GB2133448A - Window arrangement for motor vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

A window in a motor vehicle door comprises a window pane 1 guided by means of a channel 12 which receives one or more stud-like projections 13 secured to the pane and which extends the full height of the window opening, together with additional guide channels (not shown) located beneath the window opening in which the edges of the pane run. The arrangement is suitable for so-called flush glazing systems. The channel 12 may be set in a moulding assembled into the inner door member 6. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Window arrangement for motor vehicles This invention relates to window arrangements for motor vehicles.

In recent years, in an attempt to reduce still further the aerodynamic drag on vehicles, as well as for styling considerations, vehicle designers have attempted to design vehicle window panes that are flush, or nearly so, with the surrounding vehicle bodywork. There are obvious difficulties to achieving this in the case of wind-down windows, and some complicated designs have been produced.

The invention provides a window arrangement for a motor vehicle, which includes a window pane which can be raised to close the window opening, the pane having one or more projections extending towards the vehicle interior which run in an upwardly-extending guide means extending substantially over the height of the window opening and which locate(s) the pane against outward movement, and a pair of upwardly extending guides in which the sides of the pane run, which guides are located beneath the window opening.

With the arrangement, the pane can be adequately located by the pair of guides below the window opening and by a single guide means at the window opening: there is therefore no need for the sides of the pane to run in guides in the window opening itself, and the system therefore lends itself to flush glazing. The arrangement is simple in construction.

The guide means may also locate the pane against side-to-side movement, that is, longitudinally of the vehicle.

Advantageously, the guide means is located adjacent to a side of the window pane: the side must be parallel or approximately so to the line of the guide means, that is, it cannot be located at a sloping side such as is common at the front of a vehicle where the sloping side does not travel parallel to its sloping edge.

Advantageously, the guide means is set into a moulding secured to the vehicle body. The moulding may be of rubber or plastics material, and the moulding may be performed in situ. The moulding may itself also form a seal aginst the window pane.

Advantageously, the or each projection is a headed stud and the guide means has a narrow mouth accommodating the or each stem of each stud and a wider portion accommodating the head of the or each stud. The guide means may be an aluminium extrusion.

For the avoidance of doubt, references to "upwardly-extending" guides and guide means should not be taken as meaning verticallyextending (assuming the vehicle is on level ground). The window panes may well be curved in a transverse plane of the vehicle, and the upward movement may be at an angle to the vertical in a longitudinai vehicle plane, so the guides and guide means may be inclined to the vertical in either plane, and need not be straight Window arrangements for motor vehicles constructed in accordance with the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a first window arrangement for a door of a motor vehicle, seen from the interior of the vehicle; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the guides of the window arrangement of Figure 1, seen from the outside of the vehicle, the window being shown only in outline; Figure 3 is a horizontal section through the guide means in the region of the window opening; Figure 4 is a horizontal section through the guide means and the right hand guide of Figure 2 taken below the window opening; Figure 5 is a horizontal section through the Apost of the window arrangement of Figure 1; Figure 6 is a horizontal section through the B-C post of the Figure 1 arrangement; and Figure 7 is a horizontal section through the B-C post of a second window arrangement for a motor vehicle.

Like parts are given the same reference numerals throughout all the Figures.

Both window arrangements are incorporated in doors in the motor vehicles, and both can be raised and lowered by means of a winder mechanism (not shown). Both window arrangements are of the so-called flush glazing kind, that is, the surface of the window pane 1 is approximately flush with the surface of the surrounding vehicle exterior bodywork.

Referring to Figures 1 to 6, the vehicle body includes a frame for the door consisting of two uprights, namely A-post 2 and B-C post 3, and a cant-rail at the top (not shown) and a sill (not shown) at the bottom. The vehicle windscreen is shown by reference 4.

The vehicle door, indicated generally by the reference 5, consists of an inner member 6 which has an opening for the window and to which trim panel 7 is attached, and outer skin 8. Door seal 9 of resilient material extends around the circumference of the door between the inner member 6 and flanges 3a and 2a extending from the B-C post and A-post respectively, to which the resilient seal is attached. There is a similar flange extending from the vehicle cant-rail for securing the door seal 9. In contrast to conventional vehicle doors, that is, those which are not of the flush glazing kind, the outer skin 8 only extends up as far as the waist of the door, that is, the bottom of the window opening. Above this, the door is formed entirely by the inner member 6 and the pane itself.

Referring to Figure 2, below the waist of the door, the door has mounted on it guides in the form of channels 10 and 11, in which the edges of the window pane run as the window is lowered.

The window pane 1 also has guide means in the form of channel 12 adjacent its right-hand side as seen in Figure 2, and this channel 12 extends not only the full height of the door window but also beneath the door waist where it is formed integrally with the channel 1 The parts 11 and 12 are conveniently formed together as an aluminium extrusion. The channel 12 is shaped to accommodate a stud-like projection indicated generally by the reference 1 3 which is fixed through the window pane 1 at the top rear corner (adjacent the top of the right-hand edge as seen in Figure 2). The projection 1 3 consists of a stem 1 3a and a head 1 3b.

It has been found that the combination of channels 10, 11 and 12 are sufficient to locate the window adequately. The interaction of the projection 1 3 and the channel 1 2 not only locate the window pane against side-to-side movement, that is, in a longitudinal direction relative to the vehicle, but also locates the window pane against outwards movement relative to the vehicle. The channels 10 and 11 provide a certain amount of side-to-side location also even when the window is fully raised because, as can be seen from Figure 1, there is a slight overlap between the bottom of the window pane and the bottom of the window opening. As the window pane 1 is lowered, it receives progressively more and more location against outwards and inwards movement from the channels 10 and 11.

In contrast to some prior proposals where guidesfor the window are formed as a separate frame which is welded to the vehicle door, the composite channel 11, 12 is secured to the vehicle door in a particularly simple manner. The channel member 11, 12 is set into a moulding 14 (which may be of rubber) which is then secured adhesively to the inner door member 6.

Resilient material such as rubber 1 5 may be moulded as part of the material 14 to form weather seals with the interior of the window pane 1 and also with the exterior by means of lip 15a.

A similar weather sealing arrangement is used for the loading edge of the window pane 1, in that inner door member 6 has a resilient rubber material 1 5 moulded into it, and the latter forms a seal with the inside of the pane and the outside by means of lip 1 spa. The same arrangement is used at the top of the window.

In the alternative arrangement shown in Figure 7, the inner door member 6 has a plastic moulding 16 set into it, this containing the channels 11, 12 as in the first arrangement, but this time the seal for the inner surface of the pane is provided by a separate resilient member 1 7 inset into the plastics member 16 and by means of the door seal 9 which in this case extends to the edge of the window at 9a.

Both arrangements have the advantage of simplicity, in that the main guide channel is assembled directly into the inner door member 6 and there are no problems of accurate location of the channel 12 as for example, there would be if two were provided, one at each edge of the window. Also, there are no problems resulting from the welding in of a separate frame containing the guide members to the door member. The single channel receiving the stud-like projection 13, together with the simple guide channels 10, 11 located below the vehicle waist, provide adequate location for the window pane. In the arrangement of Figures 1 to 6, the pane 1 is surrounded on each side and the top by the small rubber lip 1 5a, which assists in location of the pane.

The arrangement is clearly applicable to windup windows located in the vehicle body proper, as opposed to the vehicle doors.

Claims (11)

Claims

1. A window arrangement for a motor vehicle, which includes a window pane which can be raised to close the window opening, the pane having one or more projections extending towards the vehicle interior which run in an upwardlyextending guide means extending substantially over the height of the window opening and which locate(s) the pane against outward movement, and a pair of upwardly-extending guides in which the sides of the pane run, which guides are located beneath the window opening.

2. A window arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the guide means is located adjacent to a side of the window pane.

3. A window arrangement as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the guide means is located in moulding secured to the vehicle body.

4. A window arrangement as claimed in claim 3, wherein the moulding is of rubber and also forms a seal with the window pane.

5. A window arrangement as claimed in claim 3, wherein the moulding is of plastics material, and there is a separate seal for the window pane.

6. A window arrangement as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the or each projection is a headed stud and the guide means has a narrow mouth accommodating the stem of the or each stud and a wider portion accommodating the head of the or each stud.

7. A window arrangement as claimed in claim 6, wherein the guide means is an extrusion.

8. A window arrangement as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the guides in which the sides of the window pane run are guide channels.

9. A window arrangement as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the window pane is located in a door.

1 0. A window arrangement substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

11. A motor vehicle having a window arrangement as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 10.