Abstract:
A resilient seal is mountable around the edge of an opening in a sidewall of a mobile living quarters through which a slide-out room travels. The seal includes two parts that slide together—a mounting portion and a-bulb seal portion—with the bulb seal portion being compressed when the slide-out room is closed. A wiper seal portion extending from the mounting portion is for contacting the adjacent wall of the slide-out room.

Description:
This Application claims the benefit of provisional U.S. Patent Application No. 60/469,773, filed 12 May 2003. 

   FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The invention disclosed herein relates to a seal, and more particularly, a seal usable with a slide-out room in mobile living quarters. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Resilient seals are often placed along the abutting edges of parts, and one such application is found in the field of mobile living quarters having slide-out rooms. A seal is commonly placed along the interface between the slide-out room and the opening in the sidewall of the mobile living quarters to prevent water, debris, and excessive air drafts from entering the interior of the mobile living quarters from the outside. This seal often includes two sub-parts, a bulb seal and a wiper seal, each extending along a side of the opening. The bulb seal is usually placed on either the exterior edge of the sidewall or the interior edge of a flange portion of the slide-out room wall to form a resilient seal between the sidewall and the flange portion of the slide-out room when the room is closed. A separate wiper seal is usually placed along the edge of the sidewall and flexibly protrudes against the adjacent sidewall of the slide-out room so as to be in constant contact with the sidewall at all positions of the room between its open and closed positions. A typical example of such an arrangement can be seen in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. U.S. 2002/0078634 A1, published Jun. 27, 2002. A problem with this type of seal arrangement is that the bulb seal and wiper seal must be mounted separately. 
   Another known seal arrangement used for the slide-out room includes a pair of bulb seals on opposite sides of a mounting portion, and a wiper seal protruding from an adjacent side of the mounting portion between the bulb seals, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,048,016. The mounting portion is mounted to the edge of the sidewall of the mobile living quarters between the two opposite sides with a clip such that the wiper seal maintains flexible contact with the sidewall of the slide-out room. The two bulb portions contact one of two flange portions at either end of the slide-out room at both its open and closed positions to create a seal. This arrangement, however, may not be suitable for easy adaptation to be installed on different slide-out room configurations due to its unitary construction. Another problem is that, after long usage, the seal may disengage from the clip and fall off. If the seal falls off the clip, it can be difficult to access the clip for reinstalling the seal without taking the slide out room completely out of the wall. 
   Therefore, it would be desirable to have a multi-piece room seal that can be easily adapted for installation on different room configurations. It would also be desirable for the seal to be easily assembled on the exterior of the sidewall during installation to provide a single seal portion providing both a wiper seal for wiping against the sidewall of the slide-out room and a bulb seal for contacting the flange around the outside edge of the slide-out room when it is closed. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The invention disclosed herein includes a resilient seal for use with a slide-out room in a mobile living quarters. The seal includes a mounting portion for mounting to a first wall. A bulb seal portion is snap-fitable to the mounting portion. The bulb seal portion extends from the mounting portion for contact with a second wall when the second wall is adjacent the first wall. A wiper seal portion for continuous resilient contact with a third wall spaced from the first wall may be carried by the mounting portion. 
   One object of the invention is to provide a seal including a bulb seal portion and a wiper seal portion that may be easily adapted for installation on different slide-out room configurations. Another object of the invention is to provide a seal that can be easily assembled and installed around a slide-out room in a mobile living quarters to form a single seal apparatus between the slide-out room and the wall of the mobile living quarters. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from the following description, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
       FIG. 1  shows a mobile living quarters with a slide-out room in an extended position surrounded by the seal of this invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a fragmentary detail perspective view of the room and seal of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 3  is a fragmentary cross sectional view as seen along line  3 — 3  in  FIG. 2 ; and, 
       FIG. 4  is a detailed cross section of the resilient seal parts separated from each other. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   Referring now to the drawings, a mobile living quarters  10 , such as a recreational vehicle, is shown having a slide-out room  12 . Mobile living quarters  10  includes a sidewall  14  having an opening  16  through which slide-out room  12  shifts. Slide-out room  12  is of well known form including an interior space generally defined by four sidewalls  18  and an end wall  20 . Slide-out room  12  fits through opening  16  and extends perpendicular to sidewall  14  such that its end wall  20  is adjacent the sidewall of the mobile living quarters when the slide-out room is retracted and spaced from the sidewall when the slide-out room is extended. A flange  22  extends outwardly from the peripheral edge of end wall  20  of the slide-out room to overlap with sidewall  14  of the mobile living quarters when slide-out room  12  is retracted. 
   A resilient seal  24  is located along the periphery of opening  16  to prevent dirt, water, and other materials from passing from the exterior of the mobile living quarters  10  to its interior. Seal  24  may be made of any sufficiently resilient material such as thermoplastic elastomer. Seal  24  includes a generally flat mounting portion, or clip portion  26  with a lip  27  fitted about the edge of sidewall  14  and a wiper seal portion  28  protruding transversely from the mounting portion toward sidewall  18  of the slide-out room. Wiper seal portion  28  is a flexible, generally planar section with its distal end opposite mounting portion  26  in resilient contact with sidewall  18  such that the wiper seal is flexed against the sidewall to maintain an effective seal with the sidewall at all times during extension or retraction of the slide-out room. Seal  24  further includes a bulb seal portion  30  having a bulb part  33  and a clip part  35  which is slidably connected or snap-fitted to mounting portion  26 . 
   Mounting portion  26  includes oppositely extending, rail-like tabs  36 ,  38  which form a tongue  44  separated from the body of the mounting portion by a groove  46 . Clip part  35  of bulb seal portion  30  includes tabs  32 ,  34  which form a groove  42  defined in part by opposing flanges  40 . When mounting portion  26  and clip part  35  are connected together, tongues  44  fits into grooves  42 . Tabs  32 ,  34 ,  36 ,  38  all extend lengthwise along seal  24  such that, once fitted together, bulb seal portion  30  may be slid along the length of mounting portion  26 , and are flexible enough to allow them to snap past each other for assembly. Alternatively, clip part  35  of bulb seal portion  30  may be slid into mounting portion  26  from an end of the seal  24 . Preferably, seal  24  is constructed such that mounting portion  26  is more rigid than wiper portion  28 , and such that web  31  and tabs  32 ,  34  are more rigid than bulb part  33 . 
   To install seal  24  onto the mobile living quarters about opening  16 , pressure tape  52  having adhesive on both sides is applied to the exterior side of sidewall  14  along the edge of the opening where mounting portion  26  is to be attached. Mounting portion  26  is then located along the exterior edge of opening  16  in the sidewall  14  of the mobile living quarters by abutting lip  27  against the edge of the opening with tabs  36 ,  38  extending outwardly from the exterior side of sidewall  14  and wiper seal portion  28  extending toward sidewall  18  of the slide-out room. Next, pressure is applied to mounting portion  26  to press the mounting portion against pressure tape  52  to adhere the mounting portion to the sidewall. Fasteners  50  are then inserted through mounting portion  26  into sidewall  14  to firmly secure the mounting portion to the sidewall. Fasteners  50  are preferably screws driven through mounting portion  26  in the space between tabs  36 ,  38  so as to be hidden behind bulb seal portion  30  when in its mounted position. Next, clip part  35  of bulb seal portion  30  is mounted to mounting portion  26  by either snap fitting grooves  42  about tongues  44  or sliding the bulb seal portion at its groove about the tongue of the mounting portion from one end of the mounting portion. Bulb seal portion  30  is then adjusted in location along mounting portion  26  by sliding the bulb seal portion along the mated tongue  44  and groove  42  connection to its desired final location relative mounting portion  26 . Bulb seal portion  30  may be secured in its final position along mounting portion  26  by placing a fastener  48 , preferably a screw, at an angle through only the internal web  31  of the bulb seal portion and the mounting portion near the end of the seal section. Fastener  48  preferably does not penetrate the bulb part  33  of bulb seal  30  in order to maintain a better seal with room flange  22 . Bulb seal portion  30  may be subsequently replaced by removing fasteners  48  and installing a new section of bulb seal portion without having to replace the wiper portion. 
   Seal  24  may be easily adapted to fit to different slide-out room configurations by cutting any necessary length. A variety of different corner configurations in the opening  16  may be easily adapted to by cutting the bulb seal portion  30  to a different length than the mounting portion  26 , and the wiper seal portion  28  may be cut to a third length if necessary. A variety of different gaps between the mobile living quarter&#39;s sidewall  14  and the slide-out room sidewalls  18  may be easily adapted to by adjusting the lateral position of the mounting portion  26  relative the sidewall  14  or trimming back the wiper seal portion  28 . By mounting the mounting portion  26  and the bulb seal portion  30  to the exterior side of sidewall  14 , subsequent repair and replacement of worn seal parts may be easily performed without having to remove the slide out room  12  from the opening  16  in wall  14 . 
   The detailed description related herein is only meant to exemplify the preferred embodiment of the invention to enable those skilled in the art to make and use it. The subject invention is not to be limited to the details given above for the preferred embodiment, but may be modified within the scope of the impending claims.