GB1567688A

GB1567688A - Window raiser in particular for an automobile window

Info

Publication number: GB1567688A
Application number: GB1508177A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Compagnie Industrielle de Mecanismes CIM
Current assignee: Compagnie Industrielle de Mecanismes CIM
Priority date: 1976-04-30
Filing date: 1977-04-12
Publication date: 1980-05-21
Also published as: ES227870U; JPS52133622A; ES227870Y; FR2349717B1; DE2715447A1; FR2349717A1

Description

(54) IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO A WINDOW RAISER, IN PARTICULAR FOR AN AUTOMOBILE WINDOW (71) We, COMPAGNIE INDUS TRIELLE DE MECANISMES en abrégé C.I.M., a French Body Corporate of 37 bis, rue de Villiers, 92203 Neuilly, France, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:- The present invention relates to a device, commonly known as a window raiser, which is adapted to shift sliding windows, in particular the windows of an automobile door.The invention more particularly relates to window raisers of the type having divergent arms, that is to say comprising, mounted on a fixing plate, two rotary toothed elements on each of which there is fixed a window-shifting arm, one of the toothed elements comprising an outer toothing and the other toothed element comprising an inner toothing, and two coaxial integral pinions which mesh respectively with each one of the toothed elements and are connected to a control means. The gear pinions can be rotated by a manual control means, for example a crank, or an electric motor which is secured to the plate. The toothed elements are often toothed sectors which are capable of affording a sufficient gearing down within a small overall size.

The window raisers of this type are advantageous in that they do away with the necessity of means for guiding the arms which ensure a parallel displacement in both directions of the slide of the base of the window in which base the free ends of these arms are received and in that they permit a fixing of the plate in any angular position, which facilitates the mounting of the device in an automobile door. Moreover, each gear pinion tooth drives only one of the two toothed elements.

However, the known raisers of the aforementioned type, for example those disclosed in French Patent No. 848,369 and U.S. Patent 2,281,383, have the following drawbacks due to the fact that the two gear pinions have different diameters and each mesh with a single toothed element: the common axis of the pinions is badly balanced and is subjected to a certain shearing force; owing to the small available thickness in an automobile door, it is excluded to employ cheap teeth of plastics material, since such teeth are less strong than metal teeth and require an excessive depth of teeth; consequently, it is impossible to provide helical teeth which would be too expensive for mass-production if they are produced from metal.

An object of the present invention is to provide a window raiser which does not have the aforementioned drawbacks.

According to the invention, there is provided a window raiser comprising, mounted on a fixing plate, two pivotally mounted toothed elements on each of which elements there is fixed an arm for shifting a window, one of said elements having outer toothing and the other element inner toothing, and a pinion with a single set of teeth which meshes with both toothed elements in a common length of the pinion and is connected to a control means.

Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the ensuing description which is given solely by way of a non-limitative example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a window raiser, the gear pinions of which are arranged in accordance with a known principle; Figure 2 is a partially diagrammatic view of this window raiser, with a part cut away, and partly in section on line 2-2 of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a plan view of a first embodiment of a window raiser according to the invention Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4--4 of Figure 3; Figure 5 is a partial diagrammatic plan view of a second embodiment of the invention; and Figure 6 is a sectional view taken on line 6-6 of Figure 5.

The window raiser 1 shown in Figures 1 and 2 comprises two actuating arms 2 and 3 which are respectively integral with toothed sectors 4 and 5 and a semi-housing 6 constituting a support and fixing plate in which there is secured a case 7 containing a motor and means for driving the sectors 4 and 5 in rotation about their common axis X-X which is embodied by a pin 8. In service, the window raiser 3 is secured by screws 6a to an automobile door, with the axis X-X horizontal.

Each arm 2, 3 is rectilinear and carries at its free end a stud 9 which in service is received in a horizontal slide (not shown) fixed to the lower edge of the window to be shifted. In the vicinity of its other end, which has extending therethrough the pin 8, the arm 2 is secured by a plurality of spot welds 10 to the radially inner part of the associated sector 4. The latter is planar and extends angularly through an angle slightly greater than 90" and has a large cut-out 11 defining a curved window whose radially outer edge has the shape of an arc of a circle and is in the form of a sector 12 of an inwardly toothed ring. As is shown in Figure 2, the arm 2 extends from the spot welds 10 progressively away from the plane of the sector 4 in the direction away from the semihousing 6.

