Slide door device for automotive vehicles

A slide door device for an automotive vehicle includes a slide door that is adapted to move between a closed position and an open position, a driving mechanism, and a cable connected between the slide door and the driving mechanism. Turning the driving mechanism on causes the cable to slide along a guide rail, thereby moving the slide door to uncover and cover the opening area in the vehicle body.

This application is based on and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.119 
with respect to Japanese Application No. 10(1998)-148159 filed on May 28, 
1998, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention generally relates to a vehicle door. More 
particularly, the present invention pertains to a slide door device for an 
automotive vehicle that is movable between an opened position and a closed 
position to permit or prevent access through an opening formed in the 
lateral side of the vehicle-body. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
A known type of slide door device is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open 
Publication No. Hei 10(1998)-18708, published without examination. This 
slide door device includes a slide door which exposes and covers an 
opening area formed in the lateral side of a vehicle-body such that the 
slide door is moved along a center guide rail extending in the 
vehicle-lengthwise direction. The slide door device also includes a 
driving mechanism having an electric motor as a driving source and an 
output drum, and an endless wire cable wound on the output drum and guided 
through the center guide rail such that the wire extends from the rear end 
to the front end of the center guide rail and is turned back via a guide 
pulley connected to the rear end of the center guide rail so as to be 
connected to the slide door. 
In this known slide door device, the opening and closing movement of the 
slide door to cover and uncover the opening area in the vehicle body is 
established by movements of the wire cable along the center guide rail in 
one direction and the other direction when the output drum is rotated by 
the electric motor in one direction and the other direction, respectively. 
Generally speaking, the slide door is positioned at the rear side of the 
opening area when the slide door is in the opened condition such that the 
slide door is on the exterior surface of the vehicle body, and is 
positioned in the opening area when the sliding door is in the closed 
condition such that the slide door is coplanar with the exterior surface 
of the vehicle body. To establish such conditions of the slide door, the 
center guide rail is bent at its front end in the vehicle lengthwise 
direction toward the interior of the vehicle. 
In the known slide door device, a pulley is provided at the vehicle 
lengthwise front end of the center guide for guiding the wire. The 
resulting projection of the pulley toward the interior of the vehicle 
becomes larger and this causes a narrowing of the interior space of the 
vehicle, thereby disturbing the comfort and the ease with which the 
passengers can get into and out of the vehicle. 
In addition the guide pulley is subject to receive a force larger than the 
driving force applied to the wire cable while the slide door is being 
moved. As a result, strengthening of the support structure of the pulley 
to the center guide rail is required so as not to be overcome by the 
force. This means that the thickness of a metal plate of each element of 
the structure has to be increased and a reinforcing member has to be added 
to the support structure, and so the total weight of the slide door device 
is increased as are the manufacturing costs. 
A need thus exists for a slide door device that is not susceptible to the 
same drawbacks as those mentioned above. 
It would thus be desirable to provide a slide door device for an automotive 
vehicle which is relatively light-weight, relatively economical to 
manufacture, and relatively compact in size. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
According to one aspect of the invention, a slide door device for an 
automotive vehicle includes a guide rail connected to a vehicle body and 
extending in the vehicle-lengthwise direction, a slide door slidably 
supported by the guide rail and serving to cover and uncover the opening 
formed in the lateral side of the vehicle body, a driving mechanism 
provided on the vehicle body, and a cable. One end of the cable is 
connected to the slide door, with the cable being slidably supported by 
the guide rail for moving the slide door when the cable is brought into 
push-pull movement by the driving mechanism. The opposite end of the cable 
is free from structural connection. 
According to another aspect of the invention, a slide door device for an 
automotive vehicle includes a guide rail connected to a vehicle body and 
extending in a lengthwise direction of the vehicle, and a slide door on 
which is mounted a sliding member that is slidably supported by the guide 
rail for movement between an open position in which an opening in a 
lateral side of the vehicle body is exposed and a closed position in which 
the opening in the lateral side of the vehicle body is covered. A mounting 
bracket is rotatably mounted on the sliding member, and a driving 
mechanism is mounted on the vehicle body. A cable possesses one end that 
is connected to the rotatable mounting bracket. The driving mechanism is 
operatively associated with the cable to cause the cable to move in 
opposite directions to move the slide door between the open and closed 
positions. 
