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:
Nov. 16, 1999
Filed:
Jul. 28, 1998
Wayne J Rumsey, Holland, MI (US);
Daniel J Bostwick, Grandville, MI (US);
Gentex Corporation, Zeeland, MI (US);
Abstract
A mounting assembly (10) for a vehicle interior rearview mirror (12) of the automatic dimming type includes a vehicle mount (14) having a rearwardly projecting first ball portion (22), a tube (32) having a first end that receives the first ball portion and a second end including a rearwardly projecting second ball portion (38) fixed with respect to the tube and having a wire hole (40) therethrough, a ball clamp (44) within the tube for engaging the first ball portion (22), a helical spring (46) for biasing the ball clamp to a clamping relationship with the first ball portion, and a mirror socket (48) for receiving and clamping the second ball portion. The tube (32) of the mounting assembly and the first ball portion (38) are unitary in one embodiment, while another embodiment has the tube (32') and second ball portion (38') provided with flanges (52) and (54) that are biased into engagement with each other by the helical spring (46). The ball clamp (44) has circumferentially spaced seat portions (56) that seat the helical spring (46), clamping portions (58) respectively aligned with the seat portions (56), and a wire conduit (60) extending substantially to the hole (40) in the second ball portion (38).