Universal coupler for a beam blade windshield wiper assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9434354-B2
Application number	US-201314094078-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 2, 2013
Priority date	Sep 15, 2010
Publication date	Sep 6, 2016
Grant date	Sep 6, 2016

Abstract

A beam blade windshield wiper assembly having a universal coupler assembly including a carrier, a saddle that is removably received and retained by the carrier, and a coupler that is operatively mounted to the saddle. The carrier, saddle, and coupler cooperate to accommodate various sizes of “pinch-type” attachment members, “push-button-type” attachment members, as well as “side-pin-type” and “pin-and-bent-tab-type” attachment members that are used to connect the wiper arm and the windshield wiper assembly.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A beam blade windshield wiper assembly having a universal coupler assembly, said windshield wiper assembly comprising:
a wiping element that contacts the surface to be wiped, at least one elongated beam having a pair of longitudinal ends, and a coupler assembly;
said coupler assembly including a carrier that is mounted to said at least one elongated beam between said longitudinal ends, said carrier including a top surface and a seat formed on said top surface of said carrier;
a saddle that is removably received and retained in said seat of said carrier, said saddle including a main deck, a coupler mount, and a locking mechanism for releasably engaging said carrier, said main deck adapted to be cooperatively received in said seat formed by said carrier; and
a coupler that is adapted to be mounted to said saddle, said coupler including a pair of sidewalls, and a deck disposed between said sidewalls, said deck serving to cooperate with said sidewalls to define a rest that is adapted to operatively receive the track of an attachment member, said coupler further including a pair of flanges extending outwardly beyond each of said sidewalls to provide releasable engagement with an attachment member; said carrier further including first and second longitudinal ends, a front wall, a raised back wall disposed opposite said front wall that extends between said first and second longitudinal ends of said carrier, and a top surface, said carrier further including a shelf that borders said seat on at least three sides thereof, a ledge extends between two portions of said shelf along said back wall, and a pair of apertures are formed on said front wall of said carrier opposite said back wall, said seat, shelf, ledge and apertures cooperating to locate and fix said saddle relative to said carrier; and
said back wall of said carrier includes a pair of pockets disposed spaced from one another, said saddle including a locking mechanism that cooperates with said pair of pockets formed on said back wall of said carrier to releasably mount said saddle to said carrier, said locking mechanism further including a pair of locking tangs that extend upwardly from said main deck and that correspond to said pair of pockets formed on said back wall of said carrier, said locking tangs being complimentarily received in said pockets so as to fix said saddle relative to said carrier.

2. A beam blade windshield wiper assembly as set forth in claim 1 wherein said coupler mount has a pair of aligned apertures, each of said sidewalls of said coupler includes an inward surface that face one another, said inward surfaces adapted to operatively engage a portion of said coupler mount of said saddle, said inward surfaces further including posts that extend transversely from their respective inward surface and toward one another, said posts operatively adapted to engage said aligned apertures of said coupler mount and provide a bearing surface about which said coupler may pivot relative to said saddle.

3. A windshield wiper assembly as set forth in claim 1 wherein each said locking tang includes an upstanding finger that may be articulated so as to provide a release clearance to disengage said saddle from said carrier.

4. A windshield wiper assembly as set forth in claim 1 wherein said main deck of said saddle further includes a pair of locking tabs that are adapted to be cooperatively received in said apertures formed in said front wall of said carrier, such that said locking mechanism of said saddle facilitates a snap fit attachment to said carrier.

5. A windshield wiper assembly as set forth in claim 1 wherein said saddle includes a bottom wall having a pair of spaced shoulders that are adapted to cooperatively mate with said shelf that borders said seat on said carrier.

Assignees

• Trico Products Corp

Inventors

• Avasiloaie Valentin
• Ehde Dan

Classifications

• B60S1/4048

  the element being provided with retention means co-operating with the channel-shaped end of the arm · CPC title

• B60S1/4003 Primary

  Multi-purpose connections for two or more kinds of arm ends · CPC title

• B60S1/381

  Spoilers mounted on the squeegee or on the vertebra · CPC title

• B60S1/4074

  with means provided on the blade for locking the side pin · CPC title

• B60S1/3889

  cooperating with holes in the vertebra · CPC title