Exterior rear view mirror

Claim 1

An exterior rear view mirror assembly comprising a base member adapted to be fixed to the body of a vehicle and carrying a first detent formation located at a predetermined radius from a substantially vertical axis, a mirror support member pivotally mounted on the base member for angular movement about said vertical axis and carrying a second detent formation confronting said first detent formation at the same radius from said vertical axis, and resilient means for urging said detent formations into abutment with each other to retain the mirror support member at a predetermined orientation relative to the base member, one of the detent formations being mounted on a detent carrier which is angularly movable about said vertical axis, and a bowed element having one end engaging with an abutment on the member carrying said detent formation and the other end having a locking formation arranged to engage with a complementary locking formation on the detent carrier in a multiplicity of alternative relative positions, and thrust means acting on the bowed element at an intermediate position between its ends so as to tend to straighten the bowed element and thereby urge the locking formations into engagement with each other, thus securing said one detent formation to the member on which it is carried at a selected one of a multiplicity of orientations relative thereto.