US3820164A - Night driving glare shields - Google Patents

Abstract

AN ANTIGLARE ASSEMBLY FOR NIGHT DRIVING WHEREIN OUTWARDLY SWINGABLE TRANSLUCENT SHIELDS ARE PROVIDED FOR EACH EYE. THE SHIELDS ARE PIVOTALLY MOUNTED TO A HEAD SUPPORTED MEMBER SUCH AS EYEGLASSES, EACH OF SAID SHIELDS BEING ELONGATED TO PROVIDE A GREATER ANTIGLARE FIELD AGAINST ONCOMING TRAFFIC WHICH FOLLOWS A ROLLING ROAD, WHERE THE HEADLIGHTS OF THE ONCOMING CAR ARE IN ADVANCE OF THE CAR BELOW A HILL. EFFECTIVE SHIELDING AGAINST GLARE IS ATTAINED BY STOPPING THE OUTWARD SWING OF EACH SHIELD TO ABOUT 90* FROM ITS INITIAL POSITION IN WHICH THE PLANES OF THE SHIELDS ARE NORMAL TO THE DIRECTION OF VISION. THE RIGHT SHIELD IS STOPPED IN ITS OUTWARD SWING TO AN ADJACENT NOSE SIDE POSITION, AND THE LEFT SHIELD IS SWUNG OUTWARDLY TO AN ADJACENT EAR SIDE POSITION TO THEREBY SCREEN AGAINST GLARING LIGHTS.

Description

United States Patent [191 Kiebala 1 June 28, 1974 NIGHT DRIVING GLARE SHIELDS [76] Inventor: Jan Kiebala, 5189 N. Canfield,

Norridge, 111. 60656 [22] Filed: July 5, 1973 [21] App]. N0.: 376,534

[52] US. Cl. 2/10, 2/13 [51] Int. Cl. A611 9/00 [58] Field of Search ..2/l2,l3,14, 10,191; 351/47, 57-60, 155

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,181,291 5/1916 Clarke 351/47 1,505,882 8/1924 Geiger 2/13 X 1,685,725 9/1928 Rowe 1 2/13 X 1,960,450 5/1934 Moore 2/12 2,511,329 6/1950 Craig 351/47 Dl33,269 8/1942 Collins D57/l F FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 624,031 8/1961 Italy 351/47 France 351/47 Primary Examiner-Richard J. Scanlan, Jr.

[57] ABSTRACT An antiglare assembly for night driving wherein outwardly swingable translucent shields are provided for each eye. The shields are pivotally mounted to a head supported member such as eyeglasses, each of said shields being elongated toprovide a greater antiglare field against oncoming traffic which follows a rolling road, where the headlights of the oncoming car are in advance of the car below a hill. Effective shielding against glare is attained by stopping the outward swing of each shield to about 90 from its initial position in which the planes of the shields are normal to the direction of vision. The right shield is stopped in its outward swing to an adjacentnose side position, and the left shield is swung outwardly to an adjacent ear side position to thereby screen against glaring lights.

7 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures PATENTED N m4 38201164 v SHEET 1 0F 2 NIGHT DRIVING GLARE SHIELDS The problem of glare from oncoming traffic during night driving remains a serious problem. Use of tinted Windshields, sunglasses, automatic dimmers, have resulted in only limited improvement. The use of sunglasses is not advisable during night driving since it even more seriously reduces the already poor conditions of visibility.

Practitioners have recognized the glare screening properties of sunglasses, and efforts have been made to utilize the light reducing or screening materials, such as shields which, at the same time, do not interfere with normal viewing. A solution which has merit provides that translucent screens, such as polaroid type sunglass material, can be pivotally mounted to the frame of eyeglasses so that such screens can be pivoted to the left side of the lens frame when driving conventionally on the right side of the road. Such outwardly swung translucent shields screen oncoming traffic lights when the head is turned slightly. to the right. Such a teaching is shown, for example, in US. Pat. No. 1,685,725.

