Electric lid closure

Closure fasteners – Keepers – With movable dog – catch or striker

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C292SDIG004, C292S340000, C049S280000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06193288

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electric lid closures which close and open a lid by force of an electric power, and more particularly to electric lid closures of a type which is applied to a trunk lid of a motor vehicle to draw down the lid to its full close position by force of the electric power once the lid comes to a predetermined almost close position.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hitherto, various lid closures of the above-mentioned type have been proposed and put into practical use particularly in the field of motor vehicles. Some are of a type which comprises a lock unit mounted on a trunk lid and an electric closing unit mounted on a mouth portion of a trunk room of the vehicle. The lock unit includes a latch plate and a locking plate. The electric closing unit comprises an electric motor and a movable base plate formed with a striker. When the trunk lid is pivoted down to an almost close position where the latch plate engages with the striker, the electric closing unit starts to operate and causes the movable base plate to move downward thereby to draw down the trunk lid, via the latched striker, to a full close position by force of the electric motor. Upon sensing the full close position reached by the trunk lid, the electric closing unit stops its operation. In this full close position of the trunk lid, the movable base plate assumes its lower work position and a water-tight sealing between the periphery of the trunk lid and that of the trunk room mouth by means of a weather strip disposed therebetween.
When, under this full close position of the trunk lid, a trunk open lever arranged in the vehicle cabin is manipulated by a driver or passenger, the locking plate disengages the latch plate causing the same to release the trunk lid. Upon sensing the disengagement of the latch plate from the locking plate, the electric closing unit starts to run in a reversed direction and moves up the movable base plate to its upper stand-by position. When the movable base plate reaches this upper stand-by position, operation of the electric closing unit stops.
In the electric lid closures of the above-mentioned type, an arrangement is conventionally employed wherein a first direction along which the latch plate moves toward the striker for engagement therewith is in parallel with a second direction along which the movable base plate travels from the upper stand-by position to the lower work position.
However, this parallel moving arrangement tends to cause a slanted posture of the electric closing unit on the trunk room mouth when the above-mentioned first direction is angled relative to the electric closing unit. In fact, this angled relation is needed by the weather strip for achieving an assured water-tight sealing between the trunk lid and the trunk room mouth.
However, the slanted posture of the electric closing unit inevitably causes a lower portion thereof to be largely projected into the trunk room, which reduces an effective capacity of the trunk room.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an electric lid closure which is free of the above-mentioned drawback.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electric lid closure for use with an automotive trunk lid which pivots to close a trunk room of the vehicle. The electric lid closure comprises a lock unit adapted to be mounted to the trunk lid, the lock unit including a latch plate; and an electric closing unit adapted to be mounted to a mouth portion of the trunk room, the electric closing unit including a support base, a striker base pivotally connected through a pivot pin to the support base, a striker formed on the striker base and engageable with the latch plate, and an electric power mechanism for pivoting the striker base between uppermost and lowermost positions by an electric power, wherein a leading edge of the striker is inclined relative to an imaginary plane over which the striker base turns about the pivot pin.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electric lid closure for use with an automotive trunk lid which pivots to close a trunk room of the vehicle. The electric lid closure comprises a lock unit adapted to be mounted to the trunk lid, the lock unit including a latch plate and a lock base, the lock base being formed with a striker inserting guide slot; and an electric closing unit adapted to be mounted to a mouth portion of the trunk room, the electric closing unit including a support base, a striker base pivotally connected through a pivot pin to the support base, a striker bar defined by the striker base and capable of inserting into the striker inserting guide slot for engagement with the latch plate, wherein the striker bar has a generally trapezoidal cross section with a leading edge thereof made thinner than a trailing edge thereof.


REFERENCES:
patent: Re. 33758 (1991-12-01), Compeau
patent: 4237709 (1980-12-01), Krugener
patent: 4470626 (1984-09-01), Gergoe
patent: 5209531 (1993-05-01), Thau
patent: 5217266 (1993-06-01), Kostler
patent: 5443292 (1995-08-01), Shimada et al.
patent: 5494324 (1996-02-01), Kleefeldt
patent: 5785364 (1998-07-01), Kleefeldt
patent: 5785365 (1998-07-01), Lorey

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