Molding clip assemblage

A molding clip assemblage is disclosed which comprises a base plate fastened such as with a double-faced adhesive tape to the peripheral edge of a window frame for enclosing a glass windshield and clips attached at proper intervals to the frontal side of said base plate. A given molding, when forced in between the base plate adhering to the peripheral edge and the clips secured to said base plate, can be safely mounted in position without inflicting any damage at all upon the peripheral edge. The molding thus secured serves to provide the windshield with a seal perfectly impervious to rainwater and dust from the surroundings.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a device for mounting a decorative molding in 
position about the periphery of the windshield or rear window of an 
automobile. 
As is well known, when a glass plate is inserted in the front or rear 
window opening of an automobile to form a windshield or rear window, a 
molding is mounted along the opening left between the peripheral edge of 
the window and the edge of the glass plate so as to fill up the opening 
and, at the same time, give a decorative effect to the boundary. Various 
methods have heretofore been proposed for the placement of such moldings. 
In the case of an operation wherein there is used a molding made of a 
metallic sheet, the work of attachment of the molding should be carried 
out with the utmost precaution exercised to prevent the molding from 
scraping off the paint already applied to the peripheral edge of the 
window. 
Among the methods suggested to date, there are, for example, included a 
method which comprises planting a plurality of studs at suitable intervals 
along the peripheral edge of a window, allowing a glass plate to be 
fastened to said peripheral edge with the medium of an adhesive agent, 
immobilizing the glass plate against the window frame by having plastic 
clips brought into hooking engagement with said studs and securing a 
molding by means of the clips and another method which comprises 
preparatorily setting clips made of a resilient metal sheet in position 
along the edge of a glass plate, immobilizing the glass plate against the 
window frame with the medium of an adhesive agent applied to the 
peripheral edge of the window and, at the same time, immobilizing the 
clips and thereafter bringing a molding into hooking engagement with the 
immobilized clips. 
The former method has a disadvantage that the studs to which the clips are 
fastened must be welded in advance to the window frame and the fastening 
of the clips requires experience on the part of workers and the latter 
method similarly has a disadvantage that it cannot easily be adapted for 
incorporation into an assembly line because of the complicated work 
involved in the preparatory application of adhesive agent to the window 
frame and a highly skilled work required in the setting of glass plate in 
the window and, worse still, the use of clips made of a metallic material 
entails a possibility of inflicting damage to the coated surface of the 
window frame during the work of their insertion and consequently rendering 
the window frame susceptible to rusting. 
The applicant formerly developed a molding clip as disclosed in U.S. Ser. 
No. 799,863 for overcoming the various shortcomings suffered by the 
conventional devices for the attachment of moldings. 
The invention of said U.S. Application aims to provide a molding clip 
assemblage, which comprises clips having a double-faced adhesive tape 
attached to the rear surface thereof, molding catches and resilient holder 
pieces serving to receive resiliently the edge of a glass plate, whereby 
the glass plate and a molding are secured to the window frame by causing 
the exposed surface of the adhesive tape applied to the clips to be 
attached to the window frame, allowing the edge of the glass plate to rest 
on the resilient holder pieces and inserting the molding between the 
window frame and the rear surfaces of the clips so as to be held in 
position by the molding catches. The clips are further provided each on 
their rear surfaces with a protective tongue piece adapted to protect the 
window frame from damage otherwise possibly sustained during the insertion 
of the molding between the window frame and the clips. 
This molding clip assemblage has eliminated the disadvantages suffered by 
the conventional methods of molding attachment and has made it possible to 
smoothly and efficiently attach glass plates and moldings to automobile 
bodies in automobile assembly line without doing any harm to the coated 
peripheral edges of window frames. Where the molding is mounted by the 
medium of such clips, however, since the protective tongue pieces serving 
to furnish necessary protection for the clips fastened at proper intervals 
to the peripheral edge of the window frame intervene between the edge of 
the molding and the peripheral edge of the window frame, there inevitably 
occur gaps having a thickness at least equalling that of said protective 
tongue pieces between the edge of the molding and the peripheral edge of 
the window frame. From the occurrence of these gaps, there ensue various 
problems such as loss of imperviousness of the molding to rainwater and 
dust from the ambience and unaesthetic exposure to sight of the leading 
ends of such underlying protective tongue pieces. 
