POWER WINDOW APPARATUS

Abstract: A power window apparatus for opening and closing a curved window glass having comparative large curvature along its curvature is provided with a forwardly and reversely rotatable motor (13), a curved screw (14) having curvature nearly equal to the curvature of the curved window glass and fixed in parallel to the curved window glass, and a movable unit (15) fitted onto said curved screw and connected to the motor and said curved window glass.

Description: This invention relates to a power window apparatus used for opening and closing a window glass of, for example, an automobile, a gymnasium, a sunroom, and so on, and more particularly to a power window apparatus used for opening and closing a curved window glass along curvature of the curred window glass. Description Of The Prior Art Heretofore, there has been used a power window apparatus of this type as shown in Figure 3, for example. A power window apparatus 51 shown in the figure which is used for opening and closing a window glass 52 of an automobile automatically, is provided on the inside of a door panel 58 with a motor 53 rotatable in the forward and the reverse directions fitted with a wire drum 54 onto its output shaft 53a, an elevator guide 55 fitted with an elevator 56 movable along its guide rail 55a, and a wire 57 passed round said wire drum 54 from the opposite sides. Said elevator 56 is fixed to the window glass 52 by bolt 59's, both ends of said wire 57 are fastened together in the elevator guide 55 through pulleys 60 and 61 provided rotatably at the upper and lower ends of the elevator guide 55, and said wire 57 is connected to the elevator 56. And said power window apparatus 51 is so designed as that the wire 57 passed round the wire drum 54 moves between the wire drum 54 and the pulleys 60 and 61, and the elevator 56 connected with a wire 57 moves along the guide rail 55a of the elevator guide 55 by supplying electric power to the motor 53 through a connector 62 for connecting to the power source and rotating the wire drum 54 in the forward and the reverse directions through the output shaft 53a of the motor 53, and the window glass 52 is driven in the opening and the closing directions. However, in the aforementioned conventional power window apparatus 51, it is necessary to dispose the wire drum 54 provided to the motor 53 and the pulleys 60 and 61 so as to rotate practically on the same plane, therefore there is a problem since it is not possible to use said power window apparatus 51 for a door glass curved with comparative large curvature. In US-A-4167834 a window regulating mechanism is described in which a curved window is opened and closed along its curvature by operation of an electric motor on a transmission housing which is in turn connected to the curved window. Opening or closing of the window along a guide provided is achieved by the actuation of an arrangement of a worm, worm gear, pinion, post and driving spider. A similar mechanism is also described in DE-A-2905474. The present invention is made in view of the aforementioned problem of the prior art and an object of the invention is to provide a power window apparatus which is possible to open and close a curved window glass having comparative large curvature along the curvature of said curved window glass. The construction of the power window apparatus according to this invention for attaining the aforementioned object comprises a motor rotatable in the forward and the reverse directions; and a movable unit connected to the motor and moved by said motor, said movable unit being connected with said curved window glass characterised in that there is further provided a curved screw having a curvature substantially equal to the curvature of the curved window glass and fixed in parallel to the curvature of said curved window glass, said movable unit being fitted onto said curved screw whereby said movable unit moves along said curved screw when moved by said motor. In this case, said motor can be disposed on the side of the curved window glass together with the movable unit, however it is preferable to dispose the motor on the side of the housing portion for the curved window glass together with the curved screw and to connect said motor with the movable unit through a flexible shaft in order to decrease the weight of said curved window glass. In the power window apparatus according to this invention, the motor rotates in the forward or the reverse direction by the power supply, and the output power of the motor is transmitted to the movable unit. Hereupon, because the curved screw fitted with the movable unit is fixed in parallel to the curvature of the curved window glass, said movable unit moves along the curved screw in the axial direction of said curved screw. Thereby, the curved window glass connected with said movable unit is so designed as to be operated smoothly in the opening or the closing direction. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view illustrating a door of a motor vehicle mounted with the power window apparatus according to an embodiment of this invention for opening and closing the window glass; Figure 2 is a partially enlarged rear elavation illustrating the backside of the power window apparatus shown in Figure 1; and Figure 3 is a schematic illustration showing an example of the conventional power window apparatus. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of the power window apparatus according to this invention will be described below on basis of drawings. Figure 1 and Figure 2 show an embodiment of the power window apparatus according to this invention, and this embodiment examplifies the case the power window apparatus according to this invention is used for opening and closing a window glass of a motor vehicle. Furthermore, Figure 1 shows a rear door of a sedan (saloon), and the left side in the figure corresponds to the front side of the motor vehicle. That is, a rear door 1 shown in Figure 1 is provided with a curved window glass 2 having comparative large curvature and a power window apparatus 11 for opening and closing said curved window glass 2. Said power window apparatus 11 is provided with a frame body 12 for supporting the curved window glass 2, a motor 13 rotatable in the forward and the reverse directions, a curved screw 14 having curvature nearly equal to the curvature of the curved window glass 2, and a gear case (movable unit ) 15 fitted onto said curved screw 14. Said frame body 12 consists of an upper frame 12a and a lower frame 12b fixed to an inner panel 3 through a base plate (not shown), and a front guide rail 12c and a rear guide rail 12d provided between said upper and lower frames 12a and 12b. And both of said front and rear guide