Sliding and tilting roof for motor vehicles
AssigneeWebasto-Werk W. Baier GmbH & Co.
InventorHans Jardin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle roof of the type having a cover that closes a roof open and is slidably and tiltably displaceable out of a position closing the roof opening is constructed to avoid the problem of making the outside contour of the cover match the outside contour of the fixed roof part, particularly, with respect to contours that convexly curve in a direction transverse to the cover displacement direction. In accordance with a preferred embodiment, this problem is solved by adjusting the transverse contour of the cover, when the cover is in its closed position, through a balancing of upward and downward forces effected by a rain gutter and respective pivot mechanisms for the cover and gutter.
Claims26
Sliding and tilting roof for vehicles comprising a rigid cover which closes a roof opening in a closed position, said cover being displaceably guided in the vincinity of a leading edge of the cover via a guide element in a respective lengthwise guide at both of lengthwise sides of the roof opening, said guide elements defining a pivot axis for the cover running transversely to the cover displacement direction, said cover also being connected, by means of a first pivot mechanism, with a transport bridge that is displaceable in the cover displacement direction in an area located at a distance rearwardly of the leading edge of the cover, and said cover being selectively pivotable above a fixed roof area and displaceable beneath the rear of the fixed roof area by displacement of the transport bridge;
- and a rain gutter having limited mobility relative to the transport bridge in the cover displacement direction, said gutter being disposed beneath a trailing edge of the cover and being displaceable beneath the rear fixed roof area together with the cover, wherein the gutter is connected with the transport bridge by a second pivot mechanism, said second pivot mechanism being operable for pressing the gutter, counter to a force exerted by the first pivot mechanism, upward against the underside of the cover, so as to adjust the transverse contour of the cover when it is in the closed position.
In a sliding and tilting roof of the type having a rigid cover which, in a closed position, closes a roof opening, the cover being slidably displaceable from said closed position on guide elements that are pivotally connected thereto and displaceably received in lengthwise guides on opposite lengthwise sides of the roof opening, and being tiltably raisable relative to a fixed roof area about a pivot axis defined by said guide elements, and having a gutter for collecting water entering through said roof opening between the cover and fixed roof area, the improvement for conforming the outside contour of the cover, in a direction transverse to the displacement direction of said cover, to the corresponding contour of the fixed roof area, when said cover is in said closed position, comprising means for producing relative movement between the cover and the gutter in a manner causing an interengagement between the gutter and the underside of the cover that adjusts the transverse contour of said cover.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.