Glass seal weatherstrip

There is provided a glass seal weatherstrip 20 installed to an automobile and having seal lips 22, 23 which does not damage a door glass in particular, does not produce strange noise and prevents seal lips of the weatherstrip from being entangled by the door glass. Each seal lip 22, 23 makes a slide contact with a door glass 60 while the door glass is moving up and down. Each seal lip 22, 23 is formed in a tang shape in section and is projected diagonally upward direction. Each seal lip 22, 23 is provided with a flock 27 on a surface of a top portion thereof at a side of said door glass 60 in an area from a slide contact portion 80 to a downside thereof. The slide contact portion 70 is an area of each seal lip 22, 23 that makes a contact with the door glass 60. Each seal lip 22, 23 is provided with a sliding member 25 on a surface of a top portion thereof at a side of the door glass 60 in an area from the slide contact portion 80 through the upside thereof to a surface at a reversed side of the door glass 60.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a glass seal weatherstrip including, for example, a beltline weatherstrip, glass run and the like, which is installed to a door of an automobile and makes a slide contact with a door glass. (The term “slide contact” indicates the situation that the weatherstrip haveing a seal lip thereof makes a contact with a door glass which is moving upwardly or downwardly.)

2. Description of the Prior Art

As illustrated inFIGS. 7 and 8, there is provided a beltline weatherstrip10at an upper portion of an automobile door1along a beltline50of an automobile, and the beltline weatherstrip makes a slide contact with a door glass60while the door glass60is moving up and down. It should be noted that although a beltline weatherstrip is provided both to an inner side (which is defined as “a beltline inner weatherstrip”) and an outer side (which is defined as “a beltline outer weatherstrip”) of an automobile intervening the door glass therebetween, in this specification, only the beltline inner weatherstirp10will be described, and the other will not.

A beltline weatherstrip10is composed of a main body11, a part of which is inserted into a groove portion2aof a door trim2which is installed to an upper portion of a door1, and seal lips12,13which are projected diagonally upward direction toward the door glass60from upper and lower portions of the main body11.

In such structure, there is provided, as illustrated inFIG. 9, a sliding member15on the edge portion of each seal lip12,13in an area which makes a slide contact with the door glass60, by means of co-extrusion to provide a better sliding nature against the door glass60. There is also provided, as illustrated inFIG. 10and after-mentioned Patent Publication No. 1 and 2, a flock17of a low resistance on the edge portion of each seal lip12,13. Further, there is a weatherstrip which is provided with a coating of urethane and the like.

In the above-mentioned prior arts, it is desired to provide the sliding member15or the flock17on the surface of each seal lip12,13not only on the door glass60side (the outer side) but also on the top edge thereof and up to the inner side thereof in order for the seal lips12,13not to be entangled by the door glass60when the door glass60is lowered as illustrated inFIG. 8with the chain double-dashed lines. The wording “the top edge thereof to the inner side thereof” includes the area between the surface of the door glass60side through the curbed top edge portion to the position where the curb is terminated (which is referred hereinafter as “curb end point70”) on the back side surface of each seal lip12,13.

In the weatherstrip provided with the sliding member15as illustrated inFIG. 9, the sliding member15can be easily provided to the back side of the curb end point70since the sliding member15is co-extruded with the seal lips12,13. However, because the sliding member15is rather hard, when some dust18is caught between the sliding member15and the door glass60as illustrated inFIG. 9, there is a problem that the door glass60is easily damaged by the dust18. Further there is another problem that when the door glass60flaps while the door1is opened or closed, some loud noise is produced between the sliding member15and the door glass60.

In the weatherstrip provided with the flock17on the seal lips12,13, it is difficult to provide the flock17until up to the curb end point70after applying the adhesive agent19on the seal lips12,13, because in general the flock17is supplied by dropping piles from above after the adhesive agent19is applied on the surfaces of the seal lips12,13. For that reason, as disclosed in Patent Publication No. 1 and 2, the flock is applied merely on the door glass60side of the seal lips12,13. According to this prior art, the flock17cannot be applied up to the curb end point70, so that there still remains the problem that the top edges of the seal lips12,13are entangled by the door glass60when the door glass60is lowered.

