Weather strip for a sliding type rear door

The invention relates to a weather strip attached to a front end of a rear door of a car which is unfurnished with a center pillar. The front door of the car is turnable about hinges provided at the front end thereof, and the rear door of the car slides back and forth.

A conventional weather strip is described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4 . There has been a conventional car having no center pillars, having a pair of front doors 2 turnable about hinges provided at the front end thereof, and having a pair of rear doors capable of sliding back and forth. In this conventional car, a tapered lip portion 22 is formed on a molded portion 21 of a weather strip of the rear door 1 at the upper end thereof extending towards the front door 2 .

The lip portion 22 secures a sealing performance between the front door 2 , the rear door 1 and a roof side 4 as a tip portion 22 a of the lip portion 22 enters between an opening seal 3 provided along the roof side 4 of a car body and the front door 2 when the rear door 1 is closed.

There is provided a water receiver 23 on the molded portion 21 immediately below the lip portion 22 facing the opening seal 3 . The water receiver 23 catches water e.g. rainwater. The water passes a water drawing port 18 formed on the molded portion 21 of the weather strip 20 and drains through the hollow portion formed in an extrusion molded portion 15 uniformed with the molded portion 21 below the molded portion 21 .

According to the conventional weather strip, since the lip portion 22 is tapered, when the rear door 1 is closed while the front door 2 is closed beforehand, the thin tip end 22 a of the lip portion 22 is forced to slide on the opening seal 3 and a weather strip 16 for the front door 2 . Therefore, the tip end 22 a of the lip portion 22 tends to reverse its posture by the repulsive force generated there. Accordingly, there is formed a gap G between the opening seal 3 and the front door weather strip 16 , decresing a sealing performance of that portion (see FIG. 4 ).

To solve this problem, the tip end 22 a of the lip portion 22 may be formed thicker, thereby preventing the tip end 22 a from being reversed or curled up. However, if the tip end 22 a is made thicker, there will be formed a gap at the front and back sides of the thick tip end, although the thick tip end would not reverse. Thus, the sealing performance will not improve with this means.

The invention has been developed to solve the problem in the conventional weather strip as set forth above, and it is an object of the invention to provide a weather strip for a sliding type rear door in which a lip portion does not reverse its posture or curl up when the rear door is closed.

To achieve the above object, the weather strip 10 for a sliding type rear door according to a first aspect of the invention is applied to a car which is unfurnished with a center pillar, and is furnished with a front door 2 turnable about hinges provided at the front end thereof and with a sliding rear door which slides back and forth. The weather strip is attached to the front end of the rear door 1 and includes a tapered lip portion 12 extending toward the front door 2 . The tapered lip portion 12 is formed on a molded portion 11 of the weather strip formed at the upper end portion thereof. The tapered portion 12 elastically contacts an opening seal 3 attached to a roof side 4 of a car body and a weather strip 16 attached to a rear end of the front door 2 when the rear door 1 is closed. A guide portion 14 is formed at the lower half of the lip portion 12 . The guide portion 13 is thicker than the lip portion 12 , and it contacts the opening seal 3 and the front door weather strip 16 immediately before the tip end 12 a of the tapered lip portion 12 contacts the opening seal 3 and the front door weather strip 16 .

The weather strip according to the second aspect of the invention is characterized in that the guide portion 14 comprises a tapered base portion 14 a and an expansion portion 14 b provided at the front end of the base portion 14 a . The expansion portion 14 b comprises a shape of a semicircular in cross section.

FIG. 1 is a side view of a car having a sliding type rear door;

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of an encircled part II in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a main portion of a conventional weather strip for a rear door;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a problem which arises at the portion taken along the line IV—IV in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a weather strip for a sliding type rear door of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line VI—VI in FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line VII—VII in FIG. 5 .

A weather strip 10 for a sliding type rear door is described now with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 and FIGS. 5 to 7 . The weather strip 10 is attached to a front end portion of a rear door 1 of a car. The car is unfurnished with a center pillar. The front door 2 of the car is turnable about hinges provided at the front end thereof, and the rear door 1 of the car slides back and forth.

