Articulating lower roller assembly for sliding vehicle door
AssigneeGeneral Motors Corporation
InventorMark Manuel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle has a side opening that is closed by a sliding door. The door has an articulating lower roller assembly at the front end that translates in a track adjacent the bottom of the side opening. The roller assembly is attached to the door by a slide mechanism that allows the door to open further after the roller assembly reaches the end of the track. The slide mechanism is controlled by a spring biased clutch pin that is retracted by a cam on the vehicle body to release the slide mechanism as the door travels to the open position.
Claims7
An articulating lower roller assembly for a sliding side door of a vehicle having a side opening and a lower track adjacent the bottom of the side opening comprising:
- a carriage having a plurality of rollers for engaging the lower track of the vehicle so that the carriage translates on the track,
- a support arm pivotally connected to the carriage,
- a slide mechanism attached to a forward lower corner of the sliding door of the vehicle,
- the slide mechanism having a tramway that is fixed to the sliding door and a tram that is slidably mounted on the tramway,
- the tram being attached to the support arm, and
- a clutch member that is moveably mounted on the support arm for movement between an engaged position and a disengaged position,
- the clutch member fixing the tram with respect to the tramway in the engaged position and releasing the tram for movement with respect to the tramway in the disengaged position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.