The second actuating arm 3 has a structure similar to that of the arm 2.

However, the second arm has a planar portion 13 through which extends the pin 8 at a point spaced away from its end which does not carry the stud 9. Between this point and this end, the arm 3 has in the vicinity of the pin 8 a cranked portion 14 which extends toward the semi-housing 6, and then a second planar portion 15 on the end part of which there is secured, by a plurality of spot welds 16, the second toothed sector 5.

The latter is constructed from the scrap coming from the cut-out 11 of the first sector and comprises on its outer periphery a sector 17 of an outwardly toothed ring having the same angular extent as the sector of the ring 12.

The pin 8 is rotatably mounted in a circular aperture 18 provided in the semihousing 6. Its axial position is ensured by an end shoulder 19 which bears against the inner periphery of the opening 18. A spacer ring 20 is rotatably mounted on the pin 8 outside the semi-housing 6 between the latter and the sector 4 and acts as a bearing for the sector 5. The second end of the pin 8 comprises a slotted head 21 which is fixed, for example welded, to the face of the arm 2 opposed to the semi-housing 6. A shoulder of the ring 20 maintains a slight space between the arm 3 and the sector 4. The cranked portion 14 is roughly equal to the thickness of the sector 5 so that the plane of the latter is also slightly spaced away from the plane of the sector 4 whose outer periphery is guided in suitable guide means 22 secured to the semi-housing 6.

A spiral spring 23, whose inner end portion is engaged in the slot of the head 21 and whose outer end portion bears against a pin 24 provided on the second arm 3, permanently biases the two arms 2 and 3 in the upward direction so as to compensate for the weight of the window raised by the window raiser. Note that the two arms have the same length from the axis X-X to the studs 9 and they extend along the bi-sector of the sectors 4 and 5 respectively.

The case 7 contains a miniature motor of any suitable type whose output shaft 25 is provided with a worm which is tangentially meshed with a worm wheel 26 having an axis Y-Y parallel to the axis X-X and also contained in the case 7. The latter has an aperture 27 through which a pin 28 extends, this pin coaxially connecting the wheel 26 to two actuating gear pinions 29, 30 after having extended through a bearing 31 positioned in a second opening 32 of the semi-housing 6.

The two gear pinions 29 and 30 are made in a single piece, for example of metal and have spur teeth. The outer pinion 29 has a diameter slightly greater than the diameter of the inner pinion 30 and is constantly meshed with the inner teeth 12 of the first sector 4. The other pinion 30 is engaged with the outer teeth 17 of the other sectorS.

The lengths of the pinions are slightly greater than the thickness of the sectors 4 and 5, as will be understood.

Generally, it is easy to calculate the relation which must interrelate the modulus of the gears 4-29 and 5-30 and the numbers of teeth of these four elements, so that for a given rotation of the common driving pin 28, the angular displacements of the two sectors and therefore the arms, be equal. Preferably, the same number of teeth is given to both pinions and therefore also the same number of teeth is given to the two sectors, assuming of course that their angular extent is the same. In service, the plate 6 is preferably secured to the door in such manner that the two arms 2, 3 have a symmetrical travel with respect to a horizontal mean position in which they are in the extension of each other.

The operation of the window raiser 1 will be easily understood from the foregoing description.

When the driving motor is operated in either direction, it rotates the wheel 26 through the worm 25, and the two gear pinions 29 and 30 are rotated. Assuming, for example, that these two pinions rotate in the clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 1, the sector 4 is driven in the clockwise direction by one tooth of the pinion 29 and simultaneously the sector 5 is driven in the opposite direction by a tooth of the pinion 30 diametrally opposed to the firstmentioned tooth.

