Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-19
2001-05-22
Dickson, Paul N. (Department: 3618)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
C280S730200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06234515
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pillar garnish which is joined to a front pillar portion of an automobile, and more particularly to a structure for joining a pillar garnish including an air bag.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, passengers of an automobile are safely protected from a shock caused from collision by an air bag apparatus provided for the front portion and side portions in the cabin. To prevent collision of the head of a passenger with a side glass or the like in the event of a shock exerted from the side surface of an automobile, a pillar garnish
60
including an air bag A on the reverse side thereof is, in recent years, joined to a pillar portion
75
of the front portion of the car body, as shown in FIG.
19
. The pillar garnish
60
including the air bag is structured such that an inflater I disposed adjacent to an instrument panel P generates gas with which the air bag A is expanded as shown in FIG.
20
. Thus, the air bag A is expanded, thereby causing the pillar garnish
60
to be pushed and bent toward the inside portion of a cabin. Thus, a gap for permitting the air bag A to expand is formed between the pillar portion
75
of the car body and the pillar garnish
60
. The air bag A passes through the gap so that the air bag A is developed between a head T of a passenger and a window glass G as indicated with a chain line Bo shown in FIG.
19
. As a result, the head T of a passenger can be prevented.
The pillar garnish
60
including the air bag is structured such that great pressure is applied to the pillar garnish
60
in a direction toward the inside portion of the cabin when the air bag A is expanded and developed. Therefore, the pillar garnish
60
must be joined in such a manner that separation of the pillar garnish
60
from the pillar portion
75
of the car body and undesirable flying of the same can be prevented.
Hitherto, a joining structure, with which undesirable debris of the pillar garnish can be prevented, has been known which is arranged such that a bolt insertion hole in the form of a through hole is formed in each of upper and lower intermediate portions of the pillar garnish. Moreover, a bolt inserted into each bolt insertion hole is clamped and secured to the pillar portion of the car body. Note that the lower end of the pillar garnish is inserted into a hole or the like formed in the instrument panel P so as to be secured.
The joining structure using the bolt is arranged such that the pillar garnish is, in the bolt securing portion, completely secured to the pillar portion of the car body. Therefore, excessively large stress is exerted on the bolt securing portion when expansion of the air bag causes the side portion of the pillar garnish to be pressed and bent. Hence it follows that a conventional pillar garnish made of ABS resin (Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene resin) or PPF (PolyPropylene with inorganic material, for example, talc) cannot endure the foregoing stress. Thus, there is apprehension that the foregoing pillar garnish is broken. What is worse, the foregoing joining structure using the bolt must be arranged such that the operation for clamping the bolt can be performed from the designed surface (from the cabin portion) of the pillar garnish. Therefore, the head of the bolt appears on the designed side of the pillar garnish, causing the appearance to deteriorate. Accordingly, a blind cover is fitted to the bolt insertion hole from the designed surface of the pillar garnish. The blind cover portion is, however, easily recognized, causing the appearance to deteriorate.
To solve the above-mentioned problem caused from the blind cover, a structure, as shown in
FIG. 21
, may be employed in which a seat portion
62
is integrally formed to project over the reverse side of a predetermined position of a pillar garnish
60
. Moreover, a head
66
of a rod-shape fixing metal member
65
, such as a bolt, is embedded in the seat portion
62
. Another end
69
of the rod-shape fixing metal member
65
is inserted and secured to the inside portion of an engaging hole
76
formed in an inner panel
71
of a pillar portion
75
of the car body. The rod-shape fixing metal member
65
is made of metal and incorporating a shaft portion
67
which has an end formed into a head
66
having a large diameter. Another end
69
of the shaft portion
67
is provided with an engaging portion
68
. The illustrated rod-shape fixing metal member
65
incorporates a bolt and a nut which is the engaging portion
68
. Referring to the drawing, symbol F represents a front glass, symbol C represents an electric line extended from an engine room, reference numeral
77
represents an opening trim,
78
represents a glass-run channel and
79
represents a body frame.
When the joining structure shown in
FIG. 21
is employed, the existence of a side surface
63
of the seat portion
62
causes the thickness of the pillar garnish
60
to locally be changed. Hence it follows that sink mark
64
easily occurs, as shown in FIG.
22
. As a method of preventing occurrence of the sink mark
64
, a method may be employed with which thickness K
2
of the side surface
63
of the seat portion
62
is made to be smaller than thickness K
1
of the outer portion of the seat portion (it is preferable that K
2
is ½ of K
1
). If the thickness K
2
of the side surface
63
of the seat portion
62
is reduced until the sink mark
64
can be prevented, concentration of stress causes a crack to be formed in a base portion
61
a
of the side surface
63
of the seat portion
62
which serves as a hinge portion when the pillar garnish
60
is pushed and bent owing to the expansion of the air bag A, as shown in FIG.
23
.
The pillar garnish
60
structured as described above is formed such that the head
66
of the rod-shape fixing metal member
65
comprising the bolt or the like is directly insert-molded. In the foregoing case, the following fact is known: embedding of the head
66
causes the thickness of the resin portion of the pillar garnish upper than the head
66
, that is, the thickness of the resin portion of the pillar garnish which is surrounded by the side surface
63
of the seat portion
62
to be nonuniform. In this case, the foregoing structure easily encounters sink mark occurring in the designed surface of the pillar garnish
60
. The foregoing portion of a usual pillar garnish which is secured by the bolt or the like is usually formed into a curved surface owing to a requirement for improving the design quality. The head
66
of the usual rod-shape fixing metal member
65
, such as the bolt, is formed into a flat shape. Therefore, the distance from the surface of the head
66
of the rod-shape fixing metal member
65
to the designed surface of the pillar garnish
60
, that is, the thickness of the resin portion of the pillar garnish in the foregoing portion cannot easily be uniformed. Thus, occurrence of the sink mark cannot be prevented. When the thickness of the resin portion of the pillar garnish which is surrounded by the side surface
63
of the seat portion is attempted to be constant, the surface of the head
66
of the rod-shape fixing metal member
65
is formed to have a shape corresponding to the designed surface of the pillar garnish
60
. To employ the foregoing structure, a specially-designed rod-shape fixing metal member is required. In the foregoing case, required cost reduction is not permitted.
Moreover, it is preferable that the foregoing joining structure is arranged in such a manner that the quantity of projection of the pillar garnish
60
into the cabin is reduced to enlarge the space in the cabin in usual state. Moreover, when the air bag A is expanded, smooth expansion of the air bag A must be permitted by maximally enlarging the space for accommodating the air bag A, that is, maximally elongating the distance from the pillar portion
75
of the car body to the pillar garnish
60
. Therefore, the foregoing joining structure is arranged such that when the pillar ga
Dickson Paul N.
Fleming Faye M.
Inoac Corporation
Sughrue Mion Zinn Macpeak & Seas, PLLC
LandOfFree
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