Closure fasteners – Operators with knobs or handles
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-20
2002-10-29
Estremsky, Gary (Department: 3677)
Closure fasteners
Operators with knobs or handles
C292SDIG003, C292SDIG002
Reexamination Certificate
active
06471263
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved glass release button assembly of an automotive tailgate capable of enhancing operational stability and ease of assembly.
(b) Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1
shows a tailgate equipped with a conventional tailgate glass release button assembly.
FIG. 2
is a side cross-sectional elevation view of the conventional tailgate glass release button assembly and
FIG. 3
is a cross-sectional view cut along the line III—III of FIG.
1
.
The tailgate glass release button assembly
2
comprises a mounting bay
16
installed in an outer panel
6
of the tailgate
4
so as to be inset into the outer panel, and a release button
12
mounted into the inset mounting bay
16
.
The release button
12
has an inner space in which a spring
10
is installed such that one end of the spring
10
contacts the mounting bay
16
and the elastic force of the spring
10
returns the button
12
to it's outwardly extended position after it is depressed and released. Also, the release button
12
has a pair of pin slots (not shown) formed on two sidewalls facing each other, through which a pin
14
supported by the mounting bay
16
passes, so as to prevent the button
12
from being separated from the mounting bay
16
.
The release button
12
has a push rod
24
extended from its open end such that when the release button
12
is depressed, the push rod
24
pushes one end of an opening lever
22
. One end of the opening lever
22
is pivotally connected to a link assembly
44
which interacts with the opening lever
22
such that if the push rod
24
pushes up on one end of the opening lever, the other end where the link assembly
44
is connected is pulled down by a lever effect. This causes a latch
46
connected to the other end of the link assembly
44
to be pulled so as to release the glass
8
from the tailgate panel.
However, this conventional tailgate glass release button assembly has a drawback in that the button is unstable and it is difficult to assembly, especially when fastening nuts used to affix it to the tailgate.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in an effort to solve the above problems of the prior art.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved tailgate glass release button assembly capable of reducing whole manufacturing costs by avoiding usage of the pin acting as a stopper of the release button and making the assembly process easy by facilitating a snap-in installation of the release button.
To achieve the above object, a tailgate glass release button assembly according to the present invention comprises a button-mounting unit installed into a release button assembly hole formed in an outer panel of a tailgate for providing a socket, a button plugged into the socket of the button-mounting unit, and a spring interposed between the button-mounting unit and the button for returning the button after being depressed, wherein the button-mounting unit comprises more than one hanger formed around an upper portion of the button-mounting unit for preventing the button-mounting unit from being separated before being fastened.
REFERENCES:
patent: 190074 (1877-04-01), Penfield
patent: 3604230 (1971-09-01), Tixier
patent: 5029917 (1991-07-01), Szerlag
patent: 5297405 (1994-03-01), Manning
patent: 6106036 (2000-08-01), Okada
patent: 6299223 (2001-10-01), Ji
Estremsky Gary
Hyundai Motor Company
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