GB2390636A

GB2390636A - Bullet proof window with closeable access opening

Info

Publication number: GB2390636A
Application number: GB0314778A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Kevin Francis Carroll; Gareth Thomas
Original assignee: Ford Global Technologies LLC
Current assignee: Ford Global Technologies LLC
Priority date: 2002-07-13
Filing date: 2003-06-25
Publication date: 2004-01-14
Anticipated expiration: 2023-06-25
Also published as: ZA200500570B; GB0314778D0; GB0216304D0; AU2003250380A1; GB2390636B; WO2004008060A1

Abstract

A door frame 105 with a window opening is fitted with bullet proof glass 108 which defines an access aperture 114 along at least part of its lower edge 107L, of a width considerably less than the window, and preferably at one side of the window. A moveably bullet proof closure member 110, preferably made of a metallic material such as steel armour plate, can be moved, preferably by sliding, to cover the aperture, which may have a height less than the main window. A seal may be provided between the glass and the closure member, and the junction may be covered by steel armour plate 114. The outer skin of the door frame 105 is preferably a metallic material such as steel armour plate. The access aperture may be used by a vehicle occupant to reach external objects such as a car park entry gate system or an external mirror.

Description

- 1 2390636

A door assembly for a motor vehicle This invention relates to motor vehicles an in particular to a door assembly for an armoured vehicle.

It is known to provide a motor vehicle with armour plating to resist bullet and blast attacks. Such a vehicle, if used on normal roads, must comply with certain standards 5 and regulations which require the provision of armoured or bulletproof glass windows to provide sufficient visibility and the ability to open at least one of the windows in order to adjust the exterior mirrors or open parking barriers or other forms of controlled access without leaving the vehicle.

It is an object of this invention to provide a door assembly for a motor vehicle To having a high resistance to attack but with improved practicality and in a cost effective manner. According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a door assembly for an armoured motor vehicle comprising a door frame defining a window aperture having a height defined by upper and lower edges of the aperture and a width defined by left b and right edges of the aperture, a bullet-proof glass window fixed in the aperture, the bulletproof glass window defining, in combination with at least part of the lower edge of the window aperture, an access aperture of width considerably less than the width of the window aperture, and a moveable bullet-proof closure member which in use selectively closes off the access aperture. This has the advantage that a small 20 aperture is produced which is safer to use.

Advantageously, the bullet-proof closure member is made from a bulletproof material having substantially the same resistance to penetration as the glass of the bullet-proof glass window but with a substantially lower mass per unit area.

Preferably, the bullet-proof closure member is made from a metallic bullet-proof material. Advantageously, the metallic bullet-proof material is steel armour plate. This has the advantage that a relatively thin closure member can be used which is easier to support and is compatible with standard guides, seals and window regulators.

5 The width of the access aperture may be less than half of the width of the window aperture. This helps to reduce the weight of the closure member and helps to maintain an adequate viewing area through the window.

The access aperture may be defined by the bulletproof glass window at least part of the lower edge of the window aperture and at least part of one of the left or right 10 edges of the window aperture. Alternatively, the access aperture may have three sides bounded by the bullet-proof glass and one side bounded by the lower edge of the window aperture.

Preferably, the height of the access aperture is considerably less than. the height of the window aperture, advantageously less than half of the height of the window 15 aperture.

A seal may be provided between the moveable bullet-proof closure member and the bullet-proof glass window.

A strip of steel bullet-proof plate may be positioned to overlie the juncture between the bullet-proof glass window and the moveable bulletproof closure member.

go The moveable bullet-proof closure member may be slidingly supported to allow it to be moved from a closed position in which the access aperture is closed off to an open position in which a least part of the access aperture is open to permit access therethrough.

- 3 The door frame may include an outer skin made from a metallic armour plate material which at least partially defines the window aperture, in which case the metallic armour plate material of the outer door skin may be steel armour plate.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a motor vehicle 5 having a door assembly in accordance with the first aspect of the invention.

According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided a door assembly for a motor vehicle comprising a door frame defining a window aperture having a height defined by upper and lower edges of the aperture and a width defined by front and rear edges of the aperture in which is fixed a bullet-proof glass window, the bulletproof 10 glass window defining in combination with the lower edge of the window aperture an access aperture wherein a bullet-proof closure member made from a material that is lighter than bullet-proof glass is provided to selectively close off the access aperture.

The bullet-proof closure member may be made from steel armour plate.

Alternatively, the bullet-proof closure member may be made from aluminium 15 armour plate or ballistic glass reinforced plastic.

