Sealing arrangements

• US 4,813,184 A
• Filed: 11/23/1987
• Issued: 03/21/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/1986
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: GDX North America Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Draftex Industries Limited (DuPont de Nemours, Inc.)
• Inventors: Weimar, Erich
• Primary Examiner(s): Dorner, Kenneth J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): BRITTAIN, JAMES R
• Application Number:
  US07/123,923
• Time in Patent Office: 484 Days
• Field of Search: 49/477, 49/497, 49/498
• US Class Current: 49/477.1
• CPC Class Codes: B60J 10/244 inflatable or deflatable

Abstract

A vehicle door seal with a channel shaped gripping part is mounted on a bodywork flange defining the door opening and this part supports a tubular sealing part such as made of plastics or rubber of cellular or foamed configuration. The air pressure within the latter can be increased or decreased by means of an air pump connected to a tubular extension. When the door is opened, the air within the sealing part is evacuated and the sealing part collapses to permit easy closing of the door. When the door is closed, the air pressure within the tubular part is increased so as to inflate the sealing part towards its circular configuration and to bring it into sealing engagement with the closed door. The interior of the sealing part is lined with an air-impervious lining and this and the interior of the part are formed with grooves which are so configured that the collapsed sealing part has a neat appearance.

Claims

1. A sealing arrangement for sealing around a closable opening, comprising

a sealing part made of flexible material defining a longitudinal hollow interior and having a normal, sealing, configuration,

means connecting to the hollow interior to enable the pressure therewithin to be decreased below atmospheric pressure so as partially to evacuate the sealing part and to cause the sealing part to assume a relatively collapsed non-sealing configuration, and to enable the pressure therewithin to be increased to cause the sealing part to re-assume the said sealing configuration,

the interior wall of the sealing part defining the hollow interior being formed with one or more longitudinal grooves, so positioned that the collapsed configuration is of predetermined form, and

an air-impervious lining on and extending over the whole of the interior wall of the sealing part including the said one or more grooves.

2. A sealing arrangement according to claim 1, comprising a gripping part which mounts the sealing part in the required position around the said opening, the sealing part being mounted on an outside wall of the gripping part.

3. A door seal for sealing around a vehicle door opening, comprising

a channel-shaped gripping part for embracingly gripping a mounting flange or the like around the periphery of the door opening,

a hollow tubular sealing part mounted on an outside wall of the gripping part so as to face the door of the opening as it closes,

means for varying the air pressure within the hollow interior of the sealing part whereby when the air pressure is substantially reduced the sealing part is partially evacuated and partially collapses and provides clearance for easy closure of the door and when the air pressure is thereafter increased the tubular part is inflated and thereby expanded into sealing engagement with the closed door,

means defining a plurality of grooves running longitudinally along the interior wall of the sealing part so as to define a predetermined configuration into which the sealing part collapses, and

an air-impervious lining on and extending over the whole of the interior of the sealing part and extending into and lying within the said grooves.

4. A door seal according to claim 3, in which the hollow tubular sealing part is approximately circular in cross-section and there are three such grooves with two of them being spaced approximately diametrically opposite each other and the third one being approximately equiangularly spaced from each of the said two grooves.