IMPROVED TAPE DRIVE WINDOW REGULATOR APPARATUS AND METHOD

Abstract: The present invention provides an improved tape drive window regulator apparatus (80) and method of utilization of the same. The apparatus of the present invention provides a window regulator (80) wherein a slack portion of the tape (70) is laterally stabilized and/or deflected. In addition, a preferred embodiment of the present invention allows the tape (70) to be placed in a loaded position in respect to a deflector (58) by a tape drive mechanism of the regulator (80) during assembly thereof, thus eliminating an assembly step.

Description: This invention relates to vehicle tape drive window regulators. Tape drive window regulators for automotive vehicles are well known in the art. Examples of tape drive window regulators can be found in US-A-4,241,542 and US-A-4,253,277, which corresponds with the preamble of claim 1. Prior tape drive window regulators have four major elements which include a flexible drive tape, which may be utilized in compression or in tension, attached to the window at one end, and a guide forming a predetermined path for the drive tape. A reversible drive mechanism is also provided to move the tape, and an anchor is provided which retains the other end of the drive tape. There are different versions of drive tapes. One popular version of a drive tape provides an elongated plastics tape with a cross-sectional area measuring approximately two by fifteen millimetres. The tape also has a longitudinal series of equally-spaced, transverse slots which allow the tape to be driven by a manually or artificially-powered, sprocketed drive wheel. The window regulator also includes a frame which provides the anchor for the tape and a mounting for the drive mechanism. The tape is moved in a restrained guided path provided by a moulded groove in the frame member and an outwardly-extending rail which extends upwardly and then downwardly at an acute angle to a vertical axis of the window. As the window moves down in response to movement of the tape in one direction, the length of the tape limits the downward travel of the window. As the window is raised up, the tape reverses in direction. Between the moulded groove of the frame member and the anchor there exists an opening. The tape is allowed to enter the opening to create an unrestrained floppy loop of tape. The floppy loop is generated to avoid reeling the tape around the sprocket wheel, since this would place too much strain on the tape from the cyclical tension and compression forces generated by wrapping the tape over the diameter of the sprocket wheel. In many applications the floppy looped portion of the tape is of no great concern. However, in some automotive applications where the window forms part of a door of a vehicle, the floppy loop of the tape can cause problems by hitting other portions of the door interior. When it is desirable to utilize portions of the door interior in close proximity to the window regulator, the presence of the loop can cause problems. If the looped portion is allowed to hit other interior members of the door a rattling noise can sometimes occur. Also, damage to the tape can sometimes occur. To overcome the above-noted problems, attempts were made to control the deflection of the looped tape. One attempted solution was to place a single anchor-type tooth on the curvature of the frame between the anchor and the guided path. The tooth would engage with one of the previously described slotted apertures in the tape causing the floppy looped portion of the tape to be deflected. The above attempt failed due to the continual cyclical working of the tape up and down over the single tooth. The slotted aperture of the tape was eventually enlarged causing the tooth to lose all retention on the looped portion of the tape. Another attempt was made to aid in the deflection of the looped portion of the tape by attaching a portion of the tape between the anchor and guided path to the frame by a metal clip. One problem with the metallic clip was that it required another step in assembly operation. Placement of the metal clip required a fairly high degree of accuracy in assembly to generate the desired results. It was found that the degree of accuracy required in the placement of the clip was a burden in the factory environment. More importantly, the metallic clip caused problems in that it had a barbed member which actually deformed or cut into the drive tape. Therefore the tape was slightly damaged by use of the clip, thus increasing the chance of failure of the tape element. A vehicle window tape drive regulator according to the present invention comprises: a tape secured at one end to a window and movable at one end with respect to a vehicle for moving said window between a plurality of window positions; an anchor securing the other end of said tape in a fixed position with respect to said vehicle, said tape having a slack portion between the ends thereof which is normally freely movable with respect to said vehicle when said window is in one of said window positions; a guide providing a predetermined path for said tape when it moves said window and an opening at one end of said path to accommodate said slack portion; and a sprocket wheel drivably engaged with said tape between said ends thereof and operable in one manner to move said tape to move said window to one window position whilst creating said slack portion, and operable in another manner to move said tape to move said window to another window position whilst taking up at least some of said slack portion (compare with US-A-4253277); and is characterised by the characterizing portion of claim 1. The present invention provides a tape deflector which does not deform or injure the tape and can be made integral with the frame member of the window regulator. Since the new deflector can be integral with the frame, problems with the accuracy of placement of the deflector can be eliminated. In its preferred embodiment the present invention allows the window regulator to be self-loading, allowing the drive mechanism to load the tape into the deflector, thereby eliminating a prior required manual assembly step. Also, the present invention provides an embodiment of a deflector which may not only deflect the floppy looped portion of the tape downward relative to the window, but may also deflect it in an upward direction relative to the window. The present invention also provides a means of laterally stabilizing the looped floppy portion of the tape thereby eliminating the need for sound insulating materials on the door to suppress the sound generated by the looped portion of the tape laterally swinging over and hitting the interior sides of the door. It is an object of the present invention to provide a tape drive window regulator wherein the tape has a