The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 11, 1999
Filed:
Mar. 21, 1997
Steven G Hoek, West Olive, MI (US);
Donnelly Corporation, Holland, MI (US);
Abstract
An exterior rearview mirror assembly, especially suited for towing vehicles, includes a dual purpose spring that provides a break-away feature and holds a mirror subassembly in one of a plurality of positions along a mounting arm. The exterior rearview mirror assembly includes a housing supporting a reflective element, a mounting bracket adapted for mounting to a vehicle, and an arm supporting the housing and mounted to the mounting bracket. The arm is adapted to pivot about the mounting bracket between a normal operating position and a folded, break-away position and includes a spring cooperating with the arm to selectively bias the arm into frictional engagement with the housing to hold the housing and mirror-subassembly in a fixed position along the arm and with the mounting bracket to hold the arm in one of the two positions. The bias on the arm is released when the arm is pivoted about the mounting bracket to the folded, break-away position to allow sliding movement of the housing and mirror subassembly along the arm.