It is a general object of the present invention to'provide improvements in such antiglare assemblies where translucent screening shields are swung outwardly, generally to the left side of a head supporting member to screen against oncoming traffic without interfering with straightforward viewing.

A more particular object of the present invention is an improved assembly of eyeglasses provided with pivoted translucent screens which are elongated to provide improved screening from oncoming traffic which follows a rolling road, such an assembly additionally providing improved screening by preferably limiting the outward swing of the translucent shields to less than 90 from first positions wherein the planes of such shields are essentially normal to the direction of vision.

Another important object of the present invention is an improved antiglare assembly which can be easily clipped onto ordinary eyeglasses.

Still yet, another important object of the present invention is an improved antiglare assembly which is carried on a head supported visor cap with means for quickly and reliably moving the assembly between operative and inoperative positions.

Such general and particular objects are now attained, together with still other objects which'will occur to practitioners, by considering the invention shown in detail in the following disclosure, including drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an assembly showing the translucent shields mounted on eyeglasses, such shields shown swung outwardly to screen glare from oncoming traffic;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the assembly shown in the view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the assembly shown in foregoing FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is'a view similar to that of FIG. 4, but showing the screens swung outwardly to their stopped position for screening glare from oncoming traffic.

FIG. 6 is a front elevational view of an alternative embodiment for a clip-on antiglare assembly;

FIG. 7 is a view in phantom to show him the assembly is removably mounted to ordinary eyeglasses;

FIG. 8 is a proportional view identified by line 8-8 in FIG. 7, on an enlarged scale;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of still another alternative embodiment; and,

FIG. 10 is an enlarged scale view of the assembly in side elevation.

The views of the drawings show eyeglasses which operate as a head supported member used in combination with the antiglare elements. Conventional eyeglasses include a frame shown generally as 6, and particularly including temple frame members 7, frame pivot assemblies 8, a bridging frameportion 9, a right lens frame 10, and a left lens frame 12. t

A left elongated translucent shield 14 is shown mounted to the left lens frame part by an elongated hinge 15. The position of the elongated hinge may also be identified as being to the nose side. A right handle or projection 16 is shown integrally formed on the translucent screen to facilitate manual swinging movement. A right elongated translucent shield 18 is shown mounted to the left lens frame part by elongated hinge 19. The hinge may be further identified as being to the ear side of the lens frame. A left handle or projection 20 is also shown integrally formed with translucent shield to serve the function previously identified.

The elongated hinges l5 and 19 are provided somewhat as piano hinges. Such hinges are conventionally provided with a pivoting plate 22, a fixed plate 24 and a plurality of collars 26 formed on each of the plates. Such collars conventionally operate as journal members in association with a pin or pintel 27. An angular stop 28 is shown mounted at a lower position of the hinges. One or more of such stops may be fixed to the collars at different positions, each of such stops being shown as a part ring element formed on a radius of more than 180. This stop will limit the outward swing of the shields 14, 18 to about 90 from their first position where the planes of the screens are substantially normal to the direction of viewing. The stopped position of the screens is indicated most clearly in the sectional view of FIG. 5, by relating the stopped position to the normal line 30 which represents a 90 position relative to the plane of the lens frame. In general, it is preferred that the outward swing be stopped from about 80 to about 90 relative to the first position. It has been found that such slight inward position of the screens more effectively screens the glare from the oncoming trafiic.

It is seen that the translucent shields or screens 14,

t 18 are elongated. The longitudinal axis of such screens are substantially longer than the widest transverse axis of such screens. The configuration of the illustrated screens is generally triangular with the three points formed on a slight radius. The base of each screen is at the top of the lens frame while its apex is at the bottom.

