Abstract:
A latching system for an automotive vehicle having a convertible roof is provided. In another aspect of the present invention, front and/or rear convertible roof sections are rigid, hard-top roofs. A further aspect of the present invention system provides a latch which secures a generally rigid tonneau cover.

Description:
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    This invention relates generally to automotive roof systems and more particularly to a latch for an automotive vehicle having a convertible roof.  
           [0002]    Rigid hard-top convertible roofs have been used on a variety of automotive vehicles. Some of these conventional convertible hard-top roofs are stored in a generally vertical orientation and some are stored in a predominantly horizontal orientation. Furthermore, some of these conventional hard-top roofs fold in a clamshelling manner while others are collapsible in an overlapping manner. Examples of traditional hard-top convertible roofs are disclosed in the following patents: U.S. Pat. No. 6,347,828 entitled “Actuation Mechanism for a Two Piece Retractable Hard-Top Roof for an Automobile” which issued to Rapin et al. on Feb. 19, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,318,793 entitled “Two Piece Retractable Hard-Top Roof for an Automobile” which issued to Rapin et al. on Nov. 20, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,970 entitled “Roof Assembly for a Convertible Vehicle” which issued to Rothe et al. on Nov. 9, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 5,785,375 entitled “Retractable Hard-Top for an Automotive Vehicle” which issued to Alexander et al. on Jul. 28, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,483 entitled “Convertible Motor Vehicle Roof” which issued to Danzl et al. on Jun. 23, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,587 entitled “Apparatus for Use in an Automotive Vehicle having a Convertible Roof System” which issued to Alexander et al. on Apr. 28, 1998; and EPO Patent Publication No. 1 092 580 A1 which was published on Apr. 18, 2001. The U.S. patents are incorporated by reference herein.  
           [0003]    Various tonneau cover latches are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,678,881 entitled “Apparatus and Method for Securing a Convertible Roof to an Automotive Vehicle” which issued to Tokarz on Oct. 21, 1997; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,769 entitled “Manually Operable Folding Top for Vehicles using Automatic-Ejection Snap-Action Closures” which issued to Bonne et al. on Dec. 7, 1993; both of which are incorporated by reference herein. While the Tokarz latches are significant improvements in the industry, many known devices may not necessarily be well suited for use in extremely difficult to package areas along the quarter panel of a vehicle. Furthermore, the tonneau cover and convertible roof may be locked into lowered positions if the electrical power is not working with most, if not all, prior automatically powered latching devices.  
           [0004]    In accordance with the present invention, a latching system for an automotive vehicle having a convertible roof is provided. In another aspect of the present invention, front and/or rear convertible roof sections are rigid, hard-top roofs. A further aspect of the present invention provides that the outside surfaces of retractable roofs have a generally vertical orientation when in their open and retracted positions. In yet another aspect of the present invention, a latch secures a generally rigid tonneau cover. A latch is extremely thin in cross-car size for packaging adjacent a quarter panel of a vehicle, in still another aspect of the present invention. A further aspect of the present invention provides a manual override for an automatically powered latch. Another aspect of the present invention uses a rigid tonneau cover, a tonneau cover linkage mechanism, a movable closeout panel, and a cable drive, which serve to cover a roof storage space and the roof storage space does not obstruct a trunk or storage bed area of a vehicle. In a further aspect of the present invention, a method of using a latch is also provided.  
