1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to motor vehicle roofs with a roof plate of plastic or an openable cover of plastic.
2. Description of Related Art
Wrap-around glass roofs are known which have a frame to which a solid glass pane is cemented. The disadvantage here is that an independent cementing process for the solid glass pane is necessary and that visible joints in the transition to transparent areas are inevitable. Moreover, for each function which is to be provided in addition, at least one other component must be produced and installed.
Published German Patent Application DE 34 29 880 A1 discloses a motor vehicle roof with a roof plate which is made as a pre-mounted assembly or roof module. The roof module can be joined by snaps to the body. Thus, a certain amount of facilitation of installation is possible, but the attainable efficiency increases are limited.
Published European Patent Application EP 0 164 532 A2, which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 4,872,722, discloses a sunroof with a transparent cover for motor vehicles in which there is a shade device which can taken up and which can be clamped underneath the cover. The take-up device for the shade device is integrated into a multi-part holding device which holds the cover and is clamped to the vehicle superstructure. This sunroof comprises many different parts and is therefore complex to install.
German Patent Application DE 43 21 915 C1, which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,091, discloses strip-shaped side visors for at least partially covering the edge gaps which are formed between the side edges of the raised glass cover of sliding roofs or sliding and lifting roofs and the fixed roof skin on motor vehicles. The side visors are molded on an edge frame to which the glass cover is peripherally foamed. In these sliding roofs, the number of parts to be produced is also large and requires a not inconsiderable production effort.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a motor vehicle roof in which the number of components which is to be produced and mounted can be reduced, and thus, the installation and logistics cost can be reduced, and in which seamless transitions to transparent areas can be formed.
This object is achieved by a motor vehicle roof in accordance with the present invention by the roof plate roof plate having a transparent plastic area with a molded-on, downwardly extending peripheral plastic edge which is used especially as a cover visor or with a plastic apron to which at least one wind deflector is molded or with an arch which is used as an antenna shroud or as an antenna holding device molded on the top of the roof plate. Additionally, a cover can be molded from plastic with a water drainage means integrated on its top. This object is further achieved by the vehicle roof having a plastic roof plate which covers the roof surface between roof side members, the roof plate having a nontransparent area with a holding frame for a functional element molded onto a bottom thereof.
In this way, the number of components can be drastically reduced, and thus, the resulting installation and logistics costs reduced, and at the same time, a seamless transition between the individual molded-on components, therefore also between the transparent areas and the nontransparent areas, can be achieved. Moreover, various styling possibilities which did not exist in the prior art are enabled by the one-piece production of different components especially from polycarbonate.
The more different components of plastic are integrated into a single component in accordance with the invention, which generally takes place by molding on, the more dramatically production costs can be saved because fewer components in and of themselves need be produced and fewer of these components need be joined to other components.
Within the framework of this invention, a “roof plate” is defined as the most varied surfaces above the equator of the vehicle. This includes, for example, also a rear window or a rear hatch.
Embodiments of the motor vehicle roof in accordance with the invention are explained in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
a is a schematic perspective view of a first embodiment of a motor vehicle roof as viewed from the left rear and
a is a schematic perspective view of a second embodiment of a motor vehicle roof as viewed from the left rear and
a is a schematic perspective view of a third embodiment of a motor vehicle roof as viewed from the left front and
a shows a schematic perspective of a fourth embodiment of a motor vehicle roof as viewed from the left front and
a is a schematic perspective view of a fourth embodiment of a motor vehicle roof as viewed from the left front and
The motor vehicle roof 10 in accordance with the invention according to the first embodiment of
The visor 14 is produced from plastic and it is made in one piece with the transparent area 13, i.e. is molded to the transparent area 13. In the visor 14, a holding and guide arrangement 15 for the sunshade arrangement 19 is integrated; it is made as a groove 16 as shown in
In a second embodiment, the motor vehicle roof 10 of the invention comprises a roof plate 12 of plastic which forms the roof surface between the side members 17, 18. The roof plate 12 comprises a non-transparent area 23 which, in the representation of
The functional element 20 can be coupled at its front end 21 to the front 25 of the holding frame 24 and can be swung down at its rear end 22. The rear end 22 can be locked in the area of the back 26 of the holding frame 24. Alternatively, the functional element 20, as a whole, can be removed from the holding frame 24 and can be inserted in the direction of the arrow B in
In a third embodiment (see
It can be especially advantageous to make the apron 35 with the wind deflector 36 together with the front window 11 from the same plastic in one working process. This enables a reduction of production costs,
In a fourth embodiment (see
In addition to the bead 42, as another version as shown in
In a fifth embodiment of the invention (see
The aforementioned components are, as already mentioned, made from plastic, especially from a transparent polycarbonate. Therefore it is easily possible to impart the desired shape to them and to produce them as one piece in a single tool. In this way, functions can be integrated which, with a glass cover, require their own parts. This type of one-piece production—in any case with the current production technology—cannot be achieved with a glass roof plate, but in the past, the individual components had to be screwed to the corresponding glass roof or to other roof elements.
It must be stated that the features of the invention which have been described with reference to the individual embodiments, such as, for example, the sunshade arrangement, functional element, wind deflector, water drainage means and antenna holder or antenna shroud, can also be present in other embodiments and in various combinations with each other and with additional elements, except when it is indicated otherwise or is prohibited by itself for technical reasons.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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103 40 022.2 | Aug 2003 | DE | national |
This application is a division of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/928,703.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 10928703 | Aug 2004 | US |
Child | 11381864 | May 2006 | US |