A still further aspect of the invention involves a slide door device for an 
automotive vehicle that includes a guide rail connected to a vehicle body 
and extending in a lengthwise direction of the vehicle, and a slide door 
that is slidably supported by the guide rail for movement between an open 
position in which an opening in a lateral side of the vehicle body is 
exposed and a closed position in which the opening in the lateral side of 
the vehicle body is covered. A driving mechanism is mounted on the vehicle 
body, and a cable, which is operatively associated with both the driving 
mechanism and the slide door, is moved in opposite directions by operation 
of the driving mechanism. This movement causes the slide door to move 
between the open and closed positions. The cable includes an inner core 
member and a layer of molybdenum disulfide (MoS.sub.2) overlying the inner 
core member.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2, a slide door 1 functions to open and 
close a rectangular opening area 21 formed in the lateral side of a 
vehicle body 2. The slide door 1 is slidably supported by a center guide 
rail 3 and a pair of vertically spaced rails forming upper and lower guide 
rails 41, 42 so as to be moved in the vehicle lengthwise or longitudinal 
direction corresponding to the horizontal direction in FIG. 1. 
The upper guide rail 41 is secured to the vehicle body 2 by a suitable 
connecting device or equivalent device so that the upper guide rail 41 
extends along the upper periphery of the opening area 21. The lower guide 
rail 42 is also secured to the vehicle body 2 by a connecting device or 
equivalent device so that the lower guide rail 41 extends along the lower 
periphery of the opening area 21. The center guide rail 3 is located 
between the upper and lower guide rails 41, 42, and is secured to the 
vehicle body 2 by a connecting device or equivalent device so that the 
center guide rail 3 is located at the rear side of the opening area 21 of 
the vehicle. 
Three guide roller units 5, 5, 5 are provided at the slide door 1 and are 
guided by the guide rails 3, 41, 42, respectively. The slide door 1 is 
thus shifted from its closed position to its open position when moved in 
the rearward direction (i.e., towards the right in FIG. 1) and is shifted 
from its open position to the closed position when moved in the frontward 
direction (i.e. towards the left in FIG. 1). It is to be noted that the 
guide rails 3, 41, 42 are arranged in a parallel relationship, extend in 
the vehicle lengthwise direction, and are curved into the interior of the 
vehicle body 2 to establish a coplanar condition of the slide door 1 with 
the vehicle body 2 when the slide door 1 is in its closed position. When 
the slide door 1 is moved out of the closed condition towards the open 
condition, the slide door 1 moves outside the plane of the lateral side of 
the vehicle body 2. 
The mechanism for sliding the slide door 1 between the closed and open 
positions will be described with reference initially to FIG. 3. The guide 
rail 3 is of a substantially halfway inverted U-shaped configuration 
having a vertical wall 31 and a pair of parallel and spaced apart upper 
and lower walls 32, 33 which extend outwardly from the upper and lower 
ends of the vertical wall 31 respectively. The upper wall 32 terminates in 
a downwardly directed flange wall 34 which is parallel to the vertical 
wall 31. A first guide pipe or guide member 7 is welded or otherwise 
secured to the flange wall 34 for guiding a geared cable 6. The first 
guide member 7 is in the form of a straight or generally linearly 
extending member having a downwardly facing narrow opening. It is also 
possible to simply make the first guide member 7 and the center guide rail 
3 as an integral construction. 
