Vehicle transparent roof having manually operable sunshade

For use with a roof covering an occupant compartment, a sunshade roof construction comprising:

• a transparent roof panel through which the environment can be viewed from the occupant compartment;
• a sunshade mounted below the transparent roof panel and including a plurality of laterally elongated blades each of which has opposite ends;
• said sunshade also including a flexible sheet-like shade that connects the blades;
• a pair of guides supported below the transparent panel with each guide receiving one end of each blade to support the sunshade for movement between:
• a closed position where the blades are spaced from each other below the transparent roof panel with the flexible shade extending between the blades to cooperate therewith in shading the occupant compartment from the transparent roof panel, and an open position where the blades are stored in a stacked relationship with all of the blades located in single vertical stack at a location that exposes the occupant compartment to the transparent roof panel with portions of the flexible shade folded between the stacked blades;
• the sunshade having a front end including a handle that is manually grasped to move the sunshade between the closed and open positions;
• a coupling mechanism including a pair of tapes respectively supported by the pair of guides and having permanent connections to the front end of the sunshade adjacent its forwardmost blade;
• the flexible tapes having apertures;
• the ends of the rearward blades each having at least one projection;
• each guide including a storage section that receives the blade ends in the single vertical stack;
• each storage section including a ramp where certain of the tape apertures receive the projections of the blade ends to maintain the blades spaced from each other during movement to and from and while in the closed position;
• the blade end projections being withdrawn from the tape apertures at the ramps to permit the storage of the blades in the vertical stack with the portions of the flexible shade folded between the stacked blades;
• and a coupling shaft having a pair of toothed sprockets respectively meshed with the pair of tapes to coordinate the movement of the ends of the blades.

For use with a vehicle including a roof covering an occupant compartment, a sunshade roof construction comprising:

• a transparent roof panel through which the environment can be viewed from the occupant compartment;
• a sunshade mounted below the transparent roof panel and including a plurality of laterally elongated blade ends having projections;
• said sunshade also including a flexible sheet-like shade that connects the blades;
• a pair of guides supported below the transparent panel with each guide receiving one end of each blade to support the sunshade for movement between:
• a closed position where the blades are spaced from each other below the transparent roof panel with the flexible shade extending between the blades to cooperate therewith in shading the occupant compartment from the transparent roof panel, and an open position where the blades are stored in a stacked relationship with the flexible shade folded therebetween at a location that exposes the occupant compartment to the transparent roof panel;
• each guide including a storage section that receives the ends of the sunshade blades in the stacked relationship with the sunshade in the open position;
• the sunshade having a front end including a handle that is manually grasped to move the sunshade between the closed and open positions;
• a coupling mechanism including a pair of flexible tapes, a pair of toothed sprockets associated with the tapes, and a shaft that rotatively connects the sprockets;
• and said tapes having small apertures that mesh with the toothed sprockets and also having large apertures that receive the projections of the blade ends to move the sunshade between the open and closed positions.

For use with a vehicle including a roof covering an occupant compartment, a sunshade roof construction comprising:

• a transparent roof panel through which the environment can be viewed from the occupant compartment;
• a sunshade mounted below the transparent roof panel and including a plurality of laterally elongated blades each of which has opposite ends;
• said sunshade also including a flexible sheet-like shade that connects the blades;
• a pair of guides supported below the transparent panel with each guide receiving one end of each blade to support the sunshade for movement between:
• a closed position where the blades are spaced from each other below the transparent roof panel with the flexible shade extending between the blades to cooperate therewith in shading the occupant compartment from the transparent roof panel, and an open position where the blades are stored in a stacked relationship with all of the blades located in a single vertical stack at a location that exposes the occupant compartment to the transparent roof panel and with portions of the flexible shade folded between the stacked blades;
• a coupling mechanism including releasable connections for connecting to the blade ends to maintain the blades spaced from each other during movement to and from and while in the closed position, and the releasable connections of the coupling mechanism disconnecting from certain blade ends upon movement to the open position to permit the storage of the blades in the stacked relationship with the portions of the flexible shade folded between the blades;
• and a tensioner connected to the flexible sheet-like shade to maintain a taut condition thereof in the closed position of the sunshade.