This invention relates to an improvement for a conventional automotive vehicle side view mirror which will enable the vehicle driver to quickly and accurately adjust the vehicle mirror into positions for either viewing a normal or conventional reflection of the area at the side of the vehicle or, optionally, viewing the side blind spot area which normally is not reflected in the conventional mirror setting.
Conventional side view mirrors that are mounted on either the driver""s side or the passenger""s side of an automotive type vehicle, such as an automobile, truck, or bus, generally comprise a housing which supports and provides a frame about a reflective mirror element. The mirror element or member typically is mounted within the housing or frame for angular adjustment around a horizontal axis or vertical axis or both. The vehicle driver may manually, by grasping or pushing the mirror member itself, turn it until it reflects the area to the side of, and rearwardly of that side, of the vehicle. Alternatively, in many vehicles, the adjustment of the mirror element is made by the vehicle driver manually moving or pushing a control button or lever which, in turn, operates a motor driven mechanism that responsively moves or turns the mirror into a driver desired angular position relative to the horizontal and the vertical. Either way, whether the adjustment of the mirror is performed by hand pressure applied directly upon the mirror member or by a mirror moving mechanism which is hand controlled by the driver, such manual adjustments typically are used to arrange the mirror at an angle which reflects the area closely adjacent the side of the vehicle.
In normal use, the side view mirror that is conventionally located at the passenger side of the vehicle, is set by turning the mirror so that a reflection of a portion of the vehicle side is visible to the driver while the reflection also shows the area which extends rearwardly and along the side of the vehicle. This enables the driver to see vehicles that are at the passenger side, but not in the blind spot. The conventional setting may also enable the driver to see the adjacent road edge or curb edge or the like for parking the vehicle.
The mirror located at the driver""s side of the vehicle similarly is normally adjusted by the driver to reflect the side of the vehicle and the area at the far rear and side of the vehicle. In normal operation, the angularity of the mirror, is set by the driver when the driver is seated within the vehicle and then the mirror remains at that setting. The normal purpose of the permissible mirror adjustment is to enable different drivers within a particular vehicle to arrange the angle of the mirror to display the best rear and side view for a particular driver.
In the normal or conventional use of side view mirrors, the so called xe2x80x9cblind spotxe2x80x9d, which is an area generally at the driver or passenger side of, and somewhat laterally spaced from the side of, a vehicle, is normally not visible in the reflection that appears on the mirror when the mirror angularity is conventionally set. Therefore, there are accidents and near accidents that occur because a driver, relying upon the side view mirrors and, in addition, to the rear view mirror which is within the vehicle, is unable to see in the mirrors a following vehicle which is located in the vehicle blind spot. In such conditions as changing lanes, or turning across a lane, an unseen vehicle that is located in a blind spot is the cause of numerous accidents or near accidents.
Further, the angular adjustment of a side view mirror is normally a matter of trial and error. That is, a driver when sitting in the driver""s seat behind the steering wheel, must look at the side view mirrors on either side of the vehicle and adjust the angle for that particular driver""s best view of the rear and side of the vehicle. Various attempts have been made to assist the driver in initially setting the particular angle of the side view mirror which is most comfortable and practical for that particular driver and later resetting the angle whenever the mirror angle has been changed. Examples of devices provided for the purpose of enabling a driver to re-set the mirror angle at a pre-selected or pre-determined position are illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,966 issued Feb. 5, 1991 to Kim for an xe2x80x9cAdjustable Vehicle Side View Mirrorxe2x80x9d and U.S. Pat. No. 5,500,773 issued Mar. 19, 1996 to Easter for a xe2x80x9cVehicle Mirror Alignment Devicexe2x80x9d. The first patent provides a flexible frame around the mirror member that grasps the mirror edges and clamps the mirror which may be set at markings located within the frame. Constriction of the frame around the mirror member is provided by a locking or adjustment mechanism which either tightens the frame around the mirror to maintain its desired angular position or, alternatively, is loosened to allow the mirror to be angularly adjusted. In the second patent mentioned above, a sighting or aiming device is applied upon the mirror, somewhat like a gun sight, which enables the driver to set the angle of the mirror by looking through the aiming device. In both of these patented devices, once the mirror is pre-set for conventional viewing, it remains that way for a particular driver until the mirror is reset by a different driver who wants a different angular viewing position. Then the mirror may again be re-set by the first driver.
In the patent to Thomas, U.S. Pat. No. 1,879,592 of Sep. 27, 1932, an interior or rear view vehicle mirror is provided with distance indicator markings. The driver may form markings on the mirror surface which visually correspond to objects located at varying distances behind the vehicle. In addition, a gage is provided for enabling a driver to angle the interior mirror to predetermined positions by aligning an edge of the mirror with the markings. This structure is designed for pre-setting the mirror and maintaining it in a fixed position for a particular driver who will then rely upon the markings formed on the mirror to estimate the distance of a following vehicle behind the driver""s vehicle.