Further, in case the coating of urethane and the like is applied up to the curb end point70, there is needed a masking process, so that it becomes costly and the operation becomes troublesome.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a glass seal weatherstrip which does not damage a door glass in particular, does not produce strange noise and prevents seal lips of the weatherstrip from being entangled by the door glass.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, there is provided a glass seal weatherstrip (20) as claimed in claim1. The glass seal weatherstrip (20) is installed to an automobile, and it is provided with seal lips (22,23). Each seal lip (22,23) makes a slide contact with a door glass (60) while the door glass is moving up and down. Each seal lip (22,23) is formed in a tang shape in section and is projected diagonally upward direction. Each seal lip (22,23) is provided with a flock (27) on a surface of a top portion thereof at a side of said door glass (60) in an area from a slide contact portion (80) to a downside thereof. The slide contact portion (80) is an area of each seal lip (22,23) that makes a contact with the door glass (60). Each seal lip (22,23) is provided with a sliding member (25) on a surface of a top portion thereof at a side of the door glass (60) in an area from the slide contact portion (80) through the upside thereof to a surface at a reversed side of the door glass (60).

There is also provided a glass seal weatherstrip (20) as claimed in claim2. In this invention, the sliding member (25) is provided on each seal lip (22,23) at a downside of said slide contact portion (80), and the flock (27) is provided on the sliding member (25).

There is further provided a glass seal weatherstrip (20) as claimed in calim3. In this invention, a second sliding member (35) is provided on each seal lip (22,23) below the slide contact portion (80), and the flock (27) is provided on the second sliding member (35) through the intermediary of an adhesive agent (29). The second sliding member (35) is made of material whose adhesive effects with said adhesive agent is higher than that of the former sliding member (25).

It will be noted that each numeral in a corresponding parenthesis indicates a corresponding element or matter as indicated in the drawings and the after-mentioned preferred embodiments.

According to the glass seal weatherstrip, the sliding member and the flock are provided in combination on the surface of the seal lip.

The sliding member is provided to the seal lip on the surface of the top portion thereof at the side of the door glass in the area from the slide contact portion through the upside thereof and up to the surface at the reversed side of the door glass. Therefore, even if the slide contact portion against the door glass dispositions above the predetermined position because of any dispersion of a body of an automobile, the door glass still makes a slide contact with the formed sliding member, so that the top portion of each seal lip is not entangled by the door glass while the door glass is lowered.

Further, the flock is provided to the seal lip on the surface of the top portion thereof at the side of the door glass in the area from the slide contact portion against the door glass to the downside. Therefore, when some dust is caught between the flock and the door glass, the dust is embedded in the flock, so that the door glass is not damaged by the dust. Further, the flock is provided to the seal lip only below the slide contact portion and it is not provided above the slide contact portion, so that the flock can easily be formed by a process of dropping piles from above. Moreover, even if a door of the automobile flaps when the door is opened or closed, any noise hitting the door glass does not become such high because it is the flock that makes a contact with the door glass.

It should be noted that in case the flock is provided by using an adhesive agent, it is desired to apply a sliding member which is compatible with the adhesive agent, that is, it is desired to apply a sliding member on the surface of each seal lip which has high adhesive effects with the adhesive agent.

In order to achieve such operation, it can be done so that if a sliding member applied above the slide contact portion of the seal lip is compatible with an adhesive agent, the sliding member may be continuously applied to the downside thereof and a flock can be formed on the extended sliding member. On the other hand, if a sliding member applied above the slide contact portion is incompatible with an adhesive agent, another type of sliding member (second sliding member) having a good compatibility with the adhesive agent may be formed below the slide contact portion of the seal lip and the flock can be applied on the second sliding member.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A beltline weatherstrip according to a preferred embodiment of the invention will be described referring toFIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 1shows a beltline weatherstrip according to the preferred embodiment of the invention, which is an enlarged sectional view along line I—I inFIG. 7.FIG. 2is an enlarged sectional view showing a primary portion of the seal lip shown inFIG. 1. Similar numerals are provided for similar parts disclosed in the prior art.

The beltline weatherstrip20according to the preferred embodiment of the invention is, like the glass seal weatherstrip10described as the prior art, provided to an upper portion of a door1of an automobile along a beltline50thereof, and it makes a slide contact with a door glass while the door glass is moving up and down.

