GB2183707A

GB2183707A - Sealing strip

Info

Publication number: GB2183707A
Application number: GB08530411A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Werner Kruschwitz
Original assignee: Draftex Industries Ltd
Current assignee: Laird Holdings Ltd
Priority date: 1985-12-10
Filing date: 1985-12-10
Publication date: 1987-06-10
Also published as: DE3639913C2; IT1216301B; DE3639913A1; GB8530411D0; FR2591304A1; ES1001158U; IT8609536A0; ES1001158Y; GB2183707B; FR2591304B1

Abstract

A sealing strip has a channel-shaped gripping part 4 and a tubular sealing part 5 which to enable it better to withstand the shear force applied to it near the hinge axis by the closing door and to resist distortion or even tearing which could otherwise take place, is extruded to have sponge or cellular (foamed) region 5B and a solid or unfoamed region 5A. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Sealing strips The invention relates to sealing strips such as in the form of sealing strips for mounting around door or window openings on motorvehicle bodies for example.

It is known to construct such sealing strips in the form of a sealing part mounted around at least part of the periphery of such an opening and in such a position thatthe hinged closure memberforthe opening closes onto and partially compresses the sealing partso as to form aweatherseal.

According to the invention, there is provided a sealing strip which is mountable around the periphery of an opening closable by a hinged closure member and which has a sealing part extending at least partway around the periphery ofthe opening, in which the sealing partoveratleasta region oftheopening where the motion of the closure member relative to and in contactwith the sealing part in closing the opening has a significant sliding component is of dual consistency flexible material, with the consistency of the said material subjected to the sliding component being solid or unfoamed and the consistency ofthe remainder of the material there being sponge or foamed orcellularconsistency.

According to the invention, there is also provided a sealing stripfor mounting around the periphery of a door opening closable by a hinged door, comprising a channel-shaped gripping partforembracingly gripping aflangedjoint orthe like running around the periphery of the door opening, and a sealing part made of soft flexible material mounted on and running along an outside wall of the channel-shaped gripping part so as to be supported thereby along the outside of the periphery of the said opening and therebyto be sealingly contacted bytheclosing door, the material of the sealing part being of dual consistency configuration over at least the part of the periphery of the door opening where the closing door exerts a significant shear force on the sealing part, the dual-consistency configuration comprising solid or unfoamed consistency material to which the said shearforce is acutally applied and the other consistency being sponge or foamed orcellularconsistency.

In accordance with the invention, therefore, the sealing part is made of material which is better able to withstand the relative sliding motion which can take place near the hinge axis of 3 hinged doorasthe door closes.

Asealing strip embodying the invention will now be more specifically described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a perspective and sectional view of one of the sealing strips; and Figure2 is a diagrammatic view of a motorvehicle door opening.

As shown in Figure 1, the sealing strip comprises a channel-shaped gripping pa rt 4 and a hol low tubular-shaped sealing part 5, the latter being attached to the outside of one of the side walls of the gripping part.

The gripping part4 comprises extruded plastics or rubber material 6which is extruded over a channelshaped metal core orcarrier8. The metal carrier8 mayforexample be made of U-shaped metal strip elements arranged side-by-side to define a channel and either connected to each other by shortflexible connecting links or disconnected from each other.

Instead, however, it may be made of wire looped to and fro across the channel. Other forms of carrier can be used instead.

The extruded material 6 is extruded so as to define integral longitudinally-extending gripping lips 10.

The gripping lips 10 may be extruded so as to be softerthan the channel-shaped material 6. The gripping lips do not have to be arranged as illustrated. There may be greater or lower numbers of lips on the channel walls.

The sealing part Sin this example is separately extruded and adhesively secured to the outside ofthe gripping part 4. Instead, however, it could be extruded integrally with the material 6 (but again not nec essarilyofthesame hardnessorconsistency).

Advantageously, the gripping part5hasembed- ded within it a substantially inextensible ligament 9 which helps to prevent inadvertent stretching ofthe sealing strip.

