Sealing arrangements

Abstract: A sealing arrangement for a window pane 10 in a vehicle door which can be raised and lowered is shown. The body panel 14 on the outside of the door is connected to a metal channel 38 by a spring steel metal strip 40 which enables the channel 38 to pivot about a pivot point 41 and biases it in a clockwise direction therearound. Channel 38 carries a sealing strip 20 having a lip 36. When the window pane 10 is fully raised, as shown, a cam 46 carried by the pane 10 holds channel 38 in the attitude shown and presses the lip 36 sealingly against the window pane. When the pane is lowered, cam 46 moves out of engagement with the channel 38 which moves clockwise around the pivot 41, disengaging lip 36 from the window pane. The inside body panel 12 of the door may carry a similar strip or a conventional strip.

Description: The invention relates to a sealing and wiping arrangement for sealing and wiping against a slidable window glass, comprising a flexible element mounted adjacent to the window glass, and control means for moving the element between first and second positions in which it is respectively in and out of sealing contact with the window glass and for controlling the force with which the flexible element contacts the window glass. Such an arrangement is known from US-A-3 452 384. This known arrangement is for wiping the upwardly and downwardly slidable tailgate window glass of a vehicle body. A flexible wiping element extends longitudinally of the tailgate window glass and is mounted adjacent to it so as to be pivotable about an axis parallel to the glass surface. A roller in contact with the window glass pivots the wiping element away from the window glass as it is lowered. When the window glass is raised, the same roller pivots the wiper blade into contact with the window glass. This movement of the wiper blade into contact with the window glass is transmitted through a slip clutch arrangement which is arranged to slip when the wiper blade has contacted the window glass so as to prevent over-pressure between the blade and the glass. The slip clutch can be adjusted to provide the optimum wiping pressure. With this arrangement, therefore, the wiper blade is either completely out of contact with the window glass or is contacting the window glass with a fixed and predetermined pressure. Such an arrangement does therefore not permit the wiper blade to be selectively in contact with the window glass with respectively different and predetermined pressures. The invention aims to overcome this problem. Accordingly, the known arrangement is characterised in that the control means includes means selectively operable to move the flexible element into a third position in which it contacts the glass with a greater force than in the second position, whereby to wipe the glass as the latter slides. In this way, therefore, the flexible element can act simply as a sealing element or it can be forced into greater contact with the window glass so as to act as a wiping element. Sealing and wiping arrangements embodying the invention and for sealing against slidable window glass in a motor vehicle body will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which: Figure 1 is a cross-section through an arrangement, in a sealing configuration; Figure 2 corresponds to Figure 1 but shows the arrangement of Figure 1 in a non-sealing configuration; and Figure 3 corresponds to Figure 1 but shows the arrangement in a wiping configuration. The arrangements to be described are for sealing against the window pane (10) which can be raised and lowered, such as a window pane in a vehicle body which can be lowered into and raised from the lower part of the door. The Figures show a cross-section through part of the door to an enlarged scale. The lower part of the door is hollow and is the space between an inner body panel 12 and an outer body panel 14. The window pane 10 can be lowered into the interior 16 of the lower part of the door by means of the normal window winding mechanism which may be manually operated or motorised. The inner and outer body panels 12 and 14 define the gap at the so-called waistline through which the window pane 10 is raised and lowered. It is necessary to provide a flexible sealing arrangement for sealing against the opposite faces of the window pane 10, particularly when the window pane 10 is in its closed (fully raised) position. For this purpose, seals are mounted on the body panels 12 and 14 and run along the length of the gap 18. The seal on the body panel 12 is omitted, but a form of the seal 20 on the body panel 14 will now be described. The seal 20 is made of flexible material such as plastics or rubber material and is preferably manufactured by an extrusion process. Referring to Figure 1, the seal 20 mounted on the body panel 14 is in the form of a lip 322 which is made of flexible plastics or rubber material and is integral with a body part 324 which may be made of more rigid material. However, the body part 324 incorporates an integral flexible region 326 which acts as a hinge (in a manner to be explained) and integrally connects the body part 324 with a mounting part 328 in the form of a channel which is reinforced with a metal channel-shaped carrier 330 of any suitable form. Part 328 is mounted on the body panel 14 by frictionally embracing it, lips within the part 328 helping this frictional grip. Other fixing means may, however, be used instead. The seal 20 also incorporates an integral depending leg 336 which includes a reinforcing metal strip 338. The reinforcing metal strip 338 may be a continuous unapertured strip of metal or may be apertured with a series of slits or slots to aid flexibility if this is required. Instead, however, the metal strip may be replaced by strips of other hard material such as hardened rubber or plastics. A further possibility is to make the leg 336 of hardened rubber or plastics. Different parts of the seal can be extruded integrally to have different hardnesses. As shown in Figure 1, a hollow tube 346, which runs for the length of the waistline and is air-tight, is held in position between the facing surfaces of part 328 and the depending leg 336. The interior of the air tube 346 is connected to a source of air pressure by means of which its shape can be controlled. When the tube has the shape shown in Figure 1, lip 322 is in sealing contact with the window pane. In this configuration, the window pane is in its fully closed position. When it is desired to lower the window pane, either manually or automatically, the tube 346 is inflated by air pressure into the configuration shown in Figure 2. In this configuration, the expanded air tube applies a force to the side of the leg 336, causing the body 334 of the seal 20 to hinge against the resilience of the material about the pivot axis 345. The sealing lip 322 is thus moved out of sealing configuration with the window glass. Deflation of the air tube 346 collapses it and the resilience of the material of the seal causes the lip 322 to move back into sealing engagement with the window pane 10 as shown in Figure 1. Figure 3 shows the configuration which is assumed when the air-tube 346 is collapsed to a greater degree than shown in Figure 1. In this configuration, the lip 322 is forced into closer contact with the window pane than in Figure 1 and is able to carry out a wiping or cleaning action on the window pane by causing the window pane to be moved downwards (or possibly upwards) with the lip held in this position. Means may be provided for applying a jet of cleaning fluid to the window pane to aid this process. Movement of the lip 322 into the position shown in Figure 3, and operation of the cleaning fluid jet if provided, can be controlled manually or possibly automatically in associated with the window operation. Instead of an air pressure source, a source of partial vacuum may be used to control the shape of the air-tube 346 against its natural resilience.

