Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Tops – Roof structure
Reexamination Certificate
1998-08-27
2001-07-10
Pedder, Dennis H. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Tops
Roof structure
Reexamination Certificate
active
06257658
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an open roof construction for a vehicle having an opening in its fixed roof, which construction comprises a closing element, in particular a panel, for selectively closing or at least partially releasing the roof opening, operating mechanism comprising a link formed of a metal plate or the like, is connected to said closing element and is fixed at the location of points of attachment. The link is provided with a slot for guiding a pin or the like, which slot is defined by plastic material on at least one side.
2. Description of the Related Art
An open roof construction of this kind is for example known from DE-U-91 16 421.4, DE-C-44 05 742 and from EP-A-0 747 249.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to further improve such known open roof constructions.
To this end, a first embodiment of the open roof construction according to the invention, wherein said plastic material is present on two sides, at least partially between metal plates, is characterized in that said link is formed of a single metal plate, at least at the location of said points of attachment.
The advantage of this construction according to the invention is on the one hand the presence of a sandwich construction at said slot, whereby the plastic material is firmly enclosed between the metal plate portions, whilst only a single metal plate or the like is present at the location of the points of attachment, so that problems caused by the presence of plastic material or a second metal plate are avoided there. This makes it possible to select the design such that the metal and the plastic material will only be present in those places where this is advantageous from a constructional point of view. Thus, the link may in substance only be formed of a double metal plate at the location of said slot. This will minimize the use of material.
In the case that two separate metal plates are provided, it is advantageous when the plate, which is used for the attachment, in particular to the closing element, is thicker than the other plate, which is used for accommodating or confining the plastic material. In this way, the metal plates can be optimized on the basis of their respective functions.
In one embodiment, wherein the plastic material has been formed on the metal plate by means of an injection molding technique, a further improvement is the fact that a lip portion of the metal plate is encased, adjacent to said link slot, at least partially with plastic material, and is for example provided with recesses or the like to allow the plastic material to pass during said injection molding.
Thus, at least parts of the metal plate adjacent to the link slot are embedded in said plastic material, so that the plastic material and the metal plate are anchored extra securely with respect to each other. Said recesses may consist of discrete openings provided near said link slot or of notches, which extend from the slot which is formed in the metal plate before the link slot, thus forming projections which extend into the plastic material.
According to yet another improvement of the invention, the plastic material of the slot is at least partially formed of a rubber elastic base layer and a surface having a low coefficient of friction. The surface may consist of a separate material, such as Teflon, or be smoothed by means of a surface treatment or the like of the rubber elastic material. It is possible to form only one side of the slot in this manner.
The advantage of this embodiment is the fact that it is possible to select negative tolerances for the link slot, so that there will be no rattling of the pin in the link slot, not even after a prolonged period of time. The surface having the low coefficient of friction thereby ensures that there will not be any excessive resistance against movement of the pin in the link in the case that negative tolerances are used.
The invention will be explained in more detail hereafter with reference to the drawings, which are highly schematic views of an embodiment of the open roof construction according to the invention.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4630859 (1986-12-01), Bienert et al.
patent: 4647106 (1987-03-01), Furst
patent: 5066068 (1991-11-01), Suzuki et al.
patent: 5154482 (1992-10-01), Hayashi et al.
patent: 5593204 (1997-01-01), Wahl et al.
patent: 3920372 (1990-08-01), None
patent: 91 16 421 U (1992-11-01), None
patent: 9116421 (1992-12-01), None
patent: 44 05 742 C1 (1995-05-01), None
patent: 0 747 249 A1 (1996-12-01), None
patent: 403025026 (1991-02-01), None
Boersma Egbert
Nabuurs Martinus Wilhelmus Maria
Reivers Petrus Gerardus Marie
Inalfa Industries B.V.
Pedder Dennis H.
Westman Champlin & Kelly P.A.
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