United States Patent [191
`Arman
`
`[11]
`[45]
`
`4,063,328
`Dec. 20, 1977
`
`[54] LAMINATE SUPPORT FOR WINDSHIELD
`wIPER BLADES
`_
`_
`_
`[76] Inventor: Dario Arman. V1a Venena, 13-/15,
`Druento (Turin), Italy, 10040
`'
`[21] Appll No‘: 675,866
`.
`Apr‘ 12’ 1976
`[22] Flled:
`[30]
`Foreign Application Priority Data
`
`Italy ................................. .. 67940/75
`Apr. 11, 1975
`[51] Int. Cl.2 .............................................. .. B608 1/04
`[52] US. Cl. ................................................ .. 15/250.42
`[58] Field of Search ....................... .. 15/250.32, 250.42
`[56]
`References Cited
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`2,543,383
`
`2/ 1951
`
`Scinta et a1. .................... .. l5/250.42
`
`8/1962 Kerrigan ......................... .. l5/250.36
`3,048,872
`6/1963
`Smithers
`15/250.42
`3,093,856
`7/1965 Appel
`1.5/250.36
`3,192,551
`9/1965 Golub etal.
`..... .. 15/250.36
`3,208,091
`2/1973 Quinlan et a1. .
`..... .. 15/250.36
`3,717,900
`3/1975
`Bianchi ............................ .. l5/250.36
`3,872,537
`Primary Examiner-Peter Feldman
`Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Browdy and Neimark
`[57]
`ABSTRACT
`
`A laminate support for windshield wiper blades com_
`prising a curved laminate element ‘which is elastically
`deformable in the longitudinal direction and being pro
`vided with a longitudinal slit for retaining a longitudinal
`rib of the wiper blade and parallel ears for attachment to
`an oscillable arm.
`
`1 Claim, 7 Drawing Figures
`
`Costco Exhibit 1012, p. 1
`
`

`
`U.S. Patent Dec. 20, 1977
`
`Sheet 1 of 2
`
`4,063,328
`
`Costco Exhibit 1012, p. 2
`
`

`
`US. Patent Dec. 20, 1977
`
`Sheet 2 of2
`
`4,063,328
`
`FIG. 5
`
`FIG.7
`
`Costco Exhibit 1012, p. 3
`
`

