Patent Abstract:
While a bending ability is maintained, it is possible to provide an outer appearance which is not made possible in the past. A door shutter includes a main body on a design surface side which is bent in a width direction through thin parts, and plural block pieces disposed between the thin parts on an underside of the main body, wherein an opening on a device side is opened or closed by sliding along a guide groove on the device side. On the main body, the thin parts are formed as a plane surface, and parts overlapping with the block pieces are formed in an upwardly convex curved shape.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART STATEMENT 
   The present invention relates to a bendable door shutter that is slid following a guide groove on a device side. 
   Among door shutters, there is one, as shown in Patent Document 1, having a main body on a design surface side which is bent via thin parts in the width direction, and plural block pieces (same as frame or core wood) disposed on the underside of that main body, for opening and closing a device opening by being slid following a guide groove having a curved part on the device side. Here, as the main body, a soft resin, or the like, is used in order to maintain bendability, the thin parts are formed at equal intervals, and each thin part and the parts between the thin parts are formed as a plane surface. As the block pieces, a hard resin, or the like, is used in order to give rigidity, and from the viewpoint of bendability, they are disposed integrally between the thin parts on the underside of the main body. 
   Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-90186 
   In the structure of the door shutter as above, in maintaining bendability, the design surface of the main body, that is, the part between the thin parts was limited to a plane surface. In other words, as the shutter, although it is preferable to make the design surface of the main body an upwardly convex curved shape, it was considered impossible in connection with that the bendability is impaired. 
   Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to solve the problems such as above, and to make it such that a cosmetic shape hitherto considered impossible can be given while maintaining bendability. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   In order to achieve the above purpose, the present invention is a door shutter, having a main body on a design surface side which is bent via thin parts in the width direction, and plural block pieces disposed between the thin parts on the underside of that main body, for opening and closing an opening on a device side by sliding along a guide groove on the device side, wherein on the main body, the thin parts are formed as a plane surface, and the parts overlapping with the block pieces are formed in an upwardly convex curved shape. 
   It is preferable that the structure of the above door shutter of the present invention be made concrete as follows: 
   (a) the block pieces are roughly inverted U shaped or T shaped in vertical section, and they project from the underside of the main body in a condition having the lower side not joined to that main body (second feature); 
   (b) the block pieces are integrally formed on the main body (third feature); 
   (c) the block pieces are formed with hard resin material, and the main body is formed with soft resin material (fourth feature). 
   In the invention of the first feature, as a shutter having a main body which is bent via thin parts in the width direction and plural block pieces disposed between the thin parts on the underside of that main body, by the fact that the main body is formed with the thin parts as a plane surface and the parts overlapping the block pieces in an upwardly convex curved shape, a novel cosmetic appearance can be given while maintaining bendability. 
   In the invention of the second feature, by the fact that the block pieces are made to project from the underside of the main body in a condition having the lower side not joined to the main body, the overall rigidity can be improved by making the block pieces larger without impairing the bendability. As opposed to this, in the inventions of third and four features, for example, the manufacturing expense can be reduced by the fact that the block pieces and the main body are integrally formed by two-material molding method, or the like. Also, the overall rigidity can be fulfilled by the block pieces made of hard resin, and the bending characteristic of the thin parts can be fulfilled by the main body made of soft resin. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is top view showing the state having closed the device opening with the shutter of a mode of the present invention. 
       FIG. 2  is a generalized perspective view showing only the device of  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 3  is a generalized perspective view showing only the shutter of  FIG. 1 . 
       FIGS. 4(   a ) and  4 ( b ) are parts of the above shutter, wherein  FIG. 4(   a ) is a partial top view, and  FIG. 4(   b ) is a partial bottom view. 
       FIG. 5(   a ) is a sectional view taken along line  5 ( a )- 5 ( a ) in  FIG. 4(   a ),  FIG. 5(   b ) is a sectional view taken along line  5 ( b )- 5 ( b ) in  FIG. 5(   a ), and  FIG. 5(   c ) is a sectional view taken along line  5 ( c )- 5 ( c ) in  FIG. 5(   a ). 
       FIG. 6  is a drawing showing a modified example of the above shutter in correspondence with  FIG. 5(   a ). 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
   Below; examples of the present invention are explained while referring to the attached drawings.  FIG. 1  to  FIG. 5  show an example of a shutter having applied to the present invention and a device using that shutter, and  FIG. 6  shows a modified example. 
   (Structure) 
   This shutter  3  has a main body  1  which is bent via plural thin parts  11  and has plural projections  15  formed on both side parts, and plural block pieces  2  disposed between the thin parts  11  on the underside of that main body  1 , and it is disposed so as to slide freely on guide grooves  6  provided on both sides of a receiving part  5  of a device  4  to open and close the opening of the receiving part  5 . This device  4  or receiving part  5  is provided in the center console of an automobile as disclosed in the Publication of Japanese Patent No. 3319202, and the guide groove  6  has a linear part  6   a  which extends front to back and a curved part  6   b . Also, the shutter  3  becomes the closed state when it is slid in the direction of the linear part  6   a , and it becomes the open state when it is slid in the direction of the curved part  6   b . However, there is no trouble even if the use of the shutter  3  is other than this. 
