Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Door or window with specified vehicle feature
Reexamination Certificate
2002-08-05
2004-01-27
Pedder, Dennis H. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Door or window with specified vehicle feature
C296S154000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06682126
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a side visor fastener for fixing a side visor of a motor vehicle to a frame such as a door frame of a vehicle body.
A conventional fastener for a side visor and a side visor fastening process will be described with reference to
FIGS. 1
,
2
, and
3
. In
FIG. 1
, a side visor is fixed, for example at two positions, to a door frame
3
positioned at the upper portion of a door glass
2
. A backseat-side side visor
1
A is also fixed to a frame positioned at the upper portion of a backseat-side door glass
2
A. A conventional side visor fastener
5
for fixing the side visor
1
to the frame
3
is shown in
FIGS. 2 and 3
, which are sectional views taken along the line A—A of FIG.
1
.
FIG. 2
shows a process for fixing the side visor
1
, and
FIG. 3
shows the state after the side visor
1
is fixed to the frame
3
.
In
FIG. 2
, the frame
3
is formed with a retaining portion
7
into which a sealing rubber
6
for receiving the door glass is fitted. The frame
3
is also formed with a bonding surface
9
with which the upper portion of the side visor
1
is brought into surface contact. The lower portion of the bonding surface
9
defines a part of the retaining portion
7
and additionally serves as a mounting portion
11
to which a retainer
10
of the side visor fastener
5
is fixed. The retainer
10
is formed of a metal plate member. For fixing the side visor
1
to the frame
3
, the upper portion of the side visor
1
is first attached to the bonding surface
9
of the door frame
3
by means of a double-sided adhesive tape or the like. Then, an attaching portion
13
of the retainer
10
is pushed into the mounting portion
11
of the frame
3
, as shown by the arrow
14
, to fix the retainer
10
to the frame
3
. The retainer
10
includes an extending portion
15
extending along the rear side of the side visor
1
, and the extending portion
15
is formed with a fastening hole
18
to be aligned with a fastening hole
17
of the side visor
1
. The sealing rubber
6
is then pushed into the retaining portion
7
of the frame
3
in the direction of the arrow
19
and is held by the retaining portion
7
. In this state, as shown by the phantom line in
FIG. 3
, the extending portion
15
of the retainer
10
and the side visor
1
are sandwiched by a clip comprising a pin clip element
21
and a receiver clip element
22
to fasten the side visor
1
to the extending portion
15
of the retainer
10
. The receiver clip element
22
has a hollow tubular portion capable of passing through the fastening hole
17
of the side visor
1
and the fastening hole
18
of the retainer
10
. When the pin clip element
21
is inserted into the tubular portion of the receiver clip element
22
, an engagement portion of the pin clip element
21
engages with an engagement pawl of the receiver clip element
22
, and thereby the pin and the receiver clip elements fasten the side visor
1
to the retainer
10
by sandwiching the retainer
10
and the side visor
1
therebetween. Since the retainer
10
is fixed to the frame
3
, the side visor
1
is also fixed to the frame
3
through the retainer
10
. By fastening the side visor
1
to the retainer
10
in this way, the side visor
1
as attached by the double-sided adhesive tape is firmly fixed to the frame
3
.
The aforementioned conventional side visor fastener includes a retainer to be fixed to the mounting portion of the frame, and a clip for fastening the side visor to the portion of the fastener extending from the retainer as fixed to the frame to the side visor. Further, the clip comprises the receiver clip element to be disposed on the rear side of the side visor and the pin clip element to be inserted from the front side of the side visor into the receiver clip element through the side visor so as to engage with the receiver clip element. Thus, the conventional side visor fastener has an advantage of a simple structure. Further, its assembling operation is advantageously facilitated as described above. However, as the design of the side visor is varied depending on types of motor vehicles, the inclination of the side visor with respect to the frame will be variously changed. As a result, a large number of differently sized retainers have heretofore been required to cope with various types and styles of motor vehicles. In particular, as for similar side visors, various corresponding retainers have to be prepared and managed, and each of the retainers has to be fixed to a frame of the corresponding type of motor vehicle without failure. This requires costs and time for preparing the variously sized retainers and managing them, and can undesirably give rise to the risk of attaching an improper retainer or a wrong assembly, during the operation for fixing the retainer to the frame.
In the prior art, it is know to use a clip that has a female member and a male member, wherein after temporarily attaching a component such as an assist grip to a first panel such as a roof lining with the female member, the first panel is aligned with and pushed toward a second panel such as a vehicle body to temporarily attach the component to the second panel with a leg portion of the female member, and then the male member is inserted into the female member to fixedly attach the component to the second panel without any loosing in connection. This clip is directed to temporarily attach the component such as an assist grip to the first panel such as a roof lining and the second panel such as a vehicle body, and then fixedly attach the component to the second panel. Thus, this clip is not suitable for fixing a side visor to a frame with simplified structure and facilitated assembling operation.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
According to the present invention, there is provided a side visor fastener for fixing a side visor to a frame of a vehicle body, including a retainer to be fixed to a mounting portion of the frame and a clip for fastening the side visor to a portion of the fastener extending from the retainer as fixed to the frame to the side visor. The clip includes a receiver clip element disposed on the rear side of the side visor and a pin clip element to be inserted from the front side of the side visor into the receiver clip element through the side visor so as to engage with the receiver clip element. In the fastener according to the present invention, the receiver clip element is integrally connected with the retainer through a thin-walled hinge in a swingable manner in response to an inclination of the side visor with respect to the frame, and the receiver clip element is served as the portion of the fastener extending from the retainer to support the side visor through the thin-walled hinge, whereby the side visor is fixed to the frame through the retainer while the side visor is sandwiched between the receiver clip element and the pin clip element.
According to the above mentioned fastener, the receiver clip element can swing with respect to the retainer in line with the inclination of the side visor with respect to the frame, and the receiver clip element serves as the portion of the fastener extending from the retainer to support the side visor. Thus, even if a mounting angle (or inclination) of the side visor with respect to the frame varies, the side visor can be adequately supported only by swinging the receiver clip element with respect to the retainer in each case. That is, even if the angle of the side visor is varied, a structurally and dimensionally identical fastener comprising the retainer and the receiver and pin clip elements can be used. This solves the problem of undesirable costs and time for preparing the various retainers and managing them, and eliminates the risk of occurrence of the wrong assembly of improper retainers, during the operation for fixing the retainer to the frame.
In the above side visor fastener, the thin-walled hinge may be formed in selected one form configurations including a first configuration having a thickness equa
Murphy Edward D.
Newfrey LLC
Pedder Dennis H.
LandOfFree
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