As shown in FIGS. 3-5, the guide roller unit 5 that is associated with the 
guide rail 3 is rotatably mounted or pivoted by a pin 12 to a bracket II 
which is secured to the slide door 1. The guide roller unit 5 includes a 
pair of spaced apart legs 51a, 51b, both of which are supported by the 
bracket 11, a pair of horizontal flanges 51c, 51d, and a vertical flange 
51e extending upwardly between the horizontal flanges 51c, 51d. The guide 
roller unit 5 also includes an inner-outer roller pair 52, 53 and an 
upper-lower roller 54. The first inner-outer roller 52 is rotatably 
mounted or supported by the horizontal flange 51c while the second 
inner-outer roller 53 is rotatably mounted or supported by the horizontal 
flange 51d. The upper-lower roller 54 is rotatably supported by the 
vertical flange 51e. 
The pair of inner-outer rollers 52, 53 is accommodated within the center 
guide rail 3, with the inner-outer rollers 52, 53 being in sliding contact 
with both the flange wall 34 and the vertical wall 31 as shown in FIG. 3. 
The upper-lower roller 54 is accommodated within the center guide rail 3 
and is in sliding contact with the lower wall 33 of the guide rail 3. 
Thus, the guide roller unit 5 is movably held by the center guide rail 3 
without excessive play in either the vertical direction or the horizontal 
direction (i.e., the vehicle interior-and-exterior direction). It is to be 
noted that other guide roller units 5, 5 that are operatively associated 
with the upper and lower rails 41, 42 are of similar structure for 
establishing a similar smooth movement of the slide door 1 without 
excessive play. 
A supporting bracket 55 is pivoted to the horizontal flange 51c of the 
bracket 51 of the guide roller unit 5 at a pin 56. The supporting bracket 
55 has at its distal end a downward bent flange portion 55a. This 
supporting bracket 55 can be supported co-axially with the rotational axis 
of the first inner-outer roller 52. 
FIG. 6 illustrates the geared cable 6 which is to be guided along the first 
guide member 7 as mentioned above. The geared cable 6 includes a core 61 
and a continuous metal wire 62 wound spirally around the core 61. A layer 
63 of molybdenum disulfide (MoS.sub.2) is baked on or disposed around the 
core 61 and the metal wire 62 to establish a connection between the core 
61 and the metal wire 62. 
As seen in FIGS. 3 and 5, a mounting bracket 64 is rotatably mounted on one 
end portion of the geared cable 6 so that the bracket 64 is restricted 
from moving along the geared cable 6 by a pair of stoppers 65, 66, both of 
which are clamped on the cable 6. The mounting bracket 64 extends in the 
downward direction and opposes the flange portion 55a of the supporting 
bracket 55. The bracket 64 terminates at a distal end portion having a 
slot 64a extending along the vehicle lateral direction. The mounting 
bracket 64 is connected or bolted to the flange portion 55a of the 
supporting bracket 55 by a stepped bolt 67 that passes through the slot 
64a. The supporting bracket is thus rotatable about an axis that is at a 
right angle to the axis of the cable 6. It is to be noted that the 
opposite end of the geared cable 6 (i.e., the end of the geared cable 6 
that is located opposite the end that is connected to the mounting bracket 
64) is free and is not connected to any member. 
As can be seen from FIG. 1, at the rearward portion of the opening area 21 
in the lateral side of the vehicle, a driving mechanism 8 is fixed to the 
interior surface of the lateral side of the vehicle body 2. The driving 
mechanism 8, which is shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 includes an electric motor 81 
serving as a power source. An output shaft 87 is connected to the motor 81 
via a speed reduction gear train that is accommodated in a housing 82 of 
the motor 81. An output gear 83 is supported on the output shaft 87 
outside the housing 82. A driven gear 84 is pivoted by a pin 88 to the 
housing 82 in opposing relation to the output gear 83. The output gear 83 
and the driven gear 84 are covered with a cover member 89 secured to the 
housing 82. Between the output gear 83 and the driven gear 84, the cover 
89 and the housing 82 cooperate to constitute a guide passage 86 for 
guiding the geared cable 6 in the vehicle lengthwise direction. 