Attempts have been made to provide mechanisms by which a mirror may be adjusted, in some cases automatically, to view not merely the normal or conventional area behind the vehicle but also side areas which would include the blind spot area. An example of such a mechanism is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,824 issued Jun. 22, 1999 to Valentino for a xe2x80x9cRear View Mirror Apparatus And Method For Vehicle Lane Changingxe2x80x9d. This illustrates an automatic system for adjusting the angle of the mirror temporarily when the vehicle, such as a large truck, turns. Thus, the driver is provided with an image of the blind spot or area along the side of the truck as it makes a wide turn. The present applicant""s previously filed patent application, U.S. Ser. No. 09/294,579 filed Apr. 20, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,380 issued Feb. 27, 2001, similarly focuses on an automatic system for temporarily viewing a reflection of the blind spot area, when a following vehicle enters the blind spot area of a leading vehicle.
Another example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,362 issued Mar. 17, 1992 to Lynas for a mechanism for automatically changing the position of the mirror in response to the activation of the vehicle""s turn indicator. But, this system is ineffective for viewing a vehicle""s blind spot when the driver wishes to determine whether a vehicle is located in the blind spot during normal driving conditions.
The various devices contemplated for enabling a driver to temporarily view a blind spot area are relatively complex and contemplate changing or replacing the presently available side view mirror mechanisms or devices used on vehicles. The present invention contemplates providing an add-on device which can be utilized on pre-existing mirror constructions, whether those that are adjustable by direct hand pressure or by a hand controlled mechanism, to initially reflect a pre-determined side view area convenient to a particular driver and when desired, to temporarily view the blind spot area relative to the vehicle. The improvement may also be used reversely, that is, to normally view the blind spot area and temporarily view the conventionally viewed areas at either the driver""s side or the passenger""s side of the vehicle. Thus, little if any change is required for adopting the normal or conventionally available side view mirror to achieve these results.
This invention contemplates modifying a conventional vehicle side view mirror, which has a reflective mirror member positioned within a frame. The frame may be part of a housing that is mounted on the side of a vehicle. A series of horizontally spaced apart indicium or markings are formed upon the vertical portion of the frame which is most remote from the vehicle and which is visible to the driver. These markings form indicia in which the individual markings are spaced apart horizontally. The vertical edge portion of the mirror element, which is adjacent the frame portion, is arranged into alignment with one or another of the individual indicium. Since the mirror member can be angularly adjusted by the driver, either by directly manually moving it or by moving it manually through the use of a conventional hand operated control that operates a moving mechanism, as is common in many vehicles today, the vertical edge of the mirror can be aligned with one or another of the marks. Thus, alignment with one of the marks that is more to the rearward relative to the vehicle can be used to appropriately align the mirror edge to reflect the conventionally viewed rear and side area relative to the vehicle. However, angularly moving the edge of the mirror member into alignment into one of the more forward markings causes the mirror to reflect the blind spot area along the side of the vehicle. Consequently, in that position the presence of any following vehicles located in the blind spot would be visible to the driver.
The driver, upon entering the vehicle, may initially pre-set the mirror angle, if it is not already pre-set, to reflect either the conventional rear-side view or the blind spot view. Preferably, where the driver has an unobstructed rear view on the conventional interior rear view mirror that is normally located at the upper portion of the vehicle windshield in front of the. driver, as is common in most vehicles, the driver could set the side view mirrors to normally view the blind spots on either side of the vehicle. In that case, the driver may only use the interior rear view mirror to see the rear of the vehicle and simultaneously use the side view mirrors to see the blind spots. When desired the driver may reset the side view mirrors, by turning them into alignment with the particular mark or indicium that the driver had pre-selected.
An object of this invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive, system by which a vehicle driver may temporarily adjust the side view mirrors of a vehicle for viewing, either the blind spot area or the conventional side view area of the vehicle, without any substantial modification of the mirror structure.
Another object of this invention is to provide a means by which the driver of a vehicle may normally, if desired, view the blind spot areas of a vehicle, while relying upon the.inner or interior mirror to view the rear of the vehicle, and to preset the mirror into the best viewing position for the particular driver for blind spot viewing or alternatively for normal side viewing.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a simplified modification which inexpensively provides a system by which a driver of a vehicle may accurately and quickly reset the driver""s or passenger""s side view mirrors by simply adjusting the angularity of the mirror, within its frame, to visually align an edge of the mirror with a pre-selected visible marking applied upon the mirror frame.