Mounting device for a fastening system trim elements to vehicle body

Mounting device for connecting a fastening system selected from a number of available standard fastening systems to an automotive finishing element like e.g. a door inner panel, a dashboard, etc designed to be fixed to a vehicle body; the mounting device consists in: a standardized mounting tower provided integral with or fixable to said automotive finishing element; and in an intermediate, shallow mounting element designed to be interposed between the fastening system and the mounting tower, having first and second coupling means; said first coupling means being designed to mate with first coupling means of the fastening system designed to provide anchorage with the mounting tower; and said second coupling means being of the snap-on kind and being designed to mate with an attachment seat of prefixed shape for said shallow mounting element provided in said mounting tower, on a side thereof opposite to the automotive finishing element to be mounted.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is based on International Application Number PCT/IB2006/003616 filed Dec. 14, 2006, and claims priority from Italian Application Number TO2005A000874 filed Dec. 15, 2005, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a mounting device for connecting a fastening system selected from a number of available standard fastening systems to an automotive finishing element like e.g. a door inner panel or a dashboard, designed to be fixed to a body of a vehicle via said selected fastening system.

BACKGROUND ART

It is known in the art that fixing of automotive finishing elements like panels, profiles, dashboards or parts thereof to the elements of the body of vehicle is provided through the use of fastening systems consisting essentially in a toothed pin having a mounting head, a bush and a sealing element interposed there between; the toothed shank of the pin is designed to engage into slots provided in the body elements and to adapt axially there into in order to compensate the misalignments between the finishing element and the body element receiving it due to the working tolerances; the mounting head is designed to fit into a mounting seat provided in assembly portions of the finishing element, known as “mounting towers”, which act as mounting devices for the fastening systems.

Since a plurality of differently shaped fastening systems are currently in use, each tailored for a specific application, namely to fasten a specific finishing element or a specific part of one same finishing element to a specific part of the body of the vehicle, it is necessary to provide the finishing elements to be mounted with a wide different kind of mounting towers, each shaped to receive a fastening system specifically selected among those available in the art.

The mounting devices described above create not many difficulties in the assembly phase of the fastening system to the mounting tower, which result in slowing down the assembly operations with an increase of costs; moreover they increase the cost of the finishing elements themselves since they require to adopt very strict tolerances in shaping the mounting towers; last but not the least, the complex shape required for the mounting seats to receive the mounting heads of the fastening systems results quite often in creating degassing and shrinkage problems during the molding phase through which the mounting towers and eventually the whole finishing element are obtained; this results in incomplete pieces, so generating a relatively high number of rejects or, worse, molded articles which are not reliable and can break in use.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to overcome the aforesaid drawbacks by providing a mounting device for fastening systems designed to anchor a finishing element to a body of any kind of vehicles that allow at the same time to make the assembly operation of the finishing element to the vehicle body easier and quicker, and to reduce the production cost of the currently used finishing elements (or at least of the mounting towers thereof), while increasing the reliability thereof and dramatically reducing the possible number of rejects.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a mounting device for fastening systems of finishing elements of a vehicle body which allow the fastening systems to be preassembled in their mounting seats on the finishing element side.

The present invention accordingly relates to a mounting device for connecting a fastening system selected from a number of available standard fastening systems to an automotive finishing element designed to be anchored to a body of a vehicle via said selected fastening system, as defined in Claim1.

Here and in the description that follows the term “automotive” is to be intended as merely by way of example and not to be limitative, including therefore any kind of vehicle (automobiles, trucks, vans, airplanes, ships, boats, etc.).

The mounting device according to the invention comprises a mounting tower provided integral with or fixable to said automotive finishing element; and means for anchoring said selected fastening system to said mounting tower.

According to one aspect of the invention said means for anchoring said selected fastening system to said mounting tower comprise an intermediate, shallow mounting element designed to be interposed between the fastening system and the mounting tower. first and second coupling means are moreover provided integral on said shallow mounting element.