The window raiser 1b shown in Figures 3 and 4 differs essentially from the window raiser I in that the two gear pinions 29 and 30 of Figures 1 and 2 are replaced by a single pinion 29b, which means that the pinions 29 and 30 are given the same diameter and the same number of teeth. The two rotary pins 8b and 28b and the driving motor are maintained between a main plate 6b and a secondary plate or bridge 6c which on the whole is parallel to the main plate.

This bridge 6c has not been shown in Figure 3 for reasons of clarity.

Each arm 2b3c is made from a ribbed press-formed sheet metal in one piece with the corresponding sector 4b6b The periphery of these two sectors is constituted by a planar region which is bordered externally and internally by a cylindrical wall 33 and 34 respectively. The walls 33 and 34 extend in opposite direction and each one of the recesses thus defined receives a toothed element of plastics material, namely respectively an inwardly toothed element 35 and an outwardly toothed element 36. These toothed elements are constantly meshed with the single gear pinion 29b.

The advantage of this arrangement over the arrangement shown in Figures 1 and 2 resides in the fact that the single pinion 29b is meshed in the same region and over the same length with two toothed rings. On one hand, this ensures a strict balancing of the axis of rotation 28b of the pinion which is therefore subjected to absolutely no shearing force. Moreover, the total axial extent of the gearing may be distinctly reduced and consequently the total thickness of the device may also be distinctly reduced. This device is intended to be disposed within the thickness of a door.

However, the single teeth of the pinion 29b meshed with the two toothed rings 35 and 36 of different diameters theoretically provides a different gearing down for the two arms so that a given angle of rotation of the pinion 29b corresponds to two different angles of rotation, in opposite directions, of the two arms 2b and 3b Indeed, the number of teeth of the internally toothed ring 35 is normally greater than that of the other ring 36 by double the number of teeth of the pinion 29b, assuming, of course, that the two rings extend through the same angle. For example, if the ring 36 has 100 teeth and the pinion 29b six teeth, the ring 35 has normally 100+2x6=112 teeth. Consequently, the sector 4b would have a gearing down of 6/100 and the sector 4C a gearing down of 6/112.Hence, there is a difference of angular displacement of the two sectors of 12%.

For this reason, if it is desired to obtain a practically parallel displacement of the slide at the base of the window, it is necessary in this embodiment of the invention to employ one or more corrective measures, depending on the precision required for the displacements of the ends of the two arms.

These correcting measures are the following: It is first possible to correct the teeth so as to reduce the difference between the number of teeth of the two sectors. This correction of teeth can only be effected to a rather limited extent. In the numerical example given hereinbefore, it is for example possible to give to the two sectors respectively 103 and 109 teeth, which reduces the error by about one half.

A second way of reducing the difference between the angular displacements of the two sectors comprises giving to the two actuating arms 2b and 3b different lengths, the arm corresponding to the sector which travels the slower of the two sectors (that is sector 4b) having the greater length. Under these conditions it is easy to show that the difference of the projections on a vertical of the displacements of the ends of the two arms is, within the considered domain, a sinusoidal type of function which can be cancelled out three times on the extent of the angular displacement of the two sectors, assuming that this displacement is symmetrical with respect to the median position in which the two arms are in the extension of each other.As the error is always zero at the median point, it may be rendered zero at the highest point and at the lowest point of the two arms, or this error may even be divided by two, in choosing as points of zero error the two points located half-way between on one hand the upper part and the mean point and on the other hand the lower part and the mean point. For example, the mean maximum difference for a vertical travel of about 450 mm for each stud 9 can thus be brought to about 2 mm.

In combining the correction on the teeth with a suitably chosen difference of length between the arms, it is possible to reduce sufficiently the maximal difference between the vertical displacement of the ends of the arms to be within limits which are acceptable in practice. In the foregoing example, it is thus possible to bring this maximum difference to a value between I and 1.5 mm.

