JP4308602B2 - Wiper blade - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a wiper blade provided in a wiper device, and more particularly to a wiper blade in which a cap member can be easily and reliably attached to both ends of a wiper blade.

The wiper blade provided in the wiper device has a wiper rubber for wiping a surface to be wiped such as a glass surface of a vehicle, and a pair of metal plate members (so-called vertebra) are arranged along both sides of the wiper rubber. It is configured to be fixed integrally. Here, the wiper rubber and the vertebra are members having substantially the same length, and cap members are attached to both ends of the wiper rubber and the vertebra so as to be integrally held.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-16719

  By the way, in the conventional wiper blade, when the cap member is attached to the end of the wiper rubber or removed from the end of the wiper rubber, the cap member is deformed to be fitted into or removed from the end of the wiper rubber. It was. However, the cap member integrally holds the end portions of the wiper rubber and the vertebra, and cannot be elastically deformed so much. For this reason, mounting and detaching work while deforming the cap member is time-consuming and difficult to execute.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a wiper blade in which a cap member capable of securely fixing a wiper rubber and a vertebra is easily removable.

The present invention includes a wiper rubber that is extendable in a longitudinal direction, a plate member that is attached to a side portion of the wiper rubber, and the wiper rubber and the plate member that are attached to end portions of the wiper rubber and the plate member to hold the wiper rubber and the plate member together. In the wiper blade comprising a cap member, a recess extending in a direction transverse to a longitudinal direction of the wiper rubber is provided in the wiper rubber, and a raised portion that fits into the recess is formed on the cap member, and the plate member A slit that partially fits, and the slit extends along a longitudinal direction of the wiper rubber when the cap member is attached to the wiper rubber, and the slit of the cap member when attachment to the wiper rubber, after the raised portion is fitted into the recess in a state of stretching the wiper rubber, before By contracting the wiper rubber, the plate member, and the longitudinal direction of the wiper rubber adapted to be fitted in the slit.
The raised portion of the cap member may be fitted into the concave portion from above, and the slit may sandwich the plate member from above and below.

The raised portion of the cap member may extend over the upper surface of the cap member and the inner surface of both side portions.
The slit may be formed on the inner side surface of the side portion of the cap member.

The slit may be formed in the raised portion.
The wiper rubber may be extended until the plate member does not fit into the slit.

According to the present invention, there is provided a wiper rubber which is attached to an end portion of a wiper rubber which can be extended in a longitudinal direction and a plate member attached to a side portion of the wiper rubber, and which integrally holds the wiper rubber and the plate member. And a slit that engages a recess that extends in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the wiper rubber, and a slit into which a part of the plate member is fitted, the slit being connected to the wiper rubber by the cap member . When attached to the wiper rubber, the wiper rubber extends along the longitudinal direction of the wiper rubber , and when the wiper rubber is stretched, the raised portion is fitted into the recess in a stretched state. By contracting the wiper rubber, the plate member is fitted into the slit from the longitudinal direction of the wiper rubber. I was able to match.

According to the wiper blade or the cap member of the present invention, the raised portion of the cap member is fitted into the recess of the wiper rubber, and a part of the plate member (for example, the vertebra 3A, 3B) is fitted into the slit of the cap member. Therefore, the mounting of the cap member may be performed by, for example, sliding a part of the plate member into the slit after mounting the cap member on the wiper rubber so that the raised portion fits into the recess. It is not necessary to deform the cap member, and the mounting operation is facilitated.

  Also, if the raised part of the cap member is fitted into the concave part from above, and the slit is inserted between the plate member from above and below, the raised part of the cap member is fitted into the concave part extending in the direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the wiper rubber. Thus, the cap member is restricted from moving in the longitudinal direction of the wiper rubber, and the movement of the cap member in the vertical direction is restricted by the fitting of the plate member to the slit. Therefore, the cap member is securely fixed to the wiper rubber and the plate member, and the end portions of the wiper rubber and the plate member are securely held together.