The present invention has originated in a study which was motivated by the 
persisting problems mentioned above and was launched in search of a device 
capable of providing efficient attachment of the molding while, similarly 
to the preceding improvement, doing absolutely no harm to the coated 
peripheral edge of the window frame. 
An object of the present invention is to provide a molding clip assemblage 
which enables the molding to be secured to the window frame without 
inflicting any damage upon the coated peripheral edge of window frame and 
without entailing occurrence of gaps between the window frame and the 
molding. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide a molding clip 
assembly which can be easily and inexpensively produced integrally by the 
injection molding of a plastic material and which provides excellent 
workability because of the great ease with which the clips are correctly 
positioned and the molding is mounted in position. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
To accomplish the objects described above according to the present 
invention, there is provided a molding clip assemblage which comprises a 
base plate adapted to be fastened to the peripheral edge such as of a 
window frame and intended for the protection of said peripheral edge and 
clips adapted to be attached at proper intervals to the frontal surface of 
said base plate and intended to hold tightly in position a molding 
inserted therein, whereby the required mounting of the molding is 
accomplished by inserting the edge portion of the molding between the 
upper side of the base plate and the clips. 
The molding clip assembly of the present invention has absolutely no 
possibility of inflicting any damage to the peripheral edge because the 
molding is forced in between the base plate and the clips and finally 
mounted in position without making any direct contact with the peripheral 
edge of the window frame. Nor has it any possibility of impairing the 
imperviousness of the molding to rainwater and dust from the ambience 
because the base plate is tightly attached in position without permitting 
any gap to occur between itself and the peripheral edge. Further since the 
base plate can easily be fastened to the peripheral edge of the window 
frame through the medium of a double-faced adhesive tape, the molding clip 
assembly enjoys outstanding workability and can be advantageously used for 
the attachment of a glass plate to a window frame, for example. 
The other objects and characteristic features of the present invention will 
become apparent from the detailed description to be given herein below 
with reference to the attached drawing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
With reference to the accompanying drawing, the molding clip assemblage 
illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 represents one already disclosed in their 
former U.S. Patent Application mentioned above. The device disclosed 
therein accomplishes required attachment of a molding by attaching a 
plurality of clips formed of a plastic material to the peripheral edge of 
a window frame by the medium of a double-faced adhesive tape and then 
bringing the molding into hooked engagement with said clips. FIGS. 1 and 2 
illustrate the mounting of a molding by use of a typical example of the 
previously disclosed clip. Clips 1 of this structure are fastened at 
proper intervals to the peripheral edge 3 of a window frame through the 
medium of double-faced adhesive tape 2. Basically, each clip 1 possesses 
protective tongue pieces 4 adapted to abut on the peripheral edge 3 of a 
window frame and a molding catch 6 adapted to catch firm unbreakable hold 
of the edge 5' of the molding 5 slid over said protective tongue pieces 4, 
so that required mounting of the molding is accomplished by inserting a 
glass plate 7 and causing the leading edge of said glass plate to be 
fastened to the inner portion of the peripheral edge through the medium of 
an adhesive agent 8 and subsequently causing said edge 5' of the molding 5 
to slide over the protective tongue pieces 4 and come into fast hooked 
engagement with the molding catch 6 without allowing said edge 5' to 
inflict scratches or other injuries on the coated surface of the 
peripheral edge of the window frame. When the molding is thus brought into 
its mounted state as described above, the remaining edge 5" of the molding 
5 resiliently presses the periphery of the glass plate downwardly. When 
necessary, said clip 1 may be provided not only with the protective tongue 
pieces 4 and the molding catch 6 but also additionally with resilient 
holder pieces 9 for holding fast in position the edge of the inserted 
glass plate as illustrated. 
