Abstract:
An interior trim component includes at least one arcuate guide flange that rotatably mounts a door to a stowage compartment. The stowage compartment includes a pair of opposing side walls having at least one arcuate guide and at least one arcuate track member. At least one pivot stud extends from the door and passes through the at least one arcuate guide. The at least one arcuate guide flange is secured to the at least one pivot stud for rotatably mounting the door to the storage compartment. The at least one arcuate guide flange rotatably engages the at least one arcuate track member. A method for moving the door is also disclosed.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/614,772, filed Sep. 30, 2004, the contents of which are incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD  
       [0002]     The present disclosure generally relates to stowage assemblies. More particularly, the disclosure relates to an articulating door and at least one guide flange that is rotatably mounted to a stowage compartment.  
       BACKGROUND  
       [0003]     It is known in the art that vehicles include stowage assemblies, such as, for example, glove boxes, ash trays, coin trays, and the like. Such stowage assemblies may be located, for example, about an armrest, a center console, an instrument panel area, or the like. Known stowage assemblies include a door that may be moved to and from closed and open positions. Although adequate for most situations, such known doors may be pivotably deployed with a spatially-fixed axis of rotation, which may undesirably result in a limited stowage capacity potential of the stowage compartment. As such, a need exists for improving stowage assemblies to maximize stowage capacity potential. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0004]     The inventors have recognized these and other problems associated with conventional stowage assemblies. The present disclosure will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:  
         [0005]      FIG. 1  is a passenger compartment view of a center console including a stowage assembly according to an embodiment;  
         [0006]      FIG. 2A  is a perspective view of a stowage assembly including a door in a closed position according to an embodiment;  
         [0007]      FIG. 2B  is a perspective view of the door moved from the closed position according to the stowage assembly of  FIG. 2A ; and  
         [0008]      FIG. 2C  is a perspective view of the door moved to another position according to the stowage assembly of  FIG. 2B . 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0009]     The above described disadvantages are overcome and a number of advantages are realized by an inventive stowage assembly, which is seen generally at  10  in  FIGS. 1-2C . In general, the stowage assembly  10  is disposed in a center console or center stack  100  of a dashboard or instrument panel area  150  of a vehicle. However, it will be appreciated that the stowage assembly  10  is not limited to the center console location and that the stowage assembly  10  may be positioned at any desirable location of the vehicle, such as, for example, the glove box area, a rear-quarter-panel area, an armrest-area, or the like. In addition, the stowage assembly  10  may be used to conceal features, such as a secondary storage compartment (e.g., a sunglasses holder), electronic components, or the like.  
         [0010]     Referring to  FIG. 2A , the stowage assembly generally comprises a stowage compartment  12  and a door  14  having a front panel  15 . The door  14  is mounted, in a fixed relationship, to a pair of arcuate guide flanges  16 . As illustrated, each arcuate guide flange  16  is positioned on opposite side walls  23  of the door  14 . Each arcuate guide flange  16  includes an outer edge of teeth  28  that correspondingly mesh with arcuate, toothed track members  30  formed in opposing sidewalls  18  of the stowage compartment  12  to permit the door  14  to be rotatably mounted to the stowage compartment  12 .  
         [0011]     The stowage compartment  12 , door  14 , and arcuate guide flanges  16  may be formed from any desirable material, such as, for example, a plastic material including but not limited to Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), polypropylene (PP), thermoplastic olefin (TPO), stryrene block co-polymer (SEBS), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), polyethylene terepthalate (PET), cross-linked polyolefin (XLPO), or the like. In the illustrated embodiment, the arcuate guide flanges  16  are substantially semi-circular in shape. However, the arcuate guide flanges  16  may have any desirable shape, depending on particular design considerations.  
         [0012]     As illustrated, the door  14  is connected to each arcuate guide flange  16  with at least one mounting stud  20  and at least one pivot stud  22 . According to the illustrated embodiment, each opposing side wall  23  of the door  14  includes two mounting studs  20  and one pivot stud  22 . The mounting studs  20  and pivot studs  22  extend from outboard projections  21  proximate the opposing sidewalls  23  of the door  14 . If desired, the outboard projections  21  may have a larger diameter than the mounting and pivot studs  20 ,  22  to resist shear forces that may be applied to the door  14 . As illustrated, each pivot stud  22  and mounting stud  20  are positioned, respectively, within a pivot flange  24  and a mounting flange  25  of each arcuate guide flange  16 . When affixed in this manner, movement of each arcuate guide flange  16  about the arcuate, toothed track members  30  causes a corresponding movement of the door  14 .  
         [0013]     According to another embodiment, it will be appreciated that the outboard projections  21  may be eliminated, and the mounting and pivot studs  20 ,  22  may extend directly from each opposing side wall  23  of the door  14 . According to another embodiment, the arcuate guide flanges  16  may be integrated with the door  14  such that arcuate guide flanges  16  maybe be formed with the opposing side walls  23  of the door  14  such that the arcuate guide flanges  16  and door  14  are formed together as one component of the same material. According to the illustrated embodiment, upon affixing the arcuate guide flanges  16  to the door  14  as described above, the pivot flanges  24  are slidably located in opposing arcuate guides  26  that are formed in the opposing inner side-walls  18  of the stowage compartment  12 . Then, upon locating the pivot flanges  24  in the arcuate guides  26 , the outer edge of teeth  28  of the arcuate guide flanges  16  correspondingly mesh with the arcuate, toothed track members  30 . As illustrated, the arcuate, toothed track members  30  are concentric to and equidistantly spaced from the arcuate guides  26 .  
         [0014]     Once assembled as described above, the door  14  is permitted to be pivotably deployed relative the stowage compartment  12 . As illustrated, a pivot axis, which is generally shown at A-A, extends through each pivot stud  22  and is bound by the slidable movement of the pivot flange  24  within the arcuate guide  26  as the arcuate guide flanges  16  are rotated about the arcuate, toothed track members  30 . The pivot axis, A-A, is not a spatially fixed axis, but rather, the pivot axis, A-A, moves in a non-linear fashion as the door  14  is moved to and from opened and closed positions relative the stowage compartment  12 . As such, the location of the pivot axis, A-A, may be adjusted from a first position (e.g., as seen in  FIG. 2A ) to a second position (e.g., as seen in  FIGS. 2B  or  2 C) about the arcuate guides  26  as the arcuate guide flanges  16  rotate about the arcuate, toothed track members  30 .  
         [0015]     Referring to  FIG. 2C , because the pivot axis, A-A, moves in such a manner, the door  14  may be located substantially adjacent an upper interior portion  32  of the stowage compartment  12 . Accordingly, the door  14  may be substantially drawn into the stowage compartment  12 , and, as a result, is less obstructive when depositing or removing items therein. Thus, by locating the door  14  substantially adjacent the upper interior portion  32  within the stowage compartment  12 , the design of the stowage assembly  10  maximizes a considerable amount of volume for the stowage of items in the stowage compartment  12  in view of the pivoting movement of the door  14 .  
         [0016]     Although not illustrated, the stowage assembly  10  may include additional features that effects the movement of the door  14 . For example, movement of the door  14  may be damped or enhanced by the inclusion of a spring, counterweight, motor, or the like. Even further, although the illustrated stowage compartment  12  includes non-linear, arcuate guides  26  and non-linear, arcuate toothed track members  30 , it will be appreciated that the door  14  may be adjusted about guides and track members including other design shapes. For example, the guides and track members may be defined to include substantially linear, parallel configuration such that the door  14  may be moved in a generally linear, sliding motion as the door  14  is opened and closed relative the stowage compartment  12 . Accordingly, the arcuate guide flanges  16  may take on any desirable shape and form, such as, for example, a round gear having a toothed circumference, to accommodate an alternative design of the stowage compartment  12 .  
         [0017]     The present invention has been described with reference to certain exemplary embodiments thereof. However, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that it is possible to embody the invention in specific forms other than those of the exemplary embodiments described above. This may be done without departing from the spirit of the invention. The exemplary embodiments are merely illustrative and should not be considered restrictive in any way. The scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents, rather than by the preceding description.