  Further, if the wiper rubber is extended until the plate member does not fit into the slit, when the cap member is mounted, the raised portion of the cap member is fitted into the recess of the wiper rubber while the wiper rubber is extended. After that, the wiper rubber is contracted to a natural length so that the plate member slides into the slit of the cap member. Further, to remove the cap member, the cap member can be removed from the wiper rubber by extending the wiper rubber so that the plate member is brought out of the slit of the cap member. Therefore, the work for removing the cap member can be performed very easily without deforming the cap member.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a wiper blade 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The wiper blade 1 constitutes a part of a wiper device together with a wiper arm and a drive motor (not shown). As shown in the drawing, the wiper rubber 2, a pair of vertebras 3A and 3B, a connecting member 4, and a pair of It is comprised from the cap members 7 and 7 '. The wiper blade 1 is attached to a wiper arm via a connecting member 4, operates on a surface to be wiped such as a glass surface of a vehicle by driving the wiper arm by a drive motor, and wipes the surface to be wiped by a wiper rubber 2. . In addition, although the structure for connecting with the wiper arm which is not illustrated is provided in the connection member 4, illustration and description are abbreviate | omitted in this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 2, the wiper rubber 2 is a long rubber member and includes a blade portion 11 for wiping the surface to be wiped at the lower portion thereof. On both sides of the wiper rubber 2, grooves 12A and 12B for mounting the vertebras 7A and 7B are formed over the entire length of the wiper rubber 2 (only the groove 12A is shown in FIG. 2). On both sides of the upper portion of the wiper rubber 2 in the longitudinal direction, thick reinforcing portions 13 and 13 ′ are provided in order to increase the strength of the wiper rubber 2. A portion between the reinforcing portions 13 and 13 ′ is a connecting member mounting portion 14 to which the connecting member 4 is mounted.

Near both end portions 15 and 15 ′ of the wiper rubber 2 are cap mounting portions 16 and 16 ′ to which the cap members 7 and 7 ′ are mounted. The detailed configuration of the cap mounting portions 16 and 16 ′ will be described later together with the configuration of the cap members 7 and 7 ′. Further, the wiper rubber 2 can be extended from its natural length in the longitudinal direction by elastic deformation, and the cap members 7 and 7 ′ are mounted using the elastic deformation of the wiper rubber 2. This will be described in detail in the description of the mounting method from FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, vertebra 3A, 3B is an elongated plate member has a length substantially equal to the wiper rubber 2, by being mounted on opposite sides of the wiper rubber 2, parallel to the wiper rubber 2 Placed in. As a result, the end 17A of the vertebra 3A and the end 17B of the vertebra 3B are arranged at a position coinciding with the end 15 of the wiper rubber 2, and the end 17A 'of the vertebra 3A and the end 17B' of the vertebra 3B are The wiper rubber 2 is disposed at a position that coincides with the end 15 ′. Incidentally, vertebra 3A, 3B is a load applied to the wiper rubber 2, for the purpose of evenly distributed over the entire length of the wiper rubber 2, for example, is made of a metallic material.

Near both end portions 17A and 17A ′ of the vertebra 3A are slit fitting portions 18A and 18A ′. Similarly, both end portions 17B and 17B ′ of the vertebra 3B are slit fitting portions 18B and 18B ′. The slit fitting portions 18A and 18B are arranged at positions overlapping the cap mounting portion 16 of the wiper rubber 2, and are fitted into the slits 24A and 24B (see FIGS. 4 and 5) of the cap member 7, respectively. Similarly, the slit fitting portions 18A ′ and 18B ′ are arranged at a position overlapping the cap mounting portion 16 ′ of the wiper rubber 2, and are fitted into the slits of the cap member 7 ′.

  Notches 19A and 19B are formed on the outer sides of the vertebras 3A and 3B, respectively. As shown in FIG. 1, the protrusions 5A and 5B on the lower surface of the connecting member 4 are fitted into the notches 19A and 19B, respectively. Slits 6A and 6B are formed in the protrusions 5A and 5B, respectively (only the protrusion 5A and the slit 6A are shown in FIG. 1). And the connection member 4 and the vertebra 3A, 3B are connected by the edge part of notch part 19A, 19B fitting to slit 6A, 6B, respectively.