This molding clip assemblage has solved various problems involved in the 
conventional methods of windshield attachment such as, for example, 
infliction of damage to the peripheral edge of window frame and 
inefficient operation of molding attachment. In the method involving the 
use of clips of the structure described above, a gap occurs between the 
edge 5' of the molding 5 and the peripheral edge of the window frame 3 
through which rainwater and dust may be admitted from the ambience and 
eventually degrade the adhesive strength of the double-faced adhesive tape 
2 even to a point where there may be caused unexpected trouble. Further, 
this degradation may possibly lead to impairment of the appearance of the 
molding. 
With a view to overcoming the various problems described above, the present 
invention has brought about a novel molding clip assemblage. Illustrated 
in FIG. 3 is one embodiment of said assemblage, wherein a base plate 11 
formed of a plastic material is fastened to the entire length of the 
peripheral edge 3 of the window frame through, for example, the medium of 
a double-faced adhesive tape 12 to have the upper edge of said peripheral 
edge covered throughout the entire length thereof with the top end 16 of 
said base plate 11 and a plurality of clips 14 each provided with a holder 
means 13 previously illustrated as a catch capable of taking firm, 
unbreakable hold of the edge of molding are disposed at proper intervals 
on the frontal surface of the base plate, so that required mounting of the 
molding is accomplished by inserting the glass plate to such an extent 
that the edge thereof is fastened to the inner side of the peripheral edge 
and thereafter causing the edge of the molding to slide in between the 
upper portion of the base plate and the clips and come into fast 
engagement with said holder means 13 of the clips. In this case, the clips 
14 can be fastened to the frontal surface of the base plate 11 after said 
base plate has been fastened to the peripheral edge of window frame or 
they can be fastened in advance to the frontal surface of the base plate 
before the base plate is fastened by its rear surface to the peripheral 
edge. 
The rear surface of the base plate 11 incorporates a longitudinal step so 
that when the upper part 15a above the step is brought into tight contact 
with the peripheral edge 3, the lower part 15b below the step falls short 
of coming into contact with the peripheral edge 3. A double-faced adhesive 
tape is placed in the space defined by the lower part 15b and the 
peripheral edge. The height of the step formed between the upper and lower 
parts is determined in accordance with the thickness of the double-faced 
adhesive tape 12, so that the tape 12 attached to the lower part serves 
the purpose of keeping the base plate and the peripheral edge toward each 
other across the tape and also keeping the upper part 15a of the rear 
surface in intimate contact with the peripheral edge. 
The top end 16 of the upper portion 11' of the base plate is desirably 
given the shape of a wedge as illustrated in FIG. 4. This is because in 
the peripheral edge 3 which is formed by inwardly bending a metal sheet 
constituting an automobile body, the upper ridge 17 of said bend of metal 
sheet is rounded to some extent and, in the molding in which the edge 5' 
terminates the leg portion 18' formed by perpendicularly bending a metal 
sheet, the ridge 18 of said perpendicular bend of metal sheet is similarly 
rounded to some extent. The wedge-shaped top end, therefore, proves to be 
highly advantageous because the diverging upper sides thereof come into 
intimate contact with said rounded ridges 17, 18 of the bends. 
In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the base plate 11 has an 
incised groove 19 of a T-shaped cross section formed longitudinally in the 
frontal side of the lower half portion of an increased wall thickness. 
This base plate 11 is extrusion molded of a plastic material in the 
direction of its length. The elongate stock thus obtained by extrusion 
molding may be cut to a length equalling that of the peripheral edge of 
the window frame. For adhesion of the base plate 11 to the peripheral 
edge, the double-faced adhesive tape 12 may be attached either 
continuously or intermittently at proper intervals to the lower part of 
the rear surface of the base plate throughout the entire length of said 
base plate. 
The clips 14 are each provided on the rear surface thereof with a T-shaped 
fitting leg 20 adapted to make a free sliding contact with the incised 
groove 19 of the base plate 11. In the present embodiment, the clip 14 
comprises a central piece 14a possessing a claw 13 and two lateral pieces 
14b separated from said central piece 14a by vertically incised cuts 21 
and possessing said fitting legs 20 one each on the rear surface thereof. 
It is fabricated integrally by one-shot injection molding of a plastic 
material. 
Because of the construction described above, desired mounting of a molding 
can be accomplished by causing the fitting legs 20 of a required number of 
clips 14 to be brought into sliding contact with the incised groove 19 of 
the base plate 11 either after or before the base plate 11 is fastened to 
the peripheral edge 3 through the medium of an adhesive tape 12, 
subsequently moving the clips 14 to properly spaced positions on the base 
plate setting a glass plate in position and fastening the edge thereof to 
the peripheral edge and thereafter sliding the edge 5' of the molding 5 
over the upper side of the base plate 11 until the edge 5' is brought into 
fast engagement with the claw 13. Consequently, the substantially upper 
portion 11' of the base plate 11 is tightly pinched between the leg 18' of 
the molding and the peripheral edge 3 and all the clips 14 are completely 
concealed behind the molding. If the top end 16 is in the shape of a wedge 
as described above, then the diverging upper sides thereof come into tight 
contact with the ridges 17, 18 of the bends in the leg 18' and the 
peripheral edge 3. The other edge 5" of the molding resiliently presses 
the edge of the glass downwardly. 
During the insertion of the edge 5' of the molding, the claw 13 is 
temporarily pushed back to permit the passage of the edge 5' and, after 
the passage of the edge 5' is completed, is permitted to retain its former 
state and get firm hold of the edge 5'. In this case, since the central 
piece 14a possessing said claw 13 is separated from the lateral pieces by 
the vertical cuts 21, the central piece 14a alone is in most cases pushed 
back in conjunction with the claw 13. The fitting legs on the lateral 
pieces cannot slip out of the incised groove 19 even under abnormal 
conditions. However, if, after the molding has been mounted in position, a 
force powerful enough to make the central piece curve backward to a great 
degree is applied via the molding to the central piece 14a, the force is 
transmitted to the lateral pieces because they are connected at their 
bases to the central piece 14a. If the force is very powerful, therefore, 
there is a fair possibility that the fitting legs 20 will push open and 
slip out of the incised groove 19. 
This possibility can be greatly reduced by providing the clip along the 
lower edge thereof with a backwardly protruding ridge 22 and also 
providing each of the lateral pieces 14b along the upper edge thereof with 
a backwardly protruding ridge 23, so that when the clip is attached to the 
base plate 11 by insertion of its fitting legs 20 into the incised groove 
19, said protruding ridges 22, 23 come into sliding contact with the 
opposite ends of the L-shaped legs 19' of the base plate opposed to each 
other to enclose therein the incised groove 19. In this manner, the 
incised groove 19 is prevented from being pushed open enough to permit 
slippage of the fitting legs 20. 
Generally, the peripheral edge 3 is inclined relative to the outer wall 
surface 24 or the inner wall surface 24' on which the glass plate rests 
(the wall surfaces 24, 24' being substantially parallel to each other). It 
is, therefore, desirable to have the fitting legs 20 disposed aslant 
relative to the rear surface of the clip 14 so that when the base plate is 
attached to the peripheral edge 3 and the clip is attached to the base 
plate, the frontal surface of the clip 14 falls substantially 
perpendicularly to said wall surfaces 24, 24'. The same result may 
otherwise be obtained by fabricating the base plate in a wedge-shaped 
cross section so that when the base plate is attached to the peripheral 
edge 3, the frontal surface of the base plate falls substantially 
perpendicularly to the wall surfaces 24, 24'. 
The clip illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, though substantially similar to the 
clip of FIGS. 3 and 4, is different in respect that the central piece 14a 
thereof is provided with a tongue piece 25 having a cross section in a 
slightly diverged form of the letter L and serving to hold the edge of a 
glass plate. 
