Patent Publication Number: US-7904994-B2

Title: Mounting device for a fastening system trim elements to vehicle body

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present application is based on International Application Number PCT/IB2006/003616 filed Dec. 14, 2006, and claims priority from Italian Application Number TO2005A000874 filed Dec. 15, 2005, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to a mounting device for connecting a fastening system selected from a number of available standard fastening systems to an automotive finishing element like e.g. a door inner panel or a dashboard, designed to be fixed to a body of a vehicle via said selected fastening system. 
     BACKGROUND ART 
     It is known in the art that fixing of automotive finishing elements like panels, profiles, dashboards or parts thereof to the elements of the body of vehicle is provided through the use of fastening systems consisting essentially in a toothed pin having a mounting head, a bush and a sealing element interposed there between; the toothed shank of the pin is designed to engage into slots provided in the body elements and to adapt axially there into in order to compensate the misalignments between the finishing element and the body element receiving it due to the working tolerances; the mounting head is designed to fit into a mounting seat provided in assembly portions of the finishing element, known as “mounting towers”, which act as mounting devices for the fastening systems. 
     Since a plurality of differently shaped fastening systems are currently in use, each tailored for a specific application, namely to fasten a specific finishing element or a specific part of one same finishing element to a specific part of the body of the vehicle, it is necessary to provide the finishing elements to be mounted with a wide different kind of mounting towers, each shaped to receive a fastening system specifically selected among those available in the art. 
     The mounting devices described above create not many difficulties in the assembly phase of the fastening system to the mounting tower, which result in slowing down the assembly operations with an increase of costs; moreover they increase the cost of the finishing elements themselves since they require to adopt very strict tolerances in shaping the mounting towers; last but not the least, the complex shape required for the mounting seats to receive the mounting heads of the fastening systems results quite often in creating degassing and shrinkage problems during the molding phase through which the mounting towers and eventually the whole finishing element are obtained; this results in incomplete pieces, so generating a relatively high number of rejects or, worse, molded articles which are not reliable and can break in use. 
     DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to overcome the aforesaid drawbacks by providing a mounting device for fastening systems designed to anchor a finishing element to a body of any kind of vehicles that allow at the same time to make the assembly operation of the finishing element to the vehicle body easier and quicker, and to reduce the production cost of the currently used finishing elements (or at least of the mounting towers thereof), while increasing the reliability thereof and dramatically reducing the possible number of rejects. 
     It is also an object of the present invention to provide a mounting device for fastening systems of finishing elements of a vehicle body which allow the fastening systems to be preassembled in their mounting seats on the finishing element side. 
     The present invention accordingly relates to a mounting device for connecting a fastening system selected from a number of available standard fastening systems to an automotive finishing element designed to be anchored to a body of a vehicle via said selected fastening system, as defined in Claim  1 . 
     Here and in the description that follows the term “automotive” is to be intended as merely by way of example and not to be limitative, including therefore any kind of vehicle (automobiles, trucks, vans, airplanes, ships, boats, etc.). 
     The mounting device according to the invention comprises a mounting tower provided integral with or fixable to said automotive finishing element; and means for anchoring said selected fastening system to said mounting tower. 
     According to one aspect of the invention said means for anchoring said selected fastening system to said mounting tower comprise an intermediate, shallow mounting element designed to be interposed between the fastening system and the mounting tower. first and second coupling means are moreover provided integral on said shallow mounting element. 
     The first coupling means of the shallow mounting element are designed to mate with first coupling means of the fastening system originally designed to provide anchorage with traditional mounting towers; and the second coupling means of the shallow mounting element are selected of the snap-on kind and are designed to mate with an attachment seat of prefixed shape for the shallow mounting element provided in the mounting tower, on a side thereof opposite to said automotive finishing element to be mounted. 
     In this manner, the mounting towers may be equipped with standard types of attachment seats, making it possible to simplify the shape of the mounting towers and to dramatically reduce the necessary number of different kind of mounting towers to only one or two. 
     Moreover, the assembly of the fastening systems is no more to be carried out directly onto the mounting towers or the finishing elements to be assembled, but can be carried out separately onto the shallow mounting elements, so as to obtain also a preassembly of the fastening systems; then, the unit so created, constituted by the fastening system and the shallow mounting element may be assembled onto the mounting towers with very simple movements only, so allowing for automatic assembly too. 
