Paint drain closure attaching method

• US 4,817,262 A
• Filed: 08/03/1987
• Issued: 04/04/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/1985
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Perfection Spring & Stamping Corp.
• Original Assignee: Perfection Spring & Stamping Corp.
• Inventors: Seyler, Peter G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Moon, Charlie T.
• Application Number:
  US07/080,863
• Time in Patent Office: 610 Days
• Field of Search: 29/509, 29/523, 29/522 R, 29/522 A, 29/243.52, 29/283.5, 29/458, 29/469.5, 296/1 F, 296/1 R, 296/208, 296/191, 220/293-295, 220/298, 220/309, 220/310, 220/304, 220/362, 220/364, 49/476, 156/69, 156/295
• US Class Current: 29/458
• CPC Class Codes: B21D 39/20 with mandrels, e.g. expandable
• CPC Class Codes: B21D 53/80 dustproof covers; safety covers
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 25/24 Superstructure sub-units with access or drainage openings having movable or removable closures; Sealing means thereforinlet covers for vehicle fuel tanks B60K15/05
• CPC Class Codes: F16B 5/00 Joining sheets or plates , e.g. panels, to one another or to strips or bars parallel to them F16B17/00 takes precedence; by sticking together F16B11/00; dowel connections F16B13/00; pins, including deformable elements F16B19/00; covering of walls E04F13/00; fastening signs, plates, panels or boards to a supporting structure, fastening readily-detachable elements, e.g. letters to signs, plates, panels, or boards, G09F7/00
• CPC Class Codes: F16B 5/10 by means of bayonet connections F16B5/0092 takes precedence; fastening devices locking by rotation F16B21/02
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49885 with coating before or during assembling
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49906 Metal deforming with nonmetallic bonding

Abstract

An improved closure for sealing the paint drain holes of a vehicle body, and a tool and method of use therefor, are disclosed. The closure takes the form of a one-piece sheet metal plug of inverted hat-shaped configuration having a peripheral flange with a thermoplastic sealant ring located beneath the flange to form a hermetic seal about the opening of the vehicle body. In use, the closure is supported, preferably magnetically, by the head of an insertion tool and is directed by that tool into a floor pan opening or other panel opening of a vehicle body. Depending on the shape of the panel opening, the plug is then temporarily secured in place, with the sealant ring clamped between the flange of the plug and the body panel, either by a partial turn of the plug or by a tool with cam-driven dimpling elements that are forced outwardly within the cavity of the plug to produce a plurality of external enlargments or nubs. The same closure plug may be used for either type of attachment and, following such attachment, the entire assembly is heated (in the normal baking cycle of the painting operation) to soften and expand the sealant ring and produces a permanent adhesive bond between the parts. The use of the paint drain openings to support and position a vehicle prior to plug insertion and attachment is also disclosed.

Claims

1. A vehicle body treatment process comprising the steps of forming a plurality of drain holes in floor panels of a vehicle body undergoing manufacture, each such drain hole having a downwardly-projecting rim extending thereabout;

inserting upstanding pins of a vehicle body supporting and locating apparatus upwardly into said drain holes for supporting and precisely orienting said body during the manufacture thereof;

removing said pins from said drain holes and immersing said body in a paint bath;

removing said body from said bath and draining paint therefrom through said drain holes;

inserting a closure plug downwardly into each of said drain holes following the draining of paint from said body, said plugs each being formed of sheet metal and being of inverted hat-shaped configuration with integral bottom and side walls defining an upwardly-opening cavity and a perimetric flange projecting outwardly from the top of said side wall, each of said plugs also having a thermoplastic sealant ring extending about the underside of said perimetric flange, and being inserted with its side wall extending downwardly through one of said drain holes, its bottom wall below the floor panel in which said hole is formed, its flange extending over said floor panel, and said sealant ring being interposed between said flange and said floor panel;

thereafter mechanically locking said side wall of said plugs to said floor panels; and

finally heating said vehicle body and said plugs to soften said rings and form hermetic seals between said flanges of said plugs and said floor panels.