US3516199A - Raising and lowering regulators - Google Patents

Description

June 23 1970 PRIESTMAN 99 RAISING AND LOWERING REGULATORS Filed Jan. 10, 1969 2 Sh'eets$heet 1 J 3 19 Pl D. PRIESTMAN 3,51 ,199

me ausmc AND LOWERING REGULATORS Filed Jan. 10, 1969 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 3,516,199 RAISING AND LOWERING REGULATORS Francis Dennis Priestman, Coventry, England, assignor to Rootes Motors Limited, London, England, a British company Filed Jan. 10, 1969, Ser. No. 790,360 Int. Cl. Ef 11/52, 11/44 U.S. C]. 49-40 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A lever type regulator for raising and lowering a curved article through a curved path which regulator comprises a lever rotatable in a vertical plane having means at one end to engage the bottom of the article, the lever being flexible to permit said one end to move transversely to said vertical plane during raising and lowering of the article.

and a gear which engages a quadrant attached to the.

lever, the free end of the lever moving in a substantially vertical plane and engaging, usually through a roller, in a guideway provided along the bottom of the article.

It is an object of the invention to adapt a lever type of regulator suitable for fiat articles to a regulator suitable for raising and lowering curved articles.

The invention provides a lever type regulator for raising and lowering an article which is curved about a horizontal axis (or axes) and is guided for up and clown movement in an arcuate path corresponding to the curvature of the article whereby during such up and down movement the bottom of the article and a guideway attached to it have a horizontal component of movement perpendicular to the length of the said bottom of the article, in which regulator the lever is flexible for movement of the free end in the direction of said component and the said free end is constrained to move in the said direction with the aritcle as it rises and falls.

Preferably the lever is of U-shape to provide the required flexibility, one limb of the U-shape being attached adjacent its end to the quadrant and the free end of the other limb engaging the article.

It is preferred that the curved article is a vehicle door glass and the remainder of the specification will be related thereto. However, the scope of the invention is in no way limited to this application since the principle of the invention is equally applicable to vehicle windscreens, curved doors or shutters or the like, and also Patented June 23, 1970 ICE to curved members made of materials other than glass.

A specific embodiment of a regulator according to the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevation of the regulator;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the regulator;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the lever; and

FIG. 4 is a side view of the lever.

The regulator, which is intended for raising and lowering a curved window glass 7 in a door of a vehicle indicated at 8 on FIG. 2, comprises a quadrant 10 rotatable about a pivot axis 11 by means of a handle (not shown) on a spindle 12 carrying a gear (not shown) engaging the quadrant.

Attached to the quadrant is a lever arm 14 of which the free end carries a roller 15 running in a channel 9 attached to the lower edge of the window glass. The lever 14 is of U-shape (see FIGS. 2 and 4) to provide flexibility and is attached by its shorter limb 14a to the quadrant.

The flexibility of the lever permits the roller 15 to follow in the plane of the paper as seen in FIG. 2- the horizontal component of movement of the lower edge of the glass as it follows the curvature of the glass during its up and down movements.

I claim:

1. A lever type regulator for raising and lowering an article which is curved about at least one horizontal axis through a correspondingly curved path comprising a lever, means to swing the lever about a fixed axis, and a guide at one end of the lever for engaging a guideway extending along a lower edge of the article wherein the improvement comprises constructing the lever so that it is resiliently flexible in a plane extending transversely to the plane in which the lever swings so that the guide can follow movement of the guideway transverse to the guideway as the article is raised and lowered.

2. A lever type regulator as claimed in claim 1 wherein the lever is U-shaped having a long limb and a short limb, said means for swinging the lever acting on the short limb of the lever and the guide being mounted at the free end of the long limb.

3. A lever type regulator as claimed in claim 1 in which the article is a vehicle door glass guided in a vehicle door.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,798,761 7/1957 Himka 49227 X FOREIGN PATENTS 955,865 4/1964 Great Britain.

J. KARL BELL, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 49227, 350

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