4 and 5 show the cap member 7. Since the cap member 7 and the cap member 7 'have exactly the same configuration, only the cap member 7 will be described below.
The cap member 7 is a substantially rectangular parallelepiped member whose bottom and back are open, and is mounted on the cap mounting portion 16 of the wiper rubber 2 with the open back side facing the center of the wiper blade. A raised portion 21 is provided in the hollow interior of the cap member 7. The raised portion 21 extends across the cap member 7 from the inner side surface of the side portion 22A of the cap member 7 to the inner side surface of the upper portion 23 and the inner side surface of the opposite side portion 22B. The raised portion 21 fits into a recess 25 (see FIG. 6) formed in the cap mounting portion 16 of the wiper rubber 2.

In the raised portion 21, slits 24A and 24B are formed. The slits 24 </ b> A and 24 </ b> B are located on the sides near the lower ends of the side portions 22 </ b> A and 22 </ b> B, respectively, and extend in a direction crossing the raised portion 21. Thereby, the slits 24 </ b> A and 24 </ b> B are arranged to extend in the longitudinal direction of the wiper rubber 2 when the cap member 7 is attached to the wiper rubber 2. Ends 18A and 18B of the vertebras 3A and 3B mounted in the grooves 12A and 12B are fitted into the slits 24A and 24B, respectively (see FIG. 10 ).

  In FIG. 6, the cap mounting part 16 of the wiper rubber 2 is shown. Since the cap mounting portion 16 'on the opposite side has the same configuration as the cap mounting portion 16, only the cap mounting portion 16 will be described below.

  The cap mounting portion 16 is fitted into the hollow portion of the cap member 7, and has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape and size that fits the hollow portion of the cap member 7. A concave portion 25 is provided in the vicinity of the substantially central portion of the cap mounting portion 16. The recess 25 extends across the cap mounting portion 16 over the upper surface and both side surfaces of the cap mounting portion 16. That is, the recess 25 extends in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the wiper rubber 2. Moreover, the recessed part 25 is formed in the position corresponding to the protruding part 21 of the cap member 7, and the protruding part 21 of the cap member 7 fits. This prevents the cap member 7 from coming out in the front-rear direction (longitudinal direction of the wiper blade).

Below the cap mounting portion 16, the groove portions 12 </ b> A and 12 </ b> B of the wiper rubber 2 extend until reaching the tip 15 of the wiper rubber 2. When the cap member 7 is mounted on the cap mounting portion 16, the slits 24A and 24B of the raised portion 21 are disposed on the sides of the groove portions 12A and 12B. Accordingly, the end portions 18A and 18B of the vertebras 3A and 3B mounted in the groove portions 12A and 12B are fitted in the slits 24A and 24B, respectively. As a result, the slits 24A and 24B of the cap member 7 are formed so as to sandwich the slit fitting portion 18A of the vertebra 3A and the slit fitting portion 18B of the vertebra 3B from above and below, so that the cap member 7 is pulled out in the vertical direction. Is prevented.

Next, a method for attaching the cap member 7 to the wiper rubber 2 and the vertebras 3A and 3B will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 7 shows a state in which the vertebras 3A and 3B and the connecting member 4 are connected to the natural length wiper rubber 2. In this case, since the vertebra 3A, 3B has substantially the same length as the wiper rubber 2, the positions of the ends 17A, 17B of the vertebra 3A, 3B coincide with the position of the end 15 of the wiper rubber 2, and the vertebra 3A The positions of the end portions 17A ′ and 17B ′ of 3B coincide with the position of the end portion 15 ′ of the wiper rubber 2. 7 and 8, for convenience, the side surface of the vertebra 3A is hatched.

  From the state shown in FIG. 7, the wiper rubber 2 is pulled in the longitudinal direction and elastically deformed so as to extend as a whole. As a result, as shown in FIG. 8, the end portions 15 and 15 'of the wiper rubber 2 are the end portion 17A of the vertebra 3A, the end portion 17B of the vertebra 3B, the end portion 17A' of the vertebra 3A and the end of the vertebra 3B, respectively. It will be in the state extended to the longitudinal direction outer side rather than part 17B '. This extension is performed at least until the slit fitting portions 18A and 18B of the vertebras 3A and 3B are set to a position where they are retracted toward the center of the wiper rubber 2 rather than the recess 25 of the cap mounting portion 16 of the wiper rubber 2. . Similarly, the slit fitting portions 18A ′ and 18B ′ are set at positions retreated toward the center of the wiper rubber 2 from the concave portion 25 ′ of the cap mounting portion 16 ′. FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing this state with respect to the cap mounting portion 15 side.