As can be seen from FIG. 1, at the rearward portion of the opening area 21, 
a second guide pipe or guide member 9 is fixed to the interior surface of 
the lateral side of the vehicle body 2 via a bracket 85. The second guide 
member 9 is formed or bent into an arc-shaped configuration. One end of 
the second guide member 9 is connected to the rear end of the center guide 
rail 3 (i.e., the end of the guide rail 3 located towards the rear of the 
vehicle) after passing through an aperture 22, shown in FIG. 10, that is 
formed in the vehicle body 2 and located near the vehicle-rear end of the 
center guide rail 3 as can be seen from FIG. 11. As can be seen from 
FIG.7, the other end of the second guide member 9 is connected to the 
housing 82 by being snugly fitted into the guide passage 86. 
As shown in FIGS. 9-11, a sealing bracket 23 is fixed by several bolts 25 
to the interior surface of the lateral side of the vehicle body 2 and 
covers the aperture 22 in the lateral side of the vehicle body 2. The 
sealing bracket 23 supports the second guide member 9. A sealing member 24 
is positioned and held between the sealing bracket 23 and the vehicle body 
2 to assure a fluid-tight condition around the second guide member 9. The 
sealing member 24 can be fixed or connected to the sealing bracket 23. To 
prevent possible separation of the sealing member 24 from the sealing 
bracket 23 during assembly, the sealing member 24 is provided with a 
turned-over portion 24a which covers an edge of the sealing bracket 23 as 
seen in FIG. 10. 
As shown in FIG. 1, at the rearward portion of the opening area 21 in the 
lateral side of the vehicle, one end of a third guide pipe or guide member 
10 is fixed to the interior surface of the lateral side of the vehicle 
body 2. As shown in FIG.7, the other end of the third guide member 10 is 
fixed to the housing 82 by being snugly fitted in the guide passage 86 at 
the end of the guide passage 86 that is closer to the front side of the 
vehicle. 
The geared cable 6 is slidably guided along the first guide 7, is guided 
into the driving mechanism 8 by the second guide member 9 in a slidable 
manner, and thereafter advances to the third guide member 10 so as to be 
guided slidably. Thus, while being guided through the guide passage 86 in 
the housing 82, the geared cable 6 is in meshing engagement with each of 
the output gear 83 and the driven gear 84 of the driving mechanism 8. The 
meshing engagement between the geared cable 6 and each of the output gear 
83 and the driven gear 84 of the driving mechanism 8 is established in a 
rather smooth manner without excessive play due to the layer 63 of 
molybdenum disulfide (MoS.sub.2) on the outer surface of the cable 6. 
In operation, when the opening area 21 in the lateral side of the vehicle 
is closed, turning on or driving the motor 81 in one direction rotates the 
output gear 83, thereby pulling the geared cable 6. This results in 
sliding movement of the geared cable 6 through the guide passage 86, the 
first guide member 7, the second guide member 9, and the third guide 
member 10. During this movement of the geared cable 6, a reaction force 
caused by the engagement between the geared cable 6 and the output gear 83 
is received or supported by the driven gear 84 which is also in meshing 
engagement with the geared cable 6 at the opposite position of the output 
gear 83. Due to the fact that the driven gear 84 continues to rotate as 
long as the geared cable 6 moves, such a reception of the reaction force 
by the driven gear 84 fails to prevent or disturb an expected movement of 
the geared cable 6, thereby assuring smooth movement of the geared cable 
6. In addition, the layer 63 of molybdenum disulfide (MoS.sub.2) on the 
outer surface of the cable 6 reduces sliding friction between the geared 
cable 6 and each of the guide passage 86, the first guide member 7, the 
second guide member 9, and the third guide member 10, thereby assuring 
smooth movement of the geared cable 3 and preventing noise generation. 
Pulling the geared cable 6 causes movement of the slide door 1 in the 
direction D in FIG. 2 along the center guide rail 3 via the brackets 64, 
55. This movement of the slide door 1 causes the slide door to move 
towards the open position to expose the opening area 21 in the lateral 
side of the vehicle. When the guide roller unit 5 passes through the bent 
portion of the center guide rail 3, the resulting or inevitable stroke 
difference of the guide roller unit 5 in the vertical direction and the 
vehicle lateral direction can be absorbed by the existence of the slot in 
the bracket 64 and the rotatable nature of the brackets 55, 64. 
Covering the opening area 21 in the lateral side of the vehicle can be 
achieved by turning on the motor 81 in the opposite direction, thus 
causing movement of the geared cable 6 in the direction E shown in FIG. 2. 
According to the present invention, the slide door 1 is brought into 
sliding movement by moving the geared cable which is guided along the 
guide rail. This eliminates the guide pulley used in other known devices 
which was essential for the arrangement of the cable. This results in a 
more compact overall device, thereby lessening the degree of projection of 
the guide rail toward the interior space of the vehicle body. This 
improves the comfort of the passenger(s) in the vehicle. In addition, no 
supporting mechanism for the guide pulley is required which reduces the 
production cost and the total weight of the slide door device. This also 
reduces the number of parts in the device. Moreover, connecting the 
driving mechanism and the slide door by the geared cable enables an 
improved flexible arrangement of the driving mechanism within the vehicle 
body. 
Also in accordance with the present invention, the guide rail for guiding 
the geared cable in a slidable manner is positioned at the outer or 
exterior side of the vehicle body so as to be at the rear side of the 
opening area. This enables an arrangement of the driving mechanism within 
the vehicle body at a position other than at the lower portion of the 
opening area. This thus allows the lower side of the opening area to be 
lowered so that passengers can get into and out of the vehicle more 
easily. 
In the slide door device of the present invention, the slide member is 
slidably supported by the guide rail and is connected to the slide door, 
the mounting bracket is connected to one end of the cable so as to be 
rotatable about the axis of the cable, the supporting bracket is rotatably 
mounted with respect to the slide member so as to be rotatable about an 
axis which is oriented substantially at right angles relative to the axis 
of the cable, and the mounting bracket is supported such that the mounting 
bracket is movable along its axis. Such a structure or arrangement absorbs 
a differential locus of the slide member during movement of the slide 
member, thereby ensuring smooth movements of the geared cable without any 
twist or other similar deformation. In addition, the tension in the geared 
cable is directed only along the axial direction of the cable, whereby the 
slide member is prevented from being urged onto the guide rail and the 
geared cable is prevented from being brought into interference with the 
guide rail. Thus, the frictional wear of both the slide member and the 
geared cable can be prevented and so a long range assurance of stable 
movements of the slide door can be established. 
By virtue of the present invention, the geared cable is in meshing 
engagement with both the output gear that is coupled to the motor and the 
driven gear that is opposed to the output gear. During the movement of the 
geared cable, a reaction force caused by the engagement between the geared 
cable and the output gear is received or supported by the driven gear 
which is also in meshing engagement with the geared cable. Due to the fact 
that the driven gear continues to rotate as long as the geared cable 
moves, the reception of the reaction force by the driven gear does not 
prevent or disturb an expected movement of the geared cable, thereby 
ensuring smooth movement of the geared cable. 
The present invention is also advantageous in that a cover (e.g., a baked 
layer) of molybdenum disulfide (MoS.sub.2) is provided on the outer 
surface of the geared cable which is in meshing engagement with the output 
gear. Due to the fact that the baked layer of molybdenum disulfide 
(MoS.sub.2) possesses elasticity and is self lubricating, the gap between 
the geared cable and the output gear can be minimized and the sliding 
friction between the geared cable and the output gear is reduced as small 
as possible. Thus, the generation of noise is prevented and the movement 
of the geared cable can be moved in a smooth and effective manner. 
The principles, preferred embodiment and mode of operation of the present 
invention have been described in the foregoing specification. However, the 
invention which is intended to be protected is not to be construed as 
limited to the particular embodiment disclosed. Further, the embodiment 
described herein is to be regarded as illustrative rather than 
restrictive. Variations and changes may be made by others, and equivalents 
employed, without departing from the spirit of the present invention. 
Accordingly, it is expressly intended that all such variations, changes 
and equivalents which fall within the spirit and scope of the present 
invention as defined in the claims be embraced thereby.