GB2044686A

GB2044686A - Flexible Window Assembly

Info

Publication number: GB2044686A
Application number: GB7930828A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Triplex Safety Glass Co
Current assignee: Pilkington Automotive Ltd
Priority date: 1978-09-06
Filing date: 1979-09-05
Publication date: 1980-10-22

Abstract

A flexible window assembly e.g. a rooflight comprises a toughened glass sheet (4), preferably thermally toughened, which is held in a mounting around its periphery except at its trailing edge 5 which is engaged by bending means (15, 18) operable to bow that edge away from the roof. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Flexible Window Assembly This invention relates to flexible window assemblies, and in particular to a flexible window assembly for installation in a motor vehicle.

It has been proposed in United States Patent No. 3,803,762, to use flexible glass sheets as windows in motor vehicles, and to utilise their flexibility to cause the sheet to curve and follow the shape of the vehicle body as the window is opened, or to flex as a whole away from the vehicle body, the sheet being fixed to the vehicle body along one edge.

It has now been discovered that the ability of a toughened glass sheet to bow can be utilised in a window assembly which opens by a small amount to improve ventilation without a major flexing of the whole of the glass sheet.

According to the invention there is provided a flexible window assembly including a toughened glass sheet, characterised in that a major part of the periphery of the toughened glass sheet, except for an edge to be opened, is held in a mounting, and bending means engages the sheet and is operable to bow that edge away from the mounting.

in a preferred embodiment the bending means engages the edge of the sheet to be opened.

The glass sheet may be a rooflight of a motor vehicle which is sealed to an aperture in the vehicle roof around the periphery of the sheet except for the trailing edge of the sheet, and the bending means is fixed to the vehicle roof and to the sheet and is operable to bow the rooflight upwardly to open the rooflight along its trailing edge.

In the preferred embodiment the bending means is fixed to the sheet centrally of that trailing edge.

This assembly may also include a sealing strip extending across the aperture in the vehicle roof as so to be engaged by the rooflight when unbowed.

Preferably the bending means comprises a lost motion linkage engaging a block fixed to the edge of the sheet to be bowed.

Preferably the glass sheet is a thermally toughened glass sheet. A chemically toughened glass sheet may be employed.

The invention also comprehends, for installation in a flexible window assembly according to the invention, a thermally toughened glass sheet with means fixed to the sheet adjacent the edge to be opened for cooperation with bending means when the sheet is held in its mounting.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood an embodiment thereof will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a side elevation of part of a motor vehicle body showing a flexible rooflight according to the invention in raised position, Figure 2 is a plan view of the part of the vehicle body of Figure 1, Figure 3 is a section on line Ill-Ill of Figure 2, Figure 4 is a section on line IV-lV of Figure 3, and Figure 5 is a detailed view of a lost motion linkage which is employed for opening the rooflight of Figures 1 to 4.

Figure 1 illustrates part of a motor vehicle body comprising a roof 1, a side window 2 and a windscreen 3. The motor vehicle has a flexible window assembly as rooflight including a thermally toughened glass sheet 4.

The sheet 4 is cut to a tongue-shape with an edge 5 which is the edge of the rooflight to be opened. The major part of the periphery of the sheet, indicated by the reference 6, is held in an aperture 7 in the roof of the vehicle by means of glazing adhesive 8 which sticks the upper side of the major part of the periphery of the sheet to the inner surface of the vehicle shell around the aperture 7. The front edges and side edges of the tongue-shaped sheet 4 are thus held firmly to the roof of the motor vehicle while the trailing edge 5 is free to be bowed upwardly with the ends 9 and 10 of that trailing edge held firmly to the vehicle roof. A sealing compound 11 is employed to provide a seal between the edge of the aperture 7 in the roof and the upper surface of the glass sheet 4 around the major part of the periphery of the sheet which is fixed to the vehicle roof by the adhesive 8.

In order to open the window, bending means engage the trailing edge 5 of the sheet, and is operable to bow the trailing edge upwardly away from the roof of the vehicle. The bending means is fixed to the vehicle roof and to the sheet centrally of the trailing edge 5. The bending means comprises a lost motion linkage which is mounted in a channel 12 in the vehicle roof. The linkage has a handle 13 at one end of a lever 14 which is connected to an upright operating lever 1 5 which has a dog 16 at its upper end. The dog 16 runs in a slot 1 7 cut in a block 1 8 which is stuck with adhesive to the inner surface of the glass sheet 4, very near to the trailing edge 5 and centrally of that trailing edge.

