Seal for a joint or juncture – Seal between fixed parts or static contact against... – Contact seal for other than internal combustion engine – or...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-05
2004-05-25
Knight, Anthony (Department: 3676)
Seal for a joint or juncture
Seal between fixed parts or static contact against...
Contact seal for other than internal combustion engine, or...
C277S644000, C277S651000, C277S906000, C264S148000, C428S031000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06739599
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to elongated moldings to be installed in the roof of a vehicle, etc., as well as manufacturing methods and manufacturing devices for such elongated moldings.
BACKGROUND ART
As shown in
FIG. 42
, various types of long and narrow moldings (hereafter referred to as “elongated moldings”) are installed in a vehicle
50
, such as an ordinary automobile, in order to fill gaps between components or for decorative purposes. For example, a so-called roof molding
60
is fitted and installed within the side grooves
52
a
formed along the edges of the roof (roof panel)
52
of the vehicle body
51
. A window molding
55
is installed around the perimeter of the front window panel
53
in order to fill the gap between the window panel
53
and the window perimeter
53
a
formed along the vehicle body
51
.
As shown in
FIG. 45
, the vehicle molding
60
(this figure shows a roof molding) typically consists of a plastic molded member
61
, which constitutes the molding body
61
a,
and a metal core
66
which is embedded inside the molded member
61
. Molding body
61
a
consists of a decorative area
62
, which is exposed to the surface of the installation area to form the design surface
62
a,
and a mounting portion
65
to be installed in said installation area. Furthermore, the mounting portion
65
consists of a leg
63
to be inserted into the installation area (side grooves
52
a
of roof
52
in this case) and a securing portion
64
for securing the molding to said installation area. On the other hand, core
66
consists of a highly rigid metal, alloy, or hard resin material, whose cross section has typically been formed into a round wire shape, flat shape, or other different shapes such as a substantially U or L shape. Embedding such core
66
into molding body
61
a
improves the shape stability of molding
60
itself, thus improving the working efficiency of transportation and installation workers.
Such elongated molding
60
is usually manufactured by extruding an elastic molding material, such as a synthetic resin, elastomer, vulcanized rubber, etc., into a long and narrow shape. That is, as shown in
FIG. 43
, such elongated molding
60
can be manufactured using a manufacturing device (extrusion molding machine) equipped with an extrusion mold (die)
70
having a predetermined shape. In this figure, a molding material, such as a synthetic resin, is injected into extrusion mold
70
through supply tubes
72
and
74
that are connected to the mold
70
. Then, the material is extruded through a predetermined extrusion port
73
in order to yield an elongated plastic molded member
61
(i.e., molding body) that has been extrusion-molded according to the shape of the extrusion port
73
. Note that in this figure, a so-called two-color molding can be manufactured by supplying different molding materials from the two supply tubes
72
and
74
.
Moreover, as shown in
FIG. 43
, by separately providing a core material introduction port
75
within the mold
70
, a rigid core material
66
is introduced into the mold
70
along the longitudinal direction of molding body
61
a
that is extrusion-molded. In this way, an ordinary elongated molding
60
can be obtained with the core material
66
embedded inside the molded member
61
along the longitudinal direction.
However, accurately installing the aforementioned conventional molding in the predetermined installation area presents two problems that are described below.
The core material causes the first problem. That is, an elongated molding having the core material is embedded in the longitudinal direction presents the problems described below.
That is, molding body
61
that is conventionally extruded from extrusion port
73
has a linear shape as shown in FIG.
43
. Because the core material
66
is embedded as was explained above, the rigidity of the core material
66
causes the molding to maintain a linear shape. Consequently, it is not easy to bend molding
60
to a desired configuration or angle, and it takes time to fit molding
60
into the shape of an installation area having complicated contours, such as roof side grooves
52
a
and the window perimeter
53
a
of vehicle
50
shown in FIG.
42
.
Furthermore, roof
52
and body
51
of vehicle
50
have unique curved surfaces depending on the model and therefore, roof molding
60
, etc. must also be bent (including twisting and flexing. Hereafter, “bending” shall mean such a process.) to conform to those curved surfaces for installation. However, it has been difficult to bend conventional roof moldings
60
, in which a highly rigid core material is embedded, to conform accurately to the shape of the roof
52
, etc. A typical example is shown in FIG.
44
. Note that this figure shows a cross-section of the roof molding
60
along the portion that is inserted into side grooves
52
a.
As shown in
FIG. 44
, for a conventional long roof molding
60
in which the core material
66
is embedded, it has been difficult to install the molding
60
such that it accurately matches the bending direction (traveling line) of roof side grooves
52
a.
That is, because it is not easy to bend roof molding
60
in the desired direction in different spots in order to match the contour of roof side grooves
52
a,
problems have occurred in some cases in which molding
60
becomes offset with respect to the outer wall
52
b
of side grooves
52
a
in some areas while it becomes offset with respect to the inner wall
52
c
of side grooves
52
a
in other areas. This kind of poor match between the formation direction (traveling line) of the molding installation area (e.g., roof side grooves
52
a
) and the bending direction (traveling line) of the molding, i.e., a traveling line mismatch, detracts from the appearance and thus is not desirable in terms of product value.
The second problem is caused by the configuration of the molding body. That is, in recent years, the need for improved vehicle designs has resulted in requirements for improved decorative characteristics and the appearance of the elongated molding that is installed on the exterior surfaces of vehicles. Consequently, as shown in
FIG. 45
, a molded member having a different composition from the molded member, which comprises the interior of decorative area
62
or mounting portion
65
, is typically utilized for design surface
62
a
of decorative area
62
in order to achieve improved scratch resistance and luster. For example, in the case of roof molding
60
consisting of TPO (a thermoplastic elastomer from the polyolefin family), the design surface
62
a
is formed using a TPO that contains a large proportion of hard PP (polypropylene), whereas other areas are formed using a soft TPO that contains relatively less PP in order to achieve improved installation characteristics.
However, in a molding that consists of two or more kinds of molded members having different compositions as described above, the different compositions usually result in different mold shrinkage rates among the different molded members, resulting in the problem described below.
That is, as schematically shown in
FIG. 46
, if molding
80
is formed by laminating molded member
81
, which has a relatively large molding shrinkage rate, and molded member
82
, which has a relatively small molding shrinkage rate in the longitudinal direction, a linear shape can be maintained immediately following extrusion as shown on the top area in FIG.
46
. However, after extrusion (typically during the cooling process), the different mold shrinkage rates of the two molded members
81
and
82
cause an unintended curvage (warpage) in molding
80
toward the member having the larger molding shrinkage rate.
When such an unintended curvage occurs, it becomes difficult to install the molding accurately in conformance with the contour (including surface configurations that are partially or entirely flat as well. Hereafter, “contour” shall mean such a surface configuration.) of the installation areas in the vehicle roof
52
, etc
Uchimura Fumiaki
Yada Yukihiko
Yamada Shunji
Knight Anthony
Peavey E
Tokai Kogyo Co. Ltd.
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