   Here, the main body  1  is set in a length dimension corresponding to the opening of the receiving part  5 , and it has plural thin parts  11  and parts  12  between the thin parts, as well as a handle part  13  provided as a recess in front on the leading end side, a coupling part  14  placed to project on the edge part of the leading end, and a large number of projections  15  provided on both sides. 
   Of these, each thin part  11 , as shown in  FIGS. 4(   a ),  4 ( b ) and  FIGS. 5(   a ) and  5 ( b ), extends in the width direction and is provided at equal intervals in the front-back direction, and its shape in the plate width or left-right direction is formed as a plane surface. The part  12  is a part overlapping the block piece  2 , and the shape in the plate width or left-right direction is formed as an upwardly convex curved shape made to fit the block piece  2 . The handle part  13  is used as a part for hooking the finger or hand when opening and closing the shutter  3 . The coupling part  14  is a place for maintaining the closed state by entering into a catch recess  7  provided on the front side of the receiving part  5  when the shutter  3  is disposed in the closed state in  FIG. 1  on the opening of the device side receiving part  5 . However, this coupling part  14  also may be omitted. 
   The projections  15  are provided between each thin part  11 , that is, on each part  12 , on both sides of the main body  1 . Each projection  15 , as shown in  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 5(   a )- 5 ( c ), is roughly L shaped, and it is positioned beneath the main body  1  by an amount equivalent to the vertical part  15   a  of the L shape. On the horizontal part  15   b  of the L shape, there is provided a slot  16  running in the front-back direction, and the side forward from that slot  16  serves as a part for coupling with the guide groove  6 . On this part, a dome-shaped small convex part  17  is provided on the terminal side of the horizontal part  15   b . The small convex part  17  makes reduction of sliding resistance possible by elastic action via a hollow  18  inside it when the projection  15  slides following the guide groove  6 . 
   As opposed to this, each block piece  2 , as shown in  FIGS. 4(   a ),  4 ( b ) and  FIG. 5(   a )- 5 ( c ), is roughly inverted U shaped in vertical section, and it is integrated on the main body  1  in a condition having the upper side from the middle part joined and the lower side not joined. Therefore, each block piece  2 , when viewed from the underside of the shutter  3 , has the lower end part  2   b  made to project from the underside of the main body  1  in a condition having the area up to the near-middle part  2   a  of the inverted U shape buried in the part  12  between thin part  11  and thin part  11 . Also, on both sides of the block piece  2 , there is a small projection  20  which is smaller than the projection  15  as in  FIG. 5(   b ), and that small projection  20  is made integrally on a part corresponding to the projection  15  on the main body  1 . 
   The above shutter  3  is fabricated by two-material molding method. In this molding, in the first molding, the plural block pieces  2  are formed inside a mold using a hard resin material such as ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene polymer) or polypropylene, and then it is second molded. In the second molding, the main body  1  comes to be formed using a soft resin material such as polyester elastomer or polypropylene elastomer. Therefore, in this shutter  3 , the parts other than each block piece  2  which is the hard-resin part, the thin part  11 , the part  12 , the parts where the handle part  13  and the coupling part  14  are formed, the projections  15  on both sides, and the small convex parts  17  become the soft-resin parts formed with soft resin. 
   (Operation) 
   The above shutter  3  is incorporated into the device  4  in a state with each projection  15  coupled in the guide grooves  6  on both sides. In this state, as a shutter  3 , because the part  12  of the main body  1  overlapping with the block piece  2  is formed as an upwardly convex shape, the design surface comes to have a novel cosmetic appearance exhibiting roundness. Also, as for the shutter  3 , in the opening and closing operations, because the thin part  11  of the main body  1  is formed as a plane surface just as in the past, and moreover because the repelling force during bending deformation is absorbed by the dome shape being the hollow  18  of the small convex part  17 , the bendability is kept good and it becomes capable of sliding without the curved part  6   b  of the guide groove  6  receiving unnecessary resistance. 
   MODIFIED EXAMPLE 
     FIG. 6  shows an example having changed the shape of the above block piece. This block piece  2 A is roughly T shaped in vertical section, and it is integrated on the main body  1  in a condition having the horizontal part  2   a  joined and the vertical part  2   b  not joined. In this case as well, each block piece  2 A, when viewed from the underside of the shutter  3 , is made to project in a condition having the horizontal part  2   a  of the T shape buried in the part  12  between thin part  11  and thin part  11  of the main body  1  and in a condition having the vertical part  2   b  not joined with the main body  1 . Thus the present invention can be modified variously except for the essential conditions specified in the claims. Also, it is optional concerning the use of the shutter  1 , the shape of the device-side guide groove, and the like.

Technology Classification (CPC): 4