Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Hollow or container type article
Reexamination Certificate
2002-01-14
2004-04-06
Pyon, Harold (Department: 1772)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Hollow or container type article
C428S036920, C428S122000, C428S192000, C428S908800
Reexamination Certificate
active
06716496
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a weather strip having a curved corner section. Examples of such a weather strip including an opening trim attach to an opening peripheral edge of an automobile body. The opening is open and closed with a panel such as a side door panel, a hatchback door panel, a trunk panel, a quarter window panel and a sliding roof of the automobile. The weather strip is attached to one of such opening peripheral edge and open and closed panels.
2. Description of Related Art
According to the first conventional weather strip as shown in
FIG. 23
, an opening trim (weather strip)
51
is attached to a flange
2
of an opening peripheral edge of an automobile body
1
, which seals a gap between the body
1
and a door panel
3
when the door panel
3
is closed. The opening trim
51
is mainly composed of an extruded product
52
, as shown in
FIGS. 24 and 25
. The extruded product
52
is formed by common extrusion from a solid rubber, which forms an attachment portion
53
and a lip portion
55
, and a sponge rubber, which forms a hollow (loop-shaped) sealing portion
54
. The attachment portion
53
has a metal reinforcing insert
56
embedded therein. The sealing portion
54
is connected to the attachment portion
53
at both ends of the loop.
Since the opening trim
51
is required to be curved along a corner of the door opening peripheral edge, it has a corner section C which curves between straight sections S, S. In order to form the corner section C where this curved shape is maintained, the sealing portion
54
in the corner section C is first cut so that only its inner peripheral part
54
a
remains, as shown in FIG.
24
. Next, the extruded product
52
is set in a molding apparatus (not shown) while being curved at the corner section C, and a sponge rubber material is injected into the cut off part of the sealing portion
54
, thereby forming a molded part
57
, as shown in FIG.
25
. At this time, the molded part
57
is connected to the remaining inner peripheral part
54
a
. In order to expand the sealing area of the corner section C toward its outer periphery according to the corner shape of the door panel
3
, the molded part
57
is formed so as to project toward the outer periphery of the corner section C. In
FIG. 25
, cross-hatching lines are shown only to make the range of the molded part
57
clear.
However, since the sealing portion
54
in the corner section C is almost entirely removed and replaced by the molded part
57
, the range of the molded part
57
becomes large, which may detract from the appearance and durability of the resulting opening trim
51
.
Namely, even if the same kind of sponge rubber material is used for the sealing portion
54
of the extruded product
52
and the sealing portion of the molded part
57
, they are different from each other in luster on their surfaces due to the difference in their forming method and a slight difference in their material and expansion ratio, and a borderline
58
is seen between them, which impairs the appearance of the corner section C. Furthermore, since the sealing portion
54
of the extruded product
52
and the sealing portion of the molded part
57
are different from each other in their state of deterioration, which is brought by the contact with the door panel
3
, their difference in luster on their surfaces becomes greater with the passage of time.
In addition, the molded part
57
is formed from a molding material whose composition shows a good fluidity in a cavity, so the sealing portion of the resulting molded part
57
is rather soft. As a result, there also is a problem that the sealing portion of the molded part
57
is inferior to the sealing portion
54
of the extruded product
52
in the durability.
According to the second conventional weather strip as shown in
FIGS. 30
to
32
, an opening trim
151
is attached to a flange
102
of an opening peripheral edge of an automobile body
101
, which seals a gap between the body
101
and a door panel
103
when the door panel
103
is closed. The opening trim
151
is mainly composed of an extruded rubber product
152
except for a molded part. The extruded rubber product
152
is formed by common extrusion from a solid rubber, which forms an attachment portion
153
and a lip portion
155
, and a sponge rubber, which forms a hollow sealing portion
154
. The attachment portion
153
has a metal reinforcing insert
156
having a U-shaped cross-section. The attachment portion
153
has a cover layer
161
for surface decoration, which extends from the boundary with the sealing portion
154
of the attachment portion
153
to the back side of the lip portion
155
via its tip edge. The cover layer
161
may be a cloth, a synthetic resin seat or a molded material from a coloring resin.
At a corner section
152
a
of the extruded rubber product
152
, a molded part
157
, which has a curved configuration and has a projecting part extending toward the outer peripheral side over the outer peripheral outline of the attachment portion
153
in accordance with the corner shape of the door panel
103
, is provided. In order to form the molded part
157
, the sealing portion
154
in the corner section
152
a
is first cut so that only inner and outer peripheral parts
154
a
and
154
b
remain. These parts
154
a
and
154
b
form inner and outer peripheries of the extruded rubber product
152
when the product
152
is curved, respectively. Next, the extruded rubber product
152
is set in a metal mold while being curved according to the corner shape of the door panel
103
, and a sponge rubber is injected into the cut off part of the sealing portion
154
, thereby forming a molded part
157
.
However, once the extruded rubber product
152
is removed from the mold after the molded part
157
is formed as shown in
FIG. 33
, the corner section
152
a
, which has been curved until then, almost recovers its straight shape by the shape recovery force of the insert
156
as shown in FIG.
34
. This requires operators who assemble the opening trim
151
onto an automobile body to curve the corner section
152
a
again with their hands in accordance with the corner shape of the door panel
103
, which is bothersome.
Moreover, when the corner section
152
a
recovers its straight shape, hems
157
a
on both sides of the projecting part of the molded part
157
are loosened, thereby transforming the projecting part into a wavy shape. If a long period of time passes while the projecting part is transformed into a wavy shape, the wavy shape remains in the projecting part, which deteriorates a sealing ability and appearance of the projecting part.
Furthermore, since the molded part
157
is formed from a sponge rubber, a heated metal mold is used to vulcanize the rubber. To prevent the heat from the heated metal mold from melting the surface of the cover layer
161
, the remaining inner peripheral part
154
a
of the sealing portion
154
, which is connected with the molded part
157
, is required to be large so as to be used as a heat insulator for preventing heat transfer from the heated metal mold to the surface of the cover layer
161
. For this purpose, the boundary where the inner peripheral part
154
a
connects with the molded part
157
is easily seen from outside, which impairs the appearance.
Furthermore, since the projecting part of the molded part
157
ends in a free edge, it is easily turned over or swayed by the opening and closing of the door panel and is likely to deteriorate with age, which deteriorates a sealing ability and appearance of the projecting part.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a weather strip that can provide a uniform luster on its surface by making an extruded sealing portion appear on its surface as much as possible even in a corner section and that can reduce the appearance of a borderline between an extruded part and a molded part, thereby improving the overall appearance. Furthermore, it is another ob
Aritake Masanori
Hanabusa Hisao
Kawase Haruhisa
Nakajima Takao
Takaya Masahiro
Chevalier Alicia
Posz & Bethards, PLC
Pyon Harold
Toyoda Gosei Co,., Ltd.
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