Movable or removable closures – Panel with closure feature – With means to accommodate window accessory; e.g.,...
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-29
2001-01-09
Redman, Jerry (Department: 3634)
Movable or removable closures
Panel with closure feature
With means to accommodate window accessory; e.g.,...
C049S352000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06170199
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention concerns a motor vehicle door with a door body, an inner door panel, and a window lifter disposed within the door body.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A motor vehicle door is known, for example, from German patent DE 44 28 262 C1. This vehicle door includes a cable window lifter with one guide rail along which a carrier is moved by means of an appropriate motorized drive, which carrier in turn is connected with the window pane to be regulated. Thus, the regulating force of the drive motor is transferred to the window pane to be regulated via the carrier mounted on the guide rail.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to improve a vehicle door by reducing the number of parts and the weight of the door without impairing the stability or the rigidity of the vehicle door.
Accordingly, at least one functional element of the vehicle door not part of the regulating mechanism of the window lifter is connected with both the guide rail and the door body. This functional element may, for example, be a door pull handle, a speaker, a side air bag, or a door control device, i.e., in particular, functional elements which are, in fact, not components of a motor vehicle window lifter.
The functional element mentioned does not have to be connected directly to the guide rail and the door body; instead, even an indirect connection via at least one other component is conceivable. Thus, for example, the functional element may be disposed on a carrier element which is attached on the one hand to the door body and on the other to the guide rail. In the case of a two-strand window lifter, it is further conceivable to connect the functional element to both guide rails of the two-strand window lifter. Since the guide rails are in turn connected to the door body, this also results in an indirect attachment to the body.
In any case, it is advantageous with regard to the stabilization of the door body, which is frequently provided with a large cutout, if the functional element is connected with the door body, not only via a single guide rail, but also extends partially outside the guide rail over the large cutout in the door body.
In the solution according to the invention, the guide rail, which is customarily present and stably designed in a window lifter, is advantageously used to stably mount additional functional elements of the vehicle door without having to provide additional reinforcement zones in the vehicle door for this.
At the same time, it is possible to achieve stabilization of the door body by means of an appropriate arrangement of functional elements not primarily provided for reinforcement of the vehicle door, but rather for other purposes.
The functional element (or its carrier element) preferably has at least two attachment points at a distance from each other for connection with the guide rail on the one hand and with the door body on the other.
The functional element may, for example, be the door pull handle of a vehicle door, which is customarily formed on the inner door panel. For this, the inner door panel must be appropriately stably designed in the region of the pull handle. However, this measure is unnecessary if the pull handle is attached according to present invention to the guide rail on the one hand and to the body of the door on the other.
In addition, the vehicle door is further stabilized by the connection of the door body to the guide rail by means of the pull handle, because the pull handle here also assumes the function of a cross strut stabilizing the door.
This may also be accomplished with other functional elements of the vehicle door, such as a door control device or a speaker disposed on an appropriate carrier element.
In another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the functional element is designed as an air bag unit which is attached on the one hand to the guide rail and on the other to the door body. This ensures adequate stability in the connection zones between the air bag unit and vehicle door. Moreover, the air bag unit also assumes a stability function similar to the above-described pull handle.
Of course, several of the aforementioned functional components may be disposed simultaneously in the manner mentioned in the region of the vehicle door. Thus, a particularly clear increase in the stability of the vehicle the door is achieved.
The attachment points provided on the guide rail for the additional functional elements of the vehicle door may be formed on a base plate of the guide rail which is formed in known fashion to accommodate the window lifter drive on the guide rail.
Moreover, the guide rail may have on at least one of its end regions a widened area extending essentially along the plane of the window pane, which area is connected to the door body by at least one, but preferably two attachment points. This results in a particularly strong connection between the guide rail and the door body, which is advantageous in particular when high forces are to be accommodated by the guide rail, for example, in the case of the attachment of a side air bag.
According to another aspect of the invention, provision is made that at least one part of the inner door panel is connected with the guide rail. Thus, a preassemblable unit, which consists of the guide rail and the inner door panel, may be created. This can be assembled in advance outside the actual assembly site of the vehicle door and then installed as a unit in the corresponding vehicle door. This further simplifies and speeds up the assembly of a vehicle door.
This is true especially if the corresponding part of the inner door panel is attached exclusively to the guide rail. In this case, the guide rail merely needs to be attached to the door body in known fashion. The inner door panel connected to the guide rail is then also automatically attached to the vehicle door.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5062240 (1991-11-01), Brusasco
patent: 5090158 (1992-02-01), Bertolini
patent: 5430977 (1995-07-01), Kitayama et al.
patent: 5555677 (1996-09-01), DeRees et al.
patent: 5617675 (1997-04-01), Kobrehel
patent: 5868421 (1999-02-01), Eyrainer
patent: 2510220 (1976-09-01), None
patent: 8309452 (1986-11-01), None
patent: 4428262 (1996-01-01), None
patent: 0 243 235 (1987-10-01), None
patent: 2 626 534 (1989-01-01), None
patent: 2117329 (1983-10-01), None
patent: WO 99/27128 (1999-05-01), None
Burger Stefan
Feder Roland
Neuss Sabine
Pleiss Eberhard
Stenzel Manfred
Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH & Co. KG
Christie Parker & Hale LLP
Redman Jerry
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