Wickes Manufacturing Company

Ford Motor Company Limited

Steven J Skornicka

Stephen P Rawlings

David R Farkas

Apparatus and method for attaching the rear edge of the fabric top and a sling to the periphery of a convertible top storage well are disclosed. A convertible vehicle has a top storage well located behind the rear seat for receiving the folded top through a top opening. A sling lines the well and is attached to the well periphery at the top opening. The rear edge of the convertible top cover is attached to a tacking strip which has a plurality of spaced holes that receive threaded studs welded to body structure. A plurality of nuts are screwed onto the studs atop the tacking strip to secure the tacking strip to the well walls. Each nut has an enlarged outwardly rounded head and a retention groove. An elongated strip of elastic material sewn to the sling incorporates a plurality of spaced slotted apertures and a central locating aperture. The slotted apertures are horizontally wider than the fastener heads and vertically smaller than the fastener heads to elastically deform to distort and pass over a head and into a groove. The locating aperture is sized smaller than the head of its mating fastener and has four radial slits forming flaps which deform to pass over the nut head into the retention groove. The sling is attached by pushing the retention members onto the fasteners. The front of the sling is mounted on the seat back by a boot attachment member.

Convertible sling fastener

A convertible vehicle includes a U-shaped top storage well having rear and side edges that are defined by body sheet metal, a front edge defined by the vehicle rear seat, and forwardly-projecting side quarter portions having a front and spaced side walls. A boot for covering the stored top comprises a semi-rigid laminate of vinyl and foam layers having a smooth top surface. The bottom surface has two longitudinal grooves enabling folding for storage. The periphery of the rear surface has spaced indentations between the grooves for locating and mounting peripheral C-shaped clips which grip the well rear and side edges, and quarter side and front walls. A tongue is mounted on the boot front edge and includes a latch bead. The tongue is inserted into the slot of a receiver mounted on the rear seat back. The receiver comprises a base having a recess for receiving the latch bead and an opposing flexible wall which clamps the tongue to latch the bead into the recess. The tongue has a handle to facilitate boot installation. The boot is slightly larger laterally and longitudinally than the well opening to place the boot in compression to assist boot retention and to accommodate vehicle build variations. The boot is readily manually-installed and -removed in a matter of mere seconds.

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Tecumseh, MI, United States of America

Steven J Skornicka