Mirror assembly movable into rearwardly folded position with reversing spring bias

A rearview mirror assembly for mounting on the exterior of a motor vehicle so as to be viewed by the driver within the vehicle, said rearview mirror comprising

• a fixed support structure adapted to be fixed to the exterior of the vehicle,
• a movable mirror housing structure,
• a spring-biased mounting assembly including a spring system forming a fixed connection with the fixed support structure and connected between said fixed support structure and said movable mirror housing structure, said spring-biased mounting assembly mounting said movable structure on said fixed structure (1) for spring-biased movement into a normal operating position wherein said movable structure extends laterally outwardly from the exterior of the vehicle where it is susceptible to the application of unwanted forwardly directed forces or unwanted rearwardly directed forces, (2) for movement forwardly through a forward range of movement out of said operative position in response to the application to said movable structure of an unwanted forwardly directed force sufficient to overcome the spring bias of said movable structure into said operative position which spring bias increases as the distance of forward movement of the movable structure out of said operating position within said forward range of movement increases so that upon release of the application of the unwanted forwardly directed force while the movable structure is within said forward range of movement the spring bias is operable to return said movable structure to said operative position and (3) for movement rearwardly through a rearward range of movement out of said operating position in response to the application to said movable structure of an unwanted rearwardly directed force sufficient to overcome the spring bias of said movable structure into said operative position which spring bias decreases to zero as the distance of rearward movement of the movable structure out of said operative position reaches an intermediate point within said rearward range of movement and thereafter reverses to bias said movable structure into a rearwardly folded limiting position so that upon release of the application of the unwanted rearwardly directed force while the movable structure is within said rearward range of movement the spring bias is operable (i) to return said movable structure to said operative position when the distance of rearward movement is less than the distance from the operative position to the intermediate point and (ii) to move said movable structure into said rearwardly folded limiting position when the distance of rearward movement is greater than the distance from the operative position to the intermediate point, and
• a mirror unit mounted with respect to said movable structure for movement into any position within a range of movement positions suitable to accommodate different drivers.