GB2248649A - Vehicle sliding door - Google Patents

Abstract

Sliding door system for vehicles has the weight of the door suspended from the rigid roof of the vehicle on a track 20 through two arms 30, 36, the front arm 30 located as far forward as the vehicle package permits, and the rear arm at the rear edge of the door. A second, steadying track (48, fig. 36) is sited behind the door and lower down on the body side. A torsion bar 42 interconnects upper and lower swing arms and a torsion bar 52 connects the upper arms and the vehicle door. Torsion springs 44, 46 swing the door out of its aperture. <IMAGE>

Description

SLIDING DOORS This invention relates to sliding doors for automotive use. A particular application of the invention is to a driver's door for a commercial vehicle. Other applications are envisaged.

There is a requirement for a sliding door system to meet the requirements of a commercial vehicle drivers' door. This will need to suit the original equipment manufacturers' flush fitting drop glass standard door. Vehicles for which such a system would be used will probably have a modern raked windscreen, and will invariably include a wheel arch intruding into the door aperture. It is desirable for such a system to be suitable for packaging into an original vehicle design and to be manufactured in the vehicle manufacturing plant, or added as a simple bodybuilder conversion, without excessive body rework.

In such a sliding door system, the controlling mechanism needs to be suitable for any vehicle type, shape or size, and indeed the possibility of various non-automotive applications should not be forgotten. It is desirable to be able to cope with relatively large door overhangs, such as might be encountered on vehicles with extreme windscreen rake. The original equipment manufacturers's latches and locks need to be retained. It may be desirable to relocate the door handle at the leading edge and to revise the linkage to suit. Where possible, a simple and positive and cost-effective mortice and tenon system is desirable to secure the leading edge of the door in order to meet anti-burst legal requirements, and thus avoid the need for a second lock.

In GB 2, 156, 414B, there is disclosed a swing-out sliding door assembly for a vehicle. In this prior proposal, only a rear portion of the door is supported on the torsion bar assembly, whereas I have identified a need for the whole weight of the door assembly to be supported on the upper tract, with the lower track serving for steadying purposes.

The prior proposal thus carries the weight of the door at the rear, and the weight of the front portion of the door assembly is taken by a separate track. This leads to significant shortcomings in performance.

An object of the present invention is to provide a sliding door, and an associated sliding door assembly, offering improvements in relation to one or more of the matters identified herein, or generally.

According to the invention there is provided a sliding door, and/or a sliding door assembly as defined in the accompanying claims.

In a preferred embodiment, a forward control vehicle has a sliding door. When the door is open, it is suspended from the rigid roof-mounted track by two arms. The front arm is sited as far forward as the vehicle package permits, and the rear arm at the rear edge of the door. A second or steadying track is sited behind the door and lower down the side of the body, for example just above the front wheel arc. The upper and lower rear arms are rigidly connected by a torsion bar.

Both the upper swing arms have torsion springs to swing the door out of the aperture. These springs hold the swing arms out against stops in the rolling mode. The carried rolling movement inside the tracks is checked and held during the swing mode by stops and ball catches on the track engaging with strikers and indents on the carriage. The rear edge of the door is held shut by the original equipment manufacturers' latch. An automatic shoot-bolt system holds the front edge of the door shut. The shoot bolt can not be released other than by releasing the rear edge of the door, and thus the original equipment manufacturer's lock is sufficient.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which : Fiss 1 and 2 show a vehicle with a sliding door system in its closed and open positions, respectively; Figs 3A, 3B and 3C show perspective views of the sliding door system of Figs 1 and 2 illustrating its movement from the door closed configuration in Fig 3A to the door open configuration in Fig 3C; Figs 4A to 4F show stages in the use of an automatic shoot-bolt secondary door latch system.

As shown in the drawings a vehicle 10 comprises a sliding door system 12 having a door 14 slidable across an opening 16 adjacent to a wheel arch 18 of the vehicle.

As shown in Figs 3A, 3B and 3C, sliding door system 12 comprises an upper track 20 mounted on the vehicle roof 22.

The track comprises a system of rollers or ball races, or a continuous balls system to provide free sliding rolling movement for the door 14. The track is rigidly attached to the roof 22.

A carriage 24 is mounted in track 20 to run on the rollers or balls. A stop and ball catch 26 is provided towards one end of the track. A striker and ball indent 28 is mounted on carriage 24. When the striker hits the track stop 26, balls on the track engage in the carriage indents and hold the carriage in place.

An upper front swing arm 30 is pivotally mounted on a bracket 32 carried by carriage 24, and is connected to door 14 through support brackets 34 on the door. An upper rear swing arm 36 is pivotally connected to a rear carriage bracket 38 and connected to a lower rear swing arm 40 by a torsion bar 42 which supports the rear of door 14 through suitable brackets. Torsion bar 42 interconnects the upper and lower swing arms 36 and 40. A torsion spring 44 acts between door 14 and upper swing arm 36 in order to swing the door 14 out of aperture 16, and to hold the swing arms against stops in the rolling mode of the door. A corresponding torsion spring 46 is provided for swing arm 30, for the same reason.

A lower track 48 is provided on the side of vehicle 10.

