Hood structure

Details Hood structure Hood structure

2000-02-15

2001-05-15

Pape, Joseph D. (Department: 3612)

Land vehicles: bodies and tops

Bodies

Door or window with specified vehicle feature

C296S107070

Reexamination Certificate

active

06231110

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hood structure preferable for smoothly folding a rear window of a foldable hood of a convertible car.
2. Description of the Related Art
Convertible cars comprise a foldable hood for coping with the rainy weather. The hood will be explained hereinafter.
FIGS. 7A
to
7
C are diagrams for explaining the state of folding a conventional hood.
In
FIG. 7A
, the imaginary line denotes the state of a hood
101
of a convertible car
100
expanded for use.
The hood
101
comprises an upper part
102
, a side part
103
, and a rear part
105
provided with a resin rear window
104
, with a plurality of links (not shown) disposed in the inside so as to be folded in a certain shape for storage. Numeral
106
denotes a front window, and
107
a car body.
The hood
101
has the front end of the upper part
102
interlocked with the front window
106
, and the lower ends of the side part
103
and the rear part
105
mounted on the car body
107
, respectively. The rear part
105
is a curved surface projected backward so as to have an arc-like shape in the car width direction, connected with the upper part
102
and the side part
103
smoothly. The rear window
104
forms a part of the curved surface.
In storing the hood
101
, first, the upper part
102
is bent at a bending part
108
by disconnecting the interlock of the upper part
102
of the hood
101
and the front window
106
, and moving the upper part
102
to the rear upper direction.
Next, the side part
103
is folded and pulled down as well as the rear window
104
is bent at a bending part
111
.
In
FIG. 7B
, the upper part
102
, the side part
103
and the rear part
105
are further pulled down backward for folding, so as to be stored in the car body
107
as shown in FIG.
7
C.
FIG. 8
is a perspective view of the hood of FIG.
7
B. In bending vertically the rear window
104
, which has been curved, projecting backward so as to have an arc-like shape in the car width direction before folding, a fold
112
is formed at the bending part
111
, and further, folds
113
to
116
elongating from the fold
112
in the substantially vertical direction are formed.
In the case opening and closing of the hood
101
is repeated, there is a risk that particularly the intersections
117
,
118
of the folds
112
to
116
are stretched so that some parts of the rear window
104
may not be fully opened at the time of spreading the hood
101
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above, an object of the invention is to provide a hood structure capable of maintaining a rear window in a flat state at the time of spreading the hood.
In order to achieve the object, according to the invention, there is provided a hood structure comprising a foldable hood of a convertible car provided with a rear window to be folded at the time of folding the hood, wherein the rear window is a curved window having a substantially rectangular shape, curved with an arc-like shape in the car width direction, with flexible frames disposed parallel along the upper side and the lower side of the curved window, mounted to the hood.
In folding the rear window, tension of the hood caused by the links and crosspieces (not illustrated) can be eliminated so that the flexible frames regain the straight shape for eliminating the curvature of the rear window in the car width direction.
Accordingly, the hood can be folded at the linear fold substantially parallel to the upper side and the lower side entirely in the car width direction of the rear window.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3091494 (1963-05-01), Cohen
patent: 4799727 (1989-01-01), Robbins et al.
patent: 5015028 (1991-05-01), Bonnett
patent: 5050663 (1991-09-01), Rhoads et al.
patent: 5454615 (1995-10-01), Schnepf
patent: 5558390 (1996-09-01), Hemmis et al.
patent: 6082807 (2000-07-01), Hartmann et al.

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