  With the wiper rubber 2 extended as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the cap members 7 and 7 ′ are mounted on the cap mounting portions 16 and 16 ′ of the wiper rubber 2. FIG. 10 shows a state where the cap member 7 is mounted on the cap mounting portion 16. In this case, the slit fitting portions 18A and 18B at the tips of the vertebras 3A and 3B are in a position retracted from the concave portion 25 of the wiper rubber 2, and similarly, the slit fitting portions 18A 'and 18B' are concave portions 25 of the wiper rubber 2. It is in a position retracted from ′. Accordingly, the raised portions 21 and 21 ′ of the cap members 7 and 7 ′ are fitted into the recesses 25 and 25 ′ without interfering with the vertebra 3 </ b> A and 3 </ b> B.

  As described above, when the cap members 7 and 7 'are mounted on the cap mounting portions 16 and 16', the wiper rubber 2 is stopped from being pulled, and the wiper rubber 2 is contracted to the natural length. Along with this contraction, the slit fitting portions 18A, 18B of the vertebras 3A, 3B slide down below the recess 25 of the cap mounting portion 16. As a result, the slit fitting portions 18A and 18B are fitted into the slits 24A and 24B formed in the raised portion 21 of the cap member 7, respectively. Similarly, the slit fitting portions 18A ′ and 18B ′ are fitted into the slits of the cap member 7 ′.

As described above, according to the wiper blade 1 of the present embodiment, the raised portions 21 of the cap members 7, 7 ′ are fitted into the recessed portions 25 extending perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the wiper rubber 2, whereby the cap member 7. , 7 'wiper rubber 2 is prevented from slipping out in the longitudinal direction, while slit fitting portions 18A of vertebras 3A and 3B are fitted in slits 24A and 24B, 24A' and 24B 'of cap members 7 and 7'. 18B, 18A ', and 18B' are fitted and sandwiched from above and below, thereby preventing the cap members 7 and 7 'from coming out in the vertical direction. Therefore, the cap member is securely fixed to the wiper rubber 2 and the vertebras 3A and 3B.

  Further, when the cap members 7 and 7 'are mounted, the wiper rubber 2 is temporarily elastically stretched so that the slit fitting portions 18A and 18B, 18A' and 18B 'of the vertebras 3A and 3B are replaced with the wiper rubber 2. The recesses 25 and 25 'are retracted from below. Accordingly, when the raised portions 21 and 21 ′ of the cap members 7 and 7 ′ are fitted to the inner portions 15 and 15 ′ of the cap mounting portions 16 and 16 ′, the raised portions 21 and 21 of the cap members 7 and 7 ′. It is possible to prevent 'from hitting the slit fitting portions 18A and 18B and the slit fitting portions 18A' and 18B '. Therefore, the fitting operation can be easily performed only by fitting the cap members 7 and 7 ′ into the cap mounting portions 16 and 16 ′ from above.

  Further, if the wiper rubber 2 is elastically contracted after the cap members 7 and 7 'are mounted on the cap mounting portions 16 and 16', the slit fitting portions 18A and 18B of the vertebras 3A and 3B, the slit fitting portion 18A ′ and 18B ′ naturally slide into the slits 24A and 24B of the cap member 7 and the slits 24A ′ and 24B ′ of the cap member 7 ′, respectively. Accordingly, the cap members 7 and 7 'and the vertebras 3A and 3B can be easily combined. As described above, according to the wiper blade 1 of the present embodiment, the secure attachment of the cap members 7 and 7 'can be achieved by an extremely easy operation.

