Movable or removable closures – Closure seal; e.g. – striker gasket or weatherstrip – Plural distinct seals
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-26
2003-11-04
Redman, Jerry (Department: 3634)
Movable or removable closures
Closure seal; e.g., striker gasket or weatherstrip
Plural distinct seals
C049S498100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06640499
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a door weather strip structure for preventing water intruding from the roof of an automobile, and flowing down after passing through a gap between respective door weather strips and a door sash from making ingress into the interior of the automobile from a lower part of a front pillar.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to
FIGS. 1
to
4
, and
FIG. 6
, description is given hereinafter. In
FIG. 6
, there are employed symbols of an isosceles triangle wherein an altitude is drawn from a vertex thereof and half of the isosceles triangle, on one side of the altitude, is filled-in with black, and a region defined by a filled-in side part of the respective symbols represents a molded part, and respective regions on the unfilled-in side of the respective symbols represent extruded parts. A conventional door weather strip structure comprised of a first weather strip
10
having a hollow seal part
11
, and a second weather strip
12
having a seal lip
13
is fitted to a door sash
20
of an automobile.
With such a conventional door weather strip structure, a high foam sponge
26
of an open-cell structure, having apparent specific gravity at around 0.1, is pasted to a portion of the first weather strip
10
, corresponding to a lower part of a front pillar
24
, to the extent on the order of 60 mm in length, with the use of a double-sided adhesive tape
27
.
Because the molded part
14
having rigidity higher than that for the extruded parts, and lacking in adhesiveness is positioned in a corner of the door sash
20
, corresponding to the roof
23
of the automobile, water
30
such as rain water is prone to intrude from the molded part
14
. Further, the water
30
as intruded flows down towards a front pillar
24
after passing through a gap passage
15
formed among the first weather strip
10
, the second weather strip
12
, and the door sash
20
, whereupon the water
30
makes ingress into the interior
28
of the automobile through a lower part of the front pillar
24
, corresponding to spots where the door sash
20
is fixedly attached to a door panel
29
by welding. The high foam sponge
26
is installed in order to block intrusion of the water
30
due to such reasons as described above.
However, since the high foam sponge
26
is attached to the termination of the gap passage
15
, at a portion of the first weather strip
10
, corresponding to the lower part of the front pillar
24
, an abundance of the water
30
is allowed to intrude over the whole length of the gap passage
15
, so that the gap passage
15
will be in a state of storing the water
30
therein. Accordingly, it is difficult to prevent intrusion of the water
30
by use of the high foam sponge
26
alone. Particularly, in case of the high foam sponge
26
having undergone degradation due to change with aging, and so forth, intrusion of the water
30
becomes pronounced.
Furthermore, according to the conventional techniques, pasting of the high foam sponge
26
is carried out by use of the double-sided adhesive tape
27
, and this has raised a problem that every time such pasting is carried out, manual work is involved at the expense of much time and effort, consequently leading to deterioration in productivity.
Therefore, a problem to be resolved by the invention is that since the conventional door weather strip structure comprised of the first weather strip
10
and the second weather strip
12
is intended to block intrusion of the water
30
into the interior of the automobile by pasting the high foam sponge
26
to the termination of the gap passage
15
by use of the double-sided adhesive tape
27
, it has been difficult to ensure blocking of the intrusion of the water
30
, and pasting work would require much time and effort, resulting in poor productivity
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
With reference to
FIGS. 1
,
5
, and
6
, description is given hereinafter. The present invention provides a door weather strip structure comprised of a first weather strip
10
having a hollow seal part
11
and a second weather strip
12
having a seal lip
13
and fitted into a door sash
20
, wherein a seal block
25
kept in elastic contact with a retainer
21
of the door sash
20
is provided in the vicinity of a connection between a molded part
14
which is a portion of the second weather strip
12
, corresponding to the roof
23
of an automobile, and an extruded part
17
on the side of a pillar, positioned on a side opposite from an extruded part
16
on the side of a center pillar, so that water
30
as intruded from the molded part
14
is prevented from flowing down through a gap passage
15
formed among the first weather strip
10
, the second weather strip
12
, and the door sash
20
, and making ingress into the interior of the automobile through a lower part of a front pillar
24
.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4901476 (1990-02-01), Nagashima et al.
patent: 5347758 (1994-09-01), Yamane
patent: 5462292 (1995-10-01), Yamane
patent: 6131342 (2000-10-01), Miyamoto et al.
patent: 19835400 (1999-02-01), None
Soda Masaki
Yamashita Takashi
Flynn ,Thiel, Boutell & Tanis, P.C.
Nishikawa Rubber Co. Ltd.
Redman Jerry
LandOfFree
Door weather strip structure does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Door weather strip structure, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Door weather strip structure will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3132829