the attachment member to the vehicle roof.

The bezel tabs lockably engage the slot means of the legs with an upward facing peripheral rim of the bezel engaging the undersurface of the vehicle roof to compressibly engage, in cooperation of the ledges of the leg means, the roof supporting structure for holding the visor to the vehicle roof.

Such construction thereby allows the relatively easy installation and permanent attachment of a visor to a vehicle roof utilizing relatively few parts which can be integrally molded of a polymeric material to reduce cost and complexity of the visor mounting system, as well as facilitate its installation. These and other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following description thereof, together with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, front elevational view, partially broken away, of a visor including the mounting assembly of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary perspective view of the visor mounting system of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, perspective view of the bezel shown in FIGS. 1 and 2; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary, vertical cross-sectional view of the visor mounting system shown installed in the vehicle roof.

Referring initially to FIG. 1, there is shown a visor 10 embodying the present invention. The visor may include a molded, polypropylene or other type of visor core 12 covered by a suitable upholstery fabric 14 which is selected to conform the appearance of the visor to the upholstery of the vehicle to which it is installed. The visor body is secured to the vehicle by a generally L-shaped hollow steel visor pivot rod 16 having one end secured to the visor body by means of a torque spring clamp 18 of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,131. The torque clamp 18 allows movement of the visor between a lowered use position and a snap-up raised stored position against the vehicle headliner 20.

The opposite end of the pivot rod 16 is mounted to the vehicle roof through the headliner by means of attachment member 30. The headliner 20 is a molded substrate having an upholstered exterior surface facing the inside of the vehicle and which overlies the sheet metal roof structure 22 which includes a rectangular aperture 24 formed (FIG. 4) therein and aligned with a similarly shaped aperture in headliner 20 for receiving the visor mounting attachment member 30 embodying the present invention. A bezel 50 slides over the pivot rod 16 as best seen in FIG. 2 and provides the multiple functions of providing a trim covering for the end of the L-shaped visor pivot rod 16 and its interface with headliner 20 and locking the mounting attachment member 30 in place, thereby attaching the visor to the vehicle roof. Visor 10 may be of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,227,241 which includes an illuminated vanity mirror assembly. In such case, electrical conductors for providing operating power to the illumination means for the visor will extend through the hollow pivot rod 16.

Turning now to FIGS. 2-4, the visor mounting system including the bezel locking structure of this invention is described in greater detail. The upwardly turned end 17 of the visor pivot rod 16 and the right angle elbow 15 includes, integrally molded thereon, a polymeric tapered conical sleeve 19 which has an externally conically tapered surface which engages a similarly conically tapered aperture 32 of the mounting attachment member 30. Sleeve 19 may be of a suitable polymeric material such as polycarbonate and provides a controlled rotational torque between the visor pivot rod and attachment member 30.

The visor rod end 17 is mounted to member 30 in a conventional manner by use of a compression spring 21 and washer 23 which is held in place on a visor rod end 17 by rolling the rod end over in a conventional manner. Thus, one end of the compression spring 21 engages the top surface 31 of the generally block-shaped attachment member 30 while its opposite end engages the washer 23 for holding the visor rod to the attachment member providing a predetermined rotational torque between the two polymeric members 30 and 19 which allows the visor to be moved from a front window to a side window position in a controlled fashion and remain in the selected position.

The attachment member 30 is also molded of a suitable polymeric material such as polycarbonate and includes a generally rectilinear block-shaped body 33 having four downwardly, and somewhat outwardly tapered, sidewalls 34. At least a pair of the opposed sidewalls include generally U-shaped legs 40 and 42 which extend upwardly from the top surface 31 of the body 33, with an upwardly extending leg 41 and hence downwardly at bend 43 to a downwardly depending leg 44 which terminates in a tip 46 having an intermediate ledge 45 spaced upwardly from the tip 46 a distance selected to allow the tip end 46 to extend through aperture 24 in sheet metal 22 and partially through the headliner 20 as best seen in FIG. 4.

The sidewalls 34 of member 30 which include legs 40 and 42 also include spaced, parallel generally triangular guide ramps 48 for guidably receiving tabs 52 of the bezel 50 as discussed below. The resilient legs 40 and 42 of member 30 are shaped to extend within the rectangular aperture 24 and compress slightly as the outwardly inclined outer surface 47 of the legs ride against the edges of the aperture 24 in the vehicle roof until the ledge 45 snaps over the edge of the aperture. This is easily identified by the installer by the snap action of the device as it is inserted into the aperture. The attachment member 30 and legs 42 and 44 are then locked into their expanded roof engaging position by the interaction of the bezel 50 with the attachment member 30.

The bezel 50 includes a central aperture 53 having a diameter allowing the bezel to slide over the torque collar 19 of the visor elbow rod 16 as seen in FIG. 2. The bezel further includes upwardly extending tabs 52 which align with the ramps 48 on the sidewalls of attachment member 30 and are tapered with a ramp section 55 to a widened base 56 to wedge against the outer surface of wall 34 of member 30 and the inner surface of the downwardly depending legs 40 and 42 as best seen in FIG. 4. This locks the legs in an outwardly extended position as seen in FIG. 4 so as to remain in a firm aperture engaging position. The top of tabs 52 include an outwardly extending flange 58 which interlocks the bezel to the attachment member 30 for installation. For such purpose the flanges 58 extend through means such as slots 49 in legs 40 and 42 for snap-fitting the bezel in a locked position with respect to member 30. The bezel includes an outer, generally circular, upwardly facing rim 57 which engages headliner 20 in compression with the ledges 45 engaging the top surface of sheet metal 22 of the vehicle roof for holding the visor in place.

Thus, the bezel 50 not only provides a trim appearance to the visor installation, once snapped into position, it also cooperatively interlocks with the attachment member 30 for wedging the resilient legs 40 and 42 into a permanent locking position against the rectangular aperture 24 in the vehicle roof. The wedge-shaped locking legs 52 of the bezel assure the spring-loaded locking legs of the torque fitting remain in a locked position while the bezel is locked to the torque fitting using the outwardly extending tabs 58 which fit through apertures 49 in the torque fitting legs. In this manner, the bezel and torque fitting are both snap-fitted together, as well as the torque fitting being snap-fitted within the roof of the vehicle. If desired, the bezel 50 may include apertures for the insertion of a small tool for deflecting legs 52 inwardly for removing the bezel and subsequently the deflection and removal of the torque fitting legs of servicing of the visor.

By this construction therefore, a relatively inexpensive two-piece cooperating attachment member and bezel construction is provided for the easy installation of a visor to a vehicle without the use of specialized tools and provides a permanent installation using plastic materials. It will become apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications to the preferred embodiment of the invention as described herein can be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.