Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
108339~
1 ~ACKGROUND O~ T~l~ INVENTION
Vehicle mirrorsas conventionally provided comprise a
planar re:Electing surface of sufficient area to meet the normal
requirements for establishing a field of view with respect to
the vehicle operator. These mirrors may be either installed
in the interior of the vehicle for rearward vision through a
wîndow at the back of the vehicle or attached to the side door
panels at either side for primarily enlarging the -field of
vie~ in a side~rclor lateral direction. This invention i5
directed primarily to the exterior mounted side viel~ mirrors
that are attached to the doors of the vehicle or may be mounted
on the front fender. While the objective o~ such auxiliary
mirrors in the form of a side mounted type is to enlarge and
enhance the lateral directed field of view with respect to the
vehicle operator, the mirrors presently available and on the
market remain inherently incapable of providing the optimum
' ield of view with a,positive reference to the vehicle itsel-f.
Attempts have been made to improve the per:Eormance of
such mirrors by providing auxiliary mirror structures~that may
either be independently mounted on the vehicle or attached to
the conventional side mounted mirrors. The usual type of auxil-
B iary mirror heretofore provided comprises a circular segment of
a spherical surfaced shell that may be adhesively bonded onto
a surface of theprimary mirror if the primary mirror is su:Efi-
ciently large as in the case of truck mirrors. Alternatively,
a spherical segment mirror may be mounted ex~eriorly on the
vehicle in independent relationship to any oE the other mirrors.
108339~
1 While these spherical segment mirrors provide a large ield of
view it will be recognized that such mirrors provide an enlarged
-field af view through 360 degrees of viewing angle. The disadvan-
tage o-f this enlargement of the field of view is that the operator
of the vehicle is necessarily presented with a vastly distorted
peripheral field o-f view which includes substantial portions
- that are immaterial from a safety standpoint. It will be readily
apparent that such a mirror provides a field of view which includes
an extensive and unimportant view o~ the side o~ the vehicle and
w}lich also extends substantially upwards as well as downwards
with respect to the vehicle and these areas are of no real
interest or signiicance to safe operation o-f the vehicle.
- Accordingly, it will be seen that the circular spherical
segment mirrors as well as others, such as cylindrical convex
type which have been devised in attempts to overcome the inherent
blind spot that occurs with the standard planar re~Iecting sur-
ace mirrors have not succeeded in achieving this desirable
objective. While such mirrors may approach the desire in obtain-
ing a -field of view adequate for the purposes of the driver they
inherently incorporate and produce a subtantially greater area
of viewing that tends to d~tract from their use:Eulness and
accordingly tend to detract and decrease the safety -features
that were originally attempted to be achieved.
~08~3~4
1 SUMMARY O~ 'rII~.l INV~NTION
In accordance with this i.nvention a compQsite
mirror is provided :in ~hich the major portion or primary sec-
tlon of the mirror conforms to the usual standards of havinga planar reflecting surface for producing a relati.~ely narrow
angular ield of view in a horizontal plane immediately adja-
cent to the vehiclc when utilized at a side of the vehicle.
The composite mirror of ~his invention has the further objective
of providing an auxiliary mirror reflecting surface enabling
the operator to independently view a specified area at the
side of the vehicle which includes a lateral angle of substan-
~ial extent and optimally approaches a 90 degree a~gle to the
longitudinal axis of the vehicle. Achievement of this objective
thus produces a mirror wherein a vehicle operator may readily
ascertain the presence of a vehicle in an area which would
otherwise not be seen in a conventional planar mirror properly
adjusted in accordance with specified standards to view an area
~hich extends angularly outward from a side of the vehicle to
20 only a relatively limited extent.
Accomplishment of this objective is achieved through
the combination of a planar mirror surface and a segment of an
arcuately curved mirror, which mirror may have a reflecting sur-
face that is a spherical surface segment~ that is incorporated
in or mounted Oll a relatively small portion of the area o-f the
planar mirror. ~his arrangement places thc arcuately curved.
segment reflecting surface of the auxiliary mirror in an area
.1ith respect to the pri.mary mirror such that the field o:E view
of the primary mirror is substantially unobstructed by the ad-
~0
dition of this auxiliary m~rror- In :its ~refcrred form, the
-3-
.
,
1~83394
1 auxiliary mirror is of elongated conEigura-ti.on and is orient-
ed to extend in its longer dimension in a plane o-f viewing to
thus provide a sense o:E direction to the observer's viewing.