The first coupling means of the shallow mounting element are designed to mate with first coupling means of the fastening system originally designed to provide anchorage with traditional mounting towers; and the second coupling means of the shallow mounting element are selected of the snap-on kind and are designed to mate with an attachment seat of prefixed shape for the shallow mounting element provided in the mounting tower, on a side thereof opposite to said automotive finishing element to be mounted.

In this manner, the mounting towers may be equipped with standard types of attachment seats, making it possible to simplify the shape of the mounting towers and to dramatically reduce the necessary number of different kind of mounting towers to only one or two.

Moreover, the assembly of the fastening systems is no more to be carried out directly onto the mounting towers or the finishing elements to be assembled, but can be carried out separately onto the shallow mounting elements, so as to obtain also a preassembly of the fastening systems; then, the unit so created, constituted by the fastening system and the shallow mounting element may be assembled onto the mounting towers with very simple movements only, so allowing for automatic assembly too.

Last but not the least, strict working tolerances, in order to avoid assembly problems, are necessary solely for obtaining the first coupling means of the shallow mounting elements, so that the production costs of the finishing elements and of the mounting towers (that only have standard types of attachment seats of anyway simple shape) are dramatically reduced due to the possibility to adopt less strict working tolerances. At the same time the number of rejects is reduced and every piece produced is of reliable operation.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

With reference toFIGS. 1,3,4and5, reference number1indicates as a whole a mounting device for connecting a fastening system2selected from a number of standard fastening systems available in the art to an automotive finishing element3, like e.g. a door inner panel or a dashboard, shown only schematically inFIG. 1; finishing element3is designed to be fixed in a known manner to a body of a vehicle, both known and not shown for sake of simplicity, via the selected fastening system2.

Mounting device1comprises a mounting tower4provided integral with or fixable to the automotive finishing element3; and means, indicated as a whole by reference number5, for anchoring the selected fastening system2to mounting tower4.

According to one aspect of the invention, anchoring means5comprise: an intermediate, shallow mounting element10designed to be interposed between the fastening system2and the mounting tower4; and first coupling means11and second coupling means12provided integral on shallow mounting element10.

The first coupling means11are designed to mate with first coupling means13(of known kind) of the fastening system2designed to provide anchorage with the mounting tower4; and the second coupling means12are selected of the snap-on kind and are designed to mate with an attachment seat14of prefixed shape for the shallow mounting element10; seat14is provided in the mounting tower4, on a side thereof opposite to the automotive finishing element3to be mounted.

In particular, seat14is provided at a top end15of the mounting tower4distant from the finishing element3and is shaped to receive in a sliding manner the mounting element10in a direction and versus shown by the arrows inFIGS. 4 and 5, in the case in point substantially perpendicular to the laying plane of the finishing element3bearing the mounting tower4.

The shallow mounting element10(FIG. 5) consists of an injection molded base plate delimited between a first flat surface20and a second flat surface21, facing in use the selected fastening system2and the mounting tower4, respectively; first coupling means11are provided in correspondence with the first flat surface20, while the second coupling means12are provided, in this first embodiment, facing opposite to the flat surface20.

Moreover, the base plate10is substantially square shaped in a plan view and is provided with a channel shaped through seat22laying parallel to said first and second flat surfaces20and21, and delimited between a first flat wall24and a second flat wall25defining, externally to the base plate10, the first flat surface20and the second flat surface21, respectively.

The first coupling means11of the shallow mounting element10consist of the afore described through seat22and of a shaped perforation26provided through the first flat wall24, which is designed to face in use the selected fastening system2to be mounted; the through perforation26is provided perpendicular to the through seat22and is designed to interrupt one side27(FIG. 5) of the base plate10so as that perforation26remains laterally open in correspondence with one open end28of the through seat22.

