Movable or removable closures – Closure seal; e.g. – striker gasket or weatherstrip – With corner or corner forming portions; i.e. – corner seal
Reexamination Certificate
1997-07-16
2001-05-29
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
06237287
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a weatherstrip disposed between a movable body component and an aperture formed in a body of an automobile, and more particularly, to a weatherstrip assembly for preventing a displacement of a weatherstrip in its installation position relative to the body aperture or the body component and for improving the efficiency of weatherstrip installation.
2. Related Art
Movable body components such as a door, a hood, a trunk lid are mounted on the body of an automobile. In this connection, the body is formed with apertures corresponding to such body components. A weatherstrip is mounted about the body aperture or the body component to prevent wind, rain, water, dust or the like from getting into the interior of the body by way of the clearances between the body aperture and the associated body component, reduce a shock impact at the time of opening and closing the body components, and prevent vibration of the body components during the running of the automobile.
For example, a door weatherstrip is attached to the periphery of a door of an automobile. The door has an installation seat adapted to be fixed to a weatherstrip holding portion
102
formed in door
101
and has a sealing lip formed integrally with the installation seat, as shown in FIG.
1
. Typically, the door
101
is supported through hinges
103
by the body for rotation about the vertical axis passing through the hinges. Upon closure of the door
101
, a force exerted toward the rear side of the door is applied, as shown by an arrow F in
FIG. 2
, to a corner portion
210
of a weatherstrip
201
which corresponds to a corner portion
110
of the door
101
. A lip
203
formed in the weatherstrip corner portion
210
may therefore be displaced from its original installation position, as shown by a two-dotted chain line in
FIG. 2
, after years of use during which the door
101
is repeatedly opened and closed. This causes a degraded external appearance and a degraded sealing ability of the weatherstrip.
To obviate these problems, the weatherstrip
201
is generally fixed to the door
101
by inserting clips
220
(
FIG. 1
) formed integrally with the door weatherstrip
201
into clip holes, not shown, formed in the weatherstrip holding portion
102
of the door
101
, or by adhering the weatherstrip
201
to the weatherstrip holding portion
102
with an adhesive or an adhesive tape. However, these weatherstrip mounting methods are disadvantageous because more man-hours are needed to mount the weatherstrip to the door during manufacture.
Under these circumstances, a weatherstrip is proposed in Japanese Provisional Utility Model Publication No. 4-119714, which has a main portion thereof provided with a sealing lip and an installation seat thereof adapted to be fixed to the weatherstrip holding portion of a door. As shown in
FIG. 2
, this weatherstrip
201
includes a corner-molded portion
210
mounted to a corner portion
110
of the door and an extrusion-molded portion
211
mounted to a portions of the door other than at corner
110
.
By means of injection vulcanization molding, the installation seat, made of non-foamable solid rubber, and the main portion, made of sponge rubber, of the corner-molded portion
210
are formed integrally with the extrusion-molded portion
211
. In
FIG. 2
, reference numeral
212
designates a coupled portion between the corner-molded portion
210
and the extrusion-molded portion
211
.
In the weatherstrip
201
, the installation seat of the corner-molded portion
210
is made of non-foamable solid rubber, to thereby provide the installation seat with a suitable rigidity. This permits the corner-molded portion
210
to sufficiently withstand force applied thereto at the time of door closure, so that deviation of the corner-molded portion from an original installation position relative to the corner portion
110
of the door is prevented. The suitably rigid installation seat can also improve the manufacturing efficiency of attaching the weatherstrip
201
to the corner portion
110
. Further, the weatherstrip
201
has its portions made of sponge rubber, other than the installation seat of the corner-molded portion
210
, so that a sufficient sealing property of the weatherstrip is secured.
However, further improvement has been demanded in preventing weatherstrip displacement caused by repetitive opening and closing actions of a body component and in manufacturing efficiency of the installation of the weatherstrip to a body aperture or a body component.
In addition, a worker sometimes applies a large pulling force to a weatherstrip while attaching the weatherstrip to a body aperture or a body component such as a door. In this case, a corner portion of the weatherstrip can be deviated from its original installation position relative to a door sash toward either the front side or the rear side of the door sash, as shown in
FIG. 2
, depending on the direction in which the pulling force is applied.
To solve such a problem, a weatherstrip proposed in Japanese Provisional Utility Model Publication No. 6-39538 is comprised of a basic portion, a hollow seal portion, and a lip. The basic portion is fitted into an engaging recess formed in a holding portion of a door sash. The seal portion and the lip are formed integrally with the basic portion. Further, an insert metal formed with clip holes is embedded in a corner portion of the weatherstrip. By inserting clips into the clip holes, the insert metal is fixed to the door sash, to thereby prevent deviation or slippage of the weatherstrip relative to the door sash.
However, it is difficult for a worker to insert the clips into the clip holes of the insert metal. Accordingly, the efficiency in installing the weatherstrip on the door sash is low. Further, the rubber weatherstrip can easily be deformed, and hence the insert metal is sometimes moved in the weatherstrip as a result of repetitive opening and closing of the door. Thus, deviation of the weatherstrip from its original installation position is still possible. This necessitates reattachment of the weatherstrip. Further, if the insert metal is greatly moved so that the weatherstrip is damaged, complete replacement of the damaged weatherstrip with a new weatherstrip is required. In such cases, it is necessary to detach the clips from the clip holes. The reattachment and replacement of the weatherstrip, including detaching and inserting the clips from and into the clip holes, disadvantageously takes a lot of time and labor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a weatherstrip assembly capable of positively preventing deviation of a weatherstrip from an original installation position relative to a body component or a body aperture corresponding to the body component and capable of improving the efficiency of weatherstrip installation.
According to the present invention, a weatherstrip assembly is provided which is adapted to be mounted to a body component or a body aperture by way of a holder having a first holder portion and a second holder portion thereof extending at an angle from the first holder portion.
The weatherstrip assembly of the present invention comprises a weatherstrip having first and second weatherstrip bodies which have first and second mounting bases, respectively. These mounting bases are adapted to be supported by the first and second holder portions, respectively. The weatherstrip assembly further comprises first weatherstrip holding section which is fixed to the first mounting base of the first weatherstrip body and which is adapted to be engaged with the first holder portion.
The weatherstrip assembly of the present invention is advantageous in that, when the first weatherstrip holding section is engaged with the first holder portion of the holder formed in the body component or the body aperture, the first mounting base of the first weatherstrip body is mounted to the first holder portion by way of the first weatherstrip holding section, so that the weat
Nakagawa Hayami
Nishimoto Susumu
Takeshita Koji
Mitsubishi Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Redman Jerry
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