Navistar International Transportation Corporation

Donald E Riley

James W Kruse

W Eric Windle

Edward L Williams

A side view mirror assembly having a housing and a spring biased mirror installed within the housing, the mirror having its reflecting surface facing outwardly of the housing, and a mirror orientation adjusting assembly including a pair of nested hemispheres detachably engaged for limited movement one relative to the other, one of said hemispheres having the mirror secured thereto, a clamp including a high strength spring arranged to immobilize said hemispheres in an effectively locked condition, and an electromagnet disposed when energized to reduce the effective force of the spring on the clamp so as to permit limited movement of the mirror carrying hemisphere for adjusting the orientation thereof. A suitable switch is coupled between the electromagnet and the vehicle battery, the ignition switch of the vehicle being interposed between said first mentioned switch and the vehicle battery. The adjustment can be manually effected or motorized with suitable electric motors being appropriately coupled to the hemisphere.

Spring biased mirror assembly with electromagnetic release means

A multi-function turn signal switch comprises a cylindrical switch body on which an operating lever is mounted for pivotal motion about a pivot located on the longitudinal axis of the body. Located internally of the body on a transverse end wall through which the lever passes, is a circular array of four sealed membrane switches, arranged at 90 degree intervals about the longitudinal axis. The lever is mounted in ball and socket type joint enabling the interior end of the lever to describe a frustoconical zone of swivelling. Internal mechanism, including an electromagnetic cancellation mechanism, within the body bears against the interior end of the lever to define various operating positions for the lever around the zone of swivelling, each correlated with actuation of a particular one of the membrane switches by means of a transverse circular disc that is on the lever between the lever mounting and the interior end of the lever. The lever is also displaceable longitudinally for simultaneous actuation of all the array's switches. Circumferential arrays of membrane switches are disposed on the outside of the switch body for selective actuation by rotary actuators. Compressible, resilient pads overlie all arrays to permit membrane switch actuation by the corresponding actuating device while absorbing a certain amount of the actuating device's travel.

Multi-function switch for automotive vehicles

In a 'two-wire' multiplexed lighting system, a square wave voltage alternating between positive and negative polarities is delivered by the two wires to both right and left lamps. Each lamp includes a diode, and the diodes are oppositely pulled with respect to each other so that one of the lamps is energized by one polarity of the square wave while the other lamp is energized by the opposite polarity. The magnitude of each polarity relative to ground is twice the continuous D.C. voltage rating of each lamp so that the average voltage applied to each lamp can be equal to the load's maximum continuous rating to thereby provide full intensity illumination. The lamps provide different signaling functions, such as turn signal, emergency warning, brake lamp and running lamp signals by the operation of corresponding command switches acting through a control logic circuit, including multiplexing, configured to assign a priority to the commands such that the highest priority command will override any others and produce the corresponding operation of a lamps. In the 'three-wire' embodiment of a multiplexed vehicle lighting system, the two lamps have a common ground but each is supplied by its own individual wire. The control circuit further includes a novel circuit for performing the marker lamp function that is commonly used in large trucks and highway tractors.

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Ft. Wayne, IN, United States of America

Donald E Riley