Open-Top Vehicle Body

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a vehicle body and more particularly to an open-top vehicle body. More specifically, the present invention pertains to means for preventing an air stream from blowing into a front passenger compartment while the vehicle is running, with the means being easily retractable without bulking in the compartment.

In the open-top or so called cabriolet type vehicles, there are generally provided with retractable roof structures which can be moved between an extended position of the vehicle where the roof structure covers the top portion of the vehicle body and a retracted position where the roof structure is retracted into the vehicle rear body section to open the top portion of the vehicle body. In the extended position, the roof structure is secured to the front edge portion of a front windshield. When the vehicle is operated so that the roof structure is retracted to open the top portion of the body, an air flow toward the compartment is shut off by the front windshield. However the height of the windshield is restricted in order to reduce an air resistance during running and for a good external appearance so that there is produced a problem that a part of an air flow deflected upwardly by the windshield produces a downward and turbulent flow in the vicinity of the rear seat and is directed from the rear body forwardly to the passenger compartment. Such forwardly directed air stream chills the passengers in the front seats uncomfortably. In order to eliminate this problem, there has been proposed for instance, a structure of a windshield provided with an air deflector which is projected upwardly from the upper end of the windshield to thereby divert the air stream upwardly from the passenger compartment. However, in the proposed structure, the deflector become an obstacle when the roof structure is moved to the extended position so that the deflector is needed to be removed in the extended position of the roof structure. In constituting such removable deflector, the deflector is subjected to a severe wind pressure during running of the vehicle so that the removable deflector is necessary to be mounted on the windshield rigidly. This means that the fixing structure of the deflector becomes complicated undesirably. Additionally, it is necessary to prepare a space for the deflector.

In this connection, Japanese Utility Model Public Disclosure No. 61-59121 laid-open to the public on Apr. 21, 1986, discloses an air flow deflecting device provided with a deflector which is mounted on the front windshield to move in the up and down direction. The deflector is adapted to project or retract in the windshield in response to the operation of the retractable roof structure.

In the structure disclosed in the Japanese Utility Model application, the deflector is retracted downwardly to be overlapped with the upper portion of the windshield when the roof structure covers the passenger compartment so that the deflector reduces the visual range of the passengers through the front windshield. This reduced visual range would be uncomfortable to the passengers.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an open-top or convertible vehicle body in which an air stream directed from the rear part of the vehicle body forwardly to the front passenger compartment can be prevented.

It is another object of the invention to provide a shield device for preventing a turbulent air flow from being introduced to the passenger compartment, which device can be easily retracted into the vehicle body.

It is further object of the invention to provide an open-top vehicle body structure having a shield device rearward of passenger seats for blocking an air stream toward the passenger compartment.

According to the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by an open-top vehicle body including a front windshield, a passenger compartment defined rearward of the front windshield, side walls defining opposite side ends of the passenger compartment and having upper edges defining side belt lines, a floor panel defining a bottom end of the passenger compartment, passenger seat members disposed in the passenger compartment, a shield member placed rearward of the seat members and extended across the belt lines in the up and down direction, said shield member being disposed in the traverse direction of the vehicle body and constituted by a rigid panel member so as to prevent a swirling wind blast which flows from the rearward of the passenger compartment into the passenger compartment forwardly, and said shield member being movably mounted on the vehicle body by supporting means so that the shield member swings forwardly from an upright position where the shield member projects from the belt lines upward to block the wind blast into the passenger compartment to a retracted position where the shield member is retracted under the belt line to allow the wind blast to flow forward into the passenger compartment.

The supporting member may be located in the vicinity of a member of vehicle body, such as side wall, floor panel and the passenger seat member at a level lower than the upper end of the passenger seat member. The shield member is lower than the upper end of the passenger seat member at the retracted position and higher than that at the upright position. The shield member is preferably disposed along the surface of the vehicle body when the shield member is in the retracted position.

The seat member is constituted by a seat and seat back of which angular position can be pivotally adjusted. Preferably, the shield member can be pivotally moved between the upright position and the retracted position when the seat back swings forwardly.

The shield member has such a curved configuration that the shield member lies along the floor panel at the retracted position thereof.

The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following descriptions of preferred embodiments taking reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1(a) is a schematically longitudinally sectional view of a convertible vehicle body in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1(b) is a schematically transversely sectional view of the vehicle body shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a vehicle to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a partially perspective view showing specifically the rear portion of the compartment of the vehicle in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a partially sectional view showing an aero-board.

FIG. 5 is a detailed perspective view of a connecting portion of the aero-board shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing stream lines of a wind blast passing through the sides of the vehicle.

FIG. 7 is a similar view to FIG. 3 in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8(a) is a sectional view of the aero-board 3 of the embodiment of FIG. 7 taken along a line A--A in FIG. 9(a).

