Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Door or window with specified vehicle feature
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-12
2003-02-18
Dayoan, D. Glenn (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Door or window with specified vehicle feature
C296S147000, C296S190110, C296S183100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06520562
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a glass holding device for mid-gates of vehicles, such as SUTs (sport utility trucks) having a passenger compartment and a cargo compartment partitioned by a mid-gate, and loading passengers in addition to hauling light freight, and, more particularly, to a glass holding device for such mid-gates designed to safely and easily house the glass in the gate body when laying down the mid-gate to unify the two compartments into a single compartment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have been proposed and used in some vehicles, such as SUTs, having a passenger compartment and a cargo compartment in front and back of a mid-gate, respectively. As shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
, the mid-gate
100
of such a vehicle has a folding structure for allowing a user to partition or unify the passenger compartment and the cargo compartment as desired. The mid-gate
100
typically has a gate body
101
at its lower portion and a glass
102
at its upper portion. Since the mid-gate
100
is sometimes required to be laid on the floor of a vehicle to unify the passenger and cargo compartments into a single compartment, the mid-gate
100
is preferably designed such that it is transformed into a compact size.
In order to accomplish the above object, the mid-gate
100
according to an embodiment of the prior art is designed such that its glass
102
is slidably extended from or retracted into a glass reception space defined in the gate body
101
as shown in FIG.
3
. In another embodiment of the prior art, the mid-gate
100
is designed such that the glass
102
is rotatably connected to the upper portion of the gate body
101
so as to be folded relative to the body
101
as shown in FIG.
4
.
However, the conventional mid-gate
100
having the sliding structure of
FIG. 3
has the following problems. That is, a substantial gap “G” must be formed between the gate body
101
and the glass
102
so as to allow a smooth sliding movement of the glass
102
relative to the gate body
101
. Due to the gap “G”, the mid-gate
100
undesirably generates noise during a sliding movement of the glass
101
in the gate body
101
, in addition to causing an easy breakage of the glass
102
when the glass
102
is subjected to an impact. The above mid-gate
100
also forces a user to forcibly draw the grass
102
upward from the gate body
101
when it is necessary to partition the passenger compartment from the cargo compartment. The mid-gate
100
is thus inconvenient to users.
The mid-gate
100
having the glass folding structure of
FIG. 4
is problematic as follows. That is, the mid-gate
100
with the exposed and folded glass
102
must be rotated to partition or unify the passenger compartment and the cargo compartment, the glass
102
may be easily contaminated with impurities on its surfaces, or may be easily broken when it collides with a hard material.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art. An object of the present invention is to provide a glass holding device for mid-gates of vehicles, which is designed to safely and easily house a glass in a gate body when unifying a passenger compartment and a cargo compartment into a single compartment by laying down a mid-gate on the floor of a vehicle.
In order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a glass holding device for mid-gates of vehicles, comprising: a first hinge unit provided at the upper portion of a gate body for rotatably connecting the lower end of a glass to the upper portion of the gate body; a folding trim panel rotatably mounted at the lower end thereof to the lower portion of the gate body using a second hinge unit; and a panel fastening unit for fastening or releasing the trim panel to or from the gate body.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2747921 (1956-05-01), Hooverson et al.
patent: 3770312 (1973-11-01), Shadburn
patent: 5934727 (1999-08-01), Storc et al.
patent: 6260916 (2001-07-01), Hunt
patent: 6419299 (2002-07-01), Pyo
patent: 2002/0074821 (2002-06-01), Pyo
patent: 569490 (1924-04-01), None
patent: 63-141823 (1988-06-01), None
patent: 63-176717 (1988-07-01), None
patent: 5-112142 (1993-05-01), None
Antonelli Terry Stout & Kraus LLP
Dayoan D. Glenn
Engle Patricia L.
Hyundai Motor Company
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