deflector for the looped floppy portion and the deflector self-loads the tape from a position outside of the deflector to a position where it is captured by the deflector. It is an object of the present invention to provide a deflector for the floppy portion of the tape of a tape drive window regulator wherein the looped floppy portion may be deflected in an upward direction. It is another object of the present invention to provide a window drive regulator wherein the looped floppy portion of the tape drive of the window regulator may be laterally stabilized. It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide a vehicle window tape drive regulator, said regulator including a tape with a longitudinal series of equally-spaced, transverse slotted apertures, secured to said window at a first end, a guide means providing a predetermined path for said tape, a reversible drive mechanism drivably engaged with said tape to move said tape along said guide means in either of two directions, anchor means spaced from said guide means and fixably securing a second end of said tape, and a deflector including an inner deflector member adjacent said tape between said guide means and said anchor means and an outer deflector member having a male member projecting towards the inner deflector member, whereby movement of said tape towards said anchor means causes insertion of the male member into said tape, causing said tape to deflect upwards, and whereby the outer deflector member has a cammed surface opposite the male member allowing the drive mechanism to load the tape from an area adjacent the cam surface to an area adjacent said male member. The invention and how it may be performed are hereinafter particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a window regulator according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a partial, enlarged view of a portion of the window regulator illustrated in Figure 1; Figure 3 is an enlarged, partial, side perspective view of the window regulator illustrated in Figure 1 with the drive tape removed for clarity of illustration; Figure 4 is a partial, enlarged, front elevational view of an alternative embodiment of the present invention; Figure 5 is a front elevational view of an embodiment of the present invention having a lateral stabilizer; and Figure 6 is a sectional view taken along lines 6-6 of Figure 5. Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 3, a window regulator 10 according to the present invention has a guide path 12. Guide path 12 is formed by a moulded groove 14 in a window regulator frame 16, and a U-shaped rail 18 which is attached to frame 16. Inserted within the guide path 12 is a plastics drive tape 20 which is usually manufactured by an extrusion process and is provided with a longitudinal series of equally-spaced transverse apertures so that it may be fitted around a sprocket wheel 22. At one end of the drive tape is a bracket 24 which in turn is connected with a window 26. The tape 20 at its opposite end is held down by an anchor 32 provided by teeth 28 formed integrally with the frame 16. When the window 26 is at its lowermost position, the tape 20 is flush with a curvature 30 between the anchor 32 and the beginning of the guide path 12. Therefore the length of the tape 20 provides the limit of downward travel of the window 26. To raise the window 26 the sprocket wheel 22 is rotated in a reverse direction (manually or by a motor), thereby driving tape 20 away from window 26 towards anchor 32. Tape 20 is pushed out into opening 40 and forms a floppy loop 36 which is unrestrained and is free to move relative to the vehicle. The present invention adds a deflector 44. The deflector 44 impinges upon the loop 36 and causes the loop 36 to form at a lower region than it would normally form without the deflector. Therefore, other controls or mechanism, such as door latches or locks may now be placed in region 50 which was formerly taken up by loop 36. A surface 46 of the deflector 44 facing towards the anchor 32 and guided path 12 restrains the loop 36 during the creation of the loop. Opposite surface 46 is a cammed surface 48. When assembling the regulator 10, the tape 20 is first anchored to the frame 16 and allowed to remain outside of the deflector 44. As the window 26 is brought to its lowermost position the tape 20 will be automatically loaded onto the area adjacent surface 46. The self-loading feature is advantageous in that the deflector 44 can now be made integral with the frame member 16 and its location will be exact in all applications. There is no need for manual placement of the deflector 44, and the deflector 44 does not deform or cut into the tape. Referring to Figure 4, there is provided an alternative embodiment of the deflector 58 which is typically more suitable when it is desired to deflect the looped portion of the tape in an upward direction. The deflector 58 of Figure 4 has an inner member 60 shaped somewhat like an air foil and an outer member 62 with a projecting male stud member 64. The outer member 62 typically will be cammed on its outer surface 66 allowing it to be a self-loading deflector as previously described. When tape 70 is being moved away from an anchor 68, the tape 70 will pull away from the male stud 64. When the drive tape 70 is moved towards the anchor 68, the drive tape 70 will be forced in to a position to allow the male stud 64 to engage with one of the slots of the tape 70. The above causes the deflector 58 to arrest the tape 70 and therefore cause the loop created by the tape to be deflected in an upward direction. As was the case in the embodiment described in Figures 1, 2, and 3, the deflector 58 of Figure 4 may be made integral with the frame member. Referring to Figures 5 and 6 an alternative embodiment of the present invention, which laterally stabilizes the floppy portion of the drive tape is illustrated. To minimize the space taken up by window regulator 80 within the door compartment, loop 82 of this window regulator is formed between U-shaped acute angle 84 of guide rail 86. To laterally stabilize the loop there is provided a U-shaped clip 88 which can be made of plastics and simply snapped on to the rail 86 to laterally restrain the generated loop. Use of the lateral stabilizer allows the door compartment inner doors to be stripped of the foam rubber which has been previously required to keep down the noise caused by rattling when the floppy portion of the loop sway laterally from side-to-side. As the loop 82 becomes smaller and smaller as the window (not shown) is lowered, the loop 82 eventually comes to a point where it will no longer impact upon the lateral stabilizer 88. However, at the above-described point the rigidity of the loop 82 will be at such a stage that lateral stabilization of the drive tape will not be required.

