Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Hollow or container type article – Polymer or resin containing
Reexamination Certificate
2002-04-29
2004-01-13
Thomas, Alexander S. (Department: 1772)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Hollow or container type article
Polymer or resin containing
C428S036900, C428S122000, C049S490100, C049S498100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06677020
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a seal for the surround of an opening in motor vehicle bodywork, particularly the surround of a trunk, tailgate, quarter light, door or the like.
Such seals for surrounds generally comprise:
a section piece forming a clip with a U-shaped cross section, made of elastomer or of plastomer, usually including a rigid armature and intended to sit over and clip onto part of the surround of the opening in the motor vehicle bodywork, or a similar means of attachment to this surround;
and at least one tubular section piece made of an elastically deformable material, generally a cellular material, abutting, for example, a lateral branch or the base of the U-shaped section piece and projecting toward the outside from the surround of the opening, with a view to being compressed between the opening leaf and the surround, when the opening leaf is in the closed position, so as to seal the vehicle.
The U-shaped section piece and the tubular section piece are customarily made of thermoplastic or elastomeric materials and are produced by co-extrusion.
Aside from its sealing role, when compressed by the opening leaf when the latter is in the closed position, the tubular section piece also has a function of soundproofing the cabin of the vehicle.
Numerous forms of embodiment of such seals are known in the state of the art and all are generally aimed at improving their soundproofing properties, without detracting too greatly from the ability of the tubular section piece to deform.
The present invention relates to seals of the same general type but which, unlike those of the prior art, which were aimed at having excellent ability to deform, here locally put up greater resistance to deformation, under the influence of the opening leaf, when the latter is being closed.
Specifically, when motor vehicle doors are highly curved, they tend to deform as the vehicle runs along at high speed, under the effect of an external depression, and it is important to be able to oppose this deformation. With a seal which puts up greater resistance to the closing of the doors, these doors, having been closed, are preloaded, which allows them better to resist the external stresses when the vehicle is moving along at high speed.
Furthermore, with certain vehicle trunks, it is sometimes necessary that, when closing the opening leaf, the trunk seal at least locally puts up sufficient resistance to this to act as an end-of-travel damper, thus avoiding vibration occurring later.
The invention relates to a seal for a surround of an opening of a motor vehicle, which meets the requirements which have just been mentioned.
To this end, the subject of the invention is a seal for the surround of an opening in motor vehicle bodywork, this seal comprising a first section piece forming a clip of U-shaped cross section, made of elastomer or of plastomer, capable of sitting over and gripping a projecting part of the surround of the opening, and a second section piece of U-shaped cross section, made of an elastically deformable material, arranged to the side of the first section piece, with the ends of its branches abutting one of the flanges or the base of this first section piece, so as to form, with this flange, a tubular member, this second section piece comprising at least one orifice placing the inside of the section piece in communication with the outside and intended to be compressed elastically by the opening leaf associated with the opening in the bodywork, when this opening leaf is in the closed position, so as to seal at the surround, this seal being characterized in that, housed inside the second section piece and along at least part of its length, is a third section piece with a U-shaped cross section, which is smaller in size than the second section piece and the ends of the branches of which also abut the same flange or the base of the first section piece, this third section piece also being made of an elastically deformable material and intended to put up local resistance to the compressive force exerted by the opening leaf, while at the same time improving the sealing and soundproofing at the surround of the opening.
Like the second section piece, the third section piece may be pierced with at least one orifice placing the inside of this section piece in communication with its outside. It may also have no such orifice, for certain applications of the seal.
The third section piece of the seal according to the invention therefore has a three-fold function:
to put up greater resistance to the closing of the opening leaf;
to act as an end-of-travel damper for this opening leaf, when the latter reaches its closed position;
to oppose the passage of sound waves and thus better soundproof the cabin of the vehicle, when compressed by the opening leaf.
Depending on the importance attached by the vehicle manufacturer to any one of these functions, the third section piece may therefore extend only over part of the length of the second section piece which acts as a seal, or over the entire length thereof.
In order to improve the soundproofing qualities of this seal, the second and/or third section pieces may be locally sheathed with at least one flexible film made of a material different than the one of which they are made, or from similar material, but having different physical properties, this or these films extending only over part of the cross section and possibly over part of the length of the associated section piece, as described in French Patent Application No. 00 01655, filed on Feb. 10, 2000 and not published at the date of filing of the present application.
Of course, in order to improve the sealing properties of the seal according to the invention, an additional tubular section piece, made of an elastically deformable material is pierced with at least one orifice placing the inside of the section piece in communication with its outside, may abut the second section piece in a known way, on the outside thereof, in a position such that it too is compressed by the opening leaf when the latter is in the closed position, and this tubular section piece may, it too, be locally sheathed with a flexible film made of a material different than the one of which it is made, or of a similar material, but having different physical properties.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3378956 (1968-04-01), Parks et al.
patent: 3952455 (1976-04-01), McAlarney
patent: 0 613 800 (1994-09-01), None
patent: 0 622 261 (1994-11-01), None
patent: 2 793 196 (2000-11-01), None
patent: WO 98/21061 (1998-05-01), None
BTR Sealing Systems France
Scully Scott Murphy & Presser
Thomas Alexander S.
LandOfFree
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