     Last but not the least, strict working tolerances, in order to avoid assembly problems, are necessary solely for obtaining the first coupling means of the shallow mounting elements, so that the production costs of the finishing elements and of the mounting towers (that only have standard types of attachment seats of anyway simple shape) are dramatically reduced due to the possibility to adopt less strict working tolerances. At the same time the number of rejects is reduced and every piece produced is of reliable operation. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of a non limitative embodiment thereof, given purely by way of example with reference to the figures of the attached drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  shows a cross-sectional lateral view of a first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  shows the same cross-sectional view of  FIG. 1  of a second embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIGS. 3 and 4  show example of application of the embodiments of  FIGS. 1 and 2  to a finishing door panel of a vehicle; and 
         FIGS. 5 and 6  show perspective views in an enlarged scale of a main component of the embodiments of  FIGS. 1 and 2  respectively. 
     
    
    
     BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION 
     With reference to  FIGS. 1 ,  3 ,  4  and  5 , reference number  1  indicates as a whole a mounting device for connecting a fastening system  2  selected from a number of standard fastening systems available in the art to an automotive finishing element  3 , like e.g. a door inner panel or a dashboard, shown only schematically in  FIG. 1 ; finishing element  3  is designed to be fixed in a known manner to a body of a vehicle, both known and not shown for sake of simplicity, via the selected fastening system  2 . 
     Mounting device  1  comprises a mounting tower  4  provided integral with or fixable to the automotive finishing element  3 ; and means, indicated as a whole by reference number  5 , for anchoring the selected fastening system  2  to mounting tower  4 . 
     According to one aspect of the invention, anchoring means  5  comprise: an intermediate, shallow mounting element  10  designed to be interposed between the fastening system  2  and the mounting tower  4 ; and first coupling means  11  and second coupling means  12  provided integral on shallow mounting element  10 . 
     The first coupling means  11  are designed to mate with first coupling means  13  (of known kind) of the fastening system  2  designed to provide anchorage with the mounting tower  4 ; and the second coupling means  12  are selected of the snap-on kind and are designed to mate with an attachment seat  14  of prefixed shape for the shallow mounting element  10 ; seat  14  is provided in the mounting tower  4 , on a side thereof opposite to the automotive finishing element  3  to be mounted. 
     In particular, seat  14  is provided at a top end  15  of the mounting tower  4  distant from the finishing element  3  and is shaped to receive in a sliding manner the mounting element  10  in a direction and versus shown by the arrows in  FIGS. 4 and 5 , in the case in point substantially perpendicular to the laying plane of the finishing element  3  bearing the mounting tower  4 . 
     The shallow mounting element  10  ( FIG. 5 ) consists of an injection molded base plate delimited between a first flat surface  20  and a second flat surface  21 , facing in use the selected fastening system  2  and the mounting tower  4 , respectively; first coupling means  11  are provided in correspondence with the first flat surface  20 , while the second coupling means  12  are provided, in this first embodiment, facing opposite to the flat surface  20 . 
     Moreover, the base plate  10  is substantially square shaped in a plan view and is provided with a channel shaped through seat  22  laying parallel to said first and second flat surfaces  20  and  21 , and delimited between a first flat wall  24  and a second flat wall  25  defining, externally to the base plate  10 , the first flat surface  20  and the second flat surface  21 , respectively. 
     The first coupling means  11  of the shallow mounting element  10  consist of the afore described through seat  22  and of a shaped perforation  26  provided through the first flat wall  24 , which is designed to face in use the selected fastening system  2  to be mounted; the through perforation  26  is provided perpendicular to the through seat  22  and is designed to interrupt one side  27  ( FIG. 5 ) of the base plate  10  so as that perforation  26  remains laterally open in correspondence with one open end  28  of the through seat  22 . 
     With reference to  FIGS. 2 and 6 , they show a second possible embodiment of the mounting device according to the present invention, indicated as a whole with reference number  100 . The details similar to or identical with the details already described with reference to the embodiment of  FIG. 1  are indicated with the same reference numbers, for sake of simplicity. 
