GB2075434A

GB2075434A - Convertible vehicle body

Info

Publication number: GB2075434A
Application number: GB8110796A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Ford Motor Co Ltd; Ford Motor Co
Current assignee: Ford Motor Co Ltd; Ford Motor Co
Priority date: 1980-04-07
Filing date: 1981-04-07
Publication date: 1981-11-18
Also published as: JPS6411512B2; GB2075434B; US4305614A; DE3112681C2; DE3112681A1; JPS574475A

Description

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GB 2 075 434 A 1

SPECIFICATION Convertible vehicle body

This invention relates to a vehicle body having an opening with a removable closure. 5 The concept of vehicle bodies that may be converted, for example from a sedan into a station wagon, is known. Representative prior art patents are U.S. patent 3,419,304, U.S. patent 3,781,059, U.S. patent 3,820,839, and French 10 patent No. 1,391,051.

As exemplified by the disclosure of U.S. patent 3,419,304, the vehicle conversion may be obtained by a flexible roof cover and side windows and posts serving to support the roof cover that 1S are adapted to disappear into the side panels of the vehicle body. Such a system becomes quite complex and expensive to manufacture and maintain.

The disclosure of U.S. patent No. 3,820,839 is 20 limited to a system in which a panel section at the rear end of the vehicle body is slidable and pivotable on guide rails. In one position, the panel section defines the rear window and deck lid of a conventional sedan; in another position the panel 25 section forms a rear roof extension defining a station wagon configuration.

The disclosure of U.S. patent 3,781,059 is related to a vehicle body closure that may be removed and flipped over to either define a vehicle 30 body having at its rear end a sedan configuration or a modified station wagon configuration. Although the last mentioned conversion structures have the advantage that they are carried on the vehicle and require no separate storage facilities, 35 this advantage may be outweighed by the fact that both sides of the reversible panel sections are exposed when in use to road grim and the effects of inclement weather.

The present invention provides a vehicle body 40 closure with a quick release hinge mechanism to permit the vehicle operator to remove the closure without tools or special equipment. This would make possible the manufacture of a plurality of optional rear end appearances and functions. 45 Possible options would include a fast-back version, a notch-back version, a station wagon version, and a camper-top version. Alternatively, the invention may be used for removable mounting of sun roof panels or other vehicle body 50 closures.

According to the invention, there is provided a vehicle body having an opening and a closure means for the opening;

hinge means hinging the closure means to the 55 vehicle body for swinging movement about a ° hinge axis; the closure means being swingable about the hinge axis from a position fully closing the opening to a normal open position and to a position beyond the latter; the hinge means 60 comprising at least a pair of laterally spaced quick release hinge devices; each hinge device including locking means that lock the hinge device against quick release during swinging movement between fully closed and normal open position, and vice

65 versa; and each hinge device including a cam means and a cam responsive means coacting to release the locking means in response to swinging movement of the closure means to a position beyond its normal open position. 70 The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 represents three side elevations of a vehicle illustrating a hatchback, a fastback and a 75 station wagon rear end configuration;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of the rear end of the vehicle illustrating a rear end closure means for an ingress/egress opening in the rear end of the vehicle body and showing in solid 80 outline the closure means in normal opened position and in dot-dash outline showing the closure means raised above the normal opened position;

Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical section 85 illustrating the relationship of the hinge components in closure means closed position;

Figure 4 is an enlarged view illustrating the hinge device components disengaged for quick removal of the closure means from the vehicle 90 body; and

Figure 5 is a section view taken substantially on the line 5—5 of Figure 3 illustrating the internal details of a preferred hinge device providing the quick release feature.

95 Referring now to the drawings, more particularly to Figure 1, there is shown the rear end of a basic vehicle body 10 having three different configurations. From top to bottom, the uppermost vehicle rear end configuration is 100 termed a notchback, a general term for configurations in which the rear window 12 slopes downwardly at a somewhat steeper angle than the panel 13 covering the vehicle luggage compartment area. If, as shown in Figure 2, the 105 window frame 14 of the window 12 and the panel 13 are integral, forming a rear or third door 15 for a two door sedan; are hinged by hinge devices 16 to the rear edge 17 with the vehicle roof structure 18; and the third door 15 extends from the roof 110 structure 18 to the rear vertical panel 19 of the vehicle body; the vehicle may also be known as a hatchback. The third door provides access to the rear storage compartment area 21 of the vehicle body 10.

