Weather strip for a sliding type rear door

Details Weather strip for a sliding type rear door Weather strip for a sliding type rear door

2003-03-13

2004-06-22

Redman, Jerry (Department: 3634)

Movable or removable closures

Closure seal; e.g., striker gasket or weatherstrip

C049S479100

Reexamination Certificate

active

06751908

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a weather strip attached to a front end of a rear door of a car which is unfurnished with a center pillar. The front door of the car is turnable about hinges provided at the front end thereof, and the rear door of the car slides back and forth.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A conventional weather strip is described with reference to
FIGS. 1
to
4
. There has been a conventional car having no center pillars, having a pair of front doors
2
turnable about hinges provided at the front end thereof, and having a pair of rear doors capable of sliding back and forth. In this conventional car, a tapered lip portion
22
is formed on a molded portion
21
of a weather strip of the rear door
1
at the upper end thereof extending towards the front door
2
.
The lip portion
22
secures a sealing performance between the front door
2
, the rear door
1
and a roof side
4
as a tip portion
22
a
of the lip portion
22
enters between an opening seal
3
provided along the roof side
4
of a car body and the front door
2
when the rear door
1
is closed.
There is provided a water receiver
23
on the molded portion
21
immediately below the lip portion
22
facing the opening seal
3
. The water receiver
23
catches water e.g. rainwater. The water passes a water drawing port
18
formed on the molded portion
21
of the weather strip
20
and drains through the hollow portion formed in an extrusion molded portion
15
uniformed with the molded portion
21
below the molded portion
21
.
According to the conventional weather strip, since the lip portion
22
is tapered, when the rear door
1
is closed while the front door
2
is closed beforehand, the thin tip end
22
a
of the lip portion
22
is forced to slide on the opening seal
3
and a weather strip
16
for the front door
2
. Therefore, the tip end
22
a
of the lip portion
22
tends to reverse its posture by the repulsive force generated there. Accordingly, there is formed a gap G between the opening seal
3
and the front door weather strip
16
, decresing a sealing performance of that portion (see FIG.
4
).
To solve this problem, the tip end
22
a
of the lip portion
22
may be formed thicker, thereby preventing the tip end
22
a
from being reversed or curled up. However, if the tip end
22
a
is made thicker, there will be formed a gap at the front and back sides of the thick tip end, although the thick tip end would not reverse. Thus, the sealing performance will not improve with this means.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention has been developed to solve the problem in the conventional weather strip as set forth above, and it is an object of the invention to provide a weather strip for a sliding type rear door in which a lip portion does not reverse its posture or curl up when the rear door is closed.
To achieve the above object, the weather strip
10
for a sliding type rear door according to a first aspect of the invention is applied to a car which is unfurnished with a center pillar, and is furnished with a front door
2
turnable about hinges provided at the front end thereof and with a sliding rear door which slides back and forth. The weather strip is attached to the front end of the rear door
1
and includes a tapered lip portion
12
extending toward the front door
2
. The tapered lip portion
12
is formed on a molded portion
11
of the weather strip formed at the upper end portion thereof. The tapered portion
12
elastically contacts an opening seal
3
attached to a roof side
4
of a car body and a weather strip
16
attached to a rear end of the front door
2
when the rear door
1
is closed. A guide portion
14
is formed at the lower half of the lip portion
12
. The guide portion
13
is thicker than the lip portion
12
, and it contacts the opening seal
3
and the front door weather strip
16
immediately before the tip end
12
a
of the tapered lip portion
12
contacts the opening seal
3
and the front door weather strip
16
.
The weather strip according to the second aspect of the invention is characterized in that the guide portion
14
comprises a tapered base portion
14
a
and an expansion portion
14
b
provided at the front end of the base portion
14
a
. The expansion portion
14
b
comprises a shape of a semicircular in cross section.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4492405 (1985-01-01), Chikaraishi et al.
patent: 4979333 (1990-12-01), Goto et al.
patent: 5566510 (1996-10-01), Hollingshead et al.
patent: 5639533 (1997-06-01), Yamashita
patent: 1424942 (1976-02-01), None
patent: 58110335 (1983-06-01), None

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