There are a variety of wiper arms on which wiper blades are provided as original equipment. These various wiper arms have hooks, pins, or other configurations which may connect to the wiper blade with or without connectors. These various configurations have created a problem in the replacement market because wiper blade providers are required to have multiple wiper blade configurations to accommodate all of the existing wiper arms. It is therefore advantageous to have attachment structures that can accommodate a host of arms to reduce the complexity and cost associated with plurality of wiper blade arm configuration.
The need to a couple replacement windshield wiper blades with various styles of arms has been addressed to some degree. For example, windshield wiper blades have been designed to work with various hook-type wiper arms having different sizes. Connectors may also be configured to receive either a pin-type arm, a hook-type arm and a variety of other arms, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,640,380, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Side-saddled or offset connectors have also been developed for connecting wiper blades with alternative types of wiper arms, as described for instance in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/558,624, filed Jul. 26, 2012, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. An adapter may also be used to connect the arm to a windshield wiper. As that term is used herein, an adapter is a separate structure that works together with the connector to allow the windshield wiper to connect to a type of wiper arm. An example adapter is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2002/0192017, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, wherein an adapter is used to allow a large hook to connect to a wiper blade having a connector that accommodates only small hook arms.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds