Auto gripper molding with mechanical interlock

An auto gripper molding having a notch in the surface of its inner crown overhang in facing relation to the windshield exterior surface which notch serves firstly to receive an end of the molding gripping leg having accordingly a desired longer length, and serves secondly to have deposited therein, after the gripper leg is moved into its windshield-gripping location, a viscous mass of urethane which cures in the notch and provides a mechanical interlock between the gripper molding and the windshield.

The present invention relates generally to auto windshield moldings used to 
enhance the utility of the windshield in its seated position in an auto 
windshield opening, of which there are two broad classifications, namely 
moldings that are inserted in the gap between the windshield peripheral 
edge and the wall bounding the windshield opening known as "insert" 
moldings, and moldings that prior to the windshield installation are 
grippingly engaged about the windshield peripheral edge known as "gripper" 
moldings, the present invention being more specifically related to 
improvements for the latter classification of gripper moldings. 
EXAMPLES OF THE PRIOR ART 
There are numerous prior patents which illustrate and describe gripper-type 
auto moldings, two such patents being exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 
4,765,673 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,462, both entitled "Windshield Reveal 
Molding", the former having issued to Peter W. Frabotta et al. on Aug. 23, 
1988 and the latter having issued to Ricky V. Katcherian on Apr. 23, 1991. 
These and other gripper moldings protect the windshield peripheral edge 
against chipping during handling, as one example of their utility, by 
their strategic location about the windshield resulting from the 
peripheral edge thereof having an operative inserted position within a 
C-shaped compartment of the gripper molding. 
A tradeoff for the utility noted is that the gripper molding will 
inadvertently on occasion become detached from the windshield since its 
grip thereto is primarily a function of the urgency of its rubber 
construction material and the friction grip this urgency provides which 
grip, it is important to note cannot effectively be supplemented 
adhesively, such as by using urethane the adhesive of choice because of 
its bonding strength, because urethane is chemically inert to and thus 
will not effectively bond to rubber. 
Broadly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a rubber 
gripper molding overcoming the foregoing and other shortcomings of the 
prior art. 
More particularly, it is an object to achieve a shaped urethane bond which 
can be made to the glass construction material of the windshield and, 
using to advantage the shape of said urethane bond, mechanically 
interlocking the gripper molding thereto, to the end of obviating 
inadvertent disengagement of the gripper molding from the windshield, all 
as will be better understood as the description proceeds.

A known and proven technique of obviating chipping, both prior to and 
during installation, in the peripheral edge 10 of an auto windshield 12 as 
might be due to rough handling or the like, contemplates the protective 
placement about the windshield peripheral edge 10 of what is known in 
trade parlance and also in patent literature, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. 
No. 5,009,462 issued on Apr. 23, 1991, of a gripper molding, generally 
designated 14, having an upper crown 16, a first leg 18 depending from the 
crown, and a second leg 20 connected, as at 22, from the free end of leg 
18 so that the underside crown surface 24 and inboard leg surfaces 26 and 
28 cooperate to bound a windshield peripheral edge-gripping compartment 
30. In use, with the windshield peripheral edge 10 in its inserted 
operative condition within the compartment 30, the gripping engagement of 
the gripper molding 14 on the edge 10 is primarily a function of the 
urgency in the rubber construction of the molding 14 exerted in opposite 
directions by the crown surface 24 upon the windshield exterior surface 32 
and by the leg surface 34 of the leg 20 against the windshield underside 
surface 36. 
The use of an adhesive, which by popular choice is usually urethane 38 
because initially it is a viscous mass and amenable to facilitated 
placement and subsequently cures or hardens into a solid with significant 
bonding strength, is of nominal effectiveness in supplementing the 
pre-installation engagement of the gripper molding 14 to the windshield 
edge 10 because, as is well known, rubber is chemically inert to urethane 
and an adhesive bond therebetween cannot be achieved. Glass, however, is 
not chemically inert to urethane and thus a strong adhesive bond 
therebetween is possible, and this phenomenon is used to advantage to 
achieve a mechanical interlock between the gripper molding 14 and the 
windshield peripheral edge 10. 
Referring to FIG. 1, molding 14 is initially extruded of rubber 
construction material with a profile or cross-sectional shape 
characterized in that leg 20 extends approximately in parallel relation to 
leg 18 and is sized lengthwise to exceed the lengthwise size of leg 18 by 
the length portion 40. Length portion 40 is accounted for by being 
received in a notch 42 bounded by wall means, generally designated 44, in 
crown surface 24, said wall means 44 being characterized by an angularly 
inclined wall length portion 46 which, in the installed FIG. 2 condition 
of molding 14 is in the direction of the windshield corner 48 and is in 
contact at its free edge 50 with the windshield outside surface 32 
inwardly of the corner 48. After the gripper molding 14 is in place around 
the windshield peripheral edge 10, the underside crown surface 24 is 
lifted off of the external windshield surface 32 providing access to the 
notch 42 and a viscous mass of urethane 60 deposited in the notch 42 using 
a so-called pump gun whereupon the urethane 60 cures into a hardened 
condition in the notch 42. 
Thus, in addition to cured or hardened urethane 38 exerting holding 
pressure on leg 18 in the gap area 52 between the wall 54 of the flange 56 
which bounds the auto windshield opening 58, there is also hardened 
urethane 60 in the notch 42 and, most importantly above the inclined wall 
46 and adhesively secured, as at 64, to the windshield surface 32, said 
strategically located hardened urethane, designated 60 in FIG. 2, being 
effective in practice to establish a mechanical interlock between the 
gripper molding 14 and the windshield peripheral edge 10. 
For completeness' sake it is noted that urethane 38 is contained by a dam 
66 depending from an adhesive attachment to the windshield surface 36 into 
contact with the other transverse leg 68 of the flange, being deposited in 
the gap area 52 during installation of the assembly of the encircling 
mechanically interlocked gripper molding 14 about the windshield 
peripheral edge 10 into the auto windshield opening. 
While the mechanically interlocking gripper molding herein shown and 
disclosed in detail is fully capable of attaining the objects and 
providing the advantages hereinbefore stated, it is to be understood that 
it is merely illustrative of the presently preferred embodiment of the 
invention and that no limitations are intended to the detail of 
construction or design herein shown other than as defined in the appended 
claims.