Claims: A sealing and wiping arrangement for sealing against a slidable window glass (10), comprising a flexible element (322) mounted adjacent to the window glass (10), and control means (346,345) for moving the element (322) between first and second positions in which it is respectively in and out of sealing contact with the window glass (10) and for controlling the force with which the flexible element (322) contacts the window glass (10), characterised in that the control means (346,345) includes means selectively operable to move the flexible element (322) into a third position (Figure 3) in which it contacts the glass (10) with a greater force than in the second position, whereby to wipe the glass (10) as the latter slides. An arrangement according to claim 1, characterised in that the flexible element (10) is resiliently biassed into the third position and is moved therefrom by the control means (346,345) against the resilient bias and into the said second and the said first positions. An arrangement according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the control means (346) comprises a flexible fluid pressure chamber (346) positioned adjacent to the flexible element (322) and adapted to undergo a change in its shape in response to change of the fluid pressure therein, whereby to move the element (322) between the said positions and to control the said force. An arrangement according to claim 3, characterised in that the flexible element (322) is connected to a reinforced member (336) which defines one wall of a channel, and in that the flexible fluid pressure chamber (346) is positioned within this channel so as to exert pressure against the reinforced member which in turn applies the said force to the flexible element (322). An arrangement according to claim 4, characterised in that the reinforced member (336) and the flexible element (322) are both made of extruded plastics or rubber material, and the reinforced member (336) is reinforced with embedded metal. An arrangement according to any preceding claim, characterised by cleaning fluid applying means operative when activated to apply cleaning fluid to the panel.

Inventors: FROMMEN PETER, MAASS KLAUS PETER, FROMMEN, PETER, MAASS, KLAUS PETER
Applicants: DRAFTEX IND LTD, DRAFTEX INDUSTRIES LIMITED
Application year: 1991
Main classification: B60J10
IPC codes: B60J10, E06B7, B60S1