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US 5,207,474 AGranted
Folding top for a passenger car with folding roof
AssigneeWilhelm Karmann GmbH
InventorsSiegfried Licher, Wolfgang Richter
Life of this patent
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AssigneeWilhelm Karmann GmbH
InventorsSiegfried Licher, Wolfgang Richter
Estimating the term…
A folding top for a passenger car with a folding roof (convertible) includes flexible roofing which is accommodated between opposite pairs of rod linkage legs of a folding rod linkage. With the swivelling motion of the folding rod linkage in a plane parallel to the longitudinal center plane of the vehicle, the folding top can be brought from a closed position held in a windshield region into an essentially superimposed folded position of the rod linkage legs in the rear region of the vehicle. In order to achieve improved handling and a secured covering of the folding top, the region of the top formed in the closed position between the front rod linkage legs is constructted as a shell for the top, which in itself is stiff and dimensionally stable, and is connected flush with the flexible roofing and can be fixed in the folded position in the rear region over the folded top in a covering position.
A folding top for a motor vehicle comprising foldable linkage means mountable on said motor vehicle and foldable between an up position and a folded position, said linkage means having a front portion connectable to a front part of said motor vehicle when said linkage means is in said up position, said linkage means having a rear portion connected to a rear part of said motor vehicle, a rigid roof part mounted on said front portion, a flexible material means carried by said rear portion, said flexible material means being in an unfolded disposition when said linkage means is in said up position and a folded disposition when said linkage means is in said folded position, said linkage means when in said up position disposing said rigid roof part as a continuation of said unfolded flexible material means such that said rigid roof part and said unfolded flexible material means together form a roof for said motor vehicle, said linkage means when in said folded position disposing said flexible material means in said folded disposition with said rigid roof part overlying said folded flexible material means.
A folding top according to claim i, wherein said rigid roof part has a front end disposed juxtaposed to the windshield of said motor vehicle when said linkage means is in said up position, said rigid roof part having a rear end spaced from said front end, said flexible material means being connected to said rear end of said rigid roof part.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.