GB2160584A - Door checks - Google Patents

Abstract

The check has a pair of rollers (10) carried in plastics roller carriers (8) which have sliding engagements with respective inclined faces (12) on a domed housing shell (1) and are backed by confined rubber blocks (14) which provide the resilient force resisting movement apart of the rollers on operation of the check. The inclined faces (12) on the housing are directed at angles of at least 45 DEG and preferably 55 DEG to the direction of movement of the check arm 20. This arrangement provides relatively uniform loading of the rubber blocks by the roller carriers which minimises extrusion problems with the blocks which can otherwise occur when the check assembled to a car body goes through a paint oven on a car assembly line. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Door checks This invention relates to door checks of the kind comprising a check arm which passes through a housing in which is mounted a pair of rollers adapted to bear on opposite sides of the check arm, and resilient means biassing the rollers towards the check arm. Such a door check will hereinafter be referred to as a "door check of the kind set forth".

A door check of the kind set forth is disclosed in Figure 1 of Patent Application No. GB 2017808A.

With that check the rollers are each mounted in a respective plastics roller carrier which is capable of rocking in the housing when an enlargement on the check arm engages the rollers, and a respective rubber block in the housing provides the resilient means which opposes the rocking movement. The rubber blocks are pre-loaded on assembly of the housing. This arrangement needs the main bulk of the rubber to be arranged adjacent to the moving end of the rocking carrier to provide maximum effective loading, and this necessitates leaving a relatively large unoccupied cavity beside the roller carrier and between the opposing rubber blocks making the rubber blocks susceptible to extrusion into this cavity at elevated temperatures, which are encountered when this unit, pre-assembled to a car body, goes through the paint ovens.The result is that the rubber blocks become mis-shaped causing a reduction in the resilient loads applied to the carriers.

According to the invention in a door check of the kind set forth the rollers are mounted in respective roller carriers which are provided with a bearing face which slidably engages a respective guide face on the housing, the guide and bearing faces extending at an angle of at least 453 to the direction of movement of the check arm through the housing, and the resilient means comprises a respective elastomeric block which is confined between the housing and a support face of the carrier which extends transversely of the bearing face.

When a thickened portion of the check arm enters between the rollers, the rollers are permitted to move apart by a sliding movement of the roller carriers with respect to the housing, rather than by a rocking movement. The sliding movement of the carriers provides a more uniform loading of the blocks than does a rocking movement, and this means that in the pre-loaded condition of the blocks it can be arranged that there is less tendency for extrusion of the block into the cavity provided between the blocks.

The acute angle between the guide and bearing faces provides a difference between the opening and closing forces of the check. It is most usual with door checks to arrange for the door closing force to be much higher than the door opening force. The ratio of these forces is also influenced by the angles of the ramp portions provided on the check arm.

The angle between the guide faces and the axis of the check arm is preferably in the range of 50 to 60 and is most preferably substantially 552.

A vehicle door check in accordance with the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a cross-section of the assembly with part of the check arm indicated by broken lines; Figure 2 is a transverse cross-section of a rubber block on the line 2-2 of Figure 3; Figure 3 is a side elevation of the rubber block; Figure 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Figure 5 of a roller carrier and showing the roller in position; Figure 5 is a side elevation of the roller carrier with captive roller; Figure 6 is a cross-section on the line 6-6 of Figure 8 of the housing shell; Figure 7 is a plan view of the housing shell; Figure 8 is a side elevation of the housing shell; and Figure 9 shows a modified shape for the roller carriers and rubber blocks.

With reference to Figures 6 to 8, a pressed metal housing shelll is provided with a rectangular central aperture 2 at the apex of a dome 3 having a pair of sloping sidewalls 4 and a pair of parallel sidewalls 5, the sloping sidewalls 4 each comprising a portion 4a inclined at an angle of 35 to the plane of a pair of ears 6, and a portion 4b inclined at an angle of 85" to that plane. The inner surfaces of the sloping sidewall portions 4a constitute guide surfaces 7 for slidably guiding respective roller carriers 8, Figures 1, 4, 5.