This trick is similar to upper track 20. A carriage 50 on track 48 is likewise provided with a striker and ball indent.

Torsion bar 42 connecting the upper and lower rear swing arms ensures that they swing together, and that the carriage stops and the ball catches operate simultaneously. Front swing arm 30 has a corresponding front torsion bar 52 connected by a bracket 54 to door 14.

Lower track 48 has carriage stop and ball catches, in a manner similar to the upper track.

Operation of the sliding door system will now be described.

In the door open position shown in Fig 3C, the door 14 is suspended from the swing arms 30, 36 from the upper track 20, and is steadied by the swing arm 40 on the lower track 48.

-All the swing arms are held out against stops on their carriage brackets by the torsion springs 44, 46.

Both of the carriages are free to roll forward carrying the door over the aperture 16. At a predetermined position, the catch balls ride up onto the carriage strikers, and as the strikers abut the track stops, the balls drop into the carriage indents, locking both of the carriages in position.

With the carriages thus held, the forward momentum of the door carries it onwards, overcoming the torsion spring preload and swinging the door on the swing arms into the body aperture 16. The torsion bar 42 connecting the upper and lower rear swing arms ensures that the door is fully controlled during this critical movement.

In the door closed position shown in Fig 3A, to open a door is basically- the reverse of the above-described sequence of operations, but modified by the requirement to operate the shoot-bolt, described below.

Referring to Figs 4A to 4F, these show a secondary locking system holding the leading edge 60 of the door 14.

This mechanism does not require to be linked to the handle release mechanism of the door. Its release is an automatic function of the door release. When the original equipment manufacturer's latch is released, the compliance in the various bearings allows the rear edge of the door to start to swing out, as shown in Fig 4B, under the force of the torsion springs 44 and 46. As the rear edge 62 of the door swings out, the push rod end 64 clears the rear pillar of the door aperture, allowing the shoot bolt assembly 66 to be pushed rearwards by the main spring 68. This disengages the shoot bolt from the front pillar, and the shoot bolt is retained inside the front end of the push rod.

When the door is closing, theoretically the front and rear edges will close together, as indicated at Fig 4D. At this point the cam surface on the rear pillar will shunt the shoot bolt assembly 66 forwards, while a similarly prepared surface on the front pillar will compress the shoot bolt assembly until the door closes, allowing the bolt to expand into the hole in the front pillar, thus securing the leading edge of the door.

If the rear edge of the door closes first, the shoot bolt is shunted forward, as indicated at Fig 4E, and then as the door continues to swing into the aperture under the closing momentum, the shoot bolt is compressed again by the ramp surface on the front pillar, until the door closes and the shoot bolt drops into the hole in the front pillar, thus securing its front edge.

If the front edge of the door closes first, then the shoot bolt is allowed to enter the hole in the front pillar before the push rod edge contacts the rear pillar surface and shunts the shoot bolt assembly forward, as indicated at Fig 4F, thus holding the shoot bolt in its hole and securing the door's leading edge.

Interestingly, the above embodiments provide the following notable features : a) the front swing arm 30 carries most of the weight of the door 14, and hence its design and positive connection to the door is of considerable significance; b) the torsion bar 42 and its connection to the rear upper swing arm 36 and the lower swing arm 40 plays an important role in controlling the door during its swing mode; c) the torsion springs 44 and 46 store torque in order to ensure that the swing arms are held out against the holdopen stops, thus swinging the door out of the aperture even if the vehicle is on an adverse camber;; d) the carriage control stops with their ball catches 26 on the tracks, and the strikers and indents 28 are not in themselves "fool-proof", and as such should preferably be suitably designed for the purpose with a built-in "blocker system" preventing the swing arms 30 and 36 swinging until the ball catches trip the "blockers" out; and e) the automatic shoot bolt system of Figs 4A to 4F does not require any connecting linkage to either of the inside or outside door release handles, and consequently does not increase the release "hand" pressure which would inevitably be associated with a second latch system.

Amongst other modifications which could be made in the above embodiments are the provision of the reverse arrangement in which the tracks are removed from the body of the vehicle and attached to the inside of the vehicle door.

Correspondingly, the torsion bar assembly can be mounted on the body itself of the vehicle and connected through the carriages to the tracks mounted on the door. In this way, the carriages are hidden behind and inside the door, and are thus less exposed.

Claims (7)

1 A mounting for a vehicle sliding door comprising an upper weight carrying track and a lower steadying track.

2 A mounting for a vehicle sliding door comprising front and rear swingable mounting arms connected to track means, and associated torsion springs to swing the door out of its aperture.

3 A mounting for a vehicle sliding door comprising upper and lower swingable arms connected to track means, the upper and lower arms being interconnected by a torsion bar to effect simultaneous swinging movement.

4 A mounting for a vehicle sliding door comprising a shoot-bolt system which operates automatically as a function of release of the door.

5 A mounting according to any one of the preceding claims characterised in that track means for the sliding door is mounted on the inside of the vehicle door.

6 A mounting according to any one of the preceding claims characterised in that said torsion bar means is adapted to be mounted on the vehicle body and connected through carriages to track means mounted on the door.

7 A mounting for a vehicle sliding door substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.