Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Tops – Roof structure
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-10
2003-09-09
Dayoan, D. Glenn (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Tops
Roof structure
C016S445000, C280S730200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06616222
ABSTRACT:
This invention concerns a hinged handle, notably for a passenger compartment of a motor vehicle, and a method of mounting that handle.
Such handles are commonly found in passenger compartments of motor vehicles, at the top of the compartments, in order to enable the passengers to keep their balance when the vehicle undergoes pitching, rolling or winding movements as, for example, when the vehicle is traveling in a series of turns.
Those handles must therefore be very solidly fastened to the roof of the passenger compartment. The placement and fastening of those handles require manual or robotic operations which take place in a confined space, that of the passenger compartment. They are therefore inconvenient and, consequently, expensive. A need thus exists to rationalize those operations in order to lower the cost thereof.
This invention is specifically intended to provide a hinged handle having a structure designed to simplify the operations necessary for mounting it in the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle.
This invention is also intended to provide a method of mounting that handle which makes it possible to advantageously combine in the passenger compartment the mounting of the handle, of a roof liner and of inflatable bags (commonly called “airbags”) to protect the passengers in case of collisions.
Those objects of the invention, as well as others that will be apparent on reading the description which follows, are accomplished with a hinged handle, notably for motor vehicle passenger compartments, comprising an arch hinged on at least one means of fastening said arch on a support, that handle being noteworthy in that said means of fastening consists of an expandable pin and a stud engaged in said pin and movable between a first position in which it is idle and a second position in which it causes the stud to expand, the arch of said handle being arranged so that it can be pivoted to strike said stud, causing it to move from its first position to its second position.
As will be seen below, the use of the handle as a striker, on fastening of the latter, makes it possible to simplify the operations or tools necessary for mounting the handle. Furthermore, the use of expandable pins to fasten the handle gives the latter an exceptionally high tear resistance, contributing to passenger safety.
According to other characteristics of the handle of this invention, it comprises two means of fastening, each hinged to one of the two ends of the arch, said fastenings comprising means making it possible to retain the studs temporarily in their first position.
According to the invention, in order to mount this handle on a support, each fastening is engaged in a hole of the support, the stud being mounted in its first position on the pin of said member, and the arch of the handle is pivoted on the head of the stud to make it pass by impact to its second position, in which it produces the expansion and locking of the pin in said hole.
When this method is applied to a support forming part of the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle containing a ceiling designed to be covered with a roof liner, on the outside of the passenger compartment, several handles are mounted on said liner by engaging the pins of those handles in openings of the liner, the assembly thus formed is introduced in the passenger compartment by engaging the pins in holes in the passenger compartment provided to receive them, and the handles are pivoted to control by impact the expansion and locking of the pins in said holes.
The invention thus enables a motor vehicle body ceiling to be made with a liner fastened in proximity to the interior face of the roof of the vehicle by means of said handles. The ceiling can further contain at least one airbag installed between the liner and the roof next to the side edge of the liner, said airbag being fastened to said liner by at least one brittle lug.
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Dayoan D. Glenn
Engle Patricia
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
Renault
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