Ford Motor Company Limited

Charles J Haddad

Thomas C Holka

Donald L Glossop, Jr

William J Fobar

James V Chabot

Adam M Janotik

Lawrence P Kazyak

Derek F Gentle

Joe Marasco

Robert W Huzzard

William J Evans

Hachig A Gopigian

A connector for a space frame on an automotive vehicle having a plurality of structural members in at least two dimensions includes an inner panel, and an outer panel spaced from the inner panel and substantially parallel thereto. The connector also includes a connector panel attached to the inner and outer panel to form a channel defining one dimension and adapted to receive one of the structural members. The connector further includes at least one extension member attached to either one of the connector panel and the inner panel and the outer panel and extending outwardly therefrom to define a second dimension relative to the first dimension and adapted to be disposed within another one of the structural members to form a joint therebetween.

Space frame connector

A door glass weatherstripping for a motor vehicle comprises a main body; a gap-filling seal for filling the space between the edge of the surrounding surfaces and the edges of the window; a window positioning portion having a hardness greater than at least the gap-filling seal portion for guiding the window in its uppermost position thereby assuring lateral location of the window; and a gutter forming lip positioned so that substantially all the water dripping off the portion of the roof or surrounding surfaces where the weatherstrip is attached is prevented from entering the interior of the vehicle. The weatherstrip section on hardtop-type window systems may be positioned such that it extends around the whole door opening.

Weatherstrip for hardtop-type or framed door windows

A window panel position regulating means for a vehicle door which will accommodate a doubly irregularly curved window panel and will guide the window panel through the slot at the belt line of the door in such a manner that the width of the belt line slot can be maintained at absolute minimum so as to improve the oveall appearance of the door assembly and the functional rigidity of the assembly. The regulating assembly includes a pair of guide channel members mounted within the door panel cavity at the front edge of the door and a third guide channel member mounted within the door panel cavity at the rear edge of the door. Guide follower members are mounted to the window and guided within the respective guide channel members to thereby guide the window through the belt line slot. Each guide channel member is generally curved in the direction of the curve of the window panel and has a substantially continuously variable rate of curvature distinct from that of any other guide channel member to provide that the window panel will be continuously pivoted about several axes as it is raised and lowered to allow it to pass through the belt line slot of minimum width.

Window panel position regulating assembly

A vehicle bumper that incorporates a 'C' section face bar attached to a truss-formed backplate to achieve a box section construction. The face bar, although a conventional 'C' section, has more nearly horizontal upper and lower shelves combined with a reduced frontal face height to offer, when further combined with the backplate, a nearly square box beam. Functional height is extended beyond the beam section with a plurality of strategically located underride stops drawn from the lower shelf. These stops provide low pendulum impact performance at minimal weight while facilitating forming of the bumper beam ends. The stops preferably are concealed with a flexible shield which provides conventional appearance in addition to opportunities of cost, weight, airflow and model appearance differentiation when replacing separate air deflectors and sight shields. The bumper assembly configuration provides a highly weight efficient section modulus, improved torsional stiffness and improved dent resistance. Additional dent resistance preferably is provided in the center area with an internal reinforcing doubler plate.

Low profile bumper

A self-deployable front air spoiler assembly mounted beneath a vehicle underbody, the air spoiler assembly comprising a laterally extending airfoil which in non-deployed condition is situated in a semi-concealed position. The airfoil is supported at each side of the longitudinal center of the vehicle on swingable links, each link being pivotally coupled at one end to the airfoil and at the other end to the vehicle underbody. The pivot axes of the links are substantially parallel to the airfoil. Biasing means interposed between the air spoiler assembly and the vehicle underbody normally biases the airfoil toward its deployed condition. As the air pressure against the front face of the airfoil increases as the speed of the vehicle is increased, the airfoil swings downwardly increasing the frontal area impacted by the airstream and restricting the flow of air beneath the vehicle underbody.

Self-deployable air spoiler assembly

The combination of a laterally extending bumper mounted on the front end of a vehicle and a chin spoiler mounted beneath the bumper, the vehicle bumper having an ornamental face bar and a reinforcement member concealed therebehind. The chin spoiler comprises a support means fastened by conventional fastening means to the bumper reinforcement and an airfoil. The airfoil is contoured along its leading edge to complement the frontal contour of the bumper face bar. A hinge means secures the airfoil along its rear edge to the support means rearwardly of the bumper reinforcement. Biasing means interposed between the support means and the airfoil normally biases the latter towards the underside of the bumper face bar in a concealed position beneath the vehicle. The hinge means provides a hinge axis extending laterally of the vehicle about which the airfoil is deployable. The biasing means resists such deployment until the speed of the vehicle reaches a predetermined velocity at which the air pressure exerted upon the upper surface of the airfoil overcomes the biasing force of the biasing means causing the airfoil to pivot downwardly to present greater frontal area to the air stream trying to pass under the vehicle.

Growing community of inventors

Bloomfield Hills, MI, United States of America

Charles J Haddad