Specifically, the location of the auxiliary mirror is pre-fer-
ably in the lower right corner o:E a mirror mounted on the dri-
~er's side of the vehicle whereas a similar type of mirror on
the passenger side would have the mirror segment locatcd in
the lower left corner.
This invention illustrates the various techniques
providing a composite mirror to effectively obtain and achieve
the two distinct and separate fields of view regarding the side
areas of a motor vehicle. One such teclmique incorporates a
structure wherein the auxiliary mirror is formed as a separate
entity that is applied to the primary mirror in order to enable
vehicle operators to modify an existing mirror and obtaining
the ad~antages of this invention. Another constructional tech-
nique for providing a mirror incorporating the feature of this
invention is the formation of a primary mirror which integrally ..
comprises the-auxiliary mirror surface. This integrally formed
portion may appear either on the exterior or outwardly facing
surface of the primary mirror or it may be incorporated in the
rear surface. The only difference between these two techniques
is that the slivering for forming the reflecting surface in one
instance is applied to the outer surface whereas in the other
it would be applied to the rear surface of the primary mirror.
According to one broad aspect of this invention, an
optical mirror is provided comprising a primary mirror having
a reflecting surface that includes a side edge and which is
adapted to be normally viewed Erom a position displaced in la-
terally out~Yard o:ffset relat;.onshi~ wlth res~ect to said side
.
~,
1~8339~
1 edge, said primary reflectino surface providing a primary an-
gular :Eield o:E view oE predetermined extent in a first plane
oriented in generally perpelldicular relationship to said side
edge and said primary reflecting surface, and
an auxiliary mirror carried by said primary mirror,
said auxiliary mirror being substantially lesser in dimension
than said primary mirror and disposed closely adjacent said
side edge of said primary mirror and terminating in spaced re-
lationship to an opposite side edge of said primary mirror to
thereby leave a substantial primary reflecting surface area
~herebetween, said auxiliary mirror having an arcuately curved
reflecting.surface providing an auxiliary angular Eield of
view of predetermined extent in said first plane oriented in
generally perpendicular relationship to said side eclge and said
primary reElecting surface of said primary mirror with the aux-
iliary angular field of view of said auxiliary mirror being sub-
stantially greater than the primary angular field of view pro-
vided by the reflecting surface of said primary mirror, said
auxiliary angular field of vie~ being at least partially co-
extensive witn the primary angular field of view and extending
be~ond the primary angular field of view of said primary mir-
ror only in a direction away from said side edge and across the
reflecting sur:Eace o:E said primary mirror with respect to the
point of viewing.
According to another broad aspect of this i.nvention,
an auxiliary mirror is provided ~or mounting on a vie~ing sur-
face of a primary mirror having a substantially larger prede-
termined reflecting surface comprising a body o:E elonga-ted COll-
figuration in plan view with a longitudinal axis and formed
~ith a base surface adapted :~or mounting thereof in juxtaposi-
-tion on the primary mirror's vie~ing sur:Eace and ,1 re.Electing
-5
108339~
1 surface dispose~ in overlyi.ng superposed relationship to said
base surface with opposite ends of the auxiliary reflecting
surface along said longitudinal axis being spaccd at relative-
ly different distances from said base surface, said auxiliary
re:Electing surface having a longitudinal axis aligned with the
longitudinal axis of the au~iliary mirror and being substan-tial-
ly greater in dimension along the longitudinal axis than along
an axis transverse thereto thereby providing an auxiliary an-
gular field of view of predetermined extent in a first plane
extending longitudinally of said reflecting surface that is
substantially greater than the angular field of view in a sec-
ond plane oriented t'ransversely to said first plane with re-
spect to a point of observation.
These and other objects and advan-tages of the inven- ^`
tion will be readily apparent ~rom the followi.ng detailed des-
cription of the several embodiments thereof and the accompany-.
ing drawings.
-
108339~
l D~SCRIPTI0l~ 017'l'H~ DR~l~ING 17IGURES
Figure 1 is a Eront view of a mirror embodying this
invention.
Figure 2 is a ~ragmentary vertical sectional view on
an enlarged scale taken along line 2-2 of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view on
an enlarged scale taken along line 3-3 of Figure 1.
Figure 4 is a diagrammatic pl~n view o-f the field
o:E view of the mirror.
Figure 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view
similar to Figure 2 oE a modified mirror.
Figure 6 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view
similar to Figure 3 of the modiEied mirror.
Figure 7 is a front view of a modiEied mirror embodying
this invention.
Figure g is a fragmentary vertical sectional view on
an enlarged scale taken along line g-g oE Figure 7.
Figure 9 is a fragmentary vertical sectional vicw on
an enlarged scale taken along line 9-9 o:E Figure 7.
Figure 10 is a Eront view of another modified mirror
embodying this invention.
Figure 11 is a fragm~ntary vertical sectional view on
an enlarged scale taken along line 11-11 oE r:igure 10.
Figure 12 is a fragmentary vertical scctional vie~ on
an enlarged scale taken along line 12-12 oE ~igure 10.
~08339a~
DESCR:[PTION O~: Tl-IB ILLUSTRATIV~ EMBODIM~NT
Having reference to the drawings a basic form of the
invention is shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3. In Figure 1, a con-
ventionally shaped side view mirror 10 is shown in elevationwithout the auxiliary supporting or moun-ting components. Those
structural components bear no relationship to this invention
other than to provide the necessary support -for the mirror in
the attachemènt or mounting thereof on the side o-f the vehicle.
However, since such mounting components are ~ell known, it is
not deemed necessary to illustrate or describe those structures i`
in conjunction with the illustrative embodiments.
The sideview mirror designated as the primary
mirror 10 is illustrated as a planar surfaced device which
comprises a flat sheet o-f glass or other optically transmissive
material having a coating of silvering material 11 applied to
a rearwardly facing surface thereof as indicated in Figure 2.
The illustrated primary mirror 10 is of conventional rectangular
configuration and may be of the generally available size of
3 X 5 inches and mounted wlth the long axis horizontally dis-
posed.
Mounted on the exterior or outwardly facinglsurface
12 of the primary mirror 10 is the secondary or auxiliary mirror
13 of this invention. In this specific embodiment the auxiliary
mirror 13 comprises a self contained structure which is specific-
ally adapted for mounting on the cxterior sur~ace 12 of the
mirror 10. As indicated in Figures 2 and 3, the auxiliary mirror
13 is readily mounted by mcans of a layer of adhesive material
~1)83394
1 14 that is applied in interposing relat:ionship between opposed
and adjacent surfaces o:~ the two mirrors. ..
Included in the auxiliary mirror struc~urc 13 as illus-
trateed in Figure 1, 2 and 3, is a rectangularly shaped segmentof an arcuately curved or spherical shell 15. ~his shell 15 is
preferably formed with a reflecting surEace having a radius o~
curvature which may be o~ the order of 4.75 inches. The longi-
tudinal dimension o~ the segment in the illustrative embodiment
is approximately one and seven-eighth inches with a width dimen-
sion of the order of one and one-eighth inches. This segmen-tal
portion of the spherical shell 15 is formed Erom a transparent
material such as glass and is provided at an inwardly facing
surface thereof with a layer of suitable silvering material 16
thereby forming the reflecting surface.
Providing mechanical.support for the segmental spher- - .
ical shell 15 is an open topped receptacle or retaining enclosure
17 having a flat bottom wall 18. Projecting upwardly from the
peripheral edges of the rectangular bottom wall 18 are longi-
tudinal sidewalls 19 and the transversely extending endwalls 20
and 21. It will be noted that the one.endwall 21 which is dis-
posed~most closely adjacent to a side edge of the primary mirror
10, is substantially higher than the opposite endwall 20. As
best seen in Figure 2, the segment oE spherical shell 15 is
disposed within the enclosing walls 19, 20 and 21, so that the
one end is substantially coextensive with the shorter wall 20,
while the other is relatively elevated and coextensive with the
upper end of the wall 21. Accordingly, it will be noted that
the spherical segment is positioned in angularly inclincd relat-
ionship to the exterior sur:Eace o~ the primary mirror. In the
illustrative embodi.ment, the wall 21 is of a height to supportthat adjacent end of spherical shell segment 15 at approximately
108339~
1 5/16ths of an inch -further outward fromthe surface 12 of the
primary mirror than the opposi~e end adjacent the endwall 20.
Securing the spherical segment 15 within the retaining enclosure
17 is an adhesive material 22 which is solidified and forms a
structurally rigid support -for the spheri.cal segment.
