Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Tops – Roof structure
Reexamination Certificate
1998-08-28
2001-02-13
Pedder, Dennis H. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Tops
Roof structure
C296S216080, C384S042000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06186588
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sunroof device for vehicle in which a guide rail is disposed along a roof opening of a vehicle, rods to be pushed and pulled and guide members attached to said rods are placed within said guide rail, and said guide members are dynamically coupled with a drive mechanism for driving a lid to open and close the roof opening.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional sunroof device of this type is illustrated in FIG.
11
. As shown, a guide rail
1
is usually disposed along the rear end of an opening formed in the roof of a vehicle. A cable
2
is inserted into the guide rail
1
. The cable is pushed and pulled by a cable drive source, e.g., a motor.
Guide members
3
, which are slidably inserted into the guide rail
1
, are attached to the cable
2
. A support portion
4
of each guide member
3
is protruded from and above an opening groove
1
a
of the guide rail
1
when the guide member
3
is inserted into the guide rail
1
. The support portion
4
supports a link (not shown) of a drive mechanism for driving the lid to open and close the roof opening.
The cable
2
is capable of highly efficiently transmitting a load in a pulling direction. When it is moved in a pushing direction, a relatively large load acts on the cable as the result of, for example, frictional resistance of the guide member
3
, and the cable is bent and buckled. For this reason, in the cable movement in the pushing direction, the power transmission efficiency is extremely reduced and hence, a large motor torque is required. If the motor torque is increased, sometimes the motor fails to satisfactorily move the cable.
Recently, to cope with this problem, there is a proposal to use the rods, in place of the cable
2
, for the linear portion or a large R portion of the guide rail
1
.
In this proposal using the rods in place of the cable, the rod diameter may be increased to lessen a chance of buckling of the rod. However, the increase of the rod diameter creates another problem to secure an unsatisfactory clearance between the rod and the inner wall of the guide rail since the space within the guide rail
1
is limited in the diametrieal direction of the rod When the diameter of the rods is large in the proposed sunroof structure, when the rod is buckled, it strongly hits the inner wall of the guide rail
1
, to generate offensive or harsh sound. When the rod diameter is small, the rod is liable to be buckled, the power transmission efficiency is reduced, and the sunroof device operation fails, as in the case of using only the cable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a sunroof device for vehicle which can solve the problems of the reduction of power transmission efficiency and harsh sound generation, which are due to the buckling of the rods, with a simple construction and low cost by such a unique construction that the rods inserted into the cable are used in place of the cable, and at least one shoe is coupled with each rod.
[1] To achieve the above object, there is provided a sunroof device for a vehicle in which a guide rail is disposed along a roof opening of the vehicle, rods to be pushed and pulled and guide members attached to said rods are placed within said guide rail, and said guide members are dynamically coupled with a drive mechanism for driving a lid to open and close the roof opening, wherein a shoe is provided at a predetermined position on each said rod such that said shoe is located closer to the inner wall of said guide rail than the outer peripheral surface of said rod when viewed in cross section.
[2] In the sunroof device of [1], said shoes are coupled with each said rod while being equidistantly arranged along said rod.
[3] In the sunroof device of [1] or [2], said shoe is made of synthetic resin, and integrally jointed to the knurled outer surface of each said rod by molding.
The operation of the sunroof device thus constructed will be described.
The rods are placed within said guide rail, although the cable is placed within the guide rail in the conventional sunroof device. In this case, the diameter of each rod is selected so as to secure a satisfactory clearance between the rod and the inner wall of the guide rail.
In addition to the guide members, a shoe is provided in advance at a predetermined position on each said rod such that said shoe is located closer to the inner wall of said guide rail than the outer peripheral surface of said rod when viewed in cross section. After the assembling, when the rod is pushed or pulled, the guide members slide within the guide rail. If a load acts on the rod in the pushing direction during the sliding movement of the guide members, the rod is hard to be buckled since it has a larger strength than the cable.
When a large load acts on the rod in the pushing direction, bending and buckling of the rod are about to occur, the shoe located at the predetermined position on the rod is pressed, while sliding, against the inner wall of the guide rail (the shoe is pressed against the inner wall of the guide rail prior to the outer surface of the rod). Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent the rod from being buckled, with a simple structure. Further, the power transmission efficiency is not reduced and no harsh sound is generated.
In the sunroof device of [2], said shoes are coupled with each said rod while being equidistantly arranged along said rod.
Therefore, the prevention of the buckling of the rods is more reliable.
In the sunroof device of [3], said shoe is made of synthetic resin, and integrally jointed to the knurled outer surface of each said rod by molding. If an excessive load acts on the shoe, the shoe never slips off the rod.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1184614 (1916-05-01), Brightman et al.
patent: 3290087 (1966-12-01), Werner
patent: 3497272 (1970-02-01), Caubet
patent: 3801090 (1974-04-01), Gillen
patent: 4245864 (1981-01-01), Shitanoki
patent: 4403805 (1983-09-01), Strem, Jr.
patent: 4632449 (1986-12-01), Masuda
patent: 4650243 (1987-03-01), Hanley et al.
patent: 4877285 (1989-10-01), Huyer
patent: 5836644 (1998-11-01), Smith
patent: 6024404 (2000-02-01), Stallfort et al.
patent: 3444947 (1986-06-01), None
patent: 361175712 (1986-08-01), None
Foley & Lardner
Ohi Seisakusho Co. Ltd.
Pedder Dennis H.
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