Sun visor for a vehicle

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to a sun visor for a vehicle, comprising a sun visor body which has a forward side, a rear side, an upper edge and a lower edge, and at the upper edge a bearing arrangement for pivotable connection to a roof portion of a vehicle cab in such a way that the forward side facing towards a user is retracted away from the user when the sun visor is raised towards the roof portion from a lowered position.

BACKGROUND

Such a sun visor is often useful in trucks in that in the lowered position it comes nearer to a seated user and thereby better shields him/her from solar radiation. There is a problem, however, that the sun visor may be difficult to reach in order to lower it because the grippable lower edge is then situated far from the driver, particularly if the driver also needs to lower the sun visor at the passenger side when solar radiation comes in obliquely on that side. The driver may then need to get up from his/her seat, which might jeopardise traffic safety. Raising the sun visor usually entails no problems, since pushing the nearest point on the front side of the sun visor is generally sufficient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is to provide a sun visor of the kind indicated in the introduction which is easier for a seated user to reach in order to lower it from the raised position. According to one version of the invention, the sun visor body is provided on the front side with an elongate gripping surface which is substantially parallel with the upper edge, faces towards the rear side and is adapted to being grasped by an inside of the user's fingers for lowering of the sun visor. This means that the seated user can, without getting up, gain a firm natural grip on the sun visor with his/her fingertips and can with no great effort lower it to a desired position even if the gripping surface is at a relatively short distance from the pivot axis of the sun visor. It is also possible for the sun visor to be of a larger than normal extent in the vertical direction, since the seated

user will not need to be able to reach the lower edge. The sun visor may then also be caused to be fully retracted in the roof portion in the raised state.

To simplify presentation, "vehicle" in this description also covers various kinds of "craft", such as watercraft, aircraft and other conceivable craft which might need to be provided with the sun visor according to the invention.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the gripping surface may constitute part of a recess which is open towards the upper edge of the sun visor body. The gripping surface may then be integrated in the front side of the sun visor body in a visually attractive manner. It is then also conceivable that the recess may serve as a storage compartment, e.g. for a pair of sunglasses. Within the scope of the invention it is also possible for the gripping surface to be provided on an elongate yoke on the front side of the sun visor body.

As indicated above, the gripping surface may be arranged relatively close to the upper edge of the sun visor body to make it easier for the user to reach. It may then normally be sufficient if the gripping surface is situated closer to the upper edge than the lower edge.

Even if a pivot axis for the sun visor is situated at a distance above the upper edge, the gripping surface may be placed closer to the upper edge and possibly even level with the upper edge in order to be as close to the user as possible. The pivot axis may take the form of an elongate U-shaped yoke connected to the sun visor body and having its opposite ends each connected to the sun visor body by a bracket protruding from the rear side of the sun visor body. The bearing arrangement may thus be largely invisible from inside the cab and the upper edge of the sun visor body may be situated close to the roof portion, leaving no gap for solar radiation.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention may be indicated by the claims and the description set out below of an embodiment example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGS.1 A, B and C are an end view, a top view and a front view respectively of a sun visor according to the invention;

FIGS. 2 A and B are respective perspective views of a front side and a rear side of the sun visor according to FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 A and B are cutaway perspective views illustrating the lowering of a sun visor according to the invention fitted in a vehicle cab; FIG. 4A is a schematic end view on a larger scale, partly in section and with portions cutaway, of a sun visor according to the invention, retracted in a roof portion of the vehicle cab;

FIG. 4B is a view corresponding to FIG. 4 A on a still larger scale of the sun visor in a lowered position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT EXAMPLES A sun visor 10 according to the invention has, as may be seen in FIGS. IA-C, a sun visor body 12 which in the example depicted takes the form of a moulded shell configuration made of suitable plastic material. The sun visor body 12 has a front side 14 intended to face towards a user 50 (FIGS. 3A, B), a rear side 16, an upper edge 18 and a lower edge 20.

On the front side 14, the sun visor body 12 is provided with a longitudinal recess or groove 22 which extends along substantially the whole length of the sun visor body 12 and is open towards the upper edge 18. The recess 22 is also situated nearer to the upper edge 18 than the lower edge 20. The inside of the recess 22 facing towards the rear side 16 constitutes an elongate gripping surface 24 for the inside of the fingers of the user 50 as illustrated in more detail in FIGS. 3 A and B. The depth and width of the recess 22 may be decided upon relatively freely and need only be sufficient to provide enough space for the fingertips of the user 50 to be able to gain a firm grip on the gripping surface 24.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, a pair of sun visors 10 according to the invention are intended to be pivotably connected to a roof portion 42 of a vehicle cab 40 in a vehicle not depicted in more detail. The arrangement is such that the front side 14 of the sun visor body facing towards the user is retracted away from the user 50 when the sun visor is raised towards the roof portion 42 from a lowered position (FIG. 3B) to a raised position (FIG. 3A).

As illustrated in more detail in FIGS. 1 and 2, the sun visor body 12 has for this purpose on its rear side 16 a bearing arrangement 30 with a pair of mutually spaced brackets 32 protruding from the rear side 16 and supporting between them an elongate U-shaped yoke 34, the pivot axis 38 of which (FIG. 1C) is at a distance beyond the upper edge 18 of the sun visor body 12. This bearing arrangement 30 makes it possible for the pivotable connection to be almost entirely invisible to the user and totally concealed in the roof portion 42 when the sun visor 10 is in the raised position. As schematically depicted in FIGS. 4 A and B, the yoke 34 may be supported in a pair of bearing retainers 44 (only one is depicted) in the roof portion 42 in order to be resiliently preloaded to the raised position depicted in FIG. 4A in which the sun visor 10 is retracted in the roof portion 42. Each bearing retainer 44 has in the example depicted a spring 46 with a pair of mutually opposite spring limbs 48 which act upon an oval or flattened cross-section 36 of the pivot yoke 34 in order to preload the sun visor 10 towards the raised position (FIG. 4A). In the lowered position (FIG. 4B), the elongate element of the pivot yoke 34 is held firmly at a desired pivot angle by friction against the spring limbs 48, 48. Many variants are possible, e.g. the oval or flattened cross-section 36 of the yoke 34 may be arranged on a thickened portion of the yoke 34, e.g. an undepicted sleeve connected firmly to the yoke 34, to provide the spring 48 with more preloading force. Many variations are possible, e.g. the elongate gripping surface may, in an undepicted manner, be one of a plurality of successive gripping surfaces separated by, for example, transverse webs in the sun visor body.

The description set out above is primarily intended to facilitate understanding and no limitations of the invention are to be construed therefrom. The modifications which will be obvious to one skilled in the art from perusing the description can be implemented without departing from the concept of the invention or the scope of the claims set out below.