As previously indicated, the auxiliary mirror 13 is
adhesively secured to the outer surface 12 of the primary mirror
by a layer of adhesive 14 and is positioned as illustrated in
Figure 1, with respect to the side view mirror that is designed
to be attached to the left or driver's side of a vehicle. This
relative positio.ning of the mirror 10 on a vehicle is diagram-
matically illustrated in Figure ~. Also diagrammatically illus-
trated in Figure 4 is the normal field of view that is obtained
through utilization of only the planar reflecting surface of
that mirror. This, angular field of view referenced to a hori-
zontal plane is designated X and includes a horizontal angular
space extending from a base or reference line which is effective-
ly aligned with the side of the vehicle. Preferably, this
llmiting line of sight overlaps portions of the side of the
vehicle to better provide the operator with a reference in
determining relative locations of objects that appear within
that field. The angular extent of this field of view designated
X is effectively o~ the o~der of 35 degrees. Consequently, it
will be readily seen that the field of view is clearly inade-
quate to provide an operator, indicated to be located at a position
designated ~ within the vehicle with reflected images of objects
or vehicles thatmaybelaterally spaced from..or furtller forward
with respect to the vehicle as to bc outside the angular field
of view designated by the letter X. -
-10-
;
1~33394
1 It is the objcctive of tlle auxiliary mirror 13 as applied
to the primary mirror 10 to increase this lateral angular field of
view to that which is designatecl Y in ~igure ~. rhis substantially
greater angular field of view in a horizontal plane with the mirror
construction utilizing a spherical shell 15 oriented as previously
described, extcnds from the baseline A to substantially a line
which will be 80 - 90 degrees displaced from the side of the vehicle.
Some of the important advantages o-f the speci-fic structural
configuration of the auxiliary mirror 13 of this invention include
the presentation of a relatively wide field of view in a horizontal
plane of a particularly important area. This field of view is
limited Ln its vertical extent to a relatively narrow band but
this band includes a nearlY 90 de~ree horizontal field nf v;ew in the regi~n
where the operator of the vehicle will be readily able to detect
the presence of other vehicles at a positinn where greater detail
is unimportant. However, this relatively limited display of a
vehicle in the so-called-blind spot area is of substantial advan-
tage in that the reflection or field of view does cover an area
which would otherwise require the vehicle operator to physically
turn his head and directly view that area. In the matter of
changing lanes on multi-lane highways, this is a particularly
important feature. Merely checking the primary planar mirror 10
only indicates whether a vehicle is in a substclntially rearward
position with respect to the operator's own vehicle. There is ~i
really no indication in that mirror of the presence and location
of a vehicle immediately sideways of the vehible but still su-f:Fi-
ciently rearward that the peripheral vision is unablc to detect
such a vehicle. A further advantage is that the wide angle field
of view in a horizontal plane is relatlve:ly l;mited in its vertical
extent 7 both upwardly and downwardly, and thus the operator is not
~08339~
1 presented with a substantial amoun~ oE extrancous ;,n:Eormation
and detail that is of no concern to his opera-ting decislons.
It is only the lateral position o~E a vehicle in this "blind
spot" ~hat is essential Eor the operator's sae'pe,rformance
and maneuvering of his vehicle. Furthermore, this observa-
tion is facilitated by the directive effect of the auxiliary
mirrorselongated configuration and which enhances the vehicle
operator's ability to sa:Eely control the vehicle.
~ modified form of the auxiliary mirror structure
13 as shown in Fig~res 1, 2 and 3, is illustrated in Figures
5 and 6. These two figures illustrate a body of material which
is formed to directly attach to the sur~ace 12 of the mirror
lO. This body again is a segment o~E a spherical shell and is
designated generally by the numerals 23. In this embodiment
the spherical shell segment 23 is formed ~rom a material which
is not optically transmissive and may be advantageously formed
from a suitable synthetic resinous plas~ic material. Such ma-
terials can be readily formed by suitable processes and in this
instance the body of this segment of spherical shell will be
formed with an outer surface 24 that would be coated with a
suitable silvering material to thus form the reElecting sur-
~ace. It will be noted that this spherical shell segment 2
is also of substantially the same dimensional con~igurationS
as that of the first described embodiment and is positioned
in substantially the same location on the primary mirror lO.
