Guide mechanism for plates

#The invention concerns a guide mechanism for plates with guide blocks attached or provided as one part at each end of a plate, and at least two guide tracks, each of which carrying at least one of the guide blocks belonging to the plate, placed in essentially constant intervals in the guide sections.

#In particular, the invention concerns the field of application of plate guide mechanisms in a sun protection system for translucent sun roofs in cars; it concerns all types of such car roofs, such as sliding roofs with a sliding cover plate below the roof layer of a car roof, spoiler roofs with cover plates that tilt up out of the roof opening and slide back, opposite to the car's direction of travel, lift roofs, folding roofs and other types of openings in cars.

#To move the plates in the plate guide mechanisms that are known to the art, the plates must be driven with equal force at both plate ends in the proximity of their guide blocks or at the guide blocks themselves, because otherwise the plates would jam very quickly under the effect of friction and the high length-width ratio of the plates. It is indeed possible to reduce the danger of jamming by widening the plates, but a correspondingly wide storage area is required for such wide plates when the plate mechanism is open; in the case of car roofs installed manufacture of the car, in particular, this space is very difficult to provide.

#FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of an invention-specific plate guide mechanism in plan view;

#FIG. 2 shows the plate guide mechanism according to FIG. 1 in cross-section along the line II--II from FIG. 1;

#FIG. 3 shows a cross-section through the plate guide mechanism according to FIG. 4, along the line III--III from FIG. 4;

#FIG. 1 shows an area of an automobile roof 5 surrounding a guide form 20 comprising several guide tracks 2 of an invention-specific guide mechanism for plates 1 located underneath a translucent sun roof 6. The guide tracks 2 hidden in the face-on view by the guide form 20 are represented by dashed lines. Each of the plates 1 has two plate edges 10 as well as two plate ends 11 and mounted in one guide track 2 by way of guide block 3 attached to each plate end 11. This illustration shows only the plate end 11 that pertains to the one guide track 2.

#The guide blocks 3 comprise convex components 30 or roller bearings 31 set in the guide tracks--only one component 30 and one roller bearing 31 are assigned numbers in the example. The roller bearings 31 are shown by the rolls 32 placed in the guide blocks 3 and represented by dashed lines. The rolls 32 are mounted at about the level of the edges 10 of the plate 1 assigned to the rolls 32 on the corresponding guide block 3.

#FIG. 2 shows a staggered arrangement of the guide track 2, each assigned to a plate 1 and positioned in the guide section 20. The rolls 32, each assigned to a plate 1, are mounted in the guide track 2 belonging to the corresponding plate 1.