Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Structural detail
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-09
2001-04-03
Pedder, Dennis H. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Structural detail
C296S198000, C403S157000, C403S338000, C280S154000, C052S716600
Reexamination Certificate
active
06209940
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This application claims the priority of German Application No. 198 30 668.7-12, filed Jul. 9, 1998, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a system for the assembly of laminar components, especially parts of the external skin of a motor vehicle, which are provided with parallel projecting flanges which are held to one another by at least one channel-shaped cross section.
Parts of the external skin in motor vehicle construction, such as mudguard parts and bumpers, are generally joined together by screws or speed nuts or, if they are made of plastic, by appropriate fasteners. These fastening processes require as a rule several working steps and corresponding tools in order to bring the fasteners to the planned position. It is also known to provide laminar components with bent-away flanges at their joining edges and hold these flanges in alignment parallel to one another with channel-shaped pieces. This is not permanent enough under certain circumstances unless a form-fitting junction is made, and it is also expensive. All these types of fastening cannot, however, be used any longer or only with great difficulty if the joints are situated such that they are difficult to reach from the outside.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to configure an assembly system in which simple and secure assembly becomes possible, even when the joints are difficult to reach.
This object has been achieved by providing a system in which the clip is in the form of a channel which is provided at one end with a pin running between the flanges of the channel. Each flange is provided with a slot running in alignment with one in the other flange, and the pin is inserted into this slot to serve as a fulcrum for closing the channels and fastening them together.
With the configuration according to the present invention, an important simplification of assembly is achieved because, after the pin is inserted into the corresponding slot, only a relatively simple swinging movement is possible. Over the entire length of the channel a uniform drawing together of the flanges projecting from the laminar components can be achieved. At the same time, however, by the insertion of the pin at one point a fit between the parts is achieved, which can be completed when the channel, in a further embodiment of the invention, is provided near its end remote from the pin with an opening to accommodate a securing element which can be inserted into corresponding openings in the flanges.
A yet further embodiment of the invention is provided for components whose flanges are accessible from only one end, as may be the case at the junction between the mudguard and the front bumper, if a complete front module is present, and also the assemblies are already installed in the front area. It can be very advantageous if the slot runs at an angle other than 90° from the outer edges of the flange. The pin can then be inserted at an angle to the flange edges, which is possible with the elongated channel even in cramped assembly conditions. Then, all that is necessary is to swing the channel closed, because the channel is already held in the correct position in the slot.
In a still further embodiment, the slot can be inclined from the outer edges of the flange rearwardly at an angle away from the accessible end of the flange. The slot can be arranged so that the lateral edge of the opening remote from the accessible end of at least one flange will form the lead-in projection extending out past the abutment surface formed by the outer edges of the flange ahead of the opening. In this embodiment, the channel with the pin can be shifted in contact with the outer edges along the flange until the lead-in projection is reached. Thereafter, by additional application of force in the direction of the shift, the pin passes at an angle to its end position in the slot, so that then the swinging operation for clipping the channel can begin. This still further embodiment therefore makes it possible even in very little available space to perform the necessary installation for the assembly of the two laminar parts.
In another contemplated embodiment of the invention, the flanges of the channel can form, at the end on which the pin is provided, a fork straddling the flanges, in the area of which the web of the channel is removed. This embodiment permits a simple and trouble-free displacement of the pin along the outer edges of the flange up to the opening and its insertion therein until it abuts in the opening.
The channel can finally, in a further embodiment of the invention, be provided with reinforcing beads to apply sufficient gripping force. The beads are placed as near as possible to the free edges of the flanges in order to keep the flanges as close together as possible in the area of the laminar components being joined. The free edges of the channel can be flexed upward from the beads opposite one another to form an introduction ramp. The channels can be made out of metal and the components with the flanges out of plastic. Thereby, this material combination achieves a stable junction and fastening.
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Jocher Reiner
Michalak Frank
Nuber Walter
Daimler-Chrysler AG
Evenson, McKeown, Edwards & Lenahan P.L.L.C.
Gutman Hilary
Pedder Dennis H.
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