Figure 2 showsthevehicle body l4surrounding a door opening 1 6 of the vehicle. The periphery of the door opening is defined by inner and outer metal skins of the body 14which are broughttogetherto form a flanged joint having a distal edge 20 (shown dotted) running around the periphery of the opening and lying generally in, or at least parallel to, the plane ofthe door opening (which plane is of course not necessarilyflat).

The sealing strip is mounted on the vehicle body during manufacture by pressing the gripping part4 onto the flanged joint so thatthe latter is embraced bythe gripping part and its opposite surfaces are contacted by the lips 10 on opposite sides ofthe channel. The resilient bias provided bythe metal carrier 8, in conjunction with the gripping lips 10, holds the gripping part4securelyon theflanged joint. The gripping lips 10 advantageously are made of re lativelysoftmaterial (which may be softer than the channel-shaped material 6), and this relative softness provides improved sealing and gripping quali ties which helpto holdthegripping part firm ly on the flanged joint.

The gripping part4 is placed on theflanged joint so thatthe sealing part 5 runs around the flanged joint on the outside ofthe door opening, as shown in Figure 2.

Therefore, when the door (not shown in Figure 2) ofthe opening closes, it will compress the sealing part 5, that is, partially flattening its tubularshape.

This therefore provides a weather-proof seal running around the periphery of the door opening.

With the form of door opening shown in Figure 2, the doorwould normally be supported on hinges positioned a pproxi mately at A a nd B so that the door would hinge about a generally vertical axis approximately coincident with the left hand edge (as viewed in Figure 2) of the door opening. The door itselfwill have a generally flat peripheral surface which comes into contactwith the sealing part5 (along a region C, see Figure 1) as the door closes. As the door closes, this peripheral surface will approach the region Cofthesealing part 5 in a direction which is substantially perpendiculartothe sealing part 5 over a large partoftheperipheryofthedooropen- ing.However, it will be understood that in regions of theperipheryofthedooropening adjacenttothe hinge axis, the peripheral surface of the door will, in closing, undergo motion relative to the surface of the sealing part 5 which has a substantial sliding component. More specifically, therefore, it will be seen that this peripheral surface ofthe doorwill, in the region ofthe bends or corners D and E (see Figure 2) and in the region ofthe door opening between those bends or corners, slide across the surface of the sealing part in a direction outwardly of the door opening. This sliding motion will of course take place with the peripheral surface of the dooractually in contact with the surface of the sealing part and will therefore applyashearforcetothesealing part.This shear force will distortthe sealing part and, unless precautions are taken, can actually result in tearing the sealing part.

In accordance with thefeature ofthe sealing strip being described, however, the sealing part 5 is extruded so asto have two integral sections of a different consistency material. Referring to Figure 1 ,the material of the sealing part overthe region 5A extending anti-clockwise (as viewed in the Figure) from a notional line 22 to a notional line 24 is extruded so asto be of softsponge orcellular (foamed) consistency, while overthe region 5B extending clockwise from the notional line 22to the notional line 24, the material is extruded so as to be of solid (that is, unfoamed) consistency, though may be of the same hardness/softnessasthespongeorcellularmaterial.

The region 5B encompasses the surface ofthe sealing part overwhich the above-mentioned relative sliding movementtakes place. Such a construction is found to be very advantageous because the solid consistency material, overthe region SB, is much betterabletowithstandthesheerforcegenerated by this sliding motion than is sponge or cellular material. Nevertheless, it is advantageous to use sponge or cellular consistency material overthe remainder ofthesealing part(region 5A) because such material provides increased resilience for enhanced sealing properties.

It will be appreciated thatthe relative extents ofthe two defined regions 5A and 5B ofthe sealing part need not be exactly as shown in Figure 1 but maybe altered as necessary, so asto ensure that the region subjected to the above-mentioned shearforce is or is mainly ofthe solid or unfoamed consistency material.

As explained above, the shearforce is notgener ated by the door over the whole periphery ofthe door opening but only over the region close to the hinge axis. Therefore, it is not in fact necessary for the sealing part5to be constructed in the manner described above, that is, made up of two differentconsistency sections, overthe whole ofthe per iphery ofthe door opening. Thus, the sealing part5 could be ofthis dual consistency design just overthe region of the door opening where the shear force is to be generated. However, in practice, it may be advantageous to extrudethewhole length ofthe sealing partto have this dual-consistency construction.