115 A vehicle body having a rear end 22 which is shown as the middle vehicle in Figure 1 is generally termed a fastback model because of its convex configuration. A vehicle body having a rear end 23 which is shown as the bottom vehicle in 120 Figure 1 is generally termed a station wagon model because of its generally boxlike shape which facilitates its use for hauling bulky objects.

Referring again more particularly to Figure 2, there is shown the vehicle body 10, the 125 ingress/egress opening 24 extending downwardly from the roof 18 and the closure means or third door 15 swingable about a horizontal hinge axis defined by the pivot pins 25 of a pair of laterally spaced hinge devices 16, only one of which is

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visible. The closure means or third door is swingable about the hinge pins 25 from a position fully closing the ingress/egress opening 24 to a normal fully opened position as shown in solid 5 outline in Figure 2. When the third door is lifted, it rises with assistance of one or more gas spring cylinders 26 that also control or restrict the angle of the door opening when the cylinders reach maximum extension. In the normal fully opened 10 position, the cylinders 26 may be removed from snap-on ball joint connections 27 located at either side of the door 15. With the cylinders disconnected, the door 15 may be lifted an additional 10 to 15 degrees to the dot and dash 15 outline position.

Figures 3, 4 and 5 disclose the specifics of the quick release hinge devices 16. Each hinge device 16 comprises an elongated support bracket 27 bolted on a laterally extending elongated platform 20 portion 28 of a wide trough extension 29 of the roof structure 18. The support bracket 27 has at each end an upstanding leg 31 in which is journalled a shoulder bolt 32 that is threaded into each end of a cross bar 33 of a substantially 25 cruciform body 34 of a hinged device 16. The cross bar 3 and the shoulder bolts 32 form the hinge pin 25 of each hinge device 16. The body 34 has a centrally positioned tubular portion 35 extending perpendicularly to the axis of rotation of 30 the cross bar 33.

The tubular portion 35 is adapted to tefescopically, externally receive thereover a cylindrical sleeve 36 mounted on a reinforcement plate 37 that reinforces the area around an 35 aperture in the wall 38 of a pocket 39 adjacent the upper lateral edge of the third door 15. As best seen in Figure 4, the sleeve 36 opens outwardly of the pocket 39 beneath the hem flange 41 of the third door 15 structure.

40 The tubular portions 35 of the cruciform body 34 houses an elongated pin 42 that has an enlarged cam follower 43 at its exposed end, the left end as viewed in Figure 4. At the base of the cam follower is a flange 44 that bears against a 45 compression spring 45 housed within a cylindrical chamber 46 axialiy aligned with the tube 47 in the tubular portion 35 fn which the elongated pin 42 is slidably journalled. A retention nut 48 retains the spring and the pin 42 with its cam follower 50 end 43 within the tubular portion 35 of the cruciform body 33. As its right end is viewed in Figure 5, the tubular portion 35 contains a plurality of balls 49 equally spaced around its circumference. As shown in Figure 5, when the 55 detent balls 39 are engaged by the end or land portion 51 of the pin 42 they are forced outwardly a sufficient distance to prevent withdrawal of the sleeve 36 from over the tubular portion 35. If the pin 42 is moved to the right as shown in Figure 5, 60 the balls would be permitted to drop into a recessed portion 52 on the pin 42 thus permitting the sleeve 36 to be moved telescopically off the tubular portion 35 of the cruciform body of the hinge device. It would be understood that the 65 lateral apertures 53 in the sleeve body 35 in which the detent balls 49 are adapted to move inwardly and outwardly are deformed at their out ends sufficiently to prevent the balls from falling out of the assembly.

