Webasto Ag

Webasto Se

Minoru Okamura

Kozo Odoi

Tomoaki Matsunobu

Frank Hinrichs

A link mechanism capable of setting any desirable speed of opening/closing a lid during a series of the opening/closing operation and capable of exerting a strong driving force is provided. A lid () is attached to a lid bracket (). The lid bracket () is pivotally connected to a driving lever () and a coupled-driving lever () with which the lid () is opened or closed. The driving lever () is provided with a cam having an elongated hole (), into which a driving pin () provided to a sector gear () is fitted. The sector gear () is driven by a motor through a pinion (). According to rotation of the sector gear (), the driving pin () moves in the elongated hole () and drives the driving lever (). Since the distance between the center of the sector gear () and the driving pin () is larger than the radius of the pinion (), such mechanism exerts a strong driving force.

Link mechanism

A retractable roof system for a vehicle is provided with a roof locking apparatus () provided in a vehicle body and retaining a retractable roof in a storage space () which is different from a trunk space, and a link mechanism () provided in the vehicle body and capable of changing a position of a lid () covering the storage space () so as to open and close to an open position and a closed position. The roof locking apparatus () is structured such as to work with the link mechanism ().

Growing community of inventors

Hiroshima, Japan

Minoru Okamura