Movable or removable closures – Mounted for multidirectional or oblique movement – Initial or terminal movement transverse to sliding movement...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-28
2001-01-30
Stodola, Daniel P. (Department: 3634)
Movable or removable closures
Mounted for multidirectional or oblique movement
Initial or terminal movement transverse to sliding movement...
C049S360000, C049S425000, C049S453000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06178697
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to sliding side doors for passenger vehicles, principally vans and buses, and more particularly to improved narrow vertical profile header and sill assemblies, each having a floating roller arm for guided travel of the door from its open to closed position and back. The improvement in the header and sill assemblies permits increasing the vertical entry clearance between the floor and transom of the van which is particularly useful to permit entry and exit of handicapped persons there through, particularly wheelchair users.
BACKGROUND
Vans and minivans have become extremely popular in the past 10-15 years. These vehicles are characterized by having at least one sliding side door which moves on a midpoint track at its rear marginal edge, and two forward tracks, one each at the upper header and the lower sill. In current commercially available vans, the header is on the order of two to three inches in vertical height while the sill is on the order of two to four inches in vertical height. Typically the sill track mechanism is located below the floor level.
Vans have also become the vehicle of choice for disabled persons who require wheelchairs or scooters for mobility. A variety of approaches for effecting the entry of disabled persons into and from these vehicles are available. Primary among them are wheelchair lifts and ramps. In addition, there are vehicle “kneeling” assemblies, which in their most common form, compress the springs of the vehicle on one side or in the front only, so that the vehicle tilts downward towards the passenger entry door to permit easier entrance.
A somewhat different approach is provided by customizing vans in which the floors are lowered on the order of six to eight inches. When combined with either the kneeling feature or motorized bifold ramps, lowered floors provide simple access for wheelchair and scooter users. Alternately, roofs can be raised, but this requires more complex customizing of the door and does not reduce the vertical distance from ground to vehicle floor that the wheelchair must ascend.
One of the serious disadvantages in customizing vans by lowering the floor or raising the top is that the vertical height of the header and the vertical level of the sill are limitations to maximizing the vertical opening height. These add from four to seven inches to accommodate the front arms of the sliding door hardware. Accordingly, by reducing the profile (vertical height) of these elements, one can increase the available total entry height by some four to five inches, which is very significant.
In addition, mounting, adjusting and dismounting conventional sliding or rolling slide doors is difficult because of complicated header and sill roller or slide mechanisms. They are not only difficult to mount and dismount, but also to adjust inwardly and outwardly with respect to the center line of the vehicle to assure proper latching and a tight seal against wind and weather.
Accordingly, there is an unfilled need in the art to have an improved header and/or sill assembly for rolling or sliding type side doors for vans which are lower in profile and permits ease of mounting, dismounting and adjustment.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is among the objects and advantages of the invention to provide an improved header mechanism for van doors which employs a floating roller arm which is easy to mount, dismount and adjust for proper fit and weather-tight seal. It is another object and advantage of the invention to provide a retrofit assembly for customizing vans comprising an improved header of extremely low profile which employs a floating arm, the outer end of which is securable to the inside face of the forward edge of a van door, and the inner end thereof floats upwardly and downwardly and is adjustable inwardly or outwardly with respect to the center line of the vehicle to permit precise adjustment for fit and seal. Another object and advantage of this invention is to provide an improved sill assembly of very low vertical profile which employs an improved roller arm which is suitable for retrofit van conversion, and which is easily attachable to the interior lower forward corner of a van door and provides excellent fit, positive tracking and seal of the door in its closed condition. Still other objects and advantages of the invention will be evident from the accompanying drawings and description.
The header aspect of the invention comprises a generally rectangular plate having a front and a rear end, with its longitudinal axis generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle in which the slidable side door is mounted. The plate is oriented horizontally and has a roller-receiving slot therein which has an arcuate forward portion and generally straight mid and rear portions. Merging with the slot is a roller insert/release hole or aperture, through which the dumbbell roller of the door roller arm can be inserted into the slot or removed therefrom. This roller insert/release hole, in the preferred embodiment, is located forward of the rear-most end of the roller slot, on the inside of the slot. But it may be located at any convenient position along the track, either on the inside edge or the outside edge. However, it is most preferably located as above-described so that the door may be fully opened without the roller engaging the hole. Thus, it is preferable that this hole not be located at the very end travel point of the track because the door is fully closed or opened and latched at those positions. Since the hole is not located at either extreme rest point of the door, there will be substantially no chance for the door to become accidently removed from its track during normal operations. Since the weight on the door is generally outward, when it is unlatched in order for it to roll, placing the hole-on the inside of the slot means that the door roller will not accidently roll into that hole.
In the preferred embodiment shown here, the rollers insert/release hole is generally round, and intersects the slot at a chord of the circle rather than at a diameter. The chord length is slightly shorter than the diameter of the center spindle portion of the roller bearing so that the door must be forced inwardly to snap into place into the roller insert/release hole.
The roller bearing is preferably a dumbbell type of double roller having an upper disk and a lower disk, spaced apart by the central spindle section which is slightly longer than the thickness of the planar plate in which the slot is formed. Tile dumbbell may be multi-part or unitary. The insert/release hole is slightly larger in diameter than the diameter of the roller disc. The dumbbell type roller is journaled on a pin (shaft) that can adjustable fastened in a slot adjacent to the inboard end of the door arm. The outboard end of the arm is adapted to be pivotally received between a pair of right angle brackets which fasten to the inner face of the door at its upper forward margin.
The plate preferably includes one or more upstanding mounting flanges along the interior and/or exterior margins of the plate to keep the plate generally horizontally aligned with the roof members and to shield access to the space formed between the top face of the plate and the underside of the roof members. In addition, the forward and rear ends of the plate may have suitable upstanding or depending mounting plates joined thereto or formed integrally therein for mounting to, or adjacent to, the forward B pillar and the rear framing member of the door opening of the van.
The sill embodiment of the invention comprises a similar plate and slot with insert/release hole, with a rigid arm having the “dumbbell” type roller mounted on the inboard end thereof. The brackets are mounted to the forward lower end of the door. The upper and lower plates are mounted generally co-planar and co-axially so that the door closes properly.
It should be noted that the dumbbell roller is adjustable mounted in a slot adjacent to the inboard end of the door roller arm. This permits the top
Crawford Paul D.
Goodrich Ronald W.
Stodola Daniel P.
Strimbu Gregory J.
The Braun Corporation
Woodard Emhardt Naughton Moriarty & McNett
LandOfFree
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