Static structures (e.g. – buildings) – In situ attached-type channel or trim strip – Vehicle trim
Reexamination Certificate
1998-04-09
2001-05-08
Friedman, Carl D. (Department: 3635)
Static structures (e.g., buildings)
In situ attached-type channel or trim strip
Vehicle trim
C052S716100, C052S716600, C052S717060
Reexamination Certificate
active
06226953
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a weather strip retainer for retaining a weather strip onto a vehicle body, particularly to a weather strip retainer integrally formed with a drip molding, and a method for producing such weather strip retainer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In vehicles such as automobiles, a weather strip for sealing a space between a door and a vehicle body is usually mounted to the door of the vehicle; but in the case where it is difficult to mount the weather strip onto the door (e.g., in the case of a sashless door), the weather strip is attached to the vehicle body via a weather strip retainer. Recently, weather strip retainers have been formed integrally with a drip molding to reduce the number of parts.
Illustrated in
FIG. 9
is an example of such conventional weather strip retainer with a drip molding. The illustrated weather strip retainer comprises a front pillar mount section
80
to be mounted on a front pillar of the vehicle body, a roof mount section
82
horizontally extending along to be mounted on a roof of the vehicle body, and a center pillar mount section
84
to be mounted on a center pillar of the vehicle body. The front pillar mount section
80
and the roof mount section
82
are integral with each other. The front pillar mount section
80
extends obliquely downward from the horizontally extending roof mount section
82
. A drip molding
86
is integrally formed on an outer edge portion of the front pillar mount section
80
and the roof mount section
82
.
The center pillar mount section
84
in which the drip molding
86
is not provided is formed separately from the front pillar mount section
80
and the roof mount section
82
and is connected to the roof mount section
82
at the rear end portion thereof (right side as viewed in
FIG. 9
) via a joint member
83
produced by a press forming or the like with oriented substantially in a vertical direction.
The reference numeral
85
in
FIG. 9
designates mounting holes for screws for attaching the respective mount sections
80
,
82
,
84
to the vehicle body.
Shown in
FIG. 10
is a detail of the mounting structure of the roof mount section
82
of the weather strip retainer. The roof mount section
82
has a shape opening outward of the vehicle (left side as viewed in
FIG. 10
) and a weather strip WS is fit to the inside of the roof mount section
82
. A drip molding base
88
is formed further outwardly from an outer edge (an upper edge as viewed in
FIG. 10
) of the roof mount section
82
. A seal layer
89
made of rubber or synthetic resin is fixedly attached on the front surface of the drip molding base
88
. In this way, the drip molding
86
is formed.
At the back of the roof mount section
82
(right side as viewed in FIG.
10
), sealing lips
91
,
92
projecting continuously from the roof mount section
82
along the longitudinal direction thereof are fixedly attached. A screw
96
is inserted through the mounting hole
85
from outside and fitted in a gromet
94
attached on a vehicle body panel (a roof panel
90
in FIG.
10
), the roof mount section
82
is attached to the roof panel
90
with the sealing lips
91
,
92
being in contact with an outer surface of the roof panel
90
.
The front pillar mount section
80
and the center pillar mount section
84
have the same structure as the roof mount section
82
shown in
FIG. 10
except that the center pillar mount section
84
has no drip molding
86
.
With this structure, when the door is closed, a marginal portion of a window glass G of the door is brought into press-contact with the weather strip WS, and thereby the window glass of the door is sealed at the marginal portion thereof to prevent wind and rain from entering the interior of the vehicle body through a gap between the window glass G and the vehicle body.
However, the conventional weather strip retainer has the following problems.
In the conventional weather strip retainer
10
, the center pillar mount section
84
with no drip molding
86
is formed separately from the front pillar mount section
80
and the roof mount section
82
having the drip molding and is connected thereto via the joint member
83
. Thus, the weather strip retainer
10
needs three components in total, i.e., the front pillar mount section
80
and roof mount section
82
; the center pillar mount section
84
; and the joint member
83
. This makes the mounting structure complicated and increases assembling steps, which thus providing a very obstacle in cost reduction.
Besides, the weather strip retainer is separated into three parts. Accordingly, the weather strip retainer is more liable to cause a gap than continuously extending retainers, consequently lowering the sealability disadvantageously.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a weather strip retainer with a drip molding and a weather strip retainer producing method which have overcome the problems residing in the prior art.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a weather strip retainer comprising: a roof mount section to be mounted on a roof of a vehicle body, the roof mount section having two opposite end portions; a first pillar mount section continuously extending from one end portion of the roof mount section and to be mounted on a first pillar of the vehicle body; a second pillar mount section continuously extending in a generally vertical direction from the other end portion of the roof mount section and to be mounted on a second pillar of the vehicle body; and a drip molding formed integrally with the roof mount section and first pillar mount section.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method for producing a weather strip retainer, comprising steps of: forming a blank having a retainer main body and a drip molding integral with the retainer main body; bending the blank at an intermediate portion thereof to define a roof mount section to be mounted on a roof of a vehicle body and a first pillar mount section to be mounted on a first pillar of the vehicle body; cutting away a specified portion of the drip molding, the specified portion corresponding to a second pillar mount section to be mounted on a second pillar of the vehicle body, the second pillar mount section being to be defined; and bending the blank at a boundary zone portion between the second pillar mount section and the roof mount section in such a manner that the second pillar mount section directs in a generally vertical direction.
The drip molding is formed integrally with the roof mount section and the first pillar mount section. The second pillar section is extended continuously from the roof mount section. In this way, the retainer is formed into one body as a whole. This will simplify the construction of a weather strip retainer with a drip molding, and thus greatly reduce the production costs of a weather strip retainer with a drip molding.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4959081 (1990-09-01), Mathellier
patent: 5035937 (1991-07-01), Nozaki
patent: 5050349 (1991-09-01), Goto et al.
patent: 5056850 (1991-10-01), Katcherian et al.
patent: 8-58391 (1996-03-01), None
Ishihara Katsuhisa
Ohashi Kazumasa
Uno Akihiro
Chavez Patrick J.
Friedman Carl D.
Jordan and Hamburg LLP
Mitsubishi Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
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