Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02460837 2004-03-15
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The field of the present invention is that of automotive door hinges.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is well known that there may be some inconveniency to open an automobile
door with
conventional hinge mechanism, which renders the door to rotate a pin close to
the door's front
internal edge, or its main movement being above rotation. When the door is
opened in a
parking lot with another vehicle on the same side as the door to the discussed
vehicle, said
door sometimes can't be fully opened, otherwise said door may collide with
another vehicle.
Some prior arts proposed foldable doors, ,such as JP2003146082 by Yoshida et
al, and
DE4227411 by Klaus et al. But JP2003146082 utilize two sets of four-bar
linkages leading to
very complicated manufacturing issues; while DE4227411 utilizes a first
pivotal means
mounting on an inclined pillar, and a second pivotal means is angled with the
first pivotal
means at usually more than 30 degrees, which makes operation for opening the
door
inconvenient. Neither each of above prior arts discussed about how does the
lower hinge work
when the door is opened or half opened for a door with an adjustable glass.
CA 02460837 2004-03-15
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To overcome the aforementioned drawbacks, the present invention is brought
forth.
A first pivotal means 30 connects an upper section 18 of a door 14 with a body
10, usually at
a border area of a roof 20 of said body 10; a second pivotal means connects a
lower section 16
of door 14 with upper section 18, usually at a position close to the lowest
visible edge of a
glass mounted within upper section 18;
There is a pin 28 on a vertical edge side of lower section 16, said pin 28
being able to slide
along a slot 26 on a vertical section of a pillar, when the door is just
opened, upper section 18
revolves around a first pivotal means 30, and lower section 16 revolves around
second pivotal
means 32, but the pin 28 following the path of the slot 26 also controls the
movement of
extremity side 17 of lower section 16, therefore, the moving system has only
one degree of
freedom at the early stage; once the pin 28 leave the range of slot 26, lower
section 16 can
revolves with upper section 18 around second pivotal means 32 freely while
upper section 18
revolves with roof 20 around first pivotal means 30, leading to a two degree
of freedom for
lower section 16, or lower section 16 can be locked with upper section 18 by a
second locking
means (not shown), and then lower section 16 bound together with upper section
18 are
revolved around first pivotal means 30.
A first locking means 44 to lock lower section 16 and upper section 18
together when they are
stretched, or not flipped with each other at all.
To a door with an adjustable glass 36, it can be connected by a third pivotal
means 34 with an
extension plate 38 with same radii of curvature and same center of adjustable
glass 36. When
the door is totally closed, adjustable glass 36 and extension plate 38 are
locked together by a
third locking means (not shown), and they can move together up and down along
the path of
glass rail 40. When a window regulator is actuated, it moves an driving media
42 up and
down, which can also move along the bottom edge of extension plate 38,
therefore, the
usually circular movement of driving media 42 driven by the regulator can move
the glass up
and down.
For a door with an adjustable glass, the lower edge of upper section 18 is
behind the upper
edge of lower section 16, in other words, when the door is totally closed, the
upper edge of
lower section 16 is visible to a person outside the vehicle, while the lower
edge of upper
section 18 is not. Said first locking means 44 can not be released until
adjustable glass 36 is
totally raised up and third pivotal means 34 is concentric with second pivotal
means 32. This
characteristics prevents adjustable glass 36 from the risk of being broken
when lower section
16 is flipped against upper section 18 of door 14 while the adjustable glass
36 is not raised up
totally.
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CA 02460837 2004-03-15
For a door with a stationary glass or plate 46, this situation being popular
in a rear door of
most vans and trucks, the upper edge of lower section 16 is behind the lower
edge of upper
section 18, and no any one of 34, 38 42 and 40 is needed. When lower section
16 is flipped
against upper section 18, no damage would be caused by any interference.
For a conventional "sedan" car, which currently has two doors at a side, or a
van currently
having more than one door at one side, two or more doors at one side can be
combined
together, leading to a unified door with bigger longitude dimension. This
unifying saves a lot
of manufacturing cost and assembling cost and it provides a better
characteristics for side
impact of the vehicle.
To open the door, raise the adjustable glass 36 all way up; release all
conventional door locks
(not shown); raise the lower edge of lower section 16 while keeping pin 28
moving along slot
26 on lower section of A pillar 22 or C pillar 24 or another pillar of
aperture surrounding
member 12; when the pin 28 moves out of the path of slot 26, it is locked with
upper section
18 by a second locking means, then swing lower section 16 and upper section 18
together
around first pivotal means 30 to a desired position, and it is locked by a
fourth locking means
to keep it from dropping down to hurt any occupant.
In an emergency or other necessary situation, the door can be open in another
way, which
doesn't flip lower section 16 against upper section 18, but retreats pin 28
from the
engagement with slot 26, then release all conventional door locks, and flip
the whole door
around first pivotal means 30.
An elastic element, such as a spring, can be optionally add between any
relevant moving part
of present invention.
