GB2267063A

GB2267063A - A folding roof assembly.

Info

Publication number: GB2267063A
Application number: GB9210497A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Geoffrey Henry Duncan Fox
Original assignee: Ford Motor Co
Current assignee: Ford Motor Co
Priority date: 1992-05-14
Filing date: 1992-05-14
Publication date: 1993-11-24
Anticipated expiration: 2012-05-14
Also published as: DE4308385C2; GB2267063B; GB9210497D0; DE4308385A1

Abstract

On a vehicle with a folding roof 22, the front edge of the roof is connected to a front cross member 28 by locking mechanisms 40, mounted to the front of the folding roof, which are operated automatically by a tension wire 50 pulled by a remote actuator, preferably a piston/cylinder unit, (54, Fig. 1). The wire 50 passes through a pocket or sleeve 56 at the edge of the roof to resist any tendency of the roof to lift at the sides of the vehicle. The piston/cylinder unit 54 may be operated automatically when the roof is raised. <IMAGE>

Description

2267063 A FOLDING ROOF ASSEMBLY This invention relates to a f olding roof

assembly f or a motor vehicle which has a fabric roof cover supported by a f olding roof f rame which can be f olded down to a stowed position or erected to cover the passenger compartment of the vehicle.

It is conventional for such folding roof assemblies to be stowed in a compartment behind the passenger compartment and to have one end fixed to the vehicle body at the rear waist area. When the roof assembly is erected, the free, front end of the assembly is pulled forwards towards the front of the vehicle, and the f ront edge of the roof is locked to the vehicle body at the upper f ront edge of the windscreen. Manually operated clamps are provided to lock the front edge of -the roof to the top of the windscreen, and it is conventional to provide one clamp at either side of the vehicle.

Although power-operated roofs are known, in which the action of pulling the roof from its stowed position to its erected position is accomplished by a roof raising mechanism, it has always been necessary to manually operate the clamps which complete the job of erecting the roof to the closed vehicle condition.

According to the present invention, there is provided a folding roof assembly for a motor vehicle, the assembly comprising a folding roof and a lock mechanism for locking a front edge of the roof to the vehicle bodywork when the roof is erected, the lock assembly comprising pairs of inter-engaging members with one member of each pair mounted on the front edge of the roof and the other member mounted on the vehicle bodywork, the members mounted on the roof being moveable between locked and unlocked positions by a remotely mounted actuator which is connected to the respective member by a tension cable.

64 5 The actuator for the lock mechanism inevitably has a certain mass, and it is desirable to mount this mass low down in the vehicle, and to avoid unnecessarily cluttering the area where the front edge of the roof meets the vehicle bodywork.

By remote mounting of the actuator and the use of a tension cable to connect the actuator to the lock members, it becomes possible to mount the actuating member in a wide variety of different positions on the vehicle.

The actuator is preferably mounted on a roof frame member, close to the compartment in which the roof is stowed. The actuator may be a hydraulic cylinder which. when operated, pulls on a wire to actuate the locking members. The wires are preferably fed along channels in the fabric cover of the roof at the sides of the roof above the side windows of the vehicle. Location of the wires in this way has a secondary but important advantage which will be explained in the following.

When a vehicle with a folding roof travels at speed, an aerodynamic effect tends to inflate the roof, and the fabric cover bulges up in the centre with the result that the fabric lifts up and away from the tops of the side windows.

After a time the fabric roof cover may become permanently stretched and this is unsightly and, in extreme cases, can lead to water sealing problems. The use of a tensioned wire cable running along the side edges of the fabric cover immediately above the windows resists this distortion of the cover, because when the roof is erected the wires are in tension and this tends to keep the edges of the cover in their designed positions.

The moveable locking members preferably comprise a pivoted arm which at one end has a formation for engagement with the fixed locking members, and at the other end is connected to a tension cable. with the pivot point being located between 5 the ends of the arm.

