Movable or removable closures – Closure seal; e.g. – striker gasket or weatherstrip – With corner or corner forming portions; i.e. – corner seal
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-27
2003-07-29
Redman, Jerry (Department: 3634)
Movable or removable closures
Closure seal; e.g., striker gasket or weatherstrip
With corner or corner forming portions; i.e., corner seal
Reexamination Certificate
active
06598347
ABSTRACT:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is based on Japanese Patent Applications No. 2000-128070 and No. 2000-128071, which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a weather strip attached to, for example, a peripheral portion of a door opening of a vehicle or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, such a weather strip of this kind is provided with trim portions each having a substantially U-shape in section, and hollow seal portions each formed on a one-side outer surface of the trim portion. Then, at least one holding lip is formed on the inner side surface of the trim portions so as to project thereon. In the condition that the trim portions have been attached to a peripheral flange of a door opening of a vehicle body, the holding lip is brought into pressure contact with a side surface of the flange and another side surface of the flange is substantially brought into pressure contact with the opposite inner side surface of the trim portions so that the weather strip is held in an attachment state.
Conventionally, in such a weather strip, trim portions and hollow seal portions of straight-lined portions corresponding to the upper and lower sides and the front and rear sides of the door opening, are formed of a soft and elastic material such as EPDM rubber or the like by extrusion molding. Further reinforce inserts are embedded in trim portions. On the other hand, a trim portion and a hollow seal portion of each of four corner portions corresponding to the four corner portions of the door opening are formed by the following two molding methods for example.
That is, according to one of those two methods, of the trim and hollow seal portions each extruded linearly and integrally, only a part of the hollow seal portion is removed by cutting out. Then, in the condition that the trim portion is bent correspondingly to the cut-out portion of the hollow seal portion along to the corner portion, then, a hollow seal portion is formed on a side surface of the bent portion of the trim portion by mold molding to reproduce the hollow seal portion of the cut-out portion.
On the other hand, according to the other method, each of the trim and hollow seal portions extruded linearly and integrally is cut into predetermined length so as to form two extruded portions. The ends of two extruded portions are disposed in a mold so as to have a predetermined positional relationship. Then, mold molding material such as EPDM rubber is injected into a cavity of the mold. Therefore, the trim and hollow seal portions for a corner portion are formed into a curve by mold molding so as to connect the cut end portions of those extruded portions with each other in the curve, respectively.
When such mold molding method is performed, conventionally, the molded hollow seal portion and the molded trim portion are formed of a single material of EPDM solid rubber having a predetermined hardness by injection molding method at one time in consideration of the flexibility of the molded hollow seal portion and the shape retaining property of the molded trim portion as well as the economical efficiency in forming.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Recently, in serious consideration of the functions of the respective portions, there is proposed a weather strip in which a molded hollow seal portion is formed of a soft and elastic material, such as thermoplastic elastomer for example TPO, or such as a rubber material for example EPDM rubber, having a high flexibility and elasticity while a molded trim portion is formed of a hard material such as PE, PP, or the like, so as to have a substantially U-shape in section and bent shape. Then, the hard material has a predetermined elastic deformability but it is higher in hardness than the soft and elastic material of the molded hollow seal portion to retain its shape.
In such a proposed weather strip, however, since the molded trim portion of each of the corner portions is formed of the hard material as mentioned above and further since the molded trim portion is formed by mold molding, it is difficult to provide a holding lip on the inner side surface of the molded trim portion such as on the inner side surface of an extruded trim portion in each straight-lined portion. This is because the holding lip is to be undercut when the molded trim is molded thus it is impossible to form the holding lip by mold molding. Accordingly, in the case where a peripheral flange of a door opening of a vehicle body is inserted between the opposite side walls of the trim portion in each of the straight-lined portions and each of the corner portions so that the weather strip is attached to the peripheral portion of the door opening, there has been a problem that it is difficult to hold the flange fixedly between the parallel opposite side walls of the molded trim portion of each of the corner portions.
In the case where the thickness of the side walls of the molded trim portion is substantially the same as that of the side walls of the extruded trim portion, the distance between the opposite side walls of the molded trim potion becomes larger than that of the side walls of the extruded trim portion due to a space where the holding lip is to be provided. Therefore the molded trim portion can not hold the flange of the vehicle body. Meanwhile, it has been proposed that the thickness of the side walls of the molded trim portion is set to be so large that the distance between the opposite side walls of the molded trim portion is substantially the same as the thickness of the flange of the vehicle body. In this case, however, another problem is caused that the flange could be unable to be inserted between the opposite side walls of the molded trim portion due to the rigidity of the side walls of the molded trim portion.
On the other hand, in each of the above-mentioned methods for forming the corner portion, a core member is used for molding the molded hollow seal portion. To draw out the core member from the molded hollow seal portion after molding the molded hollow seal portion, an opening portion is provided along one edge of the molded hollow seal portion. In addition, the opening portion is formed to leave a flap portion at the edge of the molded hollow seal portion so that an end surface of the flap portion can abut against a one-side outer surface of the molded trim portion. This is to prevent the molded hollow seal portion of the corner portion from being deformed flatly when the door is brought into pressure contact with the molded hollow seal portion in the condition that the weather strip has been attached to the door opening.
However, since the flap portion is formed in such a proposed weather strip, the flap portion is to be undercut in accordance with the direction in which the core member is straight drawn out. It is therefore difficult to automate the work of drawing out the core member from the molded hollow seal portion of the corner portion. Thus, there has been a problem that it is necessary for a worker to draw out the core member carefully and curvedly by hand while elastically deforming the flap portion to the outside. In addition, there has been a problem that excessive force is apt to be applied to the flap portion to thereby damage the molded hollow seal portion of the corner portion when the core member is drawn out. Thus, there has been a problem that the manufacturing cost of the weather strip is increased.
The present invention is developed in consideration of the foregoing problems. It is an object of the present invention to provide a weather strip in which a peripheral flange of an opening in a vehicle body or the like can be held fixedly between the opposite side walls of a molded trim portion of each corner portion, and the corner portions can be kept stably in an attachment state.
Further, another object of the present invention to provide a weather strip in which a core member can be drawn out easily from a molded hollow seal portion of a corner portion when t
Posz & Bethards, PLC
Redman Jerry
Toyoda Gosei Co,., Ltd.
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