Outwardly swingable roof assembly for automotive vehicles

• US 4,968,088 A
• Filed: 11/06/1989
• Issued: 11/06/1990
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/1988
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Gabel GmbH
• Original Assignee: Gabel GmbH
• Inventors: Schurmann, Erich
• Primary Examiner(s): Pedder, Dennis H.
• Application Number:
  US07/433,041
• Time in Patent Office: 365 Days
• Field of Search: 296/216, 296/220, 296/223, 296/224, 49/324, 49/356, 49/381, 49/386, 292/275, 16/200
• US Class Current: 296/216.02
• CPC Class Codes: B60J 7/0435 pivoting upwardly to vent mode and moving at the outside of the roof to fully open mode
• CPC Class Codes: B60J 7/1642 Roof panels, e.g. sunroofs or hatches, movable relative to the main roof structure, e.g. by lifting or pivoting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 292/301 Friction catch

Abstract

A roof vent, sun roof or like system has a tiltable panel which is hingedly mounted in a frame around a roof opening of an automotive vehicle. The assmebly includes a rectilinear guide along which a slider is displaceable to straighten a bent spring bar connected to the panel and thereby allow the panel to be drawn into sealing closure with the frame.

Claims

1. An openable roof assembly for an automotive vehicle, comprising:

a frame element on a roof of an automotive vehicle defining an opening between exterior and interior of said vehicle;

a panel element mounted on said frame element and movable between an open position wherein said panel element is tilted out of said opening and a closed position wherein said panel element blocks said opening;

a hinge member within the perimeter of said frame element pivotally supporting said panel element to enable said panel element to swing between said positions about a pivot axis;

a rigid elongated substantially rectilinear guide mounted on one of said elements and extending substantially perpendicular to said axis;

an intrinsically bent elastically straightenable bar braced at one end, extending generally along said guide and operatively connected to said panel element; and

a control member on said guide and traversed within by said bar and controlling a shape of said bar upon relative displacement of said bar and said control member, at least one of said members being shiftable along said guide so that, upon displacement of said at least one of said members in one direction, constraint on said bar is released and restoring force of said bar upon returning to said bent state displaces said panel member into said open position and, upon displacement of said at least one of said members in an opposite direction along said guide, said bar is elastically straightened by constraint applied by said control member and said panel member is displaced into said closed position.

2. The assembly defined in claim 1 wherein said panel element is a translucent panel of a sun roof of said vehicle.

3. The assembly defined in claim 2 wherein said guide extends between two opposite frame limbs of said frame element and is affixed thereto, said bar having an opposite end articulated to said panel in a tension and compression transmitting manner.

4. The assembly defined in claim 3 wherein said one end of said bar is fixed against displacement relative to said guide.

5. The assembly defined in claim 4, further comprising means retaining said one end of said bar on said guide.

6. The assembly defined in claim 5 wherein said means retaining said one end of said bar is displaceable.

7. The assembly defined in claim 6 wherein said means retaining said one end of said bar is a bracket freely shiftable along said guide.

8. The assembly defined in claim 7 wherein said control member and said bracket are both shiftable along said guide.

9. The assembly defined in claim 2 wherein said control member is a slider mounted o said guide and said bar is received in a sliding channel formed on said slider.

10. The assembly defined in claim 2 wherein said bar is articulated to said panel element at an articulation formed with a length compensation region.

11. The assembly defined in claim 10 wherein said articulation includes a link which is short relative to a length of said bar and has one end connected by a hinge joint to said panel element and another end connected by a hinge joint to said bar.

12. The assembly defined in claim 10 wherein said length compensation region is formed with a vibration damper.

13. The assembly defined in claim 12 wherein said vibration damper is formed with a housing filled with a permanently elastic synthetic resin with a pasty consistency into which said other end of said bar extends as a plunger and surrounding said other end of said bar in said housing.

14. The assembly defined in claim 13 wherein said vibration damper is provided with means for preventing withdrawal of said other end from said housing.

15. The assembly defined in claim 2 wherein said control member is a slider mounted on said guide and said bar is received in a sliding channel formed on said slider, said assembly further comprising a motor operatively connected to said slider for displacing said slider along said guide.

16. The assembly defined in claim 15 wherein said motor is mounted along said guide and has a threaded spindle extending along said guide, traversing said slider and rotated by said motor, said slider being formed as a nut threadedly engaging said spindle and displaced thereby along said guide.

17. The assembly defined in claim 16 wherein said means retaining said one end of said bar is a bracket freely shiftable along said guide, said motor is mounted at an end of said guide proximal to said axis, and said spindle passes through said bracket without entraining same.

18. The assembly defined in claim 17 wherein said guide is formed as a trough and at least one of said bar, said bracket, said slider, said spindle and said motor is received in said trough.

19. The assembly defined in claim 18 wherein said bar is a leaf spring composed of spring steel.

20. The assembly defined in claim 19 wherein said leaf spring comprises two spring parts defining a guide slit for said slider between said parts.

21. The assembly defined in claim 20 wherein said trough has a longitudinal slit through which said slider extends and guiding said slider.

22. The assembly defined in claim 21 wherein said slider has a pair of guide grooves opening on opposite sides of said slider and receiving edges of the longitudinal slit of said trough.

23. The assembly defined in claim 22 wherein said slider above said guide grooves reaches into said slit of said leaf spring, further comprising a hold-down on said slider engaging over said leaf spring.

24. The assembly defined in claim 2, further comprising on an inside of said panel a flat cover strip covering said guide and said bar and adhesively bonded to said panel.