Sealing member

In a vehicle body assembly having an opening therethrough, an inner body panel, an outer body panel adjacent to, but spaced apart from, the inner body panel in an area generally surrounding the opening, and an elongated sealing member generally surrounding the opening and disposed in sealing engagement between the spaced-apart inner and outer body panels, the improvement wherein said sealing member comprises an inner bead portion extending longitudinally throughout said sealing member, a pair of elongated flange portions integrally formed with said bead portion and extending in generally outward lateral directions from said inner bead portion, said flange portions being disposed at an angular relationship of less than 180 degrees with one another and at generally equal angles with respect to a longitudinal plane extending longitudinally throughout said sealing member and laterally outwardly from said bead portion, said bead portion having a convex arcuate inner surface and a pair of generally flat outer surfaces, said flat outer surfaces being disposed on opposite lateral sides of said arcuate inner surface between said arcuate inner surface and an adjacent one of said flange portions, said flat outer surfaces of said bead portion extending in lateral directions transverse to their respective adjacent flange portions and transverse to said longitudinal plane, said sealing member being composed of a heat-activated expandable foam material in order to expand to sealingly fill a portion of the space between the adjacent spaced apart body panels upon the application of sufficient heat to activate said expansion, said flange portions having outer ends spaced sufficiently apart from one another to engage the adjacent spaced-apart body panels prior to said application of heat in order to hold said sealing member in place therebetween prior to said application of heat, said flange members also being resiliently deflectable generally toward one anothre in order to resiliently engage said body panels prior to said heat activation and to accommodate variations in the spacing between the body panels prior to said application of heat.

In a vehicle body assembly having an opening therethrough, an inner body panel, an outer body panel adjacent to, but spaced apart from, the inner body panel in an area generally surrounding the opening, and an elongated sealing member generally surrounding the opening and disposed in sealing engagement between the spaced-apart inner and outer body panels, the improvement wherein said sealing member comprises an inner bead portion extending longitudinally throughout said sealing member, a pair of elongated flange portions intersecting and integrally formed with said bead portions and extending in generally outward lateral directions from said innre bead portion, said flange portions being disposed at an angular relationship at their intersections with said bead portion of less than 180 degrees with one another and at generally equal angles with respect to a longitudinal plane extending longitudinally throughout said sealing member and laterally outwardly from said bead portion, said bead portion having an inner surface and a generally flat outer surface, said flange portions extending generally laterally outwardly froms aid outer surface of said bead portion, said sealing member being adapted to be bent in a generally inward direction generally along said longitudinal plane in order to position said sealing member to extend along a generally arcuate longitudinal path between said spaced-apart panels, said inner surface of said bead portion being generally flat and extending transversely with respect to said longitudinal plane in order to facilitate said inward bending of said sealing member along said longitudinal plane, said sealing member being composed of a heat-activated expandable foam material in order to expand to sealingly fill a portion of the space between the spaced-apart body panels upon the application of sufficient heat to activate said expansion after said sealing member has been disposed between the panels, said flange portions having outer ends spaced sufficiently apart from one another to engage the adjacent spaced-apart body panels prior to said application of heat and being resiliently deflectable generally toward one another in order to resiliently engage said body panels prior to said heat activation and to accommodate variations in the spacing between the body panels prior to said application of heat.