Unitary cowl and wiper arm assembly

Claim 1

A cowl and wiper arm assembly (16) for a vehicle having a windshield (12) and a vehicle body (10), a portion (14) of which is spaced from said windshield (12), said assembly comprising a wiper arm (58) having a drive member (62) at one end and a blade support (60) at the other end offset from one another, and a cowl structure (17) in which a bearing journal (64) of the wiper arm (58) is pivotally mounted, characterised in that the cowl structure comprises a shell having upper and lower panels (18,20) seamed together at their outer edges to form a structurally complete member with first and second peripheral flanges (34,36) adapted to be secured to said windshield (12) and vehicle body portion (14) respectively, said lower panel (20) being crimped up against said upper panel (18) at a first location (40) substantially midway between said peripheral flanges (34,36) and said upper panel (18) being crimped down in the opposite direction against said lower panel (20) at a second location (42) adjacent said first location (40) so as to create a localized area (38) of increased stiffness integral with said shell and bounded by a structurally complete lower shell portion (46) offset sufficiently from a structurally complete upper shell portion (48) to allow said wiper arm (58) to pass between said upper and lower shell portions (48,46), said wiper arm (58) being passed through said shell at said area (38) of increased stiffness and being pivotally mounted to said shell at said area (38) with said blade support (60) located above said upper shell portion (48) and with said drive member (62) located below said lower shell portion (46) to form an assembly that can be installed to said vehicle as a unit, after which any torque forces acting on said wiper arm bearing journal (64) during subsequent operation of said wiper arm (58) will be resisted by said area (38) of increased stiffness and substantially the entire shell.