The tongue piece 25 is connected to and hangs down from the upper edge of 
an opening 25' in the central piece 14a and thrusts outwardly from the 
frontal surface of the central piece. This clip is fastened to the base 
plate 11 secured to the peripheral edge 3 through insertion of the legs 20 
in the same manner as the clip of FIGS. 3 and 4. This attachment of the 
clip is followed by insertion and attachment of the glass plate. While the 
glass plate is in the process of being attached, the end of the glass 
plate comes into contact with the bent portion 25a of the tongue piece 25, 
pushes back the tongue piece 25 and passes under the bent portion 25a to 
be finally held in position. After the edge of the glass plate completes 
its passage under the bent portion 25a, the tongue pieces which has so far 
been held back tends, by virtue of its resilience, to regain its former 
state, with the result that the lower half part of the bent portion 
presses the edge of the glass plate downwardly. Then, when the molding 5 
is mounted in position, the glass plate will be held fast in position by 
the tongue piece 25 of the clip and the free end 5" of the molding. The 
tongue piece 25 provided on this clip fulfils the same function as the 
resilient holder means 9 provided on the clip of prior art illustrated in 
FIGS. 1 and 2. When necessary, this tongue piece may be provided on each 
of the lateral pieces 14b instead of on the central piece 14a. 
The base plate illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8 possesses an upper part 11' 
similarly to that of the base plate so far described. It is, however, 
slightly different in the cross section of the lower half part 26 which 
has a greater wall thickness than the upper part. Said lower part 26 
embraces an incised groove 27 of a cross section of the inverted letter P 
which opens upwardly, either flush with or slightly forward from the 
frontal surface of said upper part 11'. This base plate is similarly 
produced by one-shot extrusion molding of a plastic material. The rear 
surface of this base plate is similarly stepped. 
By vertically inserted cuts, the clip is divided into a central piece 14a 
and lateral pieces 14b except in the lower end in which said pieces are 
mutually connected. This clip is similar to that of FIGS. 2 through 6 in 
the respect that it is provided at the upper end of the rear surface with 
a claw 13. The lower part of the common base of these divided pieces, 
namely the lower part of this clip, is so fabricated as to form a fitting 
leg 25 of the shape of an inverted letter P which can be inserted freely 
slidably in the aforementioned incised groove 27 of the shape of inverted 
letter P. 
In the present embodiment, therefore, a required number of clips 14 can be 
set in position on the base plate by fastening a double-faced adhesive 
tape 12 to the lower part of the rear surface of the base plate for 
thereby attaching the base plate to the peripheral edge 3 and allowing the 
upper portion 11' thereof to cover the upper side of the peripheral edge 
and thereafter inserting the fitting legs of the clips laterally into the 
incised groove 27 of the base plate. Then the glass plate is set in 
position and fastened to the peripheral edge and one edge 5' of the 
molding is slid down over the frontal surface of the upper part of the 
clips until it is brought into fast engagement with the claw. 
Similarly to the resilient holder means 9 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the 
present clip is provided with tongue pieces 29 each having a cross section 
in a slightly diverged form of the letter L. These tongue pieces 29 hang 
down slightly forwardly from the upper ends of the lateral pieces 14b, so 
that when the glass plate is inserted in position prior to the mounting of 
the molding, the lower half part 29' of the bent portion presses down the 
glass plate similarly to the tongue piece 25 of the clip of FIGS. 5 and 6. 
Of course, one such tongue piece 29 may be provided on the central piece 
14a similarly to that of FIGS. 5 and 6. 
FIGS. 9(A) and (B) illustrate still another embodiment of the clip usable 
for the purpose of this invention. FIG. 9(A) shows the clip obtained by 
injection molding of a synthetic resin in its unaltered form and FIG. 9(B) 
shows the same clip bent along the thin-walled hinge portion 30 
illustrated in FIG. 9(A) so as to be ready for use. 
As is clear from FIG. 9, of the upper and lower pieces which are bent along 
the hinge portion 30 toward each other in the shape of a peak, the lower 
piece 31 is extended downwardly into two opposed lateral pieces 14b each 
possessing a fitting leg 28 and has a claw 13 raised from the surface 
thereof between the aforementioned opposed lateral pieces. The upper piece 
32, on the other hand, is extended into two opposed tongue pieces 33 
which, when the upper piece is bent along the hinge portion 30, each 
assume a cross section in a slightly diverged form of the letter L and 
serve as resilient holder means capable of pressing the edge of the glass 
plate downwardly at a level corresponding to that of said lateral piece 
14b. In other words, when the clip produced in the form illustrated in 
FIG. 9(A) is folded as shown in FIG. 9(B), it can be attached to the base 
plate of FIGS. 7 and 8 through insertion into the incised groove 27. 
