Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Tops – Roof structure
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-29
2001-03-06
Pedder, Dennis H. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Tops
Roof structure
C296S216080
Reexamination Certificate
active
06196625
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a sliding roof apparatus for opening and closing an opening of a vehicle roof, and more particularly to a sliding roof apparatus having an improved connection portion between a guide rail and a front rail.
A sliding roof apparatus for vehicles is structured, as shown in
FIG. 7
, such that guide rails
6
and
6
are arranged in both sides of an opening
2
provided in a roof
1
of the vehicle in the longitudinal direction thereof, front slide members
4
and
4
and rear shoes
5
and
5
are connected to a slide panel
3
, generally a transparent material such as a glass. The shoes
5
and
5
are moved forward and backward along guide rails
6
and
6
via a cable by a motor
7
and the slide panel
3
is moved to an illustrated position or a rear portion of the opening
2
, thereby closing and opening the opening
2
. The guide rails
6
and
6
used for the sliding roof apparatus is fixed and supported to a vehicle structure by using a housing and has gutters for treating a rain water, and the gutters discharge water out of the vehicle via water discharge passages
8
and
8
.
The gutter is formed in a housing extending to a side portion from a lower portion of the guide rail or integrally formed with the guide rail, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 6-144014 (1994) or Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 6-336119 (1994). Further, it is structured such that the gutter having a substantially U-shaped cross section and separately formed from the guide rail is mounted on a protruding or extending portion formed in a side outer portion of the guide rail. In the manner mentioned above, the gutter provided in the side of the guide rail is matched to the rail gutter portion in the front rail and a seal member is interposed in the matched portion so as to achieve the gutter without a water leakage.
It is a bad operability to connect the front rail and the guide rail by using the seal member so as to communicate between the rail gutter portions of both rails, so that an improvement thereof is desired. Further, known means for providing the gutter in the housing that does not require the seal member, however, enlarges the housing, and makes it hard to mount it.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to solve the problems in the prior art mentioned above.
In order to solve the problem mentioned above, the invention basically employs technical conception for mounting a gutter having a pipe for connecting a drain hose at front and rear ends in an outer side of each of right and left guide rails for slidably supporting a slide panel and fixing both ends of a front rail having a function of a rain gutter to the guide rail so as to arrange the both ends on the right and left gutters.
In accordance with the technical conception mentioned above, since it is not necessary to integrally form or connect in a sealing manner both ends of the rain gutter portion in the front rail with the right and left gutter, an operability is improved, so that a cost can be widely reduced. Further, since the right and left gutters are respectively fixed to the guide rails and it is not necessary to have a function as the frame, a freedom for selecting a material is high. Since the front rail is separately formed from the right and left gutters, it is possible to form iron materials, so that a high rigidity can be secured by a small cross section and a thin structure in comparison with a resin housing.
In particular, in accordance with the invention, there is provided a sliding roof apparatus comprising:
a pair of guide rails arranged in both sides of a roof opening of a vehicle and in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle and having a protruding portion protruding to a side outer portion in an outer side surface thereof;
gutters having a substantially U-shaped cross section and supported to the protruding portion of the guide rail; and
front rails arranged so as to connect front portions of the pair of guide rails and supporting a drive mechanism for the sliding roof,
wherein the front rail has a rain gutter portion and the rain gutter portion is communicated with the gutter by overlapping both of the right and left end portions of the front rail with the front portion of the gutter from the above.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3611731 (1971-10-01), Edmondson
patent: 5046779 (1991-09-01), Ichinose et al.
patent: 5332282 (1994-07-01), Maeda et al.
patent: 6-144014 (1994-05-01), None
patent: 6-336119 (1994-12-01), None
Fukura Kenichi
Ishikawa Masaji
Maeta Kenji
Matsuura Akira
Nagashima Youji
Aisin Seiki Kabushiki Kaisha
Burns Doane , Swecker, Mathis LLP
Pedder Dennis H.
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