A torsion spring acts on the arm to bias it into a f irst angular position, and the tension cable runs from an end of the arm and around a fixed point so that when the cable is placed in tension., the cable pulls the end of the arm towards the fixed point, against the force of the torsion spring.

The remotely mounted actuator is preferably operated automatically when the roof is in its completely raised position, so that locking of the roof takes place as an integral, final step in the process of raising the roof. A microswitch may be arranged to switch on the actuator when it is sensed that the roof has been completely raised and the inter-engaging members are close enough to one another to engage when the actuator is operated.

Spring-loading may be provided between the moveable member and the roof frame, with the spring-loading being arranged so that a spring is compressed as the lock mechanism is engaged, and so that the spring expands to allow separation of the inter-engaging members, when the lock mechanism is to be released so that the roof can be lowered.

The invention will now be further described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a side view of the upper half of a vehicle 35 which incorporates a folding roof assembly; Figures 2, 3 and 4 are cross-sectional views of the front of a vehicle roof showing the roof firstly in the raised but not locked position, and secondly in the raised and locked position; Figure 5 shows the roof frame with the cover omitted; and Figure 6 is a cross-section through part of the raised roof, on the lines IV-IV from Figure 1.

Figure 1 shows the upper part of a car which has a windscreen 10, a side door 12 and a rear quarter 14. The side door 12 has a window glass 16 and the rear quarter has a window glass 18 separated from the glass 16 by a B-pillar 20. In some vehicles with folding roofs, the B-pillar is omitted. A folding roof 22 covers the passenger compartment and is anchored at the rear to the rear quarter panel 14 at 24 and across the back of the vehicle at 26. At the front, the roof is secured to a cross rail 28 above the windscreen 10. The roof 22 is formed by a fabric cover 23 over a folding roof frame 25, as will be described in the following.

Figure 5 shows the roof frame 25 with a front cross member 30 and three transverse roof supports 32. The roof is supported on a strut arrangement 34 and includes side rails 36. In Figure 5 the strut 34 and side rails 36 are shown on only one side of the frame. The roof frame includes a number of mutually articulated links which, in a known manner. allow the roof frame to be collapsed or erected. The frame is connected to the vehicle bodywork through a mounting plate 38 and, when erected, is secured to the cross member 28 by locking members 40. When raising and lowering of the roof is to be carried out under automatic control, a hydraulic cylinder 42 is connected between a fixed point on the vehicle bodywork and a point on the frame so that when the cylinder 42 is extended, the frame is lifted.

A fabric cover 23 will be attached to the frame and to the vehicle bodywork in a known manner.

When the roof is raised, it is necessary to operate the locking mechanisms 40 to secure the front edge of the roof to the cross member 28. This is conventionally done by manual operation of locking levers mounted on the roof frame cross member 30 or on the frame side rails 36.

Figure 2 shows the position taken up by the leading edge of 15 the roof when it has been fully raised, for example by the hydraulic cylinder 42. The leading edge of the roof is pItioned above and slightly behind its final position.

osi The locking mechanism 40 comprises a housing 41 fixed to the underside of the roof and a slide 43 mounted in the housing and biased towards the cross member 28 by a spring 45. A detent arm 44 is pivoted on the slide 43. on the cross member 28, a hook 46 is fitted, together with a weatherseal 48. In Figure 2 the detent arm 44 is shown in its initial position; in Figure 3 the arm 44 is shown raised into an intermediate position which is achieved by pulling on an operating wire 50. The operating wire 50 passes around a fixed peg 52 on the slide 43 so that tension in the wire causes the arm 44 to be rotated in a clockwise direction. When further tension is applied to the wire 50 to rotate the arm 44 still further, the leading edge of the roof is pulled up firmly against the front member 28 into contact with the weatherseal 48 and the spring 45 is compressed. The spring is held compressed by the tension in the wire 50, all the time that the roof is in its erected position.