`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`Known wiper blade supports, made of a metal or a
`suitable plastic material, generally comprise at least ?ve
`elements, as:
`an elastically deformable metal lamina, to which a
`longitudinal projection of the rubber blade is anchored;
`two small bridges engaged near the opposed ends of
`the lamina;
`a main rod which is articulated with its ends to the
`center of the two small bridges;
`a connecting member, articulated on the center of the
`main rod and having the object to allow the coupling of
`the wiper blade with the end of the corresponding oscil
`lable arm.
`The number of elements forming the support, the
`accurate assembling of same and the ef?ciency of the
`articulated mutual engagements, determine the fairly
`high cost of each wiper blade.
`Further, in order to minimize the noise of the wiper
`blades, when moving, and to improve the articulations
`of the members forming the hitherto known supports,
`many manufacturers use bearings made of plastic mate
`rial inserted between the various articulations. These
`means further increase the cost of the wiper blades and
`their results are poor.
`Finally, the structure of the known supports for the
`wiper blades is very cumbersome and the results are
`troublesome, both practically and aesthetically.
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`In order to overcome the previously listed draw
`backs, the present invention has, as its subject matter, a
`support for wiper blades characterized in that it is pref
`erably formed by a single elastic lamina carrying the
`wiper blade and directly provided with connecting
`means for its connection to the end of the oscillable arm,
`or to the known intermediate member through which
`the connection with the oscillable arm is obtained in a
`disconnectable way.
`According to an intuitive variant, the laminate struc
`50
`ture of the support for a wiper blade may be formed by
`two or more superimpossed laminae, as a leaf spring on
`the back of the rubber blade.
`
`30
`
`35
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`45
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`4,063,328
`2
`vvFIG. 5 is another cross section view taken along the
`line V—V of same FIG. 2;
`FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view of the laminate
`support according to a ?rst variant; and
`FIG. 7 illustrates a wiper blade section, in a side view
`and according toanother variant.
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED
`EMBODIMENTS
`As previously indicated and as shown on FIGS. 1 to
`5, the support 10 for a wiper blade 11 is formed by a
`single lamina of a metal or a suitable plastic material,
`which is elastically deformable in the longitudinal direc
`tion and arcuated according to a radius related to the _
`curvature of the surface to be wiper.
`Said lamina 10 is provided with a longitudinal slit 15
`forming the retaining seat for the rib 11a which is
`mounted through the window 12. The pair of ears 13
`provided with coaxial holes 13a or, directly, with a
`connecting member not shown, allow the disconnect
`able assembling of the wiper blade with respect to the
`end of the corresponding oscillable arm.
`The laminate support 10 of a suitable thickness may
`be provided with windows 14, to make it lighter (FIG.
`6), and capable of differentiating the longitudinal ?exi
`bility of the support, increasing it near the opposed
`ends. Windows 14 may be each of a different size and
`distributed in any manner along the lamina 10 and with
`respect to the longitudinal slit 15.
`As represented on FIG. 7, superimposed laminae 10a,
`10b may co-operate with lamina 10 and form a leaf
`spring.
`In this case, while the lamina or the additional lami
`nae l0a, 10b are suitably locked between the ears 13 at
`any point of their length or at their ends they are pro
`vided with brackets 100 (FIG. 7-A) which keep to
`gether their parallel branches and allow the passage of
`the rib 110 through the longitudinal slit 15.
`Finally, the single support lamina 10 may be made
`with a differential thickness 10d as represented by
`dashed lines on FIG. 6, in order to make the center of
`the support stiffer and more ?exible at its ends.
`This expedient gives advantageous results, particu
`larly when the single support lamina is made from a
`suitable molded plastic material.
`In any case, the support according to the invention,
`either formed by a single laminate element, or by two or
`more superimposed laminate elements forming a leaf
`spring, or made of steel or a suitable molded plastic
`material, results in an efficient and economically conve
`nient support of reduced encumbrance and therefore
`preferable to the present supports for both practical and
`aesthetic reasons.
`A further and not negligible advantage deriving from
`the use of the support according to the invention resides
`in that, due to its great longitudinal ?exibility, with
`respect to the known supports, it allows a considerable
`reduction of the load acting on each wiper blade,
`through the known spring carried by the corresponding
`oscillable arm. The reduction of the operating load
`lengthens the useful life of the wiper blade and hence
`the ef?ciency of the device.
`Obviously, the invention is not limited to the exam
`ples which have been described and illustrated but it
`comprises any further variant of its subject matter as
`well as the possible improvements which may be sug
`gested by practical application requirements.
`I claim:
`
`1
`
`LAMINATE SUPPORT FOR WINDSHIELD WIPER
`
`.
`
`BLADES
`
`FIELD OF THE INVENTION
`The wiper blades in the windshield wiper installa
`tions on motor vehicles in general, comprise a blade
`usually made of rubber and a support for the same. The
`present invention relates to such wiper blade supports.
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`20
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`25
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`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`More clear particular features of the invention will
`result from the speci?cation referred to the accompany
`ing drawings, given only as a demonstrative example,
`and wherein:
`FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a complete wiper
`blade provided with the back support according to the
`invention;
`FIG. 2, on a larger scale, is a partial perspective view
`of the same wiper blade;
`FIG. 3 is a plan top view of the section represented
`on FIG. 2;
`'
`FIG. 4 is a cross section view, enlarged, taken along
`the line [V—IV of FIG. 2;
`
`60
`
`65
`
`Costco Exhibit 1012, p. 4
`
`

`
`4,063,328
`4
`3
`1. A support for Wiper blades in Windshield Wiper
`near the ends thereof to increase the ?exibility, in
`lnStallatlOnS 0n ?fotof Vehlcles, comprlsmg=
`_
`the longitudinal direction, of said zone; and
`a molded plastic element curved as a leaf spnng and
`a second element, curved as a leaf spring and elasti
`elastically deformable in the longitudinal direction
`cally deformable in the longitudinal direction, and
`and having a thickness which decreases from the 5
`being superposed on said molded plastic element
`center towards the ends thereof, said element being
`provided with a longitudinal slit therein suitable for
`and_assembled as a leaf sprmg’ said second elemeilt
`retaining a longitudinal rib of a wiper blade, a win-
`having a length shorter than sald molded plasnc
`dow at one end of said slit for inserting the rib of
`element and being formed by a Pair of Parallel
`the wiper blade into the slit, said 51h having a plu- 10
`branches mutually connected by brackets which
`rality of widened areas similar to said window
`are fOrmed 88 Small bridges
`symmetrically formed in the zones of the element
`* * * “
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`*
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`15
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`20
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`25
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`30
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`35
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`50
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`55
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`65
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`Costco Exhibit 1012, p. 5