The longest transverse axis would be the bases of such triangular shape screens while the shortest transverse axis would be somewhere around their apices at the 7 bottom. Various elongated configurations may be used eyeglasses. The bridging portion shown generallyas 36 includes a prebent clip 37 urged by spring 38 against arms 39, the clip having flat ends 40. The clip 38 is pivotally heldin bracket 43 and movable plate 44 is fixed to clip 37 against urging of spring 38. The plate is movable preferably by a thumb of a user, after placing a fixed finger against the bottom of bracket 43. The bridging portion, such as 9 provided in ordinary glasses,

is captured between clip 37 and arms 39. The bracket member 43 is pivotally mounted to bridging portion 45 of the assembly so that the entire assembly, may be pivoted to a raised position to allow viewing through ordinary glasses. I

The lenses 42 are swung outwardly to the positions indicated in phantom by a hinge assembly which, in-

cludes elongated element support '35'which is free of it the antiglare shields and'which spans the bridging portion. Element 45 terminates in a hinge assembly 46 on one lens and 47 on the other lens. The hinge assembly includes fixed plate 48 securedrtothe lens by a plurality of fasteners such as rivets 49. 'Apivoting plate is not shownbut underlies the fixed plate in the same manner 1 as previously illustrated." A plurality of collars 50 are formed on each 'of the plates to operate as journal members in association with a pintehnot shown.

Still another embodiment is illustrated in the views of FIGS. 9 and 710. An antiglare assembly is shown mounted to the underside 54 of visor 55 provided on cap 56 ,The assembly includes elongated member or rod 57 which is pivoted at spaced locations to journal the planes of said left and right shields being normal to the direction'of vision of the left and right eyes in a first operative position,

'pivot means on each shield, said pivot means joined 7 to a support member free of the shields, said shields being swingable away from said first position to a second position where the right shield adjoins the 7 right nose side and the left shield adjoins the left ear side,and

angular stops in each of the pivot meansto limit said outward swing of the shields to about 90. 2. An antiglare assembly which includes the features of claim 1 above, wherein the antiglare assembly in cludes an elongated member, spaced journal elements mounted to the underside of the visor cap, and said elongated member being pivotally rotatable within said spaced journal elements, and said elongated member having a pairofarms, each of which extend to the antiglare shields, said-arms being interconnected to the pivot means mounted on said antiglare shields.

'3; An antiglare assembly which includes the features of claim 1 wherein said pivot means allow said glare shields to swing away from said first position after the 1 assembly is lowered into operative position, I

4.'An antiglare assembly which includes the features of claim 1 above, wherein each of said shields have a longitudinal axis substantially'longer than the largest transverse axis of eachof said shields.

elements 58 which'are secured to underside 54 of the 1 visor in various ways, such as by rivet fasteners 59.

Elongated member 57 has depending arms 60, each of which is connected to a hinge assembly 62. Such anas-' sembly is similar to those previously illustrated with fixed and pivoting plates, each of which has collars. The assembly is movable from a lowered position to raised inoperative position against the underside of the visor, The elongated member 57 preferably forms a somewhat closely fitting pivot within element 58 so that the assembly retains any selective position, up ordown.

The assembly may include spaced shields pivoted at their top edges to the underside of the visor so that such shields are lowered directly into operative position with the planes being parallel to the disections of viewing.

The claims of the invention are now presented, and the terms in such claims shouldbe further'interpreted with reference to the language of the preceding specification and the views of the drawings;

What is claimed is: a

1. An antiglare assembly for night driving, including left and right glare reducingtranslucent shields'pivotally mounted to the underside of a cap visor, said antiglare assembly being pivotally lowered to an a operative position and being pivotally raised to an inoperative position,

5. An antiglare assembly for night driving, including 5' second position where the right shield adjoins the right nose sideand the left shield adjoins the left ear side, and

angular stops in each of the pivot means to limit said outward swing of the shields to about 90.

6. An antiglare assembly which includes the features 7 of claim 5 above, wherein said spring clip is mounted to a bridging portion of the antiglare assembly, and said support member is an elongated element which spans the bridging portion.

7. An antiglare assembly which includes the features 7 of claim 5 above, wherein the eyeglasses have elongated lensframeswith the longitudinal axis substantially longerthanlthelargest transverse axis,

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