Reinforced flexible laminate sealing strip and method of manufacturing same

Abstract

The present invention provides a laminate flexible strip for attachment to a vehicle in the form of a weather sealing strip. The strip includes a core member and a filler layer of elastomeric seal material disposed about and into the voids of the core member. The core member includes a bent wire in an undulating pattern that forms a number of continuously connected longitudinally spaced and laterally extending u-shaped metal clamping clips for reinforcing the seal material and a number of continuous laterally spaced and longitudinally extending linear fibers connected to the clips to maintain the spatial relationship between the bent wire members. While the fibers or laminate maintain the longitudinal spacing of the wires, they also allow the core to flex laterally and compress longitudinally in the finished extrusion. The fibers may be made of the same material as or a material dissimilar to the clips.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.