A rubber sealing strip 1 9 is mounted on a bracket 20 which is fixed to the channel 12. The sealing strip extends across the aperture 7 in the vehicle roof, as indicated in Figure 2, and when the rooflight 4 is closed as indicated by dotted lines at 4' in Figure 3, the inner surface of the rooflight engages closely onto the upper surface of the sealing strip 1 9. That is, when the roofiight is unbowed and closed, a seal is provided between the inner surface of the glass sheet and the roof by the engagement of that inner surface with the sealing strip 19.

The rooflight is closed when the lever 14 is in the position 14' shown in Figure 5. Rotation of the lever through 1800 causes the lever 1 5 to pivot upwardly by an angle sufficient to bow the trailing edge 5 upwardly away from the mounting and open the rear of the rooflight.

The thickness of the sheet 4 of thermally toughened glass may be in the range from 2 mm to 5 mm, and the sheet has sufficient toughening stress to enable the sheet to open, and to satisfy British Standard BS 857 which requires a minimum particle count of 60 in any 50 mmx50 mm square of the glass when fractured.

This requirement is satisfied when the sheet 4 is a sheet of soda-lime-silica glass of thickness in the range 2 mm to 5 mm, which is thermally toughened to an extent such that the central tensile stress in the 2 mm glass is 66 MPa, and the central tensile stress is smaller for the thicker glass sheets, being a central tensile stress of 48 MPa in a glass sheet 5 mm thick.

The maximum bowing of the trailing edge of the sheet may vary from 125 mm for glass 2 mm thick to 30 mm for glass 5 mm thick.

In one example of a flexible rooflight according to the invention the span of the trailing edge 5 between the fixed end points 9 and 10 is 1 m, the glass thickness is 2.3 mm and the glass was thermally toughened to have a central tensile stress of 62 MPa. The lost motion linkage was designed to give an upward bowing of the centre of the trailing edge of 100 mm.

In a modification the glass sheet may be mounted in a slot in a rubber extrusion of the kind used for mounting a windscreen, which extrusion is fixed around the aperture 7 in the roof. The edges of the sheet can then slide in the mounting slot in the extrusion as the sheet is bowed.

An alternative bending means used when the sheet is mounted in a slot in a rubber extrusion comprises two end blocks which are fixed to the ends 9 and 10 of the trailing edge of the sheet and have threaded holes in which the ends of a double threaded rod engage. A handle mounted in a recess inside the vehicle roof is geared to the rod, and when the handle is turned the blocks are drawn inwardly to cause the trailing edge of the sheet to bow upwardly. The mounting slot in the extrusion is sufficiently deep to accommodate inward movement of the edges of the sheet as it is bowed upwardly.

The invention can be employed for any vehicle window where it is desired to open the trailing edge to improve ventilation, for example triangular side windows of motor vehicles which are mounted along two sides in the vehicle body, rooflights or windows of trailer caravan, rooflights in cabs of lorries, and rooflights in motor coaches.

Claims

1. A flexible window assembly including a toughened glass sheet, characterised in that a major part of periphery of the toughened glass sheet, except for an edge to be opened, is held in a mounting, and bending means engages the sheet and is operable to bow that edge away from the mounting.

2. A flexible window assembly according to Claim 1, characterised in that the bending means engages the edge of the sheet to be opened.

3. A flexible window assembly according to Claim 1, characterised in that the glass sheet is the rooflight of a motor vehicle which is sealed to the vehicle roof around the periphery of the sheet except for a trailing edge of the sheet, and the bending means is fixed to the vehicle roof and to the sheet and is operable to bow the rooflight upwardly to open the rooflight along its trailing edge.

4. A flexible window assembly according to Claim 3, characterised in that the bending means is fixed to the sheet centrally of that trailing edge.

5. A flexible window assembly according to Claim 3 or Claim 4, characterised by a sealing strip extending across the aperture in the vehicle roof so as to be engaged by the rooflight when unbowed.

6. A flexible window assembly according to any one of Claims 1 to 5, characterised in that the bending means comprises a lost motion linkage engaging a block fixed to the edge of the sheet to be bowed.

7. A flexible window assembly according to any one of Claims 1 to 6, characterised in that the glass sheet is a thermally toughened sheet.

8. For installation in a flexible window assembly according to any one of Claims 1 to 7, a thermally toughened glass sheet characterised by means fixed to the sheet adjacent the edge to be opened for co-operation with bending means when the sheet is held in its mounting.

9. A flexible window rooflight for a motor vehicle, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.