Further, the beltline weatherstrip20comprises a main body21, a part of which is inserted into a groove2aof a door trim2installed to an upper portion of the door1, and seal lips22,23which projects diagonally upward from an upper and lower portion of the main body21toward the door glass60. (The numbers of the seal lips are not limited, and in this embodiment two seal lips are provided.) The weatherstrip20is made of rubber or resin. It should be noted that in this preferred embodiment, only the weatherstrip20installed to an inner side of an automobile (a beltline inner weatherstrip) is diclosed, and a weatherstrip installed to an outer side of an automobile (a beltline outer weatherstrip) is not disclosed. However, the beltline outer weatherstrip can be formed similar to the beltline inner weatherstrip20.

In this embodiment, each seal lip22,23is formed in a tang shape in section. Each seal lip22,23is the portion in the weatherstrip that makes a slide contact with a door glass60of moving up and down. And, as illustrated inFIG. 2, there are provided a sliding member25and flock27on the top edge of each seal lip22,23to provide it the nature of sliding. The top edge is the portion in each seal lip22,23that makes a slide contact with the door glass60.

The sliding member25is formed with the seal lips22,23at the same time the seal lips22,23are formed by an extrusion molding. The sliding member25is formed on a surface of the top portion of each seal lip22or23at a side of the door glass60(the outer side of the automobile) in an area beginning from the contact portion80against the door glass60toward the upside thereof and up to a surface at a reversed side of the door glass60(the innner side of the automobile), including at least the surface of the door glass60side through the curbed portion toward the top edge thereof and up to the point the curb is terminated (the point is referred to as “the curb end point”)70. The sliding member25may be made of material having a small friction coefficient including, for example, such as TPO (Thermoplastic Elastomer Olefin) and the like.

As described above, the sliding member25is provided up to the curb end point70, so that even if each seal lip22,23is forced to make a slide contact with the door glass60above the slide contact portion80caused by any dispersion of a body of an automobile, the sliding member25provided at the top edge of each seal lip22,23makes a slide contact with the door glass60when the door glass60is lowered. Therefore, the seal lips22,23are not entangled by the door glass60as illustrated inFIG. 8with the chain double-dashed lines.

The flock27is provided to the top portion of each seal lip22,23through the intermediary of the adhesive agent29in the surface of the door glass60side (the outer side of the automobile) starting from the slide contact portion80to the downside thereof.

As the flock27is provided from the slide contact portion80toward the downside thereof, even if some dust18is caught in between the door glass60as illustrated inFIG. 9, the dust18is embedded in the hair, so that the door glass60is not damaged. Further, the flock27is provided from the slide contact portion80against the door glass60to the downside thereof and it is not provided on the upside of the slide contact portion80, so that the flock27can be easily formed by a method of dropping piles from above. Moreover, if the door glass60flaps when the door1is opened or closed, it is a part of the flock27that makes a contact with the door glass60, so that the noise of hitting the door glass60does not rise such high.

It should be noted that in this preferred embodiment, the flock27is provided directly to each seal lip22,23through the intermediary of the adhesive agent29, and therefore, such is effective if the seal lips22,23are made of such material which is compatible and well adhered with the adhesive agent29(such material is often found in rather expensive TPO).

On the other hand, if the seal lips22,23are made of material which is incompatible and not well adhered with the adhesive agent29(such material is often found in rather inexpensive TPO), a type of sliding member25which is compatible with the adhesive agent29can be applied, as illustrated inFIG. 3as an example, on the downside surface of the slide contact portion80against the door glass60in each seal lip22,23, and the flock27can be applied on the formed sliding member25through the intermediary of the adhesive agent29.

Further, if the sliding member25is not so good in compatibility with the adhesive agent29, a second sliding member35can be applied, as illustrated inFIG. 4, which is made of material dissimilar with the sliding member25and is compatible with and performs high adhesive effects with the adhesive agent29, to the surface of each seal lip22,23below the slide contact portion80against the door glass60, and the flock27can be adhered on the formed second sliding member35through the intermediary of the adhesive agent29.

According to the embodiments illustrated inFIGS. 2 to 4, the flock27is provided by a method of dropping piles from above after applying the adhesive agent29. There can be used another method as illustrated inFIG. 5instead of the above-mentioned method where a flock film which is composed of a flock37and an adhesive agent39in unity is adhered on the surface of each seal lip22,23.

Further, although the preferred embodiments of the invention mentioned hereinbefore are described based mainly on a beltline weatherstrip, this invention can also be applied to such a glass run40as illustrated inFIG. 6which comprises a lip41facing above.