Claims: 1. A vehicle window tape drive regulator (80) comprising: a tape (70, 82) secured at one end to a window and movable at one end with respect to a vehicle for moving said window between a plurality of window positions; an anchor (68) securing the other end of said tape (70, 82) in a fixed position with respect to said vehicle, said tape (70, 82) having a slack portion between the ends thereof which is normally freely movable with respect to said vehicle when said window is in one of said window positions; a guide (86) providing a predetermined path for said tape (70, 82) when it moves said window and an opening at one end of said path to accommodate said slack portion; and a sprocket wheel (22) drivably engaged with said tape (70, 82) between said ends thereof and operable in one manner to move said tape (70, 82) to move said window to one window position whilst creating said slack portion, and operable in another manner to move said tape (70, 82) to move said window to another window position whilst taking up at least some of said slack portion; characterised in that there is a deflector (58) at said opening between said path and said anchor (68), said deflector (58) includes an outer deflector member (62) and an inner deflector member (60), the tape (70, 82) passes between said inner and outer deflector members (60, 62), and a male member (64) is connected with said outer deflector member (62) and projects towards said inner member (60), and the male member (64), upon movement of said tape (70, 82) towards said anchor (68), engages into one of a longitudinal series of equally-spaced slotted apertures in said tape (70, 82), causing said deflector (58) to arrest said slack portion during the creation thereof so as to restrict the movement of said tape (70, 82) with respect to said vehicle, and to deflect said slack portion of the tape (70, 82) upwards with respect to said window regulator (80). 2. A vehicle window tape drive regulator (80) according to claim 1, characterised in that a lateral stabilizer (88) is attached to said guide (86) and engages said slack portion of the tape (82) during the creation thereof to transversely restrict the movement of said tape (82) with respect to said vehicle. 3. A vehicle window tape drive regulator (80) according to claim 2, characterised in that said guide includes an elongated rail (86) and said lateral stabilizer (88) is attached to said rail (86). 4. A vehicle window tape drive regulator (80) according to claim 3, characterised in that said elongated rail (86) has an acute angle (84) formed between its opposite ends, said slack portion is adjacent the acute angle (84) created by said rail (86); and said lateral stabilizer (88) is a U-shaped clip deformable to be press-fitted upon said rail (86) to laterally engage the slack portion of said tape (82) during the creation thereof, so as to transversely restrict the movement of said tape (82) with respect to said vehicle. 5. A vehicle window tape drive regulator (80) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said outer deflector member (62) has a surface opposite said male member (64) which provides a cam surface (66) allowing said sprocket wheel (22) to load said tape (70, 82) from an area adjacent said cam surface (66) to an area adjacent said male member (64). 6. A method of loading a tape (70, 82) of a tape drive window regulator (80) according to claim 5, characterised in that said method includes: placing the tape (70, 82) in an area adjacent to said deflector cam surface (66); moving the tape (70, 82) by operation of said sprocket wheel (22) to bring said tape (70, 82) into contact with said cam surface (66); and then deflecting the tape (70, 82) with said cam surface (66) to bring said tape (70, 82) into contact with said guide (86) adjacent said deflector (58).

Inventors: KAZEWYCH, BOHDAN (NMN), KOBREHEL, MICHAEL D., LAM, MICHAEL KING
Applicants: GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION
Application year: 1987
Main classification: E05F11
IPC codes: E05F11, E05F15