Patent Application
20060192410
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a joining structure between a top fabric and a window glass in a convertible vehicle top.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, in a convertible vehicle top, a window glass is provided to a rear surface of the fabric top to ensure rearward visibility. In this case, the window glass is attached to a window opening formed by partly cutting out a top fabric. That is, the window glass or a hard material is joined to the top fabric or a soft material, and this joining structure involves a problem about difficulty in obtaining a strong joining strength as compared with a joining structure between two hard materials or between two soft materials. As measures against this problem, various joining structures have been proposed. Among them, as one example of simplified and low-cost joining structures, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-294045 (Patent Publication 1) discloses the following structure.
As shown in
While the above joining structure designed to fold back the peripheral edge 52a of the top fabric 52 and adhesively join the folded portion 54 to the window glass 51 can assure a relatively large joining surface between the window glass 51 and the folded portion 54 opposed directly to the window glass 51, a joining surface between the window glass 51 and the outside fabric portion 53 is limited to only a small area due to the folded portion 54 existing therebetween. This inevitably causes deterioration in joining strength.
Thus, every time the top fabric 52 is bent during operations for deploying and retracting the fabric top, a certain load is repeatedly imposed on the outside fabric portion 53 in directions approximately perpendicular to upper and lower surfaces of the fabric (directions indicated by the arrows “a” and “b” in
More specifically, the top fabric is typically formed of a laminated fabric. Thus, if laminated inner layers in the folded portion 54 are peeled from each other, the strength of the folded portion 54 is lowered, and the lowered strength is likely to lead to deterioration in the joining strength between the folded portion 54 and the window glass 51. As above, the conventional joining structure involves a problem in terms of reliability.
In view of the above problem, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a top fabric joining structure for a convertible vehicle top designed to fold back a peripheral edge of a top fabric and join the folded portion to a window glass, capable of obtaining enhanced joining strength in a simplified and low-cost structure.
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a joining structure between a top fabric 3 of a convertible vehicle top 2 and a window glass 4 attached to a window opening 7 formed in the top fabric 3. The joining structure comprises a folded portion 32 formed by folding back a peripheral edge 3a of the window opening 7 of the top fabric 3 toward an inner surface of the top fabric 3, and superimposed on an inner surface of an external portion 31 of the top fabric 3. It should be noted that the word “exterior” is used in the term “an exterior portion 31”, the term “exterior portion 31” in this specification is meant to include not only an outer surface (an external top surface of the fabric 3 that can be seen from externally: see
In the above joining structure of the present invention, the plurality of cutouts 5 are formed along the edge 32a of the folded portion 32. Thus the folded portion 32 is interposed between the external portion 31 and the window glass 4; however, an opposed area between the external portion 31 and the window glass 4 can be increased. This allows the external portion 31 and the window glass 4 to be strongly bonded together through the adhesive layer 8 interposed in the opposed region thereof so as to provide enhanced peeling resistance. While an opposed area between the folded portion 32 and the window glass 4 is reduced due to the formation of the cutouts 5, this opposed area is greater than opposed area between the external portion 31 and the window glass 4, and therefore a sufficient joining strength can be ensured through the adhesive layer 8.
Further, the enhanced peeling resistance between the external portion 31 and the window glass 4 maximally prevents occurrence of peeling in laminated layers of the folded portion 32. This makes it possible to maintain a joining strength between the top fabric 3 and the window glass 4 at a high level so as to provide enhanced reliability of the joined region. This joining structure can be expected to contribute to improvement in a commercial value of the convertible vehicle top itself.
In addition, the above enhanced joining strength can be achieved based on a simplified and low-cost structure designed to form the cutouts 5 in the folded portion 32. This makes it possible to obtain a highly-reliable convertible vehicle top at a low cost and or in a significantly economical manner.
The present invention will now be specifically described based on a preferred embodiment thereof.
From these standpoints, the top fabric 3 and the window glass 4 are joined together using a joining structure according to one embodiment of the present invention, to fulfill the above requirements. This joining structure will be specifically described below with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4.
The joining structure according to this embodiment is based on the aforementioned simplified and low-cost structure or a structure where a peripheral edge 3a of the window opening 7 of the top fabric 3 is folded back on an inner surface of the fabric, and then the folded portion is bonded onto the window glass 4 using an adhesive 8. Based on this fundamental structure, the joining structure according to this embodiment is designed to maintain a joining strength at a high level so as to provide enhanced reliability in the joined region.
As shown in
Then, a peripheral edge 4a of the window glass 4 is disposed in opposed relation to the folded portion 32 formed at the peripheral edge 3a the top fabric 3, and the folded portion 32 is joined to the peripheral edge 4a of the window glass 4 using the adhesive 8 applied therebetween. In this embodiment, the adhesive 8 is applied to form an adhesive layer, which extends over a relatively wide range from an opposed region between the folded portion 32 of the top fabric 3 and the window glass 4, to an opposed region between the external portion 31 and the window glass 4.
