Swingable sliding door for vehicles, particularly automotive veh

Details Swingable sliding door for vehicles, particularly automotive veh Swingable sliding door for vehicles, particularly automotive veh

1985-01-11

1986-09-16

Kannan, Philip C.

Movable or removable closures

Mounted for multidirectional or oblique movement

Sequential translation and swinging

49214, 49218, E05D 1558

Patent

active

046114343

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a swingable sliding door for a vehicle, particularly an automotive vehicle, in which guide means are mounted at the top of the door panel for travel in a guide rail secured above the door panel.


PRIOR ART

Swingable sliding doors for automotive vehicles are known, particularly doors for a driver's cab and in which an inwardly bent angle plate is mounted at the top of the door panel and supports a pair of horizontally spaced rollers which travel in respective guide rails which are bent at the end.
Since the lower portion of the door of a truck cab is widened as a result of the contour of the vehicle, while the upper pillar is rearwardly inclined, the central part of the door is disposed within the door opening when the door is opened. As a result, the available access width is limited.


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a swingable sliding door for a vehicle, particularly an automotive vehicle, in which substantially the entire width of the door opening is available for access when the door is in open position.
This is achieved, in accordance with the invention, in that the guide means mounted at the top of the door comprises a pivot arm which is pivotally mounted on the door and whose end is bent in arcuate shape and is rigidly connected to a roller assembly which travels in a guide rail. The bend or arcuate curvature of the pivot arm is more than 90.degree. but less than 180.degree., and is preferably about 160.degree..
In order that the path of displacement of the swingable sliding door is enlarged still further, the end of the rail which corresponds to the open position of the door is bent slightly at an angle towards the inside of the body of the vehicle.


BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES OF THE DRAWING

One embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawing, in which:
FIG. 1 diagrammatically shows the swingable sliding door in solid lines in its closed position and chain-dotted lines in its open position;
FIG. 2 is a top plan view, on enlarged scale, of the upper guide means for the door and wherein the door is shown in closed position in solid lines and in open position in chain-dotted lines;
FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the door; and
FIG. 4 is a sectional view along line IV--IV in FIG. 2.


DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Seen in FIG. 1 is a swingable sliding door 1 which is shown in closed position in solid lines and in open position in chain-dotted lines. The door 1 has a lower portion 2 which is relatively wide and a narrower upper portion 3 whose front pillar is inclined rearwardly. The door 1 is guided at the top by a guide means 4; at the center by a guide means 5 and at the bottom by a guide means 6.
The guide means 5 and 6 are conventional. Guide means 6 comprises a rigid guide arm 7 which travels in a fixed, downwardly open, U-shaped rail 8. The guide means 5 comprises a swing arm 9 with a roller 10 at its end traveling in a corresponding fixed guide rail 11.
The upper guide means 4 is essential for the guidance of the door and is shown in detail in FIG. 2. As seen therein, the guide means 4 comprises swing arm 12 pivotally attached at one end to the door 1 at 13. The other end of the swing arm 12 rigidly supports a roller assembly 15 including rollers 15a, 15b, which travel in a rail 16. The rail is a downwardly open U-shaped rail in which the guide rollers 15a and 15b are confined. In addition, the roller assembly also comprises a support roller 17 which rotates around a horizontal axle and which travels on a corresponding flat rail 17a which can be attached to the downwardly open U-shaped rail 16 or made integral therewith. The guide rollers 15a,15b and the support roller 17 form the roller assembly 15, which is rigidly attached by a plate 21 to the swing arm 12, as seen in FIGS. 2 and 4. By this construction of the roller assembly, the roller assembly, and thus the swing arm, are movable about the point of contact or application of the support roller 17 on the

REFERENCES:
patent: 1959705 (1934-05-01), Christianson
patent: 3100667 (1963-08-01), Schwenk
patent: 3501864 (1970-03-01), Erb et al.
patent: 3990183 (1976-11-01), Meggs et al.
patent: 4152872 (1979-05-01), Tanizaki et al.

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