Automotive air duct and garnish structure

Details Automotive air duct and garnish structure Automotive air duct and garnish structure

2000-11-27

2001-11-13

Pape, Joseph D. (Department: 3612)

Land vehicles: bodies and tops

Bodies

Structural detail

C296S214000, C454S137000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06315354

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automotive air duct and garnish structure which is preferable in obtaining a wider field of view.
2. Description of the Related Art
There exist vehicles in which an air duct is disposed on a passenger compartment side of a pillar and in which the air duct is wrapped around with a garnish. The air duct and garnish structure will be described below with reference to FIG.
14
.
FIG. 14
is a cross-sectional view showing a related automotive air duct and garnish structure. A pillar
102
is constituted by an outer panel
100
and an inner panel
101
, and a window glass
103
is mounted along a side of the pillar
102
. An air duct
104
is disposed on passenger compartment sides of the pillar
102
and an edge portion of the window glass
103
, and further, a garnish
105
is mounted on a passenger compartment side of the air duct
104
so that the air duct
104
is wrapped around with the garnish
105
. Then, a range on an interior side of the window glass
103
is painted black from an edge portion
105
b
of the garnish
105
to the side of the pillar
102
so as to form a painted-black opaque portion
106
.
As with the related art air duct and garnish structure in which the pillar
102
is thick, in a case where the air duct
104
is disposed only on the passenger compartment side of the pillar
102
, the air duct
104
largely protrudes into the passenger compartment, whereby the space in the passenger compartment is reduced.
Since the cross-sectional area of the air duct
104
cannot be modified with a view to securing a predetermined amount of air ventilation, in order to avoid a risk that the space inside the passenger compartment is reduced as described above, the protruding amount of the air duct
104
into the passenger compartment is reduced by disposing the air duct
104
on a passenger compartment side of a boundary between the pillar
102
and the window glass
103
which is disposed adjacent to the pillar
102
.
However, since the air duct
104
extends over a side of the window glass
103
, the garnish
105
covers a part of the window glass
103
, this deteriorating the field of view.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention was made to cope with the above problem, and an object thereof is to provide an automotive air duct and garnish structure which can provide a wider field of view in the event that an air duct is disposed at a pillar portion.
With a view to attaining the above object, according to the invention, there is provided an automotive air duct and garnish structure for an automotive vehicle wherein an air duct is vertically disposed inside a passenger compartment at a boundary between a pillar and a window glass and wherein said air duct is wrapped around with a garnish. A portion of the air duct which is closer to the window glass is formed to constitute a convex cross-sectional portion protruding outwardly of the air duct, and that the garnish is wrapped around the convex cross-sectional portion, whereby an end portion of the garnish which is closer to the window glass is positioned closer to the pillar.
The portion of the air duct which is closer to the window glass is formed to constitute the convex cross-sectional portion protruding outwardly of the air duct, and the garnish is wrapped around the convex cross-sectional portion, whereby the end portion of the garnish which is closer to the window glass is positioned closer to the pillar.
As a result of this, the portion of the window glass which is covered with the end portion of the garnish which is closer to the window glass is reduced, and in addition, since the convex cross-sectional portion is provided on the air duct, it is possible to obtain a wider field of view without reducing the cross-sectional area of the air duct.


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patent: 1-141164 (1989-06-01), None

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