The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 04, 2001
Filed:
Aug. 07, 2000
Masahiro Tanigawa, Wako, JP;
Masanobu Shinoda, Wako, JP;
Jun Odahara, Tokyo, JP;
Tsuguo Hoshikawa, Tokyo, JP;
Other;
Abstract
A vehicle comprises a vehicle body, an electric folding roof housed in the vehicle body in a folded state, an electric motor operate to unfold the folded electric folding roof, and a rigid roof designed to be attached to the vehicle body when the electric folding roof is folded and housed in the vehicle body. The vehicle also includes an inhibiting device for inhibiting operation of the electric motor upon detection of the attachment of the rigid roof to the vehicle body. With this arrangement, it becomes possible to prevent unfolding of the folded electric folding roof when the rigid roof is attached to the vehicle body. This leads to the further advantage that failure of the motor can be prevented.