The weather strip 10 includes a tapered lip portion 12 which extends towards the front door 2 . The tapered lip portion 12 is formed on a molded portion 11 of the weather strip 10 formed at the upper end thereof. The tapered portion 12 elastically contacts an opening seal 3 attached to a roof side 4 of a car body and a weather strip 16 attached to a rear end of the front door 2 when the rear door 1 is closed. A water receiver 13 is provided immediately below the lip portion 12 .

A guide portion 14 is formed on the weather strip 10 at about a lower half of the lip portion 12 toward the water receiver 13 . The guide portion 14 is thicker than the lip portion 12 . The guide portion 14 has a length and a thickness which is set such that it can contact the opening seal 3 and the front door weather strip 16 immediately before a tip end 12 a of the lip portion 12 contacts the opening seal 3 and the front door weather strip 16 , when the rear door 1 is closed in a state where the front door 2 is closed in advance.

That is, the guide portion 14 comprises a tapered base portion 14 a and an expansion portion 14 b which is provided at the front end of the base portion 14 a . The expansion portion 14 b has a semicircular shape in cross section and expands toward the front door weather strip 16 . The expansion portion 14 b contacts with the opening seal 3 and the front door weather strip 16 immediately before the tip end 12 a of the lip portion 12 contacts the opening seal 3 and the front door weather strip 16 , when the rear door 1 is closed after the front door 2 is closed.

Since the guide portion 14 is formed at about a lower half of the lip portion 12 , the height of the tip end 12 a of the lip portion 12 is substantially half of the tip end 22 a of the conventional lip portion 22 . Depicted 17 in FIG. 5 is a central core extraction hole which is needed when the weather strip 10 is molded. The hole is utilized as a drainage port after it is attached to the rear door 1 . Water caught by the water receiver 13 passes through the water drawing port 18 and is guided towards the drainage port 17 , and is discharged downward through the hollow portion of the extrusion molded portion 15 .

When the rear door 1 comprised with the weather strip 10 for the sliding type rear door is closed by sliding in a forward direction while the front door 2 is closed, the guide portion 14 contacts the opening seal 3 and the front door weather strip 16 immediately before the tip end 12 a of the lip portion 12 contacts them (see FIG. 7 ).

As a result, the guide portion 14 slightly widens or expands the interval between the opening seal 3 and the front door weather strip 16 so that the tip end 12 a of the lip portion 12 can easily enter the interval therebetween. Further, since the expansion portion 14 b is formed semicircular in cross section, it can expand the interval between the opening seal 3 and the front door weather strip 16 with low resistance.

Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the tip end 12 a of the lip portion 12 from sliding hard on the surfaces of the opening seal 3 and the front door weather strip 16 , so that the tip end 12 a of the lip portion 12 does not reverse nor curl up (see FIG. 6 ). As a result, the opening seal 3 , the front door weather strip 16 and the weather strip 10 can make an intimate contact with one another, so that a sealing performance therebetween can be kept excellently.

Further, since the guide portion 14 is formed at substantially the lower half of the lip portion 12 , a rigidity of the lip portion 12 can be enhanced. This is also effective in preventing the tip end 12 a of the lip portion 12 from being reversed or curled up.

According to the weather strip 10 for a sliding type rear door of the present invention, the guide portion 14 is provided at about the lower half of the lip portion 12 , which is formed thicker than the lip portion 12 and which contacts both the opening seal 3 and front door weather strip 16 immediately before the tip end 12 a of the lip portion 12 contacts them when the rear door 1 is closed. Therefore, the tip end 12 a of the lip portion 12 can be prevented from being reversed or curled up. As a result, the sealing performance between the opening seal 3 , the front door weather strip 16 and the weather strip 10 improves.

Further, since the thick guide portion 14 is provided at the lip portion 12 , a rigidity of the lip portion 12 can be enhanced. This is also effective in preventing the tip end 12 a of the lip portion 12 from being reversed or curled up, so that the sealing performance further improves.

The disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-075700 including specification, claims, and drawings, is incorporated herein by reference.