Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Door or window with specified vehicle feature
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-30
2003-03-25
Pedder, Dennis H. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Door or window with specified vehicle feature
C049S480100, C049S484100, C049S495100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06536833
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a door weather strip provided at least in the upper portion of a door frame in the outer circumference of a door of a vehicle.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. Hei. 2000-267022, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a door weather strip is provided in the outer circumference of a door of a vehicle such as a car or the like. For example, a door weather strip disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei. 11-48791 is attached to a door frame, and provided with a base portion having a hollow portion, and a seal lip extending from the base portion. Thus, sealing between the outer circumference of the door frame and a circumferential end portion of an opening of a vehicle body opposite to the outer circumference of the door frame is carried out by the seal lip.
However, when there occurs a slight unevenness (vertical unevenness) in the fitting of the door, particularly when the distance between the door frame and the vehicle body becomes larger than a predetermined distance, there is a fear that there is produced a gap between the tip end of the seal lip and the vehicle body so that it becomes difficult to ensure satisfactory sealing property.
It is therefore considered that a plurality of seal lips, that is, a vehicle-interior-side (hereinafter referred to as “interior-side” simply) seal lip and a vehicle-exterior-side (hereinafter referred to as “exterior-side” simply) seal lip are provided so that main sealing is ensured, for example, by the interior-side seal lip to thereby avoid such a defect caused by a gap (for example, see Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Sho. 61-59426).
However, with unevenness in the fitting of the door, the distance between the door frame and the vehicle body may be smaller than the predetermined distance. In this case, bending stress (repulsion stress) of the interior-side seal lip becomes too large. As a result, there is a fear that the bending stress may cause increase in the door closing force when the door is closed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention was developed to solve the foregoing problem. It is an object of the present invention to provide a door weather strip in which, even if there arises a slight unevenness in the fitting of a door, it is possible to avoid the deterioration of sealing property or a defect caused by the increase in the door closing force.
Description will be made below for attaining the foregoing object and so on. Operation, effect, and so on, peculiar to each will be added to the description in accordance with necessity.
A door weather strip according to a first aspect is constituted by: a base portion attachable to a door frame and having a hollow portion; an exterior-side seal lip extending from the base portion so as to carry out sealing between an outer circumference of the door frame and a circumferential end portion of an opening of a vehicle body opposite to the outer circumference of the door frame; and an interior-side seal lip extending from the base portion more interior than the exterior-side seal lip so as to carry out sealing between the outer circumference of the door frame and the circumferential end portion of the opening of the vehicle body opposite to the outer circumference of the door frame; wherein at least one of side parts on the base portion where a root portion of the interior-side seal lip is located is formed into a thin portion to be deformed easily.
According to the first aspect, the base portion having the hollow portion is attachable to the door frame, and the exterior-side and interior-side seal lips are extended from the base portion so as to carry out sealing between the outer circumference of the door frame and the circumferential end portion of the opening of the vehicle body opposite to the outer circumference of the door frame. Thus, even if the gap between the outer circumference of the door frame and the circumferential end portion of the opening of the vehicle body opposite to the outer circumference of the door frame becomes a little larger than a predetermined size due to the unevenness in the fitting of the door, the sealing property is ensured easily by the double sealing. In addition, at least one of the side parts on the base portion where a root portion of the interior-side seal lip is located is formed into a thin portion. Thus, even if the gap between the outer circumference of the door frame and the circumferential end portion of the opening of the vehicle body becomes a little smaller than the predetermined size, the side part of the interior-side seal lip on the base portion is easily deformed so that bending stress is prevented from increasing conspicuously. It is therefore possible to make it difficult to produce a defect due to increase in the closing force when the door is closed.
“At least one of the side parts of the interior-side seal lip on the base portion” may be replaced by “the opposite side parts of the interior-side seal lip on the base portion”. With such a configuration, it is possible to make it easier to suppress the increase in stress caused by deformation.
In addition, a door weather strip according to a second aspect is constituted by: a base portion having a base bottom portion attached to a door frame, an interior-side side wall portion and an exterior-side side wall portion extending from substantially opposite sides of the base bottom portion, and a bridge portion connecting tip ends of the opposite side wall portions, a hollow portion being formed by the base bottom portion, the opposite side wall portions and the bridge portion; an exterior-side seal lip extending from a substantially border portion between the exterior-side side wall portion and the bridge portion so as to carry out sealing between an outer circumference of the door frame and a circumferential edge or a circumferential end portion of an opening of a vehicle body opposite to the outer circumference of the door frame; and an interior-side seal lip extending from the bridge portion more interior than the exterior-side seal lip so as to carry out sealing between the outer circumference of the door frame and the circumferential end portion of the opening of the vehicle body opposite to the outer circumference of the door frame; wherein at least one of side parts on the bridge portion where a root portion of the interior-side seal lip is located is formed into a thin portion to be deformed easily.
According to the second aspect, sealing between the outer circumference of the door frame and the circumferential edge or the circumferential end portion of the opening of the vehicle body opposite to the outer circumference of the door frame is carried out by the exterior-side and interior-side seal lips. The exterior-side seal lip extends from a substantially border portion between the exterior-side side wall portion and the bridge portion. The interior-side seal lip extends from the bridge portion more interior than the exterior-side seal lip. Thus, even if the gap between the outer circumference of the door frame and the circumferential end portion of the opening of the vehicle body opposite to the outer circumference of the door frame becomes a little larger than a predetermined size due to the unevenness in the fitting of the door, the sealing property is ensured easily by the double sealing. In addition, at least one of the side parts on the bridge portion where a root portion of the interior-side seal lip is located is formed into a thin portion. Thus, even if the gap between the outer circumference of the door frame and the circumferential end portion of the opening of the vehicle body becomes a little smaller than the predetermined size, the side part of the interior-side seal lip on the bridge portion is easily deformed so that bending stress is prevented from increasing conspicuously. It is therefore possible to make it difficult to produce a defect due to increase in the cl
Law Offices of David G. Posz
Pedder Dennis H.
Toyoda Gosei Co,., Ltd.
LandOfFree
Door weather strip does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Door weather strip, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Door weather strip will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3067367