It will also be noted that while the surface 24 of this shell
segment is provided with a silvered surface, the two side walls
25 as well as the end wa:Ll 26 are preEerably not silvered. The
objective of not silvering those wall surfaces is to prevent
totally erroneous reflections ~rom vertical oriented objccts
either above or below the ml,rror as well as that portion of
the vehicle body which is adjacent to the end surEace 26.
-12-
... . , . , . .. , , . . . . ~ .. . .. . .. . . .
1 Attachment o -this ~ Ql~ 3ed ~orm o~ the auxlliary mirror 23 can
be readily accompl:ished by means o-f a layer o:E adhesive material
27 interposed between a bottom surEace o~ the spherical shell
segment and the outer sur~ace 12 of the primary mirror 10.
A ~urther modified form of the invention is illustrated
in Figures 7, 8 and 9. Figure 7 illustrates a primary mirror 2g
having a segment of a spherical surEace 29 integrally formecl in
the body of the mirror. The primary mirror 28 is formed from
a glass or other optically transmissive material and is of a ~-
thickness adequate to incorporate the vertical dimension o:E the
spherical surface 29. Again the spherical segment surface 29 is
located in extreme corner of the structure and thus is open at
both one longitudinal edge and one end cdge of the primary mirror
28. The dimensional configuration of the segment of spherical
surace 29 is preferably the same as that heretofore described
with the other two embodiments and it will be seen that the one
end will be contiguous with a lower surface 30 of the primary
mirror. Also there will be only one longitudinal sldewall 31
which is spaced a distance from the bottom longitudinal edge
of the primary mirror. Reflective capability is achieved by
coating the surface 29 with a layer of suitable silvering
material. This silvering material is not applied to the side-
wall surface 31 although it will be applied to the sur-face 30
o~ the primary mirror.
Another modified form of the invention is illustrated
in Figures 10, 11 and 12. This modi~ied structure comprises
integrally formed planar or primary mirror sur~ace 32 and segment
o-f a sphreical surface 33. As can be best scen in Figure 10, the
segment of spherical sur~ace 33 which is dimensionally the same
as those of the previously described rnirrors is formecl in a corner
area of the primary mirror and thus presell~s the same advantageous
-13-
8339~
l location for viewing of lateral areas without seriously obstructing
the relatively narrow field o:E vicw provided by the primary mirror
surface 32 and directed substantially rearwardly of the vehicle.
This particular type of mirror is preferably formed -from a plastic
material which can be molded as a one piece structure with the
different surface areas 32 and 33. While the entire outer surface
32 and 33 will be provided with a suitable silvering material the
edge surfaces are pre-ferably not provided with such silvering.
In particular an internal edge surface 3~ associated with the
segmental spherical surface 33 as best indicated in Figure 12 is
not provided with the silvering material. This will prevent the
extrenuous re-flections that would otherwise be produced by the
cooperatively adjacent surfaces 3~ and that oE theprimary mirror 32.
It will be readily apparent from the foregoing detailed
descriptions of several embodiments of this invention that a
particular novel and useful mirror is provided for automotive
vehicle purposes. The mirror of this invention is specifically
designed and inherently capable of providing the substantially
increased field of view necessary to eliminate the present b`land
spot that exists in the case of conventional mirrors having a
single, flat, planar surface. The mirror construction o-f this
invention limits the auxiliary fièld of view to a speciEically
defined area that is of exceptional interest to the vehicle
operator in ascertaining the presence of an object or vehicle
immediately laterally positioned with respect to his own vehicle.
The segment of spherical surface is of considerable advantage in
this respect as it provides a slight vertically upward and down-
ward field of view to better form reference or a relationship to
the image reflected by the primary mirror for the operator.
The angular disposition of the vertical segmen1 with respect to
the primary planar mirror surface results in this segment ~eing
108339~
1 particularly capable o~ :illustrating the extremé lateral
extent o~ this field o~ v:Lel~ as well as providing a line of
sight in reference Wit]l respect to the s;de o:E -the vehicle.
The elongated configuration provides a directive eEfect that
tends to guide the observers visual attcntion to the area of
particular concern. Additionally, the struc-ture can be read-
ily abricated as a separate unit easily mounted on existing
mirror structures or can be readily incorporated in an inte-
grally formed device to avoid the external appearance of an
auxiliary mirror structure. lt will also be apparent that
a mirror embodying this invention may be constructed to be
positioned on either side of a vehicle and provide the advan-
tageous field of view.
