Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Door or window with specified vehicle feature
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-28
2003-02-18
Pedder, Dennis H. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Door or window with specified vehicle feature
C296S076000, C296S207000, C049S480100, C049S498100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06520563
ABSTRACT:
This application is related to and claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-256889, incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a weather strip for sealing an opening portion around an opening in a vehicle body against a periphery of a closing member for closing the opening in the vehicle body.
2. Description of Related Art
To seal an opening portion of a vehicle body around an opening such as a door opening or trunk lid opening against a periphery of a closing member such as a door or trunk lid, weather strips are attached to the opening portion of the vehicle body and/or the periphery of the closing member.
As illustrated in
FIG. 1
, a door opening
10
which is formed in a side portion of a vehicle body is opened and closed by a rear slide door
12
. A weather strip (not shown) is attached to a flange (not shown) formed around the door opening
10
.
As illustrated in
FIG. 2
which is taken along the line C—C of
FIG. 1
, a weather strip
14
includes a base portion
16
having a generally U-shaped cross-section, and a tubular seal portion
18
which projects outwardly from an outer side wall of the base portion
16
. The base portion
16
is attached to a flange
20
projecting into the door opening
10
.
Upon closing the door opening
10
, the slide door
12
is slid from its open position along the rear side of the vehicle body toward its closed position. And just before the door opening
10
is closed, the slide door
12
is guided by a guide member provided along a lower side of the door opening
10
and is shifted inwardly into flash with the rear side of the vehicle body. At this time, an inside face of a periphery of the slide door
12
contacts and presses the seal portion
18
.
The base portion
16
of the weather strip
14
is generally composed of a solid EPDM rubber or solid thermoplastic olefin elastomer (TPO), and the seal portion
18
which projects into an arc-shaped cross-section is generally composed of a sponge EPDM rubber or sponge TPO. A metal core
22
is embedded in the base portion
16
.
If the seal portion
18
is entirely composed of a sponge material, the seal portion
18
is irregularly deformed because of its insufficient rigidity when the slide door
12
presses the seal portion
18
. Consequently, the sealing properties of the seal portion
18
become instable. To overcome this problem, root parts of the seal portion
18
have been composed of a solid material integrally with the base portion
16
.
When the weather strip
14
thus arranged is extruded integrally, the position of boundaries
24
and
26
between solid parts and sponge parts in the seal portion
18
inevitably scatters. Where the boundaries
24
and
26
are positioned too low relative to the seal portion
18
, the seal portion
18
may be deformed irregularly when the slide door
12
presses the seal portion
18
. On the other hand, where they are positioned too high relative to the seal portion
18
, the solid root parts of the seal portion
18
exert a large counterforce against the slide door
12
upon closing the door opening
10
. Consequently, a large force is required to close the slide door
12
with the result that the slide door
12
strikes on the seal portion
18
strongly, which is less preferable. In addition, the position of the boundaries
24
and
26
also inevitably scatters in the longitudinal direction of the weather strip
14
, whereby the sealing pressure of the weather strip
14
may become nonuniform locally.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a weather strip capable of keeping stability of a seal portion despite scattering in the position of boundaries between solid parts and sponge parts therein, and effecting a uniform sealing pressure over an entire length of the seal portion while preventing a closing member from strongly striking on the seal portion upon closing an opening in a vehicle body.
The weather strip in accordance with the present invention includes a base portion, and a tubular seal portion which projects outwardly from an outer surface of the base portion. The seal portion includes a pair of leg portions, each projecting outwardly from the outer surface of an outer side wall of the base portion, extending portions which extend from ends of the leg portions in opposite directions along the outer side wall to have an L-shaped cross-section with the leg portion, and a seal wall for connecting ends of the extending portions into an arc-shaped cross-section. The base portion and the leg portions are integrally composed of a solid rubber-like resilient material while the seal wall is composed of a sponge rubber-like resilient material. A boundary between the solid rubber-like resilient material and the sponge rubber-like resilient material is located in each of the extending portions of the seal portion.
The extending portions are arranged so as to extend in approximately parallel to a seal face of a closing member such as a slide door, which is in its closed position. Since the boundaries between solid parts and sponge parts are located in the extending portions, scattering in the position of the boundaries scarcely affects the sealing pressure of the seal wall. Furthermore, where the seal face of the closing member largely presses the seal wall of the weather strip upon closing the opening in the vehicle body, the extending portions flex at about corners between the extending portions and the leg portions to release a counterforce which would be exerted by the solid parts against the seal face of the closing member. In addition, where the seal face of the closing member presses the seal wall obliquely, the extending portions including the solid parts retain their shapes thereagainst to prevent the seal wall from entirely falling down toward the base portion.
Other objects, features, and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, all of which form a part of this specification.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2880049 (1959-03-01), Tarleton
patent: 3025576 (1962-03-01), Herman
patent: 4495234 (1985-01-01), Tominaga et al.
patent: 4787668 (1988-11-01), Kawasa et al.
patent: 4819382 (1989-04-01), Suzuki et al.
patent: 4884370 (1989-12-01), Nozaki et al.
patent: 5038522 (1991-08-01), Nozaki
patent: 5361542 (1994-11-01), Dettloff
patent: 5374386 (1994-12-01), Nagata
patent: 0116242 (1983-07-01), None
Law Offices of David G. Posz
Pedder Dennis H.
Toyoda Gosei Co,., Ltd.
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