  On the other hand, when removing the cap members 7 and 7 'from the wiper rubber 2, the wiper rubber 2 is extended in the longitudinal direction, and the slit fitting portions 18A and 18B and slit fitting portions 18A' and 18B 'of the vertebras 3A and 3B are respectively It goes out from slits 24A and 24B of the cap member 7 and slits 24A 'and 24B' of the cap member 7 '. If the cap members 7 and 7 'are lifted upward in this state, the cap members 7 and 7' can be easily removed without interfering with the vertebras 3A and 3B.

In the above embodiment, the wiper rubber 2 is extended when the cap members 7, 7 'are mounted on both sides of the wiper blade 1, but the present invention is not necessarily limited to such a form. Absent. For example, the position of the vertebra 3A, 3B with respect to the wiper rubber 2 until the slit fitting portions 18A and 18B or 18A ′ and 18B ′ of the vertebra 3A and 3B are retracted from below the recess 25 or 25 ′ of the wiper rubber 2, In the state shifted in the longitudinal direction, the raised portion 21 or 21 ′ of the cap member 7 or 7 ′ is fitted into the concave portion 25 or 25 ′, and then the wiper rubber 2 and the end portions of the vertebra 3 A and 3 B are connected to each other. The slit fitting portions of the vertebras 3A and 3B may be fitted to the slits of the cap member 7 or 7 'by moving in the longitudinal direction until they coincide.

It is a perspective view showing the whole wiper blade composition in the embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view which similarly shows a wiper rubber. It is a perspective view which similarly shows a vertebra. It is a perspective view which similarly shows a cap member. It is a perspective view which similarly shows a cap member. It is a perspective view which similarly shows the cap mounting part of a wiper rubber. It is a side view which shows the state which mounted | wore with the natural length wiper rubber similarly. It is a side view which similarly shows the state which extended the wiper rubber. It is a perspective view which similarly shows the cap mounting part in the state which extended the wiper rubber. It is a perspective view which shows the state which similarly attached the cap member to the cap mounting part.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wiper blade 2 Wiper rubber 3A, 3B Vertibula 4 Connection member 7 Cap member 15 End 16 of wiper rubber Cap mounting part 17A, 17B End 18A, 18B of a vibrabra Slit fitting part 21 Raised part 24A, 24B Slit 25 Recess

Claims (7)

A wiper rubber that can extend in the longitudinal direction;
A plate member attached to a side portion of the wiper rubber;
In the wiper blade comprising the wiper rubber and a cap member that is attached to an end portion of the plate member and integrally holds the wiper rubber and the plate member,
The wiper rubber is provided with a recess extending in a direction crossing the longitudinal direction of the wiper rubber,
The cap member includes a raised portion that fits into the recess, and a slit into which a part of the plate member fits,
The slit, when the cap member is mounted to the wiper rubber, which extends along the longitudinal direction of the wiper rubber,
When the cap member is attached to the wiper rubber, after the wiper rubber is stretched, the raised portion is fitted into the concave portion, and then the wiper rubber is contracted so that the plate member becomes the wiper rubber. A wiper blade that can be fitted into the slit from the longitudinal direction.   The wiper blade according to claim 1, wherein the raised portion of the cap member is fitted into the concave portion from above, and the slit sandwiches the plate member from above and below.   3. The wiper blade according to claim 1, wherein the raised portion of the cap member extends over an upper surface of the cap member and an inner surface of both side portions.   The wiper blade according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the slit is formed on an inner side surface of a side portion of the cap member.   The wiper blade according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the slit is formed in the raised portion.   The wiper blade according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the wiper rubber can be extended until the plate member does not fit into the slit. In a cap member that is attached to an end portion of a wiper rubber that is extensible in a longitudinal direction and a plate member that is attached to a side portion of the wiper rubber and that integrally holds the wiper rubber and the plate member.
A raised portion that fits into a recess formed in the wiper rubber and extending in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the wiper rubber;
A slit into which a part of the plate member is fitted,
The slit, when the cap member is mounted to the wiper rubber, which extends along the longitudinal direction of the wiper rubber,
When the wiper rubber is mounted, the plate member is removed from the longitudinal direction of the wiper rubber by contracting the wiper rubber after fitting the raised portion to the recess in the stretched state of the wiper rubber. A cap member adapted to be fitted into the slit.

Images