           [0005]    The latching system of the present invention is advantageous over conventional systems in that the present invention minimizes the stored roof packaging area by tightly collapsing one roof section relative to the other. The present invention convertible roof system is also advantageous since it can be retracted with minimal, if any, intrusion in the passenger compartment area of the vehicle while also storing the roof forward of a user accessible storage area, such as a trunk or pickup truck bed. The latch of the present invention is advantageous over prior devices by having an extremely thin cross-car size which is packaged in a very tight quarter panel area. Moreover, another significant advantage is the ability to manually override the automatic actuator in order to release or latch the tonneau cover in the event of a power failure. Additional advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0006]    [0006]FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, perspective view, as observed from the rear left corner of the vehicle, showing the preferred embodiment of a latch and convertible roof system of the present invention disposed in a fully closed and raised position;  
         [0007]    [0007]FIG. 2 is a fragmentary and perspective view, like that of FIG. 1, showing the preferred embodiment system disposed in a partially retracted position;  
         [0008]    [0008]FIG. 3 is a fragmentary and perspective view, like that of FIG. 1, showing the preferred embodiment system disposed in a fully open and retracted position;  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 4 is a side diagrammatic view showing the preferred embodiment system, disposed in the partially retracted position;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 5 is a side diagrammatic view showing the preferred embodiment system, disposed in the fully retracted position;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 6 is a centerline cross sectional view, taken along line  6 - 6  of FIG. 3, showing the preferred embodiment system;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 7 is a front perspective view showing a tonneau cover mechanism employed in the preferred embodiment system, disposed in a partially open position;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 8 is an enlarged, side elevational view showing the tonneau cover mechanism employed in the preferred embodiment system, disposed in the partially open position;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 9 is a front perspective view showing the tonneau cover mechanism employed in the preferred embodiment system, disposed in the partially open position and a closeout panel shown in a retracted position;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view showing the tonneau cover mechanism employed in the preferred embodiment system;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 11 is a side elevational view showing a latch assembly employed in the preferred embodiment system, disposed in an unlatched position;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 12 is a side elevational view, opposite that of FIG. 11, showing the latch assembly employed in the preferred embodiment system, disposed in the unlatched position;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 13 is a top elevational view showing the latch assembly employed in the preferred embodiment system;  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 14 is a side elevational view, opposite that of FIG. 11, showing the latch assembly employed in the preferred embodiment system, disposed in a latched position;  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 15 is a side elevational view, opposite that of FIG. 11, showing the latch assembly employed in the preferred embodiment system, disposed in the manually overridden, unlatched position;  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 16 is a side elevational view, opposite that of FIG. 11, showing the latch assembly employed in the preferred embodiment system, disposed in the manually overridden, latched position  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 17 is a diagrammatic view showing a first tonneau cover switching mechanism employed in an alternate embodiment system;  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 18 is a diagrammatic view showing a second tonneau cover switching mechanism employed in the preferred embodiment system;  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 19 is a front perspective view showing an actuator used with the tonneau cover and closeout panel employed in the preferred embodiment system;  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 20 is a side elevational view showing manual override handles of the latch assembly employed in the preferred embodiment;  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 21 is a perspective view showing a stationary bracket and a cable employed in an alternate embodiment;  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 22 is a side elevational view, like that of FIG. 12, showing the latch assembly employed in the alternate embodiment system, disposed in an unlatched position;  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 23 is a side elevational view, like that of FIG. 14, showing the latch assembly employed in the alternate embodiment system, disposed in a latched position;  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 24 is a side elevational view, like that of FIG. 15, showing the latch assembly employed in the alternate embodiment system, disposed in a manually overridden, unlatched position;  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 25 is a side elevational view, like that of FIG. 16, showing the latch assembly employed in the alternate embodiment system, disposed in a manually overridden, latch position; and  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 26 is a front perspective view, like FIG. 19, showing a cable used with the tonneau cover and closeout panel employed in the alternate embodiment system. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0032]    Referring to FIGS.  1 - 6 , a convertible roof system  21  is part of an automotive vehicle and includes a hard-top front roof  23 , a hard-top rear roof  25 , a top stack mechanism  27  operable to move the roofs, a rigid tonneau cover  29 , a tonneau cover mechanism  31  and a tonneau latching system  32 . Roofs  23  and  25  are automatically movable from fully raised and closed positions covering a passenger compartment  33 , as shown in FIG. 1, to fully retracted and open positions, as shown in FIGS. 3, 5 and  6 , wherein roofs  23  and  25  are stowed in a roof storage area or compartment  35 . Roof storage compartment  35  is located between a metal, seat back panel or bulkhead  35   a  and a metal rear panel  36 . Bulkhead  35   a  separates roof storage compartment  35  from passenger compartment  33  and rear panel  36  separates roof storage compartment  35  from an externally accessible storage area for miscellaneous articles such as a trunk or pickup truck bed  37 . A rigid, glass back window or backlite  39  is secured to rear roof  25  while front roof  23  is disengagably attached to a front header panel  41  by latches. Weatherstrips or seals are also employed around the peripheral edges of roofs  23  and  25 . Roofs  23  and  25  are preferably stamped from steel sheets and include inner reinforcement panels, but the roofs may alternately be formed from polymeric composites or aluminum. Roofs  23  and  25  have opaque outside surfaces  43  that are typically painted. These outside surfaces  43  define three-dimensionally curved planes which are stored in a predominantly vertical and parallel nested orientation when fully retracted and stowed; this can be observed best in FIG. 5.  