When the folded portion 32 of the top fabric 3 and the window glass 4 are joined together using the adhesive 8 in the above manner, the cutouts 7 also provide face-to-face relation between the external portion 31 and the window glass 4 therethrough, and allow them to be joined together directly therethrough using the adhesive 8. Thus, a joining area between the external portion 31 and the window glass 4 is increased, for example, as compared to the conventional joining structure without the cutouts 5.
This allows the external portion 31 and the window glass 4 to be strongly joined together, and the obtained joined region can have drastically enhanced peeling resistance.
While an opposed area between the folded portion 32 and the window glass 4 is reduced due to the formation of the cutouts 5, this opposed area is far greater than opposed area between the external portion 31 and the window glass 4, and therefore a sufficient joining strength can be ensured through the adhesive layer 8.
The enhanced peeling resistance between the external portion 31 and the window glass 4 maximally prevents occurrence of peeling in laminated layers of the folded portion 32. These synergistic effects make it possible to maintain a joining strength between the top fabric 3 and the window glass 4 at a high level so as to provide enhanced reliability of the joined region. Thus, this joining structure contributes to improvement in a commercial value of the convertible vehicle top itself.
In addition, the above enhanced joining strength can be achieved based on a simplified and low-cost structure designed to form the cutouts 5 in the folded portion 32. This makes it possible to obtain a highly-reliable convertible vehicle top at a low cost and or in a significantly economical manner.
In this embodiment, the plurality of cutouts 5 are formed along an edge 32a of the folded portion 32 in spaced apart relation to each other (i.e. in an intermittent or discontinuous pattern). Specifically, as shown in
In this embodiment, the external portion 31 and the folded portion 32 are sewn together as indicated by the sewn line 6 in
While each of the cutouts 5 in the above embodiment is formed in a trapezoidal shape, the joining structure of the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, in place of a trapezoidal shape, the cutouts may be formed in any other suitable shape or pattern, such as wave shape or pattern.
As mentioned above, the present invention provides a joining structure between a top fabric 3 of a convertible vehicle top 2 and a window glass 4 attached to a window opening 7 formed in the top fabric 3. The joining structure comprises a folded portion 32 formed by folding back a peripheral edge 3a of the window opening 7 of the top fabric 3 toward an inner surface of the top fabric 3, and superimposed on an inner surface of an external portion 31 of the top fabric 3. The folded portion 32 has a plurality of cutouts 5 formed along an edge 32a thereof to extend from the edge 32a toward the inside thereof. The joining structure further includes an adhesive layer 8 interposed between the window glass 4 and the top fabric 3 having the folded portion 32 disposed to overlap with a peripheral edge 4a of the window glass 4, in such a manner as to extend over a range from a region where the folded portion 32 and the window glass 4 are located in opposed relation to one another, to a region where the external portion 31 and the window glass 4 are located in opposed relation to one another.
In the above joining structure of the present invention, the plurality of cutouts 5 are formed along the edge 32a of the folded portion 32. Thus, even though the folded portion 32 is interposed between the external portion 31 and the window glass 4, an opposed area between the external portion 31 and the window glass 4 can be increased. This allows the external portion 31 and the window glass 4 to be strongly bonded together through the adhesive layer 8 interposed in the opposed region thereof so as to provide enhanced peeling resistance. While an opposed area between the folded portion 32 and the window glass 4 is reduced due to the formation of the cutouts 5, this opposed area is far greater than opposed area between the external portion 31 and the window glass 4, and therefore a sufficient joining strength can be ensured through the adhesive layer 8.
In the joining structure of the present invention, it is preferable that the plurality of cutouts 5 are formed along the edge 32a of the folded portion 32 in spaced apart relation to each other.
In this case, a plurality of linear portions 5a are formed at the edge 32a. Thus, the edge 32a of the folded portion 32 can be joined with enhanced joining strength through the adhesive layer 8, for example, as compared with a plurality of cutouts which are formed along the edge 32a continuously without a space therebetween or in such a manner that form a plurality of sharp tip-shaped portions at the edge 32a. This makes it possible to further effectively prevent occurrence of peeling in laminated layers of the folded portion 32 so as to allow the above effect to be further accelerated.
In the joining structure of the present invention, it is preferable that the external portion 31 and the folded portion 32 are sewn together. The external portion 31 and the folded portion 32 sewn together make it possible to prevent the external portion 31 and the folded portion 32 superimposed on one another from unfolding or being displaced in an in-plane direction, so as to allow the above effect to be further reliably obtained.
This application is based on Japanese Patent Application Serial No. 2005-050198, filed in Japan Patent Office on Feb. 25, 2005, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Although the present invention has been fully described by way of example with reference to the accompanied drawings, it is to be understood that various changes and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, unless otherwise such changes and modifications depart from the scope of the present invention hereinafter defined, they should be construed as being included therein.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-050198 | Feb 2005 | JP | national |
