Patent ID: 7934768

Claim:
A belt supporting apparatus for a vehicle roof made of resin and formed so as to support a driving gear rotated by a power source and a toothed belt meshing with the driving gear and connected to operation mechanisms each supported by a respective guide rail provided at each side of a roof opening in a vehicle width direction, comprising a housing configured to extend across a front of the roof opening and to connect a front end of one of the guide rails to a front end of the other guide rail, the housing including: a bottom portion; a first wall portion integrally formed with the bottom portion so as to stand from the bottom portion in a vehicle height direction; a second wall portion integrally formed with the bottom portion so as to stand from the bottom portion in the vehicle height direction and be parallel to the first wall portion; a holding portion integrally formed at the second wall portion so as to protrude toward the first wall portion in a length that is shorter than a distance between the first wall portion and the second wall portion, the holding portion extending over only a portion of a lengthwise extent of the housing so that a portion of the housing devoid of the holding portion extends on either side of the holding portion; and an opening formed at the bottom portion along the first and second wall portions and opposes the holding portion, so as to open in a height direction of the vehicle, wherein the housing houses the toothed belt so as to be slidably in such a way that a toothed portion of the toothed belt, formed at one surface of the toothed belt so as to extend in a moving direction thereof, is facing the first wall portion, and a back surface formed at the other surface of the toothed belt is facing the second wall portion, and the toothed belt is prevented from being moved out of the housing in the vehicle height direction by the holding portion.