         [0033]    Top stack mechanism  27  is in mirrored symmetry in both outboard sides of the vehicle and will only be described for the left-hand side with reference to FIGS. 3, 6 and  21 . Top stack mechanism  27  includes a linkage assembly  51  and a hydraulic actuator  55 . Linkage assembly  51  is preferably constructed in accordance with German patent application serial number 101 39 354.7 entitled “Cabriolet-Fahrzeug” (Vehicle) which was filed on Aug. 17, 2001, which is incorporated by reference herein. Roofs  23  and  25  can be tightly and closely nested together when fully retracted and the centerline, fore-and-aft roof storage area opening can be minimized due to linkage assembly  51 .  
         [0034]    Tonneau cover mechanism  31  and tonneau cover  29  are best shown in FIGS.  7 - 10  and  19 ; only one side will be discussed since the other is in mirrored symmetry. Tonneau cover mechanism  31  includes a linkage assembly  103  having a pair of arcuate gooseneck links  105  and  107 , a first straight link  109  and a second straight link  111 . Proximal ends of gooseneck links  105  and  107  are pivotably mounted to a vehicle body-mounted bracket (see FIG. 10). Straight links  109  and  111  are coupled at a pivot  113 . A hydraulic actuator  115  (see FIG. 10) is coupled to and drives gooseneck link  105 . Accordingly, when hydraulic actuator  115  is energized, tonneau cover mechanism  31  will cause tonneau cover  29  to rearwardly pivot from the closed position of FIG. 1 to the open position of FIG. 4. This allows roofs  23  and  25  to enter roof storage area  35 . Tonneau cover  29  will be automatically returned to its closed position in order to cover and externally hide the stowed roofs.  
         [0035]    A rigid flipper door or closeout panel  141  is attached to a front section of tonneau cover  29  by a pair of hinges  143 . For each hinge  143 , a first plate is secured to a bottom surface of tonneau cover  29  and a second plate is secured to a bottom surface of closeout panel  141 . If necessary, the plates are coupled at a pivot pin with a torsion spring  489  (best observed in FIG. 19) biasing the plates into a co-planar extended orientation (as shown in FIGS. 3, 7 and  19 ). An aesthetic trim panel  144  (see FIG. 10) covers a portion of each tonneau cover mechanism  31  and a latch trim panel covers a portion of each latch assembly. Preferably, a pair of automatic, hydraulic fluid actuators  629  each have a first, linearly extendable rod end  633  coupled to a bracket mounted to closeout panel  141 . A fluid cylinder end  631  of each fluid actuator  629  is mounted to a tonneau cover bracket. Thus, actuation of fluid actuators  629  rotate closeout panel  141  relative to tonneau cover  29 . Adjustable bumpers  635  assist in locating tonneau cover  29  in its closed position. In an alternate embodiment, shown in FIGS. 21 and 26, a first end of a cable actuator  145 , which slides within a protective sheath, is connected to and operably drives a corresponding lever/bracket  146  mounted to closeout panel  141 . The opposite end of each cable  145  is secured to a fixed cable bracket  147  stationarily mounted to a main bracket  149  supporting roof linkage assembly  51 , which in turn, is fastened to bulkhead  35   a.    
         [0036]    Referring to FIGS.  11 - 13 , the preferred embodiment of latching system  32  includes a stamped steel plate  201 , upon which is fixed a linearly extendable hydraulic actuator  203 , a latching linkage assembly  205  and a lost motion device  207 . Latching linkage assembly  205  includes an arcuately shaped first link  209 , an elongated second link  211  and an offset angled third link  213 . A first pivot  215  of arcuate link  209  is linearly slid within an elongated and diagonally oriented slot  221  disposed in plate  201  upon automatic actuation of actuator  203  which causes extension of a piston rod coupled to pivot  215 . Second link  211  is rotatably coupled to arcuate link  209  at a floating pivot  223 . Thus, automatic actuator-driven movement of arcuate link  209  causes the coupled link  211  to rotate about a fixed pivot  225  such that a follower pin  227  coupled to link  211  is linearly slid from an unlatched position shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 to a latched position as shown in FIG. 14. A catch or roller  229  is journaled about follower pin  227  and follower pin  227  is operably slid within an arcuate surface defining a slot  231  in plate  201 . Roller  229  engages within a tapered bifurcated opening of a striker  241  downwardly and forwardly projecting from a lower surface of tonneau cover  29  (see FIGS. 7, 8 and  18 ), when tonneau cover  29  is in its fully closed and covering position as shown in FIG. 1 and when latch assembly  32  is in its fully latched position as shown in FIGS. 11 and 14. When a microprocessor based controller  407  (see FIG. 18) automatically causes retraction of the piston rod into the hydraulic cylinder of actuator  203 , the links will reverse operation and cause roller  229  to rotate from its latching position to an unlatching position thereby releasing striker  241 .  
