Movable or removable closures – Closure seal; e.g. – striker gasket or weatherstrip – Plural sealing contact points
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-24
2002-12-31
Redman, Jerry (Department: 3634)
Movable or removable closures
Closure seal; e.g., striker gasket or weatherstrip
Plural sealing contact points
C049S498100, C049S493100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06499257
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a weather strip to be attached to a door panel of an automobile by an attaching means except for a retainer.
RELATED ART
Referring to
FIGS. 1
to
3
, related arts are explained below. A full door type door panel
20
of an automobile usually comprising an outer panel
22
and inner panel
21
. On the inner panel
21
, there is provided a retainer
53
for attaching a weather strip
50
to the inner panel
21
. At a connecting portion of both panels, and also at a connecting portion of the inner panel
21
with the retainer
53
, a sealant
54
is coated for prevention of rust as shown in FIG.
1
.
However, according to the above-described technique, the following problems may be encountered. Since the rust prevention sealant
54
is coated as described above, the weather strip
50
attached to the door panel
20
interferes with this rust prevention sealant
54
. Therefore, it is impossible to obtain a stable sealability between the weather strip
50
and the door panel
20
.
In order to ensure a stable sealability of the entire weather strip, it is necessary to strongly fasten the weather strip
50
with the retainer
53
so that the weather strip
50
can be fixed. However, since the weather strip
50
is incorporated into the retainer in a state of simple insertion, the weather strip
50
slips when the door is opened and closed, which possibly deteriorates the sealability. Further, at an end portion of the retainer
53
, a step portion, the height of which corresponds to the wall thickness of the retainer
53
, is created between the retainer
53
and the inner panel
21
. Accordingly, the sealability is damaged at this step portion. For the above reasons, when consideration is given to ensuring the sealability between the weather strip
50
and the door panel
20
, it is preferable not to provide the retainer
53
.
As shown in
FIG. 3
, in the case of a weather strip
50
having no retainers
53
, it is proposed a means for ensuring the sealability of the door panel
20
by providing a small lip
52
which protrudes from an upper end portion of the base portion
51
and comes into elastic contact with the inner panel
21
. However, the thus composed small lip
52
gets on a small arc portion
25
formed on the inner panel
21
, so that the stable sealability can not be ensured. The reason why the stable sealability can not be ensured is described as follows. When the small lip
52
gets on the small arc portion
25
, the sealability in this portion is lowered, and further the small lip
52
which has gotten on the small arc portion
25
does not sufficiently give a elastically contacting force by which a lower face of the base portion
51
of the weather strip
50
comes into elastic contact with the inner panel
21
. For the above reasons, even when a highly expanded sponge member
17
or an adhesive double coated tape is provided on the lower face of the base portion
51
, it is difficult to obtain a stable sealability. In this case, specific gravity of the highly expanded sponge member is usually in a range from 0.1 to 0.3.
Furthermore, when an adhesive tape is used, it needs an additional step of peeling off a mold releasing paper of the adhesive tape, taking undesirable time and a labor.
Thus, concerning the weather strip
50
attached to the retainer
53
provided on a conventional full door type door panel
20
of an automobile, it is difficult to stably ensure the sealability between the weather strip and the door panel
20
. Further, since the small strip
52
provided at an upper end portion of the base portion
51
gets on the small arc portion
25
on the door panel
20
, the sealability between the weather strip and the door panel
20
is deteriorated.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems and to provide a retainerless weather strip capable of providing stable sealability thorough the entire length thereof.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an attaching structure of a door weather strip by which the weight and cost of the weather strip can be reduced and further the time and labor to attach the weather strip can be reduced.
Other objects and effects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.
The above-described objects of the present invention have been achieved by providing the following weather strips and weather strip assemblies.
(1) A retainerless weather strip attached to a full door type door panel of an automobile by an attaching means except for a retainer, which comprises:
a base portion to be fixed to an attaching portion of the door panel by at least one of a clip and an adhesive double coated tape;
a hollow seal portion provided on an automobile interior side of the base portion so as to come into elastic contact with an automobile body;
a seal lip portion provided on an automobile exterior side of the base portion, the seal lip portion comprising an upper end portion and an intermediate portion, so that the upper end portion of the seal lip portion comes into elastic contact with an automobile body and that the intermediate portion of the seal lip portion comes into elastic contact with a door panel;
an end edge portion protruded from a lower end portion of the base portion on the automobile exterior side; and
a neck portion formed in a connecting portion of the base portion with the seal lip portion on the automobile exterior side.
(2) The retainerless weather strip according to the above item (1), wherein the end edge portion is a small lip which obliquely and upwardly comes into elastic contact with a flat portion of the door panel.
(3) The retainerless weather strip according to the above item (2), further comprising a highly expanded sponge member provided on a lower face of the base portion on the automobile exterior side.
(4) The retainerless weather strip according to the above item (1), wherein the end edge portion comprises a portion made of a highly expanded sponge material.
(5) The retainerless weather strip according to the above item (4), wherein the end edge portion is made of a highly expanded sponge material.
(6) The retainerless weather strip according to the above item (4), wherein an upper half of the end edge portion is made of the same material as that of the main body of the weather strip and has a lip or protrusion provided thereon, and a lower half thereof is made of a highly expanded sponge material.
(7) The retainerless weather strip according to the above item (4), wherein an upper half of the end edge portion is made of a highly expanded sponge material, and a lower half thereof is made of the same material as that of the main body of the weather strip.
(8) A retainerless weather strip assembly comprising:
a retainerless weather strip according to the above item (4); and
an inner panel having an engaging recess for holding the end edge portion of the retainerless weather strip,
wherein the size of the end edge portion of the retainerless weather strip is larger than that of the engaging recess of the inner panel, and the end edge portion is press-fitted into the engaging recess.
(9) The retainerless weather strip assembly according to the above item (8), wherein the inner panel has a small drain groove on a bottom face of the engaging recess.
(10) The retainerless weather strip assembly according to the above item (8), wherein the end edge portion is made of a highly expanded sponge material.
(11) The retainerless weather strip assembly according to the above item (8), wherein an upper half of the end edge portion is made of the same material as that of the main body of the weather strip and has a lip or protrusion provided thereon, and a lower half thereof is made of a highly expanded sponge material.
(12) The retainerless weather strip assembly according to the above item (8), wherein an upper half of the end edge portion is made of a highly expanded sponge material, and a lower half thereof is made of the same material as that o
Baba Eiichi
Tsuchida Hideshi
Nishikawa Rubber Co. Ltd.
Redman Jerry
Sughrue & Mion, PLLC
LandOfFree
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