This simplifies manufacture. In addition, a sealing strip is often supplied to a vehicle manufacturer simply in the form of a real containing a very large length of the strip. The veh icle man ufactu rer then simply cuts off an appropriate lengthfora particular door opening which is then fitted in position. Clearly, in such circumstances it would be unsatisfactory or in practice even impossible, for the sealing strip to be otherthan ofthesameconstructionthroughoutthe whole of its length.

The use of a sealing part made up of two regions, one of sponge or cellular consistency (5A) and the other of solid or unfoamed consistency (5B), is not restricted to arrangements in which the sealing part is tubular. In a case where the sealing part is not tubular, but in the form of a leaf, for example, the above mentioned shearforce can also be generated and there are advantages in forming a section of such a sealing part of solid or unfoamed consistency material, where the shearforce is taken, with the remainderofthesealing part being made of sponge or foamed consistency.

Claims

1. A sealing strip which is mountable around the periphery of an opening closable by a hinged closure member and which has a sealing part extending at least partway around the periphery of the opening, in whichthesealing partoveratleasta region ofthe opening wherethe motion oftheclosurememberrelativeto and in contact with the sealing part in closing the opening has a significant sliding component is of dual-consistencyflexible material, with the consistency ofthe said material subjected to the sliding component being solid or unfoamed and the consistency ofthe remainder ofthe material there being sponge orfoamed orcellularconsistency.

2. A sealing strip according to claim 1, in which the material of the sealing part has the said dual consistency overthe whole of its length.

3. Asealing strip according to claim 1 or2,in which the sealing part is of hollowtubularform with the wall of the tube over partofthetube circumference being of the solid consistency and the wall of the tube over the remainder of its circumference being ofthe other consistency.

4. A sealing stripaccording to any preceding claim, in which the sealing part is mounted on an outside surface of a longitudinally-extending channel-shaped gripping partwhich embracingly grips aflangedjoint orthe like running around the periphery of the said opening.

5. A sealing strip according to claim 4, in which the gripping part comprises a channel-shaped reinforcing carrier embedded within channel-shaped extruded material.

6. A sealing strip according to claim 5, in which the channel-shaped extruded material defines one or more integral gripping lips running along the inside ofthe channel for making sealing and gripping con tact with the flanged joint orthe like.

7. Asealing strip for mounting around the periphery of a door opening closable by a hinged door, comprising a channel-shaped gripping partforembracingly gripped a flanged jointorthe like running around the periphery of the door opening, and a sealing part made of soft flexible material mounted on and running along an outside wall ofthechannel- shaped gripping part so as to be supported thereby along the outside of the periphery ofthe said opening andtherebyto be sealingly contacted bytheclosing door, the material of the sealing part being of dual-consistency configuration over at least the part of the periphery ofthe door opening where the closing door exerts a significant shearforce on the sealing part, the dual-consistency configuration comprising solid or unfoamed consistency material to which the said shearforce is actually applied and the otherconsistencybeingspongeorfoamedorcel- lularconsistency.

8. A sealing strip according to claim 7, in which the sealing parthasthedual-consistencyconfigura- tion along its whole length.

9. Asealing strip according to claim 7 or8, in which the dual-consistency configuration is produced bya dual extrusion process.

10. A sealing strip according to any one of claims 7to 9, in which the channel-shaped gripping part comprises channel-shaped flexible material within which is embedded a channel-shaped reinforcing metal carrier.

11. A sealing strip according to claim 10, in which the channel-shaped soft material is formed by an extrusion process.

12. A sealing strip according to claim 11, in which the channel-shaped material and the material ofthe sealing part are integrally extruded together.

13. A sealing strip according to any one of claims lotto 12, in which the gripping part includes at least one gripping lip running along the inside of the channel and integral with the channel-shaped flexible material.

14. A sealing strip, substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawing.