Slide door

Details Slide door Slide door

2000-07-24

2002-07-02

Redman, Jerry (Department: 3634)

Movable or removable closures

Mounted for optional movements

One closure movable separately from or with other closure

C049S163000, C049S360000, C296S155000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06412222

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a slide door attached to a side or the like of a vehicle in an opening/closing enabled manner, and particularly to a slide door including an intermediate stopper mechanism for restraining the movement of the slide door, which is in an opening direction and is in the middle of opening, within a definite range.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As shown in
FIG. 8
, a window glass
1
is disposed in a slide door
3
of a vehicle or the like in a rising/falling enabled manner. Thus, when the slide door
3
is opened while the window glass
1
is in a lower position, if an object is inserted in the window of this slide door
3
, there is a fear that this object is pinched between a window frame
7
of the slide door
3
and a pillar
9
, and receives damage.
Then, in order to avoid this situation, it is proposed that an intermediate stopper mechanism is provided, and when the window glass
1
is lowered to a position lower than a predetermined one, the slide door moving in the opening direction is stopped in the middle of opening.
As an example of this slide door, there is one as shown in FIG.
9
.
First, in a period when the window glass
1
descends from a full-close state by a predetermined amount L (for example, 150 mm), an intermediate stopper control mechanism
11
pulls in a cable
13
(accurately, its inner cable) in accordance with this descending amount. On the other hand, when the movement stroke of the cable
13
reaches a set value, pulling in the cable
13
is stopped. However, even in this state, the window glass
1
can be lowered.
An intermediate stopper mechanism
15
is coupled with the intermediate stopper control mechanism
11
through the cable
13
. This intermediate stopper mechanism
15
is driven by the intermediate stopper control mechanism
11
, and is for stopping the slide door
3
moving in the opening direction in the middle of opening. An X-arm type wind regulator
16
is for driving the window glass
1
in the up-and-down direction.
Here, the structure of the intermediate stopper control mechanism
11
will be described in detail with reference to
FIG. 10. A
base plate
31
is fixed to an inner panel of the slide door
3
, and a pin
33
is provided to stand on this base plate
31
. A first lever
35
and a second lever
37
are rotatably attached to this pin
33
.
A spiral spring
39
is wound around the pin
33
, one end portion
39
a
of which is fastened to the first lever
35
, and the other end portion
39
b
of which is fastened to the second lever
37
.
A roller
41
is disposed at a rotation end of the first lever
35
, and this roller
41
is engaged with a guide
17
provided at a lower portion of the window glass
1
movably in the horizontal direction in the drawing. A cable
13
is connected to the second lever
37
.
Next, the structure of the intermediate stopper mechanism
15
will be described with reference to
FIG. 11. A
base plate
21
is fixed to the lower portion of the inner panel of the slide door
3
, and a lever
22
is rotatably attached onto the base plate
21
. The lever
22
is coupled with the cable
13
, and is energized in the direction of an arrow I by not-shown energizing means. An elastic roller
24
is disposed at the tip of this lever
22
. On the other hand, a step portion
28
capable of abutting on the roller
24
is formed at the side of a vehicle body
26
.
In the foregoing conventional slide door
3
, when the window glass
1
in the full-close state is lowered by using the window regulator
16
, the first lever
35
is also rotated in the counterclockwise direction in
FIG. 10
as the window glass
1
is lowered. Since the second lever
37
is also connected with the first lever
35
through the spiral spring
39
, it is rotated in the counterclockwise direction, and pulls in the cable
13
.
When the movement stroke of the cable
13
reaches a set value, the rotation of the second lever
37
is restrained, and it becomes impossible to rotate in accordance with the first lever
35
. However, even in this state, the spiral spring
39
is elastically deformed to be shrunk, so that only the first lever
35
can rotate in the counterclockwise direction, and the window glass
1
can be lowered.
Thus, when the window glass
1
is lowered from the full-close state by the predetermined amount L or more, the intermediate stopper control mechanism
11
pulls in the cable
13
by a predetermined amount, and the lever
22
rotates against the energizing force of the not-shown energizing means, and moves from the position indicated by a two-dot-chain line in
FIG. 11
to the position indicated by a solid line.
When the slide door
3
is moved in the opening direction in this state, the roller
24
abuts on the step portion
28
of the vehicle body side, and stops at the position, so that it becomes impossible to open the slide door
3
anymore.
Incidentally, it is designed such that the slide door
3
including such intermediate stopper mechanism
15
can be locked at the full-open position by a full open stopper mechanism. As shown in
FIG. 12
, a conventionally well-known full open stopper mechanism has such a structure that a roller
27
disposed at the side of the slide door
3
is movably engaged with a guide rail
23
at the vehicle side, a plate spring
25
with a part protruding in the guide rail
23
is provided, and the roller
27
causes this plate spring
25
to be elastically deformed and reaches the full-open position, so that the slide door is held at the full-open position.
In the slide door
3
including the intermediate stopper mechanism
15
, even if the window glass
1
is lowered and an object is inserted in the window of the slide door
3
, a space exists between the window frame
7
of the slide door
3
and the pillar
9
without fail in this situation, so that it is possible to avoid such a situation that the object inserted in the window is pinched. However, there are defects as described below.
(1) In the case where the window glass
1
is lowered from the full-open state, before the window glass
1
reaches the predetermined amount L, since the intermediate stopper control mechanism
11
gradually pulls the cable
13
, the lever
22
is also gradually rotated. Thus, when the slide door
3
is strongly pulled in the opening direction in the state where the lowering amount of the window glass
1
is slightly smaller than the predetermined amount L, the roller
24
abuts on the step portion
28
, and then, gets over this and advances, and the slide door
3
moves to the full-open position.
That is, at the time of switching operation of the intermediate stopper mechanism
15
, the roller
24
is in a halfway state, in this halfway state, the roller
24
gets over the step portion
28
and advances. When the slide door
3
slides in this state, a large load is applied to the roller
24
, the lever
22
, the base plate
21
, and the like, so that the durability of these parts is deteriorated, and in addition, an abnormal sound is produced, an open operating force of the slide door
3
is increased, and a feeling of operation becomes bad as well.
(2) When the window glass
1
is lowered by the predetermined amount L or more, it is necessary that the roller
24
certainly abuts on the step portion
28
of the vehicle body side and to stop the slide door
3
. However, since the roller
24
is in the halfway state within a wide range, in order to obtain a certain operation, it is absolutely necessary to adjust the attachment state of the base plate
21
through trial and error.
(3) Through pulling the cable
13
, in order to largely change the roller
24
from the position where it does not abut on the step portion
28
to the position where it abuts on the step portion, it is necessary to make the length r of the lever
22
long and to secure the magnification of a movement amount. Thus, an occupied space of an inner mechanism becomes large as the lever
22
becomes long.
(4) The intermediate stopper control mechanism
11
is physically independent fro

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