The height of the access aperture may be considerably less than the height of the window aperture.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: o Fig.1 is a side view of a bulletproof door assembly in accordance with the invention; Fig. 2 is a crosssection through a first seal arrangement; Fig. 3 is a cross-section through a second seal arrangement; Fig. 4 is a cross-section through a third seal arrangement; and

-4 Fig. 5 is a cross-section along the line BOB on Fig.1 showing a fourth seal arrangement. With particular reference to Fig.1, there is a door assembly 102 for a motor vehicle (not shown). The motor vehicle is an arrnoured motor vehicle and is protected 5 by body armour to prevent the penetration of bullets into an interior space of the vehicle. The vehicle would have one or more door assemblies 102 pivotally connected to part of the body work of the vehicle to provide access to an interior space of the vehicle. The door assembly comprises a door frame 104 and an outer skin 105 made from a metallic armour plate material such as 4 mm thick steel armour plate, e.g. To Armox (Trade Mark). A door mirror 109 is mounted on the outside of the outer skin 105. The outer skin 105 partially defines a window aperture 106 which is further defined by other components (not shown) of the door frame 104. The height of the window aperture is defined by upper and lower edges 107U and 107L of the aperture and its width is defined by left and right edges 107F and 107R.

15 A bullet-proof glass window 108 is fixed in the window aperture 106 and is made from ballistic grade glass approximately 25 to 40 mm thick depending upon the threat to be countered. The fixed window 108 does not entirely fill the window aperture 106 but defines, in combination with part of the lower edge 107L of the window aperture 106 and part of the right edge 107R, an access aperture 114. The width of the access 20 aperture 114 is considerably less than the width of the window aperture 1 06 and in this particular example is just less than half of the width of the window aperture 106. The choice of the width of the access aperture will depend upon the threat posed to the vehicle but generally the width will be kept to a minimum.

The height of the access aperture 114 is also considerably less than the height of 25 the window aperture 106 and in the example shown is less than half of the height of the window aperture 106. The height of the access aperture 114 is preferably kept as

-5 small as possible to reduce the risk of bullets or other ballistic debris from entering through the access aperture 114.

To prevent bullets or other ballistic debris from passing through the access aperture 114, a moveable bulletproof closure member 110 is provided to selectively s close off the access aperture. The moveable bullet-proof member 110 is made from a bullet-proof metallic material and in this example is made from 4 mm thic c steel armour plate, e.g. Armox (Trade Mark). However, other bulletproof metallic material such as aluminium alloy armour plate or ballistic glass reinforced plastic could be used, the thickness of the material being chosen to suit the specific threat to be countered. In Jo most cases steel armour plate of between 3 and 10 mm would be the preferred choice because the thickness of the material is less than most other suitable materials. For example, if it were required to replaced a 4mm armour plate with aluminium armour, the aluminium armour would need to be 12 mm thick. In the case of ballistic glass reinforced plastic, a thickness of 20 mm would be required. Nevertheless, all of the materials are lighter than a piece of glass of the same width and height and equal resistance to penetration. Such glass needs to be approximately 28 mm thick and for more severe applications, such as resistance to a 7.62mm NATO bullet, glass 36 mm thick is required The moveable bullet-proof closure member 110 is slidingly supported to allow it to go be moved from a closed position in which the access aperture is closed off to an open position in which a least part of the access aperture 114 is open to permit access therethrough. A window regulator (not shown) is attached to the moveable bullet-proof closure member 110 to facilitate movement between the open and closed positions.

Because of the relatively small size of the closure member 110 its weight is such 2s that a standard motor vehicle window regulator can be used to control its movement.

The use of such a regulator is beneficial in so far as the cost of such a regulator is far

- 6 less than if a special regulator has to be constructed. In addition, because the armour plate used for the closure member 110 is approximately the same thickness as standard window glass, proprietary guides can be used to support sliding motion of the closure member 110. Once more this offers a considerable cost saving and in 5 combination with the use of a proprietary window regulator provides a high degree of reliability. Operation of the window regulator allows the closure member 110 to be lowered to open the access aperture 114 and allows thevehicle driver or other occupant to reach out to devices outside of the vehicle without leaving the vehicle. Such devices 10 may include an access device to a car park or the rear view mirror 109 mounted on the outside of the door assembly 102.