FIG. 8(b) is a sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 7 taken along a line B--B in FIG. 9(a).

FIG. 8(c) is a sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 7 taken along a line C--C in FIG. 9(a).

FIG. 9(a) is a detailed perspective view showing specifically a connecting portion of the aero-board of the embodiment of FIG. 7 at the upright position.

FIG. 9(b) is a similar perspective view to FIG. 9(b) but showing the retracted position of the aero-board.

Referring now to the drawings, particularly to FIG. 1(a), 1(b) and 2, there is shown a convertible type vehicle 1 provided with a pair of seat devices 2 disposed in the front portion of a passenger compartment 9 and an aero-board or shield member 3 which is retractable into the rear portion of the compartment 9. The vehicle 1 is provided with a retractable roof structure 13 with a hard roof portion 13a and rear windshields 13b which is adapted covered by a cover member 14 when the roof structure is folded to be retracted so as to open the compartment.

The vehicle 1 is also provided with a floor panel 7 constituted by a front panel portion 4, a wall portion 5 extending upwardly from the rear end of the front panel portion 4 and a rear panel portion or spare tire cover trim 6 for a spare tire T extending rearwardly from the upper end of the wall portion 5. The vehicle is further provided with a front windshield 8 defining the front end of the compartment 9. On the front windshield, a rear view mirror 8a is mounted. The seat device 2 provided on the front panel portion 4 is constituted by a seat 2a, a seat back 2b and a head rest 2c. The seat device 2 is slidably mounted on the front panel portion 4 in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle 1 by means of a slider mechanism 2d. The seat back 2b can be adjusted in the reclining angle thereof through the reclining mechanism 2e. The aero-board 3 is disposed transversely at the front edge portion 10 of the rear panel portion 6. The aero-board 3 can swing around an transverse axis 3a positioned at an end of the aero-board 3. The aero-board 3 is constituted by a rigid and opaque resin member. The aero-board 3, as shown in FIG. 1(b) is disposed in a manner that the level h.sub.0 of the upper end of the aero-board 3 is higher than the level h.sub.1 of belt lines defined by the upper ends of side panels or side door panels 4a and lower than the level h.sub. 2 of the upper end of the windshield 8. The side panel 4a can receive a side windshield 4b therein. The front panel portion 4 is connected to side sills 4c at the opposite ends. In addition, the level h.sub.0 of the aero-board is lower than the level h.sub.3 of the upper end of the seat devices 2 by a certain amount so as to enable the passenger in the seat devices 2 to look out the rearward of the vehicle.

The aero-board 3, as shown in FIG. 1(a), can swing between an upright position shown by a real line and a retracted position shown by a broken line where the aero-board 3 is extended downwardly from the pivot axis 3a along the wall portion 5.

The aero-board 3, as shown in FIG. 3, is secured to a connecting portion 10 between the wall portion 5 and the rear panel portion 6 by means of connecting devices 20 so as to swing between the upright position and the retracted position. In the case where the aero-board 3 is in the upright position when the vehicle 1 is running, the connecting devices 20 assure that the aero-board 3 subjected to the wind blast is maintained at the upright position In retracting the aero-board 3, the seat backs 2b swings to be inclined forwardly prior to the aero-board 3 swings forwardly to the retracted position Thereafter, the seat backs 2b are returned to the places where they were.

The connecting device 20, as shown in FIG. 4 and 5 is constituted by a fastener band 28 fixed to the aero-board 3, and a L-shaped shaft 21 secured to the fastener band 28 at one end portion and fixed to the front end portion 10 of the panel 6 at the other end portion thereof through a bracket 22 so that the aero-board 3 can be swingably moved. The bracket 22 is fixed to the front end portion 10 of the panel 6 by screws 23 at the lower end thereof There are formed cutout portions 24 at the lower edge portion of the aero-board 3 as shown in FIG. 3 to thereby form a journal portion 25 at one side thereof and a rectangular opening 26 as shown in FIG. 5. A cover member 27 is applied to the opening 26. The tip end portion of the shaft 21 is connected to the back side of the cover member 27 through the fastener band 28 so that the aero-board 3 can be swingably moved when a force more than a predetermined value is applied thereto. The fastener band 28 is mounted on the back side of the cover member 27 by means of an adjustable screw 29. The fastener band 28 is brought into a frictional engagement with the shaft so that the aero-board 3 can be stably maintained at any angular position between the upright position and the retracted position. The frictional engagement force between the fastener band 28 and the shaft can be adjustable by controlling the fixing torque applied to the screw 29. As a result, even where the seat device 2 is moved resulting from the operation of the slider mechanism 2d and/or the reclining mechanism 2e, the aero-board 3 does not interfere with such movement of the seat device 2 maintaining a position close thereto so that the aero-board 3 is effected to block a swirling air blast which is introduced from the sides of the vehicle body into the compartment.