6 The wire 50 extends along the side rail 36 of the frame, and the tension is applied to the wire by means of a hydraulic cylinder 54 (Figure 5). operation of the cylinder 54 can be triggered once the frame has been completely extended by the 64 5 cylinder 42, using a microswitch which responds to a particular position of a particular frame member. In this way the roof can be raised completely by the cylinder 42, and when the cylinder 42 has reached the end of its travel then the cylinder 54 can be operated to automatically complete the roof raising operation by making the connection between the front edge of the roof and the cross member 28.

The wire 50 remains in tension whilst the roof is raised, to keep the locking mechanism 40 engaged with the hook 46. The wire 50 extends parallel to the side rail 36 and passes through a sleeve 56 at the edge of the roof cover 23. The tension in the wire 50 and the compression of the spring 45 is effective to resist any tendency for the roof cover 23 to stretch and to lift above the window seal 60 and the side rail 36.

With the wire 50 arranged as shown in Figure 1, where the wire has to change direction above the top corner of the window glass 18, it will be necessary to provide some form of wire guide fixed to the frame so that the wire tension acts in a substantially straight line across the tops of the windows 16 and 18. Because the wire so will be assembled inside the sleeve 56 on the roof cover 23, it may be necessary to provide the inner face of the sleeve 56 with cut-outs above the top corner of the window 18, so that the wire can be located on these guides.

Because the spring 45 will be compressed when the roof is in its final position as shown in Figure 4, the spring will also be effective to give some separation between the arm 44 and the hook 46 when the roof is to be lowered. As soon as the tension in the wire 50 is released, the spring will push the slide 43 out of the housing 41, to allow the hook and the arm to be pushed apart so that they can be disengaged (4 5 before the roof is lowered.

8

Claims

1. A folding roof assembly for a motor vehicle, the assembly comprising a folding roof and a lock mechanism for locking a f ront edge of the roof to the vehicle bodywork when the roof is erected, the lock assembly comprising pairs of inter-engaging members with one member of each pair mounted on the front edge of the roof and the other member mounted on the vehicle bodywork, the members mounted on the roof being moveable between locked and unlocked positions by a remotely mounted actuator which is connected to the respective member by a tension cable.

2. A folding roof assembly as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the actuator is mounted on a roof f rame member, close to the compartment in which the roof is stowed.

3. A folding roof assembly as claimed in Claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the actuator is a hydraulic cylinder which, when operated, pulls on a wire to actuate the locking members.

4. A folding roof assembly as claimed in claim 3, wherein the wires are passed along channels in the fabric cover of the roof at the sides of the roof above the side windows of the vehicle.

5. A f olding roof assembly as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the moveable locking members each comprise a pivoted arm which at one end has a formation for engagement with the f ixed locking members, and at the other end is connected to a tension cable, with the pivot point being located between the ends of the arm.

6. A folding roof assembly as claimed in Claim 5, wherein a torsion spring acts on the arm to bias it into a f irst 9 angular position, and the tension cable runs from an end of the arm and around a fixed point so that when the cable is placed in tension, the cable pulls the end of the arm towards the fixed point, against the force of the torsion to 5 spring.

7. A folding roof assembly as claimed in any precedng claim, wherein the remotely mounted actuator is operated automatically when the roof is in its completely raised position, so that locking of the roof takes place as an integral, final step in the process of raising the roof.

8. A folding roof assembly as claimed in Claim 7, wherein a microswitch is arranged to switch on the actuator when it is sensed that the roof has been completely raised and the inter-engaging members are close enough to one another to engage when the actuator is operated.

9. A folding roof assembly as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein spring-loading provided between the moveable member and the roof frame, with the spring-loading being arranged so that a spring is compressed as the lock mechanism is engaged, and so that the spring expands to allow separation of the inter-engaging members, when the lock mechanism is to be released.

10. A folding roof assembly substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.