     In particular, mounting device  100  also comprises a mounting tower  4  provided integral with or fixable to the automotive finishing element  3 ; and means, indicated as a whole by reference number  5 , for anchoring a selected fastening system  2  to mounting tower  4 ; anchoring means  5  in turn comprise an intermediate, shallow mounting element  110  similar in general shape to element  10  and designed to be interposed between the fastening system  2  and the mounting tower  4 ; and first coupling means  11  and second coupling means  112  provided integral on shallow mounting element  110 . 
     Shallow mounting element  110 , likewise corresponding element  10 , is also designed to fit into an attachment seat  14  of prefixed shape provided in the mounting tower  4 , on the side thereof opposite to the automotive finishing element  3  to be mounted, in particular at a top end  15  of the mounting tower  4  distant from the finishing element  3 ; according to this second embodiment, however, seat  14  is shaped to receive in a sliding manner the mounting element  10  in the direction and versus shown by the arrows in  FIGS. 2 and 6 , namely substantially parallel to the laying plane of the finishing element  3  bearing the mounting tower  4 . 
     Accordingly, while first coupling means  11  are identical to those as described for the mounting device  1  of  FIG. 1 , second coupling means  112  are shaped differently, as it will be seen more in detail below, of coupling means  12 , in particular coupling means  112  are provided flush with second flat wall  25 . 
     In both embodiments, namely in both mounting devices  1  and  100 , the first coupling means  11  are designed to receive in lateral sliding engagement the first coupling means  13  of the selected fastening system  2  to be mounted; this latter may include, as it is well known (see  FIGS. 1 ,  2 ,  3  and  4 ), a shaped pin or toothed shank  40 , a mounting bush  41  ( FIGS. 1-2 ) or a flange  41 ′ ( FIGS. 3-4 ) and, possibly, a sealing element  42  interposed between pin  40  and bush  41 ; in any case, the first coupling means of the selected fastening system  2  consist in a head  13  of the shaped pin or toothed shank, which is received in use into the through seat  22  of the shallow mounting element,  10  or  110 , according to the case. 
     The second coupling means  12  or  112 , according to the case, are provided at least in part integral with the second flat wall  25 . In particular, second coupling means  12  of shallow element  10  consist of thinner lateral portions  50  of the first flat wall  24  extending in cantilever fashion with respect to corresponding opposite lateral edges of the second flat wall  25 ; and of V-shaped elastic wings  52  extending perpendicularly from said first and second flat walls  24 , 25  in a direction facing away from said first flat wall  24 . 
     First flat wall  24  is moreover provided, in correspondence the V-shaped elastic wings  52 , with peripherally opened through perforations or recesses  54  arranged side by side to thinner lateral portions  50 . 
     In case of device  100 , the second coupling means  112  consist of laterally projecting portions  60  of the second flat wall  25  extending in cantilever fashion with respect to the corresponding opposite lateral edges of the first flat wall  24 ; and of opposite elastic arms  62  extending obliquely and in cantilever fashion within lateral recesses  64  of the laterally projecting portions  60  of the second flat wall  25 . 
     The mounting device  1  is completed by a mouth aperture  70  to access the attachment seat  14 , which aperture  70  is provided frontally through a portion of the top end  15  of the mounting tower  4  facing away from the finishing element  3 ; in use, a peripheral edge of the mouth aperture  70  cooperates in snap engagement with the V-shaped elastic wings  52  on a first side facing the interior of the attachment seat  14 ; at the same time a second side of the mouth aperture  70 , opposite the first one, rests against the lateral portions  50  of the first flat wall  24 . 
     The mounting device  100  is completed by a mouth aperture  170  to access the attachment seat  14 , which aperture  170  is provided laterally through the top end  15  of the mounting tower  4 ; in this embodiment, moreover, within the attachment seat  14  is provided on each side thereof transverse to the mouth aperture  170  a resting teeth  80  ( FIG. 6 ) able to be snap engaged by respective free ends of the elastic arms  62 . 
     The device  100  according to the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 2 and 4  (right side) is clearly of reduced height (measured perpendicularly to the laying plane of finishing element  3 ) in comparison to device  1  of  FIGS. 1 and 4  (left side) and therefore fits for equipping portions of finishing element  3  to be mounted designed to be placed closer to the body of the vehicle and therefore leaving less mounting space to fastening system  2 .