Method of manufacturing a convertible top assembly

A manufacturing method for a convertible top assembly, said convertible top assembly including,

• a window plate made of a transparent material, said window plate having top and back surfaces and a predetermined outer peripheral edge shape;
• a foldable sheet material having an opening edge and an outer peripheral edge shape larger than the outer peripheral edge shape of said window plate and made of a material softer than said window plate;
• a connecting element to integrate said window plate and said sheet material, said connecting element being made of a synthetic resin formed in an elongated form along the outer peripheral edge of said window plate with a predetermined cross-sectional profile between the vicinity of said outer peripheral edge of said window plate and the vicinity of the opening edge of said sheet material;
• first fixing means for fixing the vicinity of outer peripheral edge of said window plate and said connecting element to each other;
• and
• second fixing means for fixing the vicinity of said opening edge of said sheet material and said connecting element to each other,
• said method of manufacturing comprising the steps of:
• positioning at least a portion of said window plate and said sheet material at a predetermined position between a pair of mold halves of a mold which can be separated from each other at a parting face,
• clamping said mold to form a cavity of a predetermined shape extending in the lengthwise direction along the outer peripheral edge of said window plate in the vicinity of the outer peripheral edge of said window plate, a part of said cavity being formed by said window plate, whereby said window plate is held through said sheet material by holding portions of the mold adjacent to the inner peripheral edge of said cavity, and said sheet material is held by holding portions of the mold adjacent to the outer peripheral edge of said cavity, and
• filling said cavity with a liquid-form synthetic resin or a liquid-form resin raw material that forms a synthetic resin by reaction, the interior of said cavity being kept in a heated and compressed state, said connecting element being formed into a shape corresponding to the shape of said cavity by subsequent solidification, said connecting element being fixed integrally to the vicinity of the outer peripheral edge of said window plate by said first fixing means, and said sheet material being fixed integrally to said connecting element by said second fixing means.