With reference toFIGS. 2 and 6, they show a second possible embodiment of the mounting device according to the present invention, indicated as a whole with reference number100. The details similar to or identical with the details already described with reference to the embodiment ofFIG. 1are indicated with the same reference numbers, for sake of simplicity.

In particular, mounting device100also comprises a mounting tower4provided integral with or fixable to the automotive finishing element3; and means, indicated as a whole by reference number5, for anchoring a selected fastening system2to mounting tower4; anchoring means5in turn comprise an intermediate, shallow mounting element110similar in general shape to element10and designed to be interposed between the fastening system2and the mounting tower4; and first coupling means11and second coupling means112provided integral on shallow mounting element110.

Shallow mounting element110, likewise corresponding element10, is also designed to fit into an attachment seat14of prefixed shape provided in the mounting tower4, on the side thereof opposite to the automotive finishing element3to be mounted, in particular at a top end15of the mounting tower4distant from the finishing element3; according to this second embodiment, however, seat14is shaped to receive in a sliding manner the mounting element10in the direction and versus shown by the arrows inFIGS. 2 and 6, namely substantially parallel to the laying plane of the finishing element3bearing the mounting tower4.

Accordingly, while first coupling means11are identical to those as described for the mounting device1ofFIG. 1, second coupling means112are shaped differently, as it will be seen more in detail below, of coupling means12, in particular coupling means112are provided flush with second flat wall25.

In both embodiments, namely in both mounting devices1and100, the first coupling means11are designed to receive in lateral sliding engagement the first coupling means13of the selected fastening system2to be mounted; this latter may include, as it is well known (seeFIGS. 1,2,3and4), a shaped pin or toothed shank40, a mounting bush41(FIGS. 1-2) or a flange41′ (FIGS. 3-4) and, possibly, a sealing element42interposed between pin40and bush41; in any case, the first coupling means of the selected fastening system2consist in a head13of the shaped pin or toothed shank, which is received in use into the through seat22of the shallow mounting element,10or110, according to the case.

The second coupling means12or112, according to the case, are provided at least in part integral with the second flat wall25. In particular, second coupling means12of shallow element10consist of thinner lateral portions50of the first flat wall24extending in cantilever fashion with respect to corresponding opposite lateral edges of the second flat wall25; and of V-shaped elastic wings52extending perpendicularly from said first and second flat walls24,25in a direction facing away from said first flat wall24.

First flat wall24is moreover provided, in correspondence the V-shaped elastic wings52, with peripherally opened through perforations or recesses54arranged side by side to thinner lateral portions50.

In case of device100, the second coupling means112consist of laterally projecting portions60of the second flat wall25extending in cantilever fashion with respect to the corresponding opposite lateral edges of the first flat wall24; and of opposite elastic arms62extending obliquely and in cantilever fashion within lateral recesses64of the laterally projecting portions60of the second flat wall25.

The mounting device1is completed by a mouth aperture70to access the attachment seat14, which aperture70is provided frontally through a portion of the top end15of the mounting tower4facing away from the finishing element3; in use, a peripheral edge of the mouth aperture70cooperates in snap engagement with the V-shaped elastic wings52on a first side facing the interior of the attachment seat14; at the same time a second side of the mouth aperture70, opposite the first one, rests against the lateral portions50of the first flat wall24.

The mounting device100is completed by a mouth aperture170to access the attachment seat14, which aperture170is provided laterally through the top end15of the mounting tower4; in this embodiment, moreover, within the attachment seat14is provided on each side thereof transverse to the mouth aperture170a resting teeth80(FIG. 6) able to be snap engaged by respective free ends of the elastic arms62.

The device100according to the embodiment shown inFIGS. 2 and 4(right side) is clearly of reduced height (measured perpendicularly to the laying plane of finishing element3) in comparison to device1ofFIGS. 1 and 4(left side) and therefore fits for equipping portions of finishing element3to be mounted designed to be placed closer to the body of the vehicle and therefore leaving less mounting space to fastening system2.