GB2268916A

GB2268916A - A rear view mirror installation for motor vehicles.

Info

Publication number: GB2268916A
Application number: GB9215881A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Huw Davies
Original assignee: Ford Motor Co
Current assignee: Ford Motor Co
Priority date: 1992-07-25
Filing date: 1992-07-25
Publication date: 1994-01-26
Anticipated expiration: 2012-07-25
Also published as: GB2268916B; GB9215881D0

Abstract

A rear-view mirror unit 38 is secured to a windscreen 12 by adhesive 48. Electricity is fed to components mounted on the mirror unit via conductive tracks 22, 24 printed on the inside face of the screen and through electrical contacts 44, 46 on the mounting face 40 of the mirror unit. The contacts 44, 46 may be resiliently mounted in the mounting face 40, and the adhesive 48 may be provided in the form of a double-sided sticky pad surrounding the contacts. <IMAGE>

Description

A REAR-VIEW MIRROR INSTALLATION FOR MOTOR VEHICLES This invention relates to a rear-view mirror installation for motor vehicles and to a rear-view mirror unit for a motor vehicle. The invention is particularly concerned with internally mounted rear-view mirrors.

It is becoming common practice to incorporate in an internal rear-view mirror unit other components (for example reading lights or mirror dipping mechanisms) which require electrical power, and in such cases it is necessary to provide a power feed to the mirror unit.

According to the present invention, there is provided a rear view mirror installation for a motor vehicle in which the vehicle windscreen has electrically conductive tracks on an inside surface of the screen, a rear-view mirror unit has a pair of electrical terminals, and the mirror is adhesively secured to the screen with the terminals making electrical contact with the tracks so that electricity can be supplied to components mounted on the mirror unit.

The electrically conductive tracks can be printed onto the surface of the screen and can extend from the edge of the screen to a mirror mounting point on the screen. Preferably the tracks extend from the mirror mounting point to the closest edge of the screen.

By providing the electrically conductive tracks, which form the electrical leads to the mirror unit, directly on the screen it becomes unnecessary to have a separate loose electrical cable.

By choosing the adhesive correctly, sufficient contact pressure can be produced between the terminals on the mirror unit and the tracks to ensure good electrical contact.

In a preferred embodiment, the electrical terminals on the mirror unit are resiliently mounted so that the resilience exerts a biasing force forcing the terminals against the tracks.

The tracks can be connected to the appropriate components of a vehicle wiring harness by terminating the tracks in electrical connectors onto which wiring harness terminals can be fitted in a conventional way. This connection at the edge of the screen can often be concealed by the vehicle headlining or by an appropriate trim component.

The invention also provides a rear-view mirror unit which has a pair of electrical terminals exposed on a mounting face of the unit, and means for adhesively securing the mounting face of the unit to a surface.

The terminals may be spring-loaded, with the terminals extending proud of the adhesive securing means before the unit is secured to a surface, so that when the unit is so secured the spring-loading is compressed.

The adhesive securing means may be a double-sided adhesive pad surrounding the terminals.

The invention will now be further described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows part of a motor vehicle windscreen in accordance with the invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view of a mirror unit in accordance with the invention; Figure 3 is a view of part of the mirror unit of Figure 2 taken in the direction of the arrow A; and Figure 4 shows a completed mirror installation.

Figure 1 shows the top edge 10 of a vehicle front windscreen 12, with the edge 10 being mounted in a weatherstrip 14 which serves to connect the windscreen 12 to a roof panel 16. On the inside of the vehicle there is a headlining panel 18, and a cavity 20 exists between the roof panel 16 and the trim panel 18.

On the inside of the windscreen 12 two electrically conductive tracks 22, 24 are prepared, for example by printing a conductor onto the surface of the glass. At the top end, these tracks end in electrical connectors 26 onto which wires 28 from the wiring harness can be connected.

The wires 28 disappear into the space 20 above the headlining 18.

The bottom ends of the tracks 22 and 24 end in contact areas 30, 32.

Figure 2 shows a mirror unit 34 which has a rear-view mirror 36 mounted on a stem 38 which ends in a mounting face 40.

The mirror unit 34 also incorporates an interior light 42, and the power to supply this light is introduced into the mirror unit 34 through the mounting face 40. It is to be noted that the interior lamp 42 is only illustrated as one example of an electricity consuming device which may be mounted on the mirror unit 34. An example of another such unit is a mirror dipping device and/or an electrochromic mirror construction.

Figure 3 shows the rear, mounting face 40 of the mirror unit. The face 40 has two exposed terminals 44, 46 surrounded by an adhesive strip 48. The terminals 44, 46 will be spring-loaded out of the mounting face 40 and will provide opposite ends of an electrically conducting path leading to the lamp 42. When the mounting face 40 is pressed against the inside of the windscreen 12, the terminals 44 and 46 will make electrical contact with, respectively, the areas 32 and 30 of the tracks 24, 22 and the adhesive 48 will secure the mirror unit to the windscreen in a position such that electrical contact is maintained between the contacts 44, 46 and the track end areas 32, 30.

This position is shown in Figure 4, from which it will be seen that the mirror unit can be mounted on a windscreen with an electricity feed to the internal components of the unit but without any loose cabling extending from the vehicle roof to the unit.

In addition, in Figure 4 the edges of the windscreen and the part of the windscreen across which the tracks 22 and 24 extend, is printed with an opaque coating 50 so that, viewed from outside the vehicle, the presence of the tracks 22, 24 is concealed, as is the mounting face 40, the adhesive 48 and the contacts 44, 46.

The arrangement described here allows electricity to be fed to a rear-view mirror unit without any differences to existing methods of securing the mirror to the windscreen and without requiring a loose cable run between the vehicle body and the mirror unit.

Claims

1. A rear view mirror installation for a motor vehicle in which the vehicle windscreen has electrically conductive tracks on an inside surface of the screen, a rear-view mirror unit has a pair of electrical terminals, and the mirror is adhesively secured to the screen with the terminals making electrical contact with the tracks so that electricity can be supplied to components mounted on the mirror unit.

2. A rear view mirror installation as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the electrically conductive tracks are printed onto the surface of the screen and extend from the edge of the screen to a mirror mounting point on the screen.

3. A rear view mirror installation as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the tracks extend from the mirror mounting point to the closest edge of the screen.

4. A rear view mirror installation as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the electrical terminals on the mirror unit are resiliently mounted so that the resilience exerts a biasing force forcing the terminals against the tracks.

5. A rear view mirror installation as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the tracks are connected to the appropriate components of a vehicle wiring harness by terminating the tracks in electrical connectors onto which wiring harness terminals can be fitted.

6. A rear-view mirror unit which has a pair of electrical terminals exposed on a mounting face of the unit, and means for adhesively securing the mounting face of the unit to a surface.

7. A rear-view mirror unit as claimed in Claim 6, wherein the terminals are spring-loaded, with the terminals extending proud of the adhesive securing means before the unit is secured to a surface, so that when the unit is so secured the spring-loading is compressed.

8. A rear-view mirror unit as claimed in Claim 6 or Claim 7, wherein the adhesive securing means is a double-sided adhesive pad surrounding the terminals.

9. A rear view mirror installation substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

10. A rear view mirror unit substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawings.