Weather strip for motor vehicle

• US 7,685,777 B2
• Filed: 10/30/2007
• Issued: 03/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Toyoda Gosei Company Limited (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyoda Gosei Company Limited (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Nozaki, Masahiro, Tamaoki, Kiyotaka
• Primary Examiner(s): Mitchell; Katherine W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Keller; Michael J.
• Application Number:
  US11/978,729
• Publication Number:
  US 20080148646A1
• Time in Patent Office: 882 Days
• Field of Search: 494/901, 494/981, 494/751, 296/146.9
• US Class Current: 49/498.1
• CPC Class Codes: B60J 10/24 having tubular parts
• CPC Class Codes: B60J 10/32 using integral U-shaped retainers
• CPC Class Codes: B60J 10/80 specially adapted for opening panels, e.g. doors for non-fixed roofs B60J10/90

Abstract

A weather strip exhibiting excellent sealing properties, of which a tubular seal portion is prevented from readily tilting when attached to a curved flange in a vehicle body. The weather strip includes a trim portion having a generally U-shaped cross-section and a tubular seal portion. The tubular seal portion includes a first outer seal wall, a second outer seal wall, a first inner seal wall, a second inner seal wall, an outer flexing part and an inner flexing part. The thickness of the tubular seal portion decreases in the order of joint areas of the first outer seal wall and the first inner seal wall to the trim portion, the second outer seal wall and the second inner seal wall, and the outer flexing part and the inner flexing part.

Claims

1. A weather strip for a motor vehicle, which is to be attached to a flange around an opening in a vehicle body for sealing an opening surface of the vehicle body against a facing member, comprising:

a trim portion including an outer side wall, an inner side wall and a bottom wall for attachment to the flange and holding the weather strip; and

a tubular seal portion integrally formed with said trim portion for contacting the facing member and effecting a seal between the opening surface and the facing member,

wherein said tubular seal portion comprises;

an outer seal wall which extends from an outer end of the bottom wall of said trim portion and comprises a first outer seal wall and a second outer seal wall; and

an inner seal wall which extends from an inner end of the bottom wall of said trim portion and comprises a first inner seal wall and a second inner seal wall,

wherein a distal end of said second outer seal wall and a distal end of said second inner seal wall being joined to each other, and said outer wall is formed in an L-shaped configuration and said inner wall is formed in an L-shaped configuration, said tubular seal portion having a substantially lozenge-shaped cross-section,

wherein a joint of said first outer seal wall and said second outer seal wall defines an outer flexing part,

wherein a joint of said first inner seal wall and said second inner seal wall defines an inner flexing part,

wherein said outer seal wall has a thickness which is the greatest in a joint area of said first outer seal wall to said trim portion, and gradually decreases in the order of said second outer seal wall and said outer flexing part, and said inner seal wall has a thickness which is the greatest in a joint area of said first inner seal wall to said trim portion, and gradually decreases in the order of said second inner seal wall and said inner flexing part,

wherein a thickness of the first outer seal wall is substantially the same as a thickness of the first inner seal wall, and a thickness of each of the first outer seal wall and the first inner seal wall is greatest in a part adjacent to the bottom wall that comprises a root thereof, and a thickness of a remaining part of each or the first outer seal wall and the first inner seal wall is approximately constant or gradually decreases toward each of the flexing parts, such that a thickness of the tubular seal portion in the outer flexing part and the inner flexing part is less than a thickness of a remaining portion of the tubular seal portion,

wherein said weather strip comprises one of a trunk weather strip and a back door weather strip, and

wherein said weather strip is composed of one of an ethylene propylene diene M-class rubber (EPDM rubber) and a thermoplastic olefin elastomer.

2. A weather strip for a motor vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein a pad with good flexibility is inserted in a part of said tubular seal portion, which is to be attached to a curved area of the flange in the vehicle body.

3. A weather strip as claimed in claim 1, wherein the substantially lozenge-shaped cross-section comprises a substantially rhombus shape with the four corners corresponding to the edge abutting the bottom wall, the joining location of the distal end of the second outer seal wall and the distal end of the second inner seal wall, the joint of the first outer seal wall and the second outer seal wall, and the joint of said first inner seal wall and said second inner seal wall.