Each roller carrier 8 comprises an elongate plastics block having a cut-out 9 in one side to expose a bearing roller 10 which is retained captive, for ease of assembly of the check, by opposed pairs of retaining nibs 11, 11' on the block. An oblong rectangular bearing face 12 is adapted to make sliding contact with the respective guide surface 7 of the housing shell 1 to enable the block 8 to slide towards and away from the aperture 2. Mutually inclined oblong-rectangular support faces 13 and 15 extend substantially normal to face 12 to provide the area of contact between the roller carrier 8 and the respective rubber block 14. Face 15 lies in a plane subtending a smaller angle with respect to the plane of ears 6 than the angle between face 13 and the plane of ears 6.

Each rubber block 14 is of uniform section throughout its length, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, and is shaped to provide surfaces 16 and 17 which are arranged for face contact with surfaces 13 and 15 respectively of roller carrier 8, with a surface 18 for face contact with the sloping wall portion 4b and with a face 19 for face contact with a substantially flat housing cover plate 21.

In Figure 1 the check arm is indicated at 20, the end 24 being arranged for pivotal connection to the door or door post. On assembly of the device the roller carriers 8 with rollers 10 are positioned in the housing shell 1, followed by the rubber blocks 21, and the housing cover plate 21 is secured across the mouth of shell 1, conveniently by bending over some securing tabs 23 on the cover plate 21 to engage over ears 6. The cover plate 21 applies a pre-load to the rubber blocks 14 and urges the roller carriers 8 into firm engagement with each other. The unthickened portions of check arm 20 slide with clearance between the rollers 10.

It will be noted that the roller carriers 8 are slidable on guide surface 7 towards and away from the aperture 2 to permit the spacing of the rollers 10 to adjust itself to the local thickness of the check arm 20 as the check arm moves through the aperture 2 on relative movement of a door and door post to which members 1 and 20 are secured in use. As each roller carrier 8 slides away from aperture 2 the support face 13 and face 15 of the carrier further squash the respective rubber block 14, which expands in other directions into the available expansion spaces 22, 23.Since faces 13 and 15 extend generally transversely of face 12, and since the roller carriers are free to slide due to the relatively large angle between face 7 and the plane of check arm 20, there is little tendency for the roller carriers 8 to tilt, and accordingly a fairly uniform compressive force is applied to the rubber blocks 14, both in operation and in the pre-loaded static condition. This enables the space 22 between the rubber blocks to be minimised. The uniform preload in blocks 14 minimises the chance of extrusion of the blocks 14 into space 22 during the paint baking process on a car body to which the door check has been applied before painting, and accordingly there is a reduced loss of load after paint oven exposure. The space 22 is minimised by belling inwards the central part 21' of the cover plate 21.

Figure 9 shows a modified set of rubber blocks 14 and roller carrier 8 in which the co-operating faces 13 and 16 have been extended, the face 15 having been removed.

A door check in accordance with the invention may be mounted on a door separate from a hinge, or it may be incorporated in a hinge.

Claims (7)

1. A door check of the kind set forth in which the rollers are mounted in respective roller carriers provided with a bearing face which slidably engages a respective guide face on the housing, the guide and bearing faces extending at an angle of at least 45' to the direction of movement of the check arm through the housing, and the resilient means comprises a respective elastomeric block which is confined between the housing and a sup port face of the carrier which extends transversely of the bearing face.

2. A door check as claimed in claim 1 in which the angle between the guide faces and the axis of the check arm is in the range of 50 to 60 .

3. A door check as claimed in claim 2 in which the angle is substantially 55O.

4. A door check as claimed in any of the preceding claims in which the support face comprises two mutually inclined support face portions which, as viewed in the axial direction of the associated roller, subtend an external angle of more than 180

5. A door check as claimed in any of the preceding claims in which the housing comprises a domed housing shell secured to a substantially flat cover-plate, the check arm working through respective apertures provided in the cover-plate and shell, and the marginal portion of the cover-plate surrounding the aperture in the cover-plate is belled inwardly of the housing to restrict the space between the marginal portion and the adjacent roller carrier.

6. A door check substantially as described with reference to Figures 1 to 8 of the accompanying drawings.

7. A door check as claimed in claim 6 but modified substantially as described with reference to Figure 9 of the accompanying drawings.