rails 12c and 12d are made into curved shapes having curvature nearly equal to the curvature of the curved window glass 2. Furthermore, said guide rails 12c and 12d have nearly C-shaped sections respectively and fixed respectively to the upper and lower frame 12a and 12b in the state of directing the back faces (wide faces not opened) inwardly. Additionally, as shown in Figure 2, a base 18 having a roller 17 is fixed with screw 19's to glass-holder 16's fitted on the front and rear sides of the lower end of said curved door glass 2, and the roller 17 provided to said base 18 is engaged to the inside of the guide rail 12c and 12d (the rear guide rail 12d is only shown in Figure 2). Thereby, said guide rails 12c and 12d are so made as to guide the opening and closing movements of the curved window glass 2 very smoothly. Said motor 13 is a direct current motor rotatable in the forward and the reverse directions by operating a switch 13a, and is disposed to a block 20 fixed to the middle part on the back face of the front guide rail 12c through a bracket 21. In this case, said bracket 21 is installed to the block 20 rotatably by a shaft 21a so that the motor 13 may move rotatively in a plane parallel with the frame body 12. Said curved screw 14 is installed -in the position near to the rear side of the upper and the lower feames 12a and 12b of the frame body 12 in the state parallel with the curvature of the curved door glass 2, and is fixed by screw holder 23's fitted to the upper and the lower frames 12a and 12b with screw 22's respectively. The gear case 15 fitted onto said curved screw 14 is formed by combination of an upper case 15A and a lower case 15b having plane-bottomed and square-cylindrical shapes, said gear case 15 is fitted onto the curved screw 14 so that said curved screw 14 may pass through the respective center parts of the upper and the lower cases 15A and 15B. Said gear case 15 houses a worm wheel 24 provided in the center with a femal screw part 24a made up so as to form a screw pair with the curved screw 14 in keeping a gap slightly and supported by thrust bearings 25 and 26 fitted into the center parts of respective bottoms of the upper and lower cases 15A and 15B, and a worm 26 mashed with said worm wheel 24, said worm 26 is connected to the motor 13 through a flexible shaft 27. And said gear 15 is connected to a part stretching toward the inside of the flame body 12 of the base 18 which is engaged with the roller 17 to the rear guide rail 12d. Namely, said power window apparatus 11 is designed so that the output of the motor 13 may be transmitted to the worm wheel 24 certainly and the gear case 15 may be moved along the curved screw 14 in the axial direction very smoothly because the worm 26 of the gear case 15 is connected to the motor 13 through the flexible shaft 27 and the motor 13 is disposed rotatably in the plane parallel with the frame body 12 as described above. Thereby, it is possible to move the curved window glass 2 connected with the gear case 15 through the base 18 and the glass-holder 16 along the curvature of the curved window glass 2. Nextly, explanation will be given on the operation of the power window apparatus 11, having the structure as described above. First of all, supplying the electric power to the motor 13 by operating the switch 13a, the motor 13 rotates in the forward direction (or the reverse direction), the output power of the motor 13 is transmitted to the worm 26 of the gear case 15 through the flexible shaft 27, and is futther transmitted to the warm wheel 24 mashed with said worm 26. Hereupon, since the cueved screw 14 forming the screw pair with the femal screw part 24a of the worm wheel 24 is fixed between the upper and the lower flames 12a and 12b of the frame body 12 in parallel with the curvature of the curved window glass 2, the gear case 15 descends (or ascends) depending on the rotation of the worm wheel 24 given by the screw pair between the curved screw 14 and the femal screw part 24a of the worm wheel 24 transmitted with the output power of the motor 13. Thereby, the curved window glass 2 connected with the gear case 15 through the base 18 and the glass-holder 16 moves in the opening direction (or the closing direction) together with the gear case 15. At this time, the worm 26 of the gear case 15 and the motor 13 are connected by the flexible shaft 27, the motor 13 is movable rotatively in the plane parallel with the frame body 12, therefore the descending (or the acsending ) movement of the gear case 15 relative to the curved screw 14 is not obstructed. Additionally, while the case of using the power window apparats according to this invention for opening and closing the window glas of the motor vehicle has been examplified in this embodiment, it is proper that the power window apparatus according to this invention can be used for opening and closing a window glass of a gymnasium, a sunroom or the like, for example. Furthermore, the details of construction of the power window apparatus according to this invention is not restricted to the aforementioned embodiment. As described above, the power window apparatus according to this invention comprises a motor rotatable in the forward and the reverse directions, a curved screw having curvature nearly equal to curvature of a curved window glass and fixed in parallel to the curvature of said curved window glass, a movable unit connected to the motor and fitted onto the curved screw, and moved by said motor along said curved screw, and said movable unit being connected with said curved window glass. Therefore, an excellent effect can be obtained since it is possible to open and close the curved window glass having comparative large curvature along the curvature of the curved window glass.

Claims: A power window apparatus (11) for opening and closing a curved window glass (2) along a curvature of said curved window glass (2) comprising: a motor (13) rotatable in the forward and the reverse directions; and a movable unit (15) connected to the motor (13) and moved by said motor (13), said movable unit (15) being connected with said curved window glass (2) characterised in that there is further provided a curved screw (14) having a curvature substantially equal to the curvature of the curved window glass (2) and fixed in parallel to the curvature of said curved window glass (2), said movable unit (15) being fitted onto said curved screw (14) whereby said movable unit (15) moves along said curved screw (14) when moved by said motor (13).

Inventors: SEKINE, SHUJI, SEKINE, SHUJI, C/O JIDOSHA DENKI KOGYO K.K.
Applicants: JIDOSHA DENKI KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Application year: 1990
Main classification: E05F15
IPC codes: E05F15, E05F11, B60J1