US1463193A - Collapsible automobile top - Google Patents

Description

July 31, W23.

- J. BOTELLA COLLAPSIBLE AUTOMOBILE TOP 2 Shoots-Sheet ,1

File? March 8, 1922 Fig.1

July 31, 1923. 1,463,193

J. BOTELLA CQLLAPSIBLE AUTOMOBILE TQP Filed March 8. 1922 I z Sheets-Sheet 2 Z lzweml ia se or PARIS, FRANCE.

COLLAPSIBLE AUTOMOBILE TOP...

pplication filed March 8, 1922. Serial Hal-542,092. I

To all whom it may cohcern:

Be it known thatl, JAo Uns' VBOTELLA,

a citizen of the French Republic, residing at 3 RueGeorges Ville, Paris, France have invented new and useful Improvements in Collapsible Automobile Tops, of which the following is the specification. I

- All the carriage bodies with hoods for motor cars of the cabriolet, landaulet, torpedo cabriolet-type, are provided with hoods which fold down on the elbow rests of the rear seat in various ways, form projections more orless unsightly in the line of the car and presenting the serious inconvenience ofoiiering a .great resistance to the air by the surface f the hood which extends beyond the back of the car.

' This invention has for its object a hood whichpfolding down outside the elbow rests and back of the car, allows a motor cabriolet to betransformed into an open torpedo hav- .ing absolutely sportive lines, offering the "max mum-of elegance and the minimum of :resistanceto the .311.

This hood is characterlzed in that the uprights supporting the hoops move away from the elbow rests when they are folded down, coming, as n an ordinary torpedo,

outside and below" the level of the elbow rests, clearing entirely the, latter and the back of the car. This operation can be obtained by pulling the uprights outwardly,

these latter being mounted in a slide, or automaticallv by means of two helical inclines acting atv the central points of rotation, or

by any other mechanical device. r A form of construction of a hood 1n accordance with the present invention is illustrated byway of example in the accompanying drawing in which: I

Fig. 1 is. a perspective view showing the whole of the skeleton work oi the hood in service position (cabriolet). Fig. 2 is a view showing work put down (torpedo).

this skeleton Fig; 3 is apartial plan view showing the. position of the uprights and hoops of the vhood when brought down.

Fig. sis a perspective down,.as well, a s the covering-of the door glasses. u

-Fig. 5 1s a vertical sectlon. on an enlarged.

view showing the uprights guiding the front glass and the, ,bIlClgQ covering-nits housing -half folded folding down or rotary movement, the pi-vo'tal axis of the hood. p The links 1 which are secured to the up rights of the hood are mounted on an axis 2 capable of rotating in a bearingS secured between the thickness of the side walls and the lining of the carriage body, a little way below the elbow rests against the upright of the door. This axis 2 is so arrangedthat it can be, subjected to a translation accord: ing' to its axis, outwardly. to the car when the uprights secured to the links l are brought down,'that is to say when it is desired to fold down the hood foropening the car.

. By way of example,,this double movement it. srar earwr were.

aeceuns BOTELLA,

of rotation and, of translation of the'axes 2 is realized in the following manner;

The axis 2 carries a cylindrical key 4 at right angles to its axis which can rnov'ein four corresponding helical grooves provided, tw in the bearings 3, two in a concentric wall of a sheet-iron cylinder 3? secured in the side-wall oi? the carriage bod-y.

lVhen the link 1 rotates in the direction of thearrcw (Fig. 1) the aXis2 slides in its bearing, moving away from the longitudr nal axis of the car. It takes back its initial position when the link '1 is brought-again forwardly so that the hood upright 1Q which it conducts, isvertical. This upright 10 is broken at its upper part by'a hinge 11. I By means of this arrangement, the skeleton .work of the hood covered with leather in the known manner, can be folded and ar-- ranged outwardly and below 'the elbow rests, as shown-in Fