Technical Field The present invention relates to a flank indicator and rear guard lamp for a vehicle, and more particularly, to a flank indicator and rear guiding lamp for a vehicle that provides a predetermined degree of illumination so that a driver can check objects located around the sides of the vehicle while he or she is backing up or parking the vehicle, thereby preventing the occurrence of various safety accidents.

Background Art In general, a lamp for a vehicle is largely classified into two types in terms of its function as follows: first, they have an illuminating function, so that they serve to illuminate objects located in front of or behind the vehicle, which allows a driver to see the accurate positions of the things or observers; and second, they have a signaling function, so that they serve to inform current driving states to other vehicles or pedestrians walking along roadways. The lamps intended for the illuminating function are front lamps, back lamps, and fog lamps, and the lamps intended for the signaling function are turn signal lamps, tail lamps, and brake lamps, which are generally used as integrated lamps in their construction. More particularly, the turn signal lamps serve to provide the current advancing directions of the vehicle to other vehicles or pedestrians located in front of or behind the vehicle body, so that the turning directions should be checked by a driver of the vehicle. Also, if they operate abnormally, it should be recognized by him or her, and their blinking period should be kept regularly. As vehicles has become large-scaled, recently, the turn signal lamps are disposed at the front and rear corner portions thereof and even at the both sides of the front panel or rearview mirrors thereof. However, such the turn signal lamps only serve to give a signal for the advancing direction of the vehicle, and thus, it is difficult for the driver to secure a sufficient range of vision for the sides of the vehicle, especially, in the night. As a result, the driver cannot positively identify objects located around the sides of the vehicle. This of course causes a variety of safety accidents during a driving or parking. To solve the above-described problems, there has been proposed Korean Utility Model Registration No. 2001-3488 entitled "a flank and rear guard lamp for vehicles". As shown in FIG. 1, the flank and rear guard lamp 102 for vehicles is mounted at one side of a rear door handle 101 of a vehicle, but it serves to illuminate only the portions behind the rear door. Thus, there has occurred a problem in that a field of vision is still not secured sufficiently for the space between the front bumper and the rear door. In addition, such the rear door handle 101 formed with the flank and rear guard lamp 102 is separately mounted, and thereby, additional electric equipment should be mounted to the rear door handle 101, which results in an increase in the installation cost .

Disclosure of Invention Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems occurring in the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a flank indicator and rear guard lamp for a vehicle that provides a predetermined degree of illumination so that a driver can identify objects or pedestrians located around the sides of the vehicle behind a front bumper of the vehicle while he or she is backing up or parking the vehicle, especially, in the night, thereby preventing the occurrence of various safety accidents, that can be mounted using existing electric equipment that does not need additional installation cost, and that is provided with a reflecting mirror that permits a degree of illumination sufficient to see objects located around the sides of the vehicle. To accomplish the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a flank indicator and rear guard lamp for a vehicle including: a body portion having a reflecting piece formed on an inner surface thereof, for outwardly reflecting light, an insertion port disposed below the reflecting piece in such a manner as to be extended downwardly from a bottom surface thereof, for inserting electric wires thereinto, a reflecting mirror mounted at the central portion of the top surface of the reflecting piece in such a manner as to be received by a predetermined length into the insertion port, for rearwardly reflecting light, and a lamp receiving recess formed at each of the both sides of the reflecting mirror and communicating with the insertion port; a lamp portion having a flank indicator lamp disposed at the front side of the body portion and a rear guard lamp disposed at the rear side of the body portion; and a cover portion for protecting the lamp portion, the cover portion having a straight-advancing frame engaged with the reflecting piece of the body portion and a diffusion lens fittingly interposed between the straight- advancing frame and the reflecting piece, the diffusion lens having a mild slope surface formed at the front thereof and a steep slope surface formed at the rear thereof, for diffusing the light emitted from the rear guard lamp. The flank indicator and rear guard lamp for a vehicle according to the present invention is mounted at a front panel or the outer surface of a rearview mirror located at each side of the vehicle. Brief Description of the Drawings Further objects and advantages of the invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a conventional flank indicator lamp; FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing a flank indicator and rear guard lamp for a vehicle according to the present invention; FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the lamp of this invention; and FIG. 4 is a view of describing the employed • lamp of this invention.

Best mode for Carrying Out the Invention Now, an explanation on the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be in detail given with reference to the attached drawings. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing a flank indicator and rear guard lamp for a vehicle according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the lamp of this invention. As shown the drawings, a flank indicator and rear guard lamp for a vehicle according to the present invention has a body portion 10 that is disposed at a front panel 1 or the end portion of a rearview mirror 2. In the case where the body- portion 10 is disposed at the front panel 1, as shown in FIG. 3, it has a flat bottom surface, and in the case where the body portion 10 is disposed at the end portion of the rearview mirror 2, as shown by the dotted line of FIG. 3, it has the bottom surface abutted against a housing of the rearview mirror 2 and then, the rearview mirror 2 has a through-hole into which an insertion port 12 of the body portion 10 is fittingly inserted. The body portion 10 has a reflecting piece 11 formed on the inner surface thereof, for outwardly reflecting light, an insertion port 12 formed below the reflecting piece 11 in such a manner as to extend downwardly from a bottom surface thereof, for inserting electric wires thereinto, a reflecting mirror 13 mounted at the central portion of the top surface of the reflecting piece 11 in such a manner as to be received by a predetermined length into the insertion port 12, v for rearwardly reflecting light, and a lamp receiving recess 14 disposed at each of the both sides of the reflecting mirror 13 and communicating with the insertion port 12. A lamp portion 20 has a flank indicator lamp 21 disposed at the front side of the body portion 10, for illuminating light for an advancing direction and a rear guard lamp 22 disposed at the rear side of the body portion 10, for illuminating light for identifying objects or pedestrians when backing the vehicle up. 1 A cover portion 30, which serves to protect the lamp portion 20, has a straight-advancing frame 31 engaged with the reflecting piece 11 of the body portion 10 and a diffusion lens 32 fittingly interposed between the straight-advancing frame 31 and the reflecting piece 11. The diffusion lens 32 has a mild slope surface mild slope surface 33 formed at the front thereof and a steep slope surface 34 formed at the rear thereof, for diffusing the light emitted from the rear guard lamp 22. An explanation of the operation and effect of the lamp of this invention will be given hereinafter. First, when a driver starts his or her vehicle, power is applied to a lighting system of the vehicle, and then, the flank indicator lamp 21 is blinkered, by means of a flank indicator switch through an electric supply circuit used in conventional vehicle. Also, when a back up mode is applied to turn a back up switch on, the back up lamp formed at the rear side of the vehicle body and the rear guard lamp 22 of the lamp portion 20 of this invention are at the same time turned on to allow the range of vision for the back and sides of the vehicle to be secured. If the back up mode is released to turn the back up switch off, the rear guard lamp 22 is turned off. In this manner, since the rear portion of the diffusion lens 32 is steeply inclined, when the rear guard lamp 22 is turned on, the light emitted from the rear guard lamp 22 can be diffused sideward and rearward.

Industrial applicability As -set forth in the foregoing, a flank indicator and rear guard lamp for a vehicle according to the present invention provides a predetermined degree of illumination so that a driver can identify objects or pedestrians located around the sides of the vehicle while he or she is backing up or parking the vehicle, especially, in the night, thereby preventing the occurrence of various safety, is mounted using existing electric equipment that does not need additional installation cost, and is provided with a reflecting mirror that permits a degree of illumination sufficient to see objects the objects located around the sides of the vehicle, thereby ensuring a high degree of safety and an excellent efficiency of product. While the present invention has been described with reference to the particular illustrative embodiments, it is not to be restricted by the embodiments but only by the appended claims. It is to be appreciated that those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.