1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to vehicle windshield wiper systems and, more particularly, to a system wherein the radial reach of the wiper blade support arm varies during the angular stroke of the arm.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Efforts to simplify vehicle windshield wiper systems have led to proposals wherein a single wiper blade support arm is centrally supported below the windshield and oscillated through a wiping arc while the radial reach of the arm is varied to wipe toward the outer corners of the windshield. In one such proposal a wiper arm is slidably mounted on an angularly oscillating carrier and radially projected by a gear driven crank arm. In another proposal, a wiper arm is mounted on an angularly oscillating carrier by a parallelogram linkage and is radially projected by a gear driven crank arm and connecting link arrangement. In still another proposal, a radially shiftable wiper arm on an oscillating carrier is projected between its radial positions by a planetary gear driven crank arm and connecting link arrangement. A vehicle windshield wiper system according to this invention represents an economical alternative to these and other known single arm, variable reach systems.