The invention relates to a method for producing bent spring rails from an endless, or continuous, spring band or strip. The invention further relates to a bending apparatus to perform this procedure.
Spring rails of this type form the support for flat-bar windshield wipers specifically for motor vehicles. In the case of these flat-bar windshield wipers, the support, in the form of one or even more, specifically two, strip-like, elongate spring rails, ensures optimal distribution of the pressure exerted by a wiper arm on the wiper blade against a windshield glass to be wiped. To achieve this, the support is bent accordingly in its unloaded state when the wiper blade is not resting against the windshield glass with a specified curvature. The section of the spring rail, or the spring rail, can have a constant cross-section or one which varies in the longitudinal direction. The support for a flat wiper blade of this type replaces the complex yoke construction such as is known from DE 15 05 397 A1, with two spring rails located at the wiper rubber and not pre-curved in the unloaded state.