Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Structural detail
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-17
2001-07-03
Pape, Joseph D. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Structural detail
C296S190050, C296S205000, C296S203010, C296S203030
Reexamination Certificate
active
06254174
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to rear pillars of automobiles and, more particularly, to a reinforcement structure for such a rear pillar, with a reinforcing panel of the rear pillar being integrated with the upper end of a quarter panel at its upper end, thus forming a closed cavity within the rear pillar and increasing the structural strength of the rear pillar.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As well known to those skilled in the art, a conventional automobile typically consists of a body and a chassis. The body forms a desired appearance of the automobile, with a plurality of parts having a variety of shapes and being appropriately assembled into a single body. The rear portion of an automobile body having a rear hatch T is shown in FIG.
1
.
As shown in the drawing, the rear hatch T is hinged to the top edge of the rear portion of the body in a way such that the rear hatch T is rotatable around the hinged junction through a raise or lower type motion, thus being selectively opened or closed. The automobile having such a rear hatch T is also provided with two rear pillars
10
at opposite sides of the body's rear portion.
FIG. 2
is a perspective view, showing the interior structure of a conventional rear pillar
10
designated by the circled portion C of FIG.
1
.
FIG. 3
is a sectional view taken along the line A—A of FIG.
2
. As shown in the drawings, two longitudinal rear pillars
10
upwardly extend at opposite sides of the body's rear portion.
Each of the rear pillars
10
comprises an inside upper quarter panel
12
and an inside lower quarter panel
14
, which extend upwardly while being integrated together into a single body at ends thereof through a welding process. A reinforcing panel
16
extends upwardly at a position outside the inside upper quarter panel
12
while being spaced apart from the quarter panel
12
. The above panel
16
is integrated with the welded junction of the two quarter panels
12
and
14
at its lower end. The upper end of the reinforcing panel
16
is integrated with the upper end of a side panel
18
. Both a roof panel
20
and a rear upper roof rail
22
are commonly integrated with the welded junction of both the reinforcing panel
16
and the side panel
18
. A rear lower roof rail
24
extends inside the rear upper roof rail
22
while being spaced apart from the rail
22
, and is integrated with the upper end of the inside upper quarter panel
12
.
In the interior of each rear pillar
10
, the lower end of the reinforcing panel
16
is integrated with the upper end of the inside lower quarter panel
14
as best seen in FIG.
2
. On the other hand, the upper end of the reinforcing panel
16
is integrated with both the rear upper roof rail
22
and a roof side rail
26
. In a brief description, the reinforcing panel
16
, the rear upper roof rail
22
, and the roof side rail
26
form an upper corner portion of the rear pillar
10
.
In the above structure, the upper corner portion of the rear pillar
10
absorbs impact through the inside upper quarter panel
12
, the reinforcing panel
16
, the rear upper roof rail
22
, and the roof side rail
26
when any impact is applied thereto.
However, the conventional rear pillar
10
undesirably allows noise to be transmitted from tires of wheels to the channel between the rear upper and rear lower roof rails
22
and
24
through the channel between the inside upper quarter panel
12
and the reinforcing panel
16
during operation of the automobile. Therefore, the conventional rear pillar
10
does not accomplish a desired reduction in operational noise during operation of an automobile. This makes passengers within the passenger compartment feel uncomfortable.
In addition, the lower end of the reinforcing panel
16
is integrated with the upper end of the inside lower quarter panel
14
through a welding process, and so a desired structural strength is accomplished at the lower portion of the rear pillar
10
. However, the connection structure between the reinforcing panel
16
and the rear lower roof rail
24
does not have a desired strength, and so the conventional rear pillars
10
are not suitable for supporting the raise or lower type rear hatch T.
Such a problem is caused by the structural limit in that two or more hinge members (not shown), used for rotatably holding the raise or lower type rear hatch T, are mounted to the top edge of the body's rear portion formed by both the rear upper roof rail
22
and the rear lower roof rail
24
. However, the two roof rails
22
and
24
do not form a desired structural strength capable of effectively supporting such hinge members.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a reinforcement structure for a rear pillar of automobiles, in which a reinforcing panel, forming the upper portion of the rear pillar, is integrated with the welded junction between an inside upper quarter panel and a rear lower roof rail, thus forming a closed cavity within the rear pillar while maximizing the structural strength of rear roof rails, and which allows the top edge of the body's rear portion, formed by the rear roof rails, to effectively and stably support a rear hatch and effectively intercepts noise transmitted from tires of wheels into the passenger compartment through the rear pillars during operation of the automobile.
In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a reinforcement structure for a rear pillar of automobiles, with a reinforcing panel extending in a space defined between an inside upper quarter panel and a side panel and integrated with the lower end of the inside upper quarter panel at its lower end, and integrated with the upper end of the side panel at its upper end portion, wherein the upper end portion of the reinforcing panel further extends to a position around an upper end of the inside upper quarter panel and is integrated with the upper end of the inside upper quarter panel while forming a closed cavity within the rear pillar.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4775181 (1988-10-01), Shoda
patent: 4875733 (1989-10-01), Chado et al.
patent: 4973103 (1990-11-01), Imajyo et al.
patent: 5022704 (1991-06-01), Mizuno et al.
patent: 5123696 (1992-06-01), Watari
patent: 5398989 (1995-03-01), Winter et al.
patent: 5855407 (1999-01-01), Fukuda
patent: 5941597 (1999-08-01), Horiuchi et al.
patent: 6126232 (2000-10-01), Nakano
patent: 0183361 (1983-10-01), None
patent: 0226370 (1986-10-01), None
patent: 0247577 (1986-11-01), None
patent: 0258480 (1990-10-01), None
patent: 0016881 (1991-01-01), None
Christie Parker & Hale LLP
Hyundai Motor Company
Pape Joseph D.
Patel Kiran B.
LandOfFree
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