If in place of the fitting legs 28 of this clip, the fitting legs of the 
shape of the inverted letter T as illustrated in FIGS. 3, 4, 5 and 6 are 
provided on the opposed lateral pieces, then the clip can be used on the 
base plate having an incised groove of the shape of the letter T. 
The clip illustrated in FIG. 9 is destitute of a central piece 14a and the 
lateral pieces 14b are separated from each other by an ample space. Thus, 
the two lateral pieces can be pushed and bent toward each other, with the 
intervening space decreased consequently. The advantage taken of the 
resilience of the clip that permits convergence of the opposed lateral 
pieces leads to yet another embodiment of the molding clip assemblage of 
this invention: The lateral pieces 14b are provided on their opposite 
sides, one each, with outwardly protruding fitting legs 28. At the same 
time, as illustrated in FIG. 10, the base plate 11 which has its upper 
part 11' extending throughout the entire length of the peripheral edge is 
provided in its lower half part 26 of an increased wall thickness with a 
hole 34 disposed longitudinally in place of the aforementioned incised 
groove. Further, indentations of a length slightly greater than the length 
of the clip are formed at proper intervals in the lower half part 26 of 
the base plate. Then, the clips are attached one each to the indentations 
by bending the lateral pieces toward each other for thereby allowing the 
clip to slide into the indentation 35 and thereafter loosening the force 
keeping the lateral pieces in said contracted state for thereby allowing 
the outwardly extending fitting legs 28 of the lateral pieces to pass into 
the hole 34 opening at the opposite ends of the indentation 35. 
Consequently, the lower half part of the tongue piece 33 presses the edge 
of the inserted glass plate downwardly and, at the same time, the claw 13 
catches firm hold of the edge 5' of the molding. 
Where the mounting is effected by use of indentations 35, a desire to keep 
the clip standing stably by itself until completion of the insertion of 
the glass plate is satisfied by providing the clip with a leg piece 36 
extending downwardly through the space intervening between the tongue 
pieces 33 from the rear surface of the piece 31 at a level corresponding 
to that of the claw 13, allowing the leading end of said leg piece 36 to 
come into resilient contact with the frontal surface of the lower half 
part 26 of the base plate falling below the indentation 35 and, at the 
same time, causing the opposed lateral pieces to be pressed against the 
vertical surface of the indentation 35 or the frontal surface of the upper 
part of the base plate. 
The base plate incorporating indentations 35 at prescribed intervals in the 
lower half portion 26 thereof may be produced by first extrusion molding a 
plastic material in a shape containing a through hole 34 but lacking 
indentations and thereafter removing portions so as to give rise to 
desired indentations. Otherwise, where the length of the base plate is 
already fixed, it can be injection molded, instead of extrusion molding, 
in a shape containing both said hole 36 and indentations 35 from the 
beginning. This means that the base plate can be manufactured without 
necessarily resorting to the technique of extrusion molding. 
This invention has been described with reference to a few preferred 
embodiments. In short, the present invention aims to effect required 
mounting of a molding by attaching to the peripheral edge of a window 
frame a base plate provided with a portion serving to cover the entire 
length of the peripheral edge, attaching a plurality of clips at proper 
intervals to the base plate and inserting one edge of the molding between 
the clips and the portion of the base plate covering the peripheral edge. 
By use of the molding clip assemblage of this invention, it is now made 
possible to have the molding mounted in position more aesthetically and 
more conveniently than by the conventional art comprising the steps of 
attaching clips to the peripheral edge and inserting the molding into the 
engaging catches of the clips. The molding thus mounted in position by the 
present invention is perfectly impervious to rainwater and dust from the 
ambience. The present invention, therefore, is not limited to the 
illustrated embodiments herein contained but can be widely varied within 
the purview of the technical idea set forth in the claim hereinafter.