In the case where the convertible roof structure 13 is folded into the rear part of the vehicle 1 being covered by the cover member 14 and where the vehicle 1 is running, a wind blast is deflected by the front windshield 8 and a part of the wind blast is directed forwardly in the form of a swirling stream 11 along the cover member 14 into the compartment 9 as shown in FIG. 1. In the illustrated embodiment, the swirling stream 12 can be deflected to the rearward of the vehicle 1 as shown by a real line in FIG. 1(a) by maintaining the aero-board 3 at the upright position wherein the aero-board 3 has a substantially same length as the breadth of the compartment in the transverse direction and is extended in the up-down direction across the belt line having a height of h.sub.1. As a result, there can be effectively checked the air stream forward of the seats 2 through paths between seats 2 and between the seats 2 and side panels.

As shown in FIG. 6, conventionally, air flows 15, 16 passing through the sides of the vehicle 1 circulate around passengers 17, 18 to flow forwardly between them 17, 18 to the front windshield 8, and turn to the backward producing a rearward stream 19 between the seats 2. The stream 19 affects to chill the passengers 17, 18 and sometimes blow off articles such as documents in the compartment 9. According to the illustrated embodiment, the aero-board 3 in the upright position is effected to prevent such rearward stream 19.

When the roof structure 13 is moved to cover and open the compartment 9, the aero-board 3 preferably swings to the retracted position where the aero-board 3 is positioned along the wall portion 5 in order to facilitate the operation of the roof structure 13.

As shown in FIG. 7 through 9(b), there is shown another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring now to FIG. 7, the aero-board 3 is secured to the rear panel portion 6 by means of a pair of connecting devices 30. As shown in FIG. 9(a), a stay 31 is fixed to the cutout portion 3b at the tip end of the aero-board 3 through screws 32 and 33. In securing the stay 31, the stay 31 is fixed to the aero-board 3 through a bracket 34 by means of the screw 32. The bracket 34 is extended in the hollow aero-board 3 and fixed to the inside of the aero-boards boards by screws 35 and 36 as shown in FIG. 8(a) so as to improve the rigidity of the aero-board 3. The aero-board 3 has such a curved configuration as lying along the wall portion 5 at its retracted position and positioning the gravity center thereof rearward of the pivotal axis 3a at its upright position so that the aero-board can be stably maintained at the upright position. The connecting portion of the stay 31 with the aero-board 3 is covered by a stay cover 37 which is attached to the aero-board 3. The stay 31 is provided with a tubular portion extending transversely and as shown in FIG. 8(b), is rotatably secured at the intermediate portion thereof by screws 38 through a stay clip 39 to a stay holder 40 which is fixed to the front end portion 10 of the rear panel portion 9 by means of screws 41. The stay clip 39 is brought into a frictional engagement with the stay 31 so as to maintain the aero-board 3 at any angular position between the upright position and the retracted position. In order to obtain more stable support of the aero-board 3, the stay 31 is provided with a first setting clip 42 and second setting clip 43 at the tip end portion thereof for keeping the aero-board 3 stably at a predetermined angular position.

The clips 42 and 43 are preferably mounted on the stay 31 by welding. The clips 42 and 43 are of claws projecting in the different angular directions. As shown in FIG. 8(c), the first clip 42 is adapted to be engaged with a recess 44a of a holder spring or leaf spring 44 at the upright position of the aero-board 3 so that the aero-board 3 can be stably maintained at the upright position against the wind blast. The aero-board 3 can readily swing to move from the upright position to the retracted position by applying a rotation force to the aero-board enough to overcome the resilience of the holder spring 44. Such force for effecting the movement of the aero-board 3 can be controlled by adjusting the resilience of the holder spring 44. The second setting clip 43 is brought into engagement with the upper surface of the holder spring 44 at the retracted position of the aero-board 3 as shown in FIG. 9(b). The above engaging mechanism is covered by a holder cover 45 which is attached to the stay holder 40. The holder cover 45 is adapted to be engaged with a projection of a leaf spring 46 fixed to the stay holder 40 and extending upwardly. The leaf spring 46 is brought into engagement with the second setting clip 43 when the aero-board 3 is in the retracted position so that the movement of the aero-board can be restricted. In other words, the leaf spring 46 functions as a resilient stopper limiting the rearward movement of the aero-board 3.

The aero-board 3 can follow a longitudinal movement of the seat device 2 caused by the operation of the slider mechanism 2d and/or the reclining mechanism 2e with being close to the seat device 2 so that the aero board 3 is effected to block a swirling air blast which is introduced from the sides of the vehicle body into the compartment.

The present invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments. However, it should be noted that the present invention is not intended to be limited to the details of the illustrated structures but all of the changes and modifications may be included in the scope of the claims appended.