Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Tops – Let-down type top
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-23
2001-02-20
Dayoan, D. Glenn (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Tops
Let-down type top
C296S146900
Reexamination Certificate
active
06189950
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a sealing structure for a convertible having an openable top, the roof of which is a foldable hood.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 7
is a view showing the appearance of a convertible to which hood portion
1
being a non-fixed roof is attached. The hood portion
1
is an openable roof which is foldable centering around the connecting lines X—X, Y—Y and Z—Z. The hood portion
1
folded when the roof is opened is accommodated in the rear lower section (not illustrated) of a vehicle, and when the roof is closed, the front edge of the hood portion
1
is engaged with the header
3
, which fixes the upper end of the front glass
2
, and the upper end of the hood portion of the front pillar
4
as shown in FIG.
7
.
As shown in FIG.
8
and
FIG. 9
, a weather strip
5
is attached to both side ends of the hood portion
1
via a retainer
7
directly fixed at a link
6
which becomes a hood rib. The weather strip
5
consists of an attaching base
5
a
fitted into the retainer
7
; a hollow sealing portion
5
b
with which the terminal ends
8
a
of the front glass
8
, being an elevating side window glass, and
9
a
of the quarter glass
9
are resiliently engaged when being elevated; a seal lip portion
5
c
resiliently engaged with the link
6
; and a seal lip portion
5
d
resiliently engaged with the hood sealing portion
10
which is provided between the link
6
and hood portion
1
and is resiliently engaged with the hood portion
1
from inside of the compartment when being closed; which are formed integral with each other. Herein,
FIG. 8
is a side view showing the positional relationship between the weather strip
5
and the hood sealing portion
10
, and
FIG. 9
is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A—A, in
FIG. 7
, which corresponds to the cross-sectional view taken along the line A—A in FIG.
8
.
Although the hood sealing portion
10
shown in
FIG. 9
is hollow, there may be available a hood sealing portion
11
having a lip
11
a
formed as shown in FIG.
10
. The fixing direction of the hood sealing portion
10
is different from that of the hood sealing portion
11
. However, they are directly fixed at the link
6
.
However, in a convertible having a foldable hood portion
1
, since there is no retainer
7
at the folding portions X, Y and Z, that is, nothing to support the weather strip
5
, it is very difficult to seal the folding portions. Moreover, there are some types of convertibles in which the link
6
is not continuous. In such cases, the sealing is made further difficult.
Therefore, usually, as shown in
FIG. 8
, the ends of adjacent weather strips
5
are caused to overlap several :millimeters (overlapping portion L) when the hood portion
1
is closed, wherein the sealing is secured between the weather strips
5
. The ends of the weather strips
5
are die-molded to ensure that the overlapping is secured with reliability.
Furthermore, usually, as shown in
FIG. 8
, although, when the hood portion
1
is closed, the sealing between the hood sealing portions
10
or between the hood sealing portions
11
is secured by causing the ends of the adjacent hood sealing portions
10
or adjacent hood sealing portions
11
to butt into each other (clearance-free contact), the ends of the hood sealing portions
10
or hood sealing portions
11
are not die-molded.
Furthermore, the hood sealing portion
10
or sealing portion
11
is attached to the link
6
and the weather strip
5
is assembled to the retainer
7
separately from each other, a gap is likely to occur between the hood sealing portions and the weather strip due to unevenness or imbalance in the assembling, wherein the sealing between the link
6
and hook
1
is made insufficient.
Therefore, in the cross-sectional portion taken along the line B—B in
FIG. 8
, it is made somewhat difficult that the weather strip
5
, hood sealing portions
10
and
11
are located at their appointed positions in a stable condition. That is, it is difficult to secure the sealing effect as intended. For example, if water used for washing is splashed onto the folding portions X, Y, Z, such a problem arises, where the water W invades the automobile compartment.
Furthermore, in the sealing structure shown in FIG.
9
and
FIG. 10
,
(1) The link
6
and retainer
7
are iron-based metal and iron or iron-based metal and stainless steel, etc., and they are fixed by studs or screws at several points. Therefore, the sealing between the link
6
and retainer
7
is insufficient.
(2) Since the hood sealing portion
10
or hood sealing portion
11
is attached to the link
6
and weather strip
5
is attached to the retainer
7
separately from each other, a gap is likely to occur between the hood sealing portions and the weather strip due to unevenness or imbalance in the assembling, wherein the sealing between the link
6
and hood
1
is made insufficient.
(3) With respect to a method for attaching the hood sealing portion
10
or hood sealing portion
11
to the link
6
, the fixing method is difficult, and there are thus some limitations in shape where it is difficult to secure a sufficient sealing performance.
(4) It is difficult to achieve a secure sealing between the hood
1
and the hood sealing portion
10
or hood sealing portion
11
because the hood is made of cloth.
In particular, it is very difficult to secure a sufficient sealing performance at the folding portions of the hood
1
. Although there have been attempts to improve the sealing performance by devising the shape of the weather strip
5
and the hood sealing portions
10
or
11
, it is difficult to prevent water from leaking in the automobile compartment with any sufficient sealing performance secured.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a sealing structure for a convertible, by which water used for washing, etc., can be prevented from invading the automobile compartment.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention described in claim
1
is a sealing structure for a convertible having an openable top, the roof of which is a foldable hood portion (
1
), a weather strip (
5
) in which at least a sealing portion (
5
b
) and an attaching base (
5
a
) are formed integral with each other is fitted into a retainer (
7
) fixed at a hood rib (
6
), the end portions (
8
a
,
9
a
) of elevating side glass (
8
,
9
) are resiliently engaged in the sealing portion (
5
b
) of the weather strip (
5
) when said hood portion (
1
) is closed, and a hood sealing portion (
10
) is resiliently engaged in the hood portion (
1
) from inside of the compartment,
wherein another hood sealing portion (
15
) corresponding to the folding portions (X, Y, Z) of said hood portion (
1
) is die-molded at the end portion of said hood sealing portion (
10
).
The invention described in claim
2
(and claim
6
) is a sealing structure for a convertible as set forth in claim
1
, wherein the die-molded hood sealing portion (
15
) is further die-molded integral with the end portion of the sealing portion (
5
b
) of the weather strip (
5
), which corresponds to the folding portions (X, Y, Z) of the hood (
1
).
The invention described in claim
3
is a sealing structure for a convertible as set forth in claim
1
or
2
, wherein engaging portions (
37
b
,
37
c
) are formed at the retainer (
37
) in addition to a fitting portion (
37
a
) of the attaching base (
35
a
) and the hood sealing portion (
40
) is built in the engaging portions (
37
b
,
37
c
).
The invention described in claim
4
is a sealing structure for a convertible, having an openable top, the roof of which is a hood portion (
1
), a weather strip (
25
) in which at least a hollow sealing portion (
25
b
) and an attaching base (
25
a
) are formed integral with each other is fitted into a retainer (
27
) fixed at a hood rib (
26
), the end portions (
8
a
,
9
a
) of elevating side door glasses (
8
,
9
) are resiliently engaged in the hollow sealing portion (
25
b
) of the weather strip (
25
) when s
Aoi Yoshihiro
Ishihara Katsuhisa
Kawazoe Takeo
Yoshioka Hideki
Blankenship Greg
Dayoan D. Glenn
Frishauf, Holtz Goodman, Langer & Chick, P.C.
Nishikawa Rubber Co. Ltd.
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