Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Tops – Roof structure
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-30
2001-08-07
Pedder, Dennis H. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Tops
Roof structure
C296S220010, C296S216090
Reexamination Certificate
active
06270154
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a motor vehicle roof with at least two raisable and movable rigid cover elements for selective closing or at least partial clearance of a roof opening with gutters which run laterally along the roof opening.
2. Description of Related Art
Motor vehicle roofs of the initially mentioned type can be, for example, multi-cover roofs or louvered roofs, and are subject to the problem that water which has collected on the roof surface when the roof is closed or partially closed, runs between the individual cover elements and penetrates into the vehicle interior when the roof is opened.
Various roof structures have been proposed in which this problem was considered, but the roof structures known to date are all subject to disadvantages.
For example, German Patent DE 197 56 021 C1 discloses a motor vehicle roof which has several covers, in which the front end of the cover element in the direction of forward vehicle travel has a bead-shaped seal for sealing of the gap between the two adjacent cover elements. In front of the seal, there is a lip which is pointed upward in order to form a gutter when the roof is in the opened state. However, since this gutter is not large enough to drain the water on the cover elements into the gutters which are arranged laterally along the vehicle when the roof is being opened, underneath the cover arrangement there is a headliner which is impermeable to water and which, when the roof is opening, forms undulations with which the water shooting over the gutter of the seal is routed into the laterally running gutters. In this approach, however, it is a disadvantage that there are limitations in the choice and in the configuration of the headliner. Furthermore, the headliner has become an essential component of such a roof structure which cannot be replaced by blinds or a movable plate headliner in a roof structure for transparent cover elements.
European Patent 0571890 discloses an embodiment with a roof structure having of a host of cover elements, the cover elements being composed of extruded elements. With the roof closed, a gap is formed between the adjacent cover elements; in the direction of forward vehicle travel, in front of this gap, there is a seal which together with the gap forms a gutter, and in front of the seal there is a front gutter which is formed in one piece with the cover element. The disadvantage in this arrangement is that the gutter formed by the gap and the seal is continually opened to the outside, and thus, under certain circumstances, is already filled with water so that, when the roof is opened, this gap or this gutter can no longer hold water and all the water flowing off the cover element must be accommodated by the front gutter which then can no longer drain water into the side gutters, so that water can reach the vehicle interior. Furthermore, over time, the gap can be filled with dirt, such as leaves or the like, so that water can no longer flow out via the gap. In addition, the gap can lead to significant wind noise when the vehicle is being driven.
Published UK Patent Application GB 2 259 284 discloses a roof arrangement which is basically similar to the roof of European Patent 0571890.
German Patent 44 43 525 discloses a roof formed of louvers which have, in the joint area between bordering louvers, an elastic seal on a water drain of the back louver element. An elastically flexible section is molded on in one piece to the seal and can move by a butt edge of the movable front roof louver, depending on the opening and closing motion of this roof louver, between a relieved rest position which is raised up and which forms surge water protection, and a loading position which fills the gap between the adjacent louver elements and which tightly overlaps the water drain. In the direction of travel, above the movable sealing section, there is an additional, somewhat smaller gutter on the sealing arrangement.
The disadvantage in this arrangement is that the movable sealing section can adhere to the back roof louver when the roof arrangement is kept closed for a long time, or over time it loses elastic pretension and then no longer executes its motion upward to clear the surge water gutter, so that all the water on the louver element must be accommodated by the additional smaller gutter and must be drained off laterally. In this case, the additional small gutter is overtaxed with the drainage of water so that water can penetrate into the vehicle interior.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, a primary object of this invention is to devise a vehicle roof of the initially mentioned type in which penetration of water between the cover elements is effectively prevented.
This object is achieved by a vehicle roof with at least two raisable cover elements for selective closing or at least partial exposing a roof opening, with gutters which run laterally lengthwise along the roof opening, a bead-shaped seal which is located transversely in the direction of travel on the front edge of the cover element and which, with the roof closed fills and seals the gap between adjacent cover elements, a primary gutter which is located in front of the bead-shaped seal, and a second gutter which is located in front of the primary gutter, so that two gutters arranged in a cascade are formed, the end sides of the primary and secondary gutter being located over the gutters which run laterally along the roof opening in order to drain off the water which is located on the cover element with the cover elements raised.
This overall arrangement makes it possible to successfully prevent penetration of water which is located on the cover element, and the need a water-carrying headliner eliminated. The bead-shaped seal which is located in the gap between the cover elements prevents penetration of water in the closed state of the roof, generation of wind noise being suppressed. When the roof is being opened or with the roof open the primary gutter prevents penetration of water by the water which is running off the cover element being drained to the lateral gutters via the primary gutter. For the case in which a large amount of water which can no longer be managed via the primary gutter is to be drained, there is an additional secondary gutter, by which the penetration of water into the vehicle interior can be prevented under all conditions.
Advantageously the secondary gutter can be made as a U-shaped rail which is attached via an adhesive connection on the lower front side of the cover element. In this way, the rail is used not only as the drain gutter, but also to stiffen the cover element, especially when the cover element is a transparent pane of glass or plastic. Furthermore, the rail can be used to easily accommodate the bead-shaped seal without the need to provide additional attachment means for the seal.
Furthermore, there can be a primary gutter that is formed as a lip which is made in one piece with the bead-shaped seal, and which, with the roof closed, presses against the rear of the underside of the front adjacent cover element and thus advantageously represents an additional seal.
On the rear underside of the front adjacent cover element, a strip which extends in the width direction can be attached via an adhesive connection, and it is used as further stiffening of the cover element. When the strip is arranged such that, with the roof closed, the strip is held by the U-shaped rail, this interfitting arrangement of the rail and strip is used as intruder protection, since with pressure from above, the roof the rail and the strip are wedged into one another.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5727839 (1998-03-01), Ruhringer et al.
patent: 5961177 (1998-10-01), Caye et al.
patent: 0 571 890 (1995-04-01), None
patent: 2 259 284 (1993-03-01), None
Nixon & Peabody LLP
Pedder Dennis H.
Safran David S.
Webasto Vehicle Systems International GmbH
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