Vehicle sun visor having an electric fan and heater assembly for clearing the vehicle windshield

A fan system for mounting in a vehicle visor including an edge, a strap extending along the edge and an opening positioned in proximity to the strap, which 1 comprises:

• (a) a fan subassembly including:
• (1) a fan subassembly body with first and second faces and a throughbore extending between said faces and open thereat;
• (2) a fan motor-and-blade unit mounted at least partly within the fan subassembly body throughbore;
• (3) said fan subassembly body having a perimeter;
• and
• (4) a plurality of receivers in said body open at said body perimeter;
• (b) a retainer subassembly including first and second retainer frames each including an opening and a plurality of retainer flanges projecting into the retainer frame opening;
• and
• (c) a grill subassembly including a pair of grills each mounted on a respective fan subassembly body face and a plurality of mechanical fasteners extending through said grills, said fan subassembly body faces, and said retainer frames.

In combination with a vehicle visor including a visor rod, a bracket pivotally mounting the visor rod, a channel-shaped strap receiving strap receiving said visor rod and a hardboard core panel with an upper edge received in said strap and a generally rectangular opening in proximity to said strap, the visor being mounted in a vehicle with an electrical system, the improvement of a fan system which comprises:

• (a) a fan subassembly mounted in said visor opening and including:
• (1) a fan subassembly body with first and second generally rectangular faces having four fan subassembly body face corners each, a throughbore extending between and open at said faces, a perimeter, four retainer receivers each located between a respective opposed pair of fan subassembly body face corners and open at said perimeter;
• (2) a fan motor-and-blade unit mounted within said body throughbore;
• (3) each said fan subassembly body face corner having a fan body fastener hole;
• (4) an electrical lead extending from said fan motor-and-blade unit to the vehicle electrical system;
• and
• (5) a double-pole, double-throw electrical switch electrically interconnecting said fan motor-an-blade unit and the vehicle electrical system;
• (b) a retainer subassembly including:
• (1) first and second retainer frames each comprising left and right retainer frame halves and each including a retainer frame opening with a generally rectangular configuration including four corners;
• (2) each said retainer frame including a retainer flange comprising horizontal and vertical legs extending substantially at a right angle with respect to each other and forming an intersection;
• (3) each said retainer flange including a retainer flange fastener hole;
• (4) each said retainer frame including upper and lower edges and an inner face;
• and
• (5) each said retainer frame including a recess extending along said upper edge and open at said inner face;
• (6) said retainer subassembly fixedly mounting said fan subassembly in the visor;
• and
• (c) a grill subassembly including:
• (1) a pair of grills each having a plurality of concentric rings, a centered, circular face plate and four grill fastener holes located in a generally rectangular pattern;
• and
• (2) four mechanical fasteners each extending through respective opposed pairs of grill fastener holes, body fastener holes, retainer frame fastener holes and the visor opening.