Patent ID: 7559596

Claim:
An automotive vehicle convertible roof comprising a top stack mechanism moveable between a raised position and a stowed position, said top stack mechanism including: a least one longitudinally extending roof rail; and a plurality of transversely extending roof bows, wherein at least one of said roof bows extends rearwardly a first distance when said top stack mechanism is in said raised position and extends rearwardly a second distance less than said first distance when said top stack mechanism is in said stowed position and a portion of said at least one of said roof bows extends rearwardly beyond a vehicle stowage well when said top stack mechanism is in said raised position and is substantially disposed in said vehicle stowage well when said top stack mechanism is in said stowed position; wherein said at least one of said roof bows is a segmented roof bow having first and second portions that articulate relative to one another thereby changing a length of said segmented roof bow, and wherein said first and second portions articulate relative to one another during movement of said at least one roof rail.