A damping element, such as a strut, can be optionally add between any relevant
moving part
of present invention.
A power driving means, such as a motor, can be optionally add between any
relevant moving
part of present invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 through FIG. 3 are perspective views of the present invention when the
door is opened
locking from different places.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view the present invention when the door is totally
closed.
FIG. 5, is a perspective view of the adjustable glass and relevant parts which
move it up and
down.
FIG. 6, is a perspective view of the stationary glass and the way it is
attached to a door.
3
CA 02460837 2004-03-15
FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 are perspective views of the adjustable glass and the way it
is attached to a
door. FIG. 7 shows the locked situation, while FIG. 8 unlocked situation.
FIG. 9 shows a alternative way to open a door
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
To overcome the aforementioned drawbacks, the present invention is brought
forth.
As shown in Fig. 1 through Fig. 3, a first pivotal means 30 connects an upper
section 18 of a
door 14 with a body 10, usually at a border area of a roof 20 of said body 10;
a second pivotal
means connects a lower section 16 of door 14 with upper section 18, usually at
a position
close to the lowest visible edge of a glass mounted within upper section 18;
There is a pin 28 on a vertical edge side of lower section 16, said pin 28
being able to slide
along a slot 26 on a vertical section of a pillar, when the door is just
opened, upper section 18
revolves around a first pivotal means 30, and lower section 16 revolves around
second pivotal
means 32, but the pin 28 following the path of the slot 26 also controls the
movement of
extremity side 17 of lower section 16, therefore, the moving system has only
one degree of
freedom at the early stage; once the pin 28 leave the range of slot 26, lower
section 16 can
revolves with upper section 18 around second pivotal means 32 freely while
upper section 18
revolves with roof 20 around first pivotal means 30, leading to a two degree
of freedom for
lower section 16, or lower section 16 can be locked with upper section 18 by a
second locking
means (not shown), and then lower section 16 bound together with upper section
18 are
revolved around first pivotal means 30.
A first locking means 44 to lock lower section 16 and upper section 18
together when they are
stretched, or not flipped with each other at all.
As shown in Fig. 5, to a door with an adjustable glass 36, it can be connected
by a third
pivotal means 34 with an extension plate 38 with same radii of curvature and
same center of
adjustable glass 36. When the door is totally closed, adjustable glass 36 and
extension plate 38
are locked together by a third locking means (not shown), and they can move
together up and
down along the path of glass rail 40. When a window regulator is actuated, it
moves an
driving media 42 up and down, which can also move along the bottom edge of
extension plate
38, therefore, the usually circular movement of driving media 42 driven by the
regulator can
move the glass up and down.
As shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 8, for a door with an adjustable glass, the lower
edge of upper
section 18 is behind the upper edge of lower section 16, in other words, when
the door is
totally closed, the upper edge of lower section 16 is visible to a person
outside the vehicle,
while the Iower edge of upper section 18 is not. Said first locking means 44
can not be
released until adjustable glass 36 is totally raised up and third pivotal
means 34 is concentric
with second pivotal means 32. This characteristics prevents adjustable glass
36 from the risk
4
CA 02460837 2004-03-15
of being broken when lower section 16 is flipped against upper section 18 of
door 14 while
the adjustable glass 36 is not raised up totally.
As shown in Fig. 6, for a door with a stationary glass or plate 46, this
situation being popular
in a rear door of most vans and trucks, the upper edge of lower section 16 is
behind the lower
edge of upper section 18, and no any one of 34, 38 42 and 40 is needed. When
lower section
16 is flipped against upper section 18, no damage would be caused by any
interference.
For a conventional "sedan" car, which currently has two doors at a side, or a
van currently
having more than one door at one side, two or more doors at one side can be
combined
together, leading to a unified door with bigger longitude dimension. This
unifying saves a lot
of manufacturing cost and assembling cost and it provides a better
characteristics for side
impact of the vehicle.
To open the door, raise the adjustable glass 36 all way up (Fig. 4); release
all conventional
door locks (not shown); raise the lower edge of lower section 16 while keeping
pin 28 moving
along slot 26 on lower section of A pillar 22 or C pillar 24 or another pillar
of aperture
surrounding member 12; when the pin 28 moves out of the path of slot 26, it is
locked with
upper section 18 by a second locking means, then swing lower section 16 and
upper section
18 together around first pivotal means 30 to a desired position, and it is
locked by a fourth
locking means to keep it from dropping down to hurt any occupant (Fig. 1
through Fig. 3).
In an emergency or other necessary situation, the door can be open in another
way, which
doesn't flip lower section 16 against upper section 18, but retreats pin 28
from the
engagement with slot 26, then release all conventional door locks, and flip
the whole door
around first pivotal means 30 (Fig. 9}.
An elastic element, such as a spring, can be optionally add between any
relevant moving part
of present invention.
A damping element, such as a strut, can be optionally add between any relevant
moving part
of present invention.
A power driving means, such as a motor, can be optionally add between any
relevant moving
part of present invention.
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