In order to prevent water or air from entering the vehicle past the access aperture 114, a seal is provided between the moveable closure member 110 and the fixed bullet-proof glass window 108. A number of alternative seal arrangements are shown 15 in Figs. 2 to 5 and will be described briefly below...DTD: Fig.2 shows a first example of a seal and comprises a recess 116 formed in the edge of the fixed window 108 forming the access aperture 114. A thin strip of rubber 117 is fixed in the bottom of the recess 116 to form a seal when the closure member 110 is engaged with the recess 116.

go Fig.3 shows a second example of a seal and comprises a U-section rubber seal 118 attached to a strip of bullet-proof steel armour plate 119 which is bonded to the fixed window 108. The strip of bullet-proof plate 1 19 is positioned on the outside of the door to overlie the juncture between the fixed bullet-proof glass window 108 and the moveable bullet-proof closure member 110. This ensures that a bullet impacting upon s the strip of bullet-proof plate 119 cannot pass between the fixed bullet-proof window

-7 1 08 and the movable closure member 110 when the closure member 110 is in a closed position. Fig.4 shows a third example of a seal and comprises a U-section rubber seal 115 which is attached to a Z-section strip of bullet-proof steel armour plate 120 which is fixed to the fixed window 108. The strip of bullet-proof plate 120 is fabricated from three flat strips of steel armour plate one of which forms a flange positioned on the outside of the door. The Z-section strip of steel armour overlies the juncture between the fixed bullet-proof glass window 108 and the moveable bullet-proof closure member 110. up Fig.5 is a fourth example of a seal and corresponds to the seal shown on Fig.1.

The seal comprises of a U-section rubber seal 121 which is attached to a strip of.

bullet-proof steel armour plate 122 which is fixed at each end to part of the door frame 104. A U-section rolled steel transom 123 is interposed between the fixed window 108 and the strip 122 of armour plate. The strip of bullet-proof plate 122 is positioned on 15 the outside of the door to overlie the juncture between the fixed bullet-proof glass window 108 and the moveable bullet-proof closure member 110.

The term steel armour plate as used herein may include but is not limited to ARMOX 500 armour plate.

Although the access aperture is preferably located at the rear of the window 20 aperture because it offers the best visibility, especially with respect to the mirror 109, it could also be positioned in the centre of the lower edge of the window aperture or at the front. In the latter case, the access aperture would be defined by the bullet-proof glass window, at least part of the lower edge of the window aperture and at least part of the front edge of the window aperture.

-8 Although the invention has been described with reference to a side door of a motor vehicle it will be appreciated that it could be used on a rear door of a motor vehicle.

Claims

1. A door assembly for an armoured motor vehicle comprising a door frame defining a window aperture having a height defined by upper and lower edges of the aperture and a width defined by left and right edges of the aperture, a bullet-proof glass window fixed in the aperture, the bulletproof glass window defining, in combination with at least part of the lower edge of the window aperture, an access aperture of width considerably less than the width of the window aperture, and a moveable bullet-proof closure member which in use selectively closes off the access aperture.

2. A door assembly as claimed in claim 1 in which the bullet-prmf closure member is made from a bullet-proof material having substantially the same resistance to penetration as the glass of the bullet-proof glass window but with a substantially lower mass per unit area.

3. A door assembly as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 in which the bulletproof closure member is made from a metallic bullet-proof material.

4. A door assembly as claimed in claim 3 in which the metallic bulletproof material is steel armour plate.

5. A door assembly as claimed in any preceding claim in which the width of the access aperture is less than half of the width of the window aperture.

6. A door assembly as claimed in any preceding claim in which the access aperture is defined by the bullet-proof glass window, at least part of the lower edge of the window aperture and at least part of one of the left or right edges of the window aperture.

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7. A door assembly as claimed in any preceding claim in which the height of the access aperture is considerably less than the height of the window aperture.

8. A door assembly as claimed in claim 7 in which the height of the access aperture is less than half of the height of the window aperture.

9. A door assembly as claimed in any preceding claim in which a seal is provided between the moveable bullet-proof closure member and the bulletproof glass window.

10. A door assembly as claimed in any preceding claim in which a strip of steel bullet-

proof plate is positioned to overlie the juncture between the bulletproof glass window and the moveable bullet-proof closure member.

11. A door assembly as claimed in any preceding claim in which the moveable bullet-

proof closure member is slidingly supported to allow it to be moved from a closed position in which the access aperture is closed off to an open position in which a least part of the access aperture is open to permit access therethrough.

12. A door assembly as claimed in any preceding claim in which the door frame includes an outer skin made from a metallic armour plate material which at least partially defines the window aperture.

13. A door assembly as claimed in claim 12 in which the metallic armour plate material of the outer door skin is steel armour plate.

14. A motor vehicle having at least one door assembly as claimed in any preceding claim.

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15. A door assembly substantially as described herein wim reference to the accompanying drawings.

16. A motor vehicle substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.