         [0037]    A manual override feature is provided within latching system  32  to allow a vehicle operator to manually latch or unlatch roller  229  with striker  241  even when electrical or hydraulic power is not present, such as could happen during vehicle servicing or due to battery failure. Such an override feature is achieved through a metallic disk  251  of lost motion device  207  which is rotatable about a fixed pivot  253 . An internal, straight, camming slot  255  is disposed within disk  251  and has a pair of abutting surfaces  257  and  259 . A cam follower pin  261  projecting from link  213  is allowed to freely move in a lost-motion manner within slot  255  during normal automatic operation of latch assembly  32 . Flexible and elongated cables  271  are attached to disk by spaced apart fasteners  273 ; operator accessible handles  275  (see FIG. 20) are located within the automotive vehicle and are attached to an opposite end of each cable  271  such that manual pulling of one handle causes manually actuated rotation of disk  251  in that direction while manual pulling of the other handle causes reverse rotation of disk  251 . Thus, manually actuated rotation of disk  251  serves to back drive the linkages through contact of the respective abutting surface  259  against pin  261  of link  213 ; this causes link  213  then upwardly and rotatably pulls or pushes pivot  215  attached to arcuate link  209  for coincidentally driving link  211  and roller  229 . The manually overridden unlatching position can be viewed in FIG. 15 while the manually overridden unlatching position can be observed in FIG. 16.  
         [0038]    It is noteworthy that linkage assembly  32  is extremely thin in its cross-car package. Plate  201  is secured to a quarter inner panel of the vehicle body outboard of the roof storage compartment with all of the linkages and actuators disposed between the quarter inner panel and the outer quarter panel skin of the vehicle. Essentially, only roller  229 , a portion of the hydraulic lines and a portion of the manual override cables/handles are exposed on the in-board side of plate  201  thereby reducing the accessibility of components which might otherwise interfere with retraction or extension of the convertible roofs.  
         [0039]    Reference should now be made to FIGS. 12 and 18 wherein a Hall effect magnet  410  is mounted on an outboard face of each striker  241 . A Hall effect switch  409  is affixed to each plate  201  which operably senses the location of magnet  410 ; if magnet  410  is sensed as being in the tonneau striker closed position, then switch  409  sends a signal to microprocessor  407  which causes cylinder  203  to engage roller  229  with striker  241 .  
         [0040]    Referring to FIGS.  22 - 25 , an alternate embodiment of a latching system  32 ′ includes a stamped steel plate  201 ′, upon which is fixed a linearly extendable hydraulic actuator  203 ′, a latching linkage assembly  205 ′ and a lost motion device  207 ′. Latching linkage assembly  205 ′ includes an arcuately shaped first link  209 ′, an elongated second link  211 ′ and a hook-like third link  213 ′. A first pivot  215 ′ of arcuate link  209 ′ is linearly slid within an elongated and diagonally oriented slot  221 ′ disposed in plate  201 ′ upon automatic actuation of actuator  203 ′ which causes extension of a piston rod coupled to pivot  215 ′. Second link  211 ′ is rotatably coupled to arcuate link  209 ′ at a floating pivot  223 ′. Thus, automatic actuator-driven movement of arcuate link  209 ′ causes the coupled link  211 ′ to rotate about a fixed pivot  225 ′ such that a follower pin  227 ′ coupled to link  211 ′ is linearly slid from an unlatched position shown in FIG. 22 to a latched position as shown in FIG. 23. A roller  229 ′ is journaled about follower pin  227 ′ and follower pin  227 ′ is operably slid within an arcuate surface defining a slot  231 ′ in plate  201 ′. Roller  229 ′ has a somewhat inwardly tapered, H cross sectional shape which operably engages within a tapered bifurcated opening of a striker  241  downwardly and forwardly projecting from a lower surface of tonneau cover  29  (see FIGS. 7, 8 and  18 ), when tonneau cover  29  is in its fully closed and covering position as shown in FIG. 1 and when latch assembly  32 ′ is in its fully latched position as shown in FIG. 23. When a microprocessor based controller automatically causes retraction of the piston rod into the hydraulic cylinder of actuator  203 ′, the links will reverse operation and cause roller  229 ′ to rotate from its latching position to an unlatching position thereby releasing striker  241 .  
         [0041]    A manual override feature is provided within latching system  32 ′ to allow a vehicle operator to manually latch or unlatch roller  229 ′ with striker  241  even when electrical or hydraulic power is not present, such as could happen during vehicle servicing or due to battery failure. Such an override feature is achieved through a metallic disk  251 ′ of lost motion device  207 ′ which is rotatable about a fixed pivot  253 ′. A depressed camming slot  255 ′ is disposed within disk  251 ′ and has a pair of abutting surfaces  257 ′ and  259 ′. A bent, cam following finger  261 ′ of hook-like link  213 ′ is allowed to freely move in a lost-motion manner within slot  255 ′ during normal automatic operation of latch assembly  32 ′. Flexible and elongated cables  271 ′ are attached to disk by spaced apart fasteners  273 ′; operator accessible handles  275  (see FIG. 20) are located within the automotive vehicle and are attached to an opposite end of each cable  271 ′ such that manual pulling of one handle causes manually actuated rotation of disk  251 ′ in that direction while manual pulling of the other handle causes reverse rotation of disk  251 ′. Thus, manually actuated rotation of disk  251 ′ serves to back drive the linkages through contact of the respective abutting surface  259 ′ against finger  261 ′ of link  213 ′; this causes a follower pin  291 ′ attached to link  213 ′ to slide within a camming slot  293 ′ such that link  213 ′ then upwardly and rotatably pulls or pushes an intermediate pivot  295 ′ attached to arcuate link  209 ′ for coincidentally driving link  211 ′ and roller  229 ′. The manually overridden unlatching position can be viewed in FIG. 24 while the manually overridden unlatching position can be observed in FIG. 25.  
         [0042]    All of the top stack mechanism actuators and tonneau cover actuators may be controlled in accordance with the control system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,849 entitled “Motorized Self-Correcting Automatic Convertible Top” which issued to Porter et al. on Sep. 19, 1995, which is incorporated by reference herein, or through hall effect sensors coupled to a microprocessor controller. For example, in the alternate embodiment, FIG. 17 illustrates a locator pin  401  downwardly extending from a bracket attached to an underside of tonneau cover  29  (see FIGS. 7 and 8). When fully closed, locator pin  401  enters within a body-mounted receptacle  403  and pushes a tongue of a micro switch  405  coupled to a microprocessor-based controller  407 . Such micro switch  405  actuation serves to then actuate a hydraulic pump which causes extension of hydraulic actuator  203  (see FIG. 12). Referring now to FIG. 18, when roller  229  is fully engaged within striker  241 , roller depresses a tongue of a micro switch  409  which transmits a signal to controller  407  to cause deactivation of hydraulic actuator  203 .  
         [0043]    While various embodiments of the latching and convertible roof system have been disclosed, it should be appreciated that variations may be made to the present invention. For example, the presently disclosed latch can be used in other areas of the vehicle such as for the front header-to-one bow attachment or as a roof downstack latch, although certain advantages of the present invention may not be achieved. Furthermore, the present latch can be used to secure a hook or striker extending from a trunk lid which may be used to cover a retracted roof. Also, the hard-top roofs can be covered with vinyl, fabric or painted, or can include transparent glass panels. The present invention latch can alternately be used with a soft top roof. Moreover, electric motor actuators can be used in place of one or more of the disclosed hydraulic actuators. It should also be appreciated that the trunk compartment can be in front of the passenger compartment for a mid or rear engine vehicle. While certain materials and shapes have been disclosed, it should be appreciated that various other shapes and materials can be employed. It is intended by the following claims to cover these and any other departures from the disclosed embodiments which fall within the true spirit of this invention.