70 Movement of the pin 42 in the tube 47 results from engagement of its cam follower end 43 with a cam surface foot 54 on a curved appendage 55 on the support bracket 27. When the vehicle body third door 15 is in a closed position relative to the 75 roof structure 18, as shown in Figure 3, the cam follower end 43 of the pin 42 is in a protracted condition and the ball detents 49 are outwardly --extended to prevent telescopic removal of the sleeve 46 from the tubular portion 35. If the door 80 15 is lifted to a normally opened position, the position shown in solid outline in Figure 2, the cam follower end 43 of the pin 42 remains protracted. If the gas spring cylinders 26 are disconnected so that the door can be raised an 85 additional 10 to 15 degrees, the cam follower end 43 of the pin 42 engages the cam surface 54 of the appendage 55 on the support bracket 47 and causes the pin to be retracted or moved to the right as shown in Figure 5. As explained, this 90 permits the detent bails 49 to retract within the periphery of the tubular portion 35 so that the sleeve 36 may be telescopically removed from its assembled relationship to the tubular portion 35. This is shown in Figure 4. This permits the third 95 door 15 to be removed from the vehicle body. If desired, one of the other rear end structures, such as the fastback structure 22 or the station wagon structure 23 may then be substituted for the notchback structure 11.

100 When the door 15 is reinstalled or one of the other structures is installed, a reverse action occurs. The hinge devices 16 are reassembled when the tubular portions 35 of the cruciform bodies located on the body opening frame are 105 inserted into the cylindrical sleeve 36 located on the door 15 or other rear end structure. The geometric action of lowering the door 15 to apply the upper attachment 27 of the gas spring cylinders causes the hinge devices to lock up, i.e., 110 the detent balls 49 to project into abutting relation to the end of the sleeve 36 thereby preventing removal of the latter from the tubular portion 35 of the hinge device 16. This forms a secure hinge assembly. The reattachment of the gas cylinders 115 assures the securing of the door 15 to the body at the hinge devices 16 as long as the air spring cylinders 26 remain in place.

Claims

1. A vehicle body having an opening and a 120 closure means for the opening; f hinge means hinging the closure means to the vehicle body for swinging movement about a hinge axis;

the closure means being swingable about the 125 hinge axis from a position fully closing the opening to a normal open position and to a position beyond the latter;

the hinge means comprising at least a pair of laterally spaced quick release hinge-devices;

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each hinge device including locking means that lock the hinge device against quick release during swinging movement between fully closed and normal open position, and vice versa;

5 each hinge device including a cam means and a cam responsive means coacting to release the locking means in response to swinging movement of the closure means to a position beyond its normal open position.

10 2. A vehicle body according to Claim 1, in which:

each quick-release hinge device comprises a base portion mounted on a frame structure framing the ingress/egress opening; 15. a cylindrical sleeve fixedly mounted on the closure means contiguous to the vehicle roof body;

and a tubular member pivotably mounted on the base portion to telescopically receive the 20 cylindrical sleeve thereover;

the locking means of each hinge device comprises retractable detent means on the tubular member preventing withdrawal of the sleeve means from the tubular member in nonretracted 25 condition of the detent means;

the detent means being retractable by the cam responsive means upon the closure means being swung from its normal open position to the position beyond the latter.

30 3. A vehicle body according to Claim 2, in which:

the cam means comprises a cam surface on the hinge device and the cam responsive means comprises a spring-biased pin axially movable 35 within the tubular member as the cam responsive means passes over the cam surface;

the pin having a relief portion permitting retraction of the detent means out of cylindrical sleeve detenting position.

40 4. A vehicle body as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the opening extends downwardly from the rear edge of the roof and the closure means is contoured to provide a distinctive configuration to the rear end of the vehicle body, 45 release of the hinge devices permitting substitution of closure means of different configuration, thereby to change the appearance of the rear end of the vehicle body.

5. A vehicle body according to any one of the 50 preceding claims including counter-balance means extending between the vehicle body and the closure means, the counter-balanced means being disconnectible to permit movement of the closure means beyond its normal open position. 55 6. The vehicle body according to any one of the preceding claims, in which:

the counterbalance means comprises at least one air spring operative to counterbalance the closure means during movement between fully 60 closed and normal open position;

the air spring being substantially fully extended in closure means normal open position to restrict the opening movement of the latter;

the air spring being disconnectible from the 65 closure means to permit movement beyond the normal fully opened position.

7. A vehicle body substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

Printed for Her Majesty^ Stationery Office by the Courier Press, Leamington Spa, 1981. Published by the Patent Office, 25 Southampton Buildings, London, WC2A 1AY, from which copies may be obtained.