Figures 5 and 6, more diagrammatic than the foregoing Figures, show a window raiser 1d which is similar on the whole to the window raiser 1b but eliminates in a simple manner any difference in the speeds of the two sectors. For this purpose, the two sectors 4d and 5d are constructed respectively on the whole in the same way as the sectors 4b and 5b of the embodiments shown in Figures 3 and 4, but the axis of rotation X'-X' of the sector 5d iS offset with respect to the axis of rotation X-X of the sector 4d by a distance d equal to the pitch circle of the single pinion 29d. The axes X X, X'--X', Y-Y are coplanar, the axis X' t being the most remote from the axis Y Y.The two sectors may then have the same number of teeth and therefore be shifted angularly equal extents for a given rotation of the driving gear pinion 29d. The two arms 2d, 3d have, under these conditions, the same length.

In the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 6. the teeth of the gear pinion 29b, 29d and the two sectors are preferably helical and of plastics material. Note in this respect that only pinions of plastics material permit in practice employing helical teeth which are advantageous from the point of view of play in the gearing since the cost of a metal pinion with such a helical tooth would be prohibitive. Now, teeth of plastics material are relatively weak and they can only be employed if there is available in the narrow thickness of a door of an automobile sufficient effective length of the teeth for each sector. This is precisely provided by the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 6, owing to the engagement of the single pinion with the two rings disposed axially in facing relation to each other.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A window raiser comprising, mounted on a fixing plate, two pivotally mounted toothed elements on each of which elements there is fixed an arm for shifting a window, one of said elements having outer toothing and the other element inner toothing, and a pinion with a single set of teeth which meshes with both toothed elements in a common length of the pinion and is connected to a control means.

2. A window raiser as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the two toothed elements are coaxial.

3. A window raiser as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the arms have different lengths, the longer arm being associated with the toothed element having the inner toothing.

4. A window raiser as claimed in Claim 2 or 3, wherein the difference between the number of teeth of the two toothed elements, for a same angle of said elements, is substantially equal to the number of teeth of the pinion.

5. A window raiser as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the axes of rotation of the two toothed elements are offset a distance equal to the pitch diameter of the pinion, said two axes and the axis of the pinion being coplanar.

6. A window raiser as claimed in any one of the Claims 1 to 5, wherein the teeth of the pinion and the toothed elements are of plastics material.

7. A window raiser as claimed in Claim 6, wherein the teeth of the pinion and the toothed elements are helical.

8. A window raiser as claimed in any one of the Claims 1 to 7, wherein the toothed elements are constituted by toothed sectors.

9. A window raiser of the type comprising, mounted on a fixing plate, two pivotally mounted toothed elements, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in Figures 3, 4 or 5, 6 of the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. Figures 5 and 6, more diagrammatic than the foregoing Figures, show a window raiser 1d which is similar on the whole to the window raiser 1b but eliminates in a simple manner any difference in the speeds of the two sectors. For this purpose, the two sectors 4d and 5d are constructed respectively on the whole in the same way as the sectors 4b and 5b of the embodiments shown in Figures 3 and 4, but the axis of rotation X'-X' of the sector 5d iS offset with respect to the axis of rotation X-X of the sector 4d by a distance d equal to the pitch circle of the single pinion 29d. The axes X X, X'--X', Y-Y are coplanar, the axis X' t being the most remote from the axis Y Y.The two sectors may then have the same number of teeth and therefore be shifted angularly equal extents for a given rotation of the driving gear pinion 29d. The two arms 2d, 3d have, under these conditions, the same length. In the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 6. the teeth of the gear pinion 29b, 29d and the two sectors are preferably helical and of plastics material. Note in this respect that only pinions of plastics material permit in practice employing helical teeth which are advantageous from the point of view of play in the gearing since the cost of a metal pinion with such a helical tooth would be prohibitive. Now, teeth of plastics material are relatively weak and they can only be employed if there is available in the narrow thickness of a door of an automobile sufficient effective length of the teeth for each sector. This is precisely provided by the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 6, owing to the engagement of the single pinion with the two rings disposed axially in facing relation to each other. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A window raiser comprising, mounted on a fixing plate, two pivotally mounted toothed elements on each of which elements there is fixed an arm for shifting a window, one of said elements having outer toothing and the other element inner toothing, and a pinion with a single set of teeth which meshes with both toothed elements in a common length of the pinion and is connected to a control means.