Patent ID: 7431306

Claim:
A metallic gasket comprising a base plate made of a thin metal plate having formed therein a plurality of combustion chamber openings arranged adjacent to each other, and a thickness-increased portion thicker than the remaining portions of said base plate, and seal lines formed encircling said internal circumference of each combustion chamber opening, and beads formed along said seal lines, wherein in a boundary area between said adjacent combustion chamber openings, common beads are formed and shared by beads around said adjacent combustion chamber openings, wherein beads formed along neighboring peripheral edges of said adjacent combustion chamber openings are combined to form a bead in an integral structure, wherein the width of said thickness-increased portions located in said boundary area and extending along said internal circumferences of said combustion chamber openings are set in proportion to a clearance between said adjacent combustion chamber openings, wherein said bead is a composite body of a metal bead formed as a convex portion having a height higher than said thickness-increased portion by bending said base plate in the through-thickness direction, and a rubber bead formed with each metal bead, pairing off a surface side with a reverse side by fixing to said convex portion of said metal bead an elastic sealing material capable of exhibiting a spring force by compressing and deforming in the through-thickness direction and by filling said concave portion on the reverse side of said convex portion with said elastic sealing material with an amount being substantially equal to the capacity of the concave portion, and wherein said elastic sealing material is fixed at least to the inclination surface of said convex portion of the metal bead, a top surface of the rubber bead fixed to the surface side of the convex portion is formed substantially in parallel with the flat surface of the base plate and an edge surface of the rubber bead formed at a distance from the top of the convex portion and is located between the convex portion and the thickness-increased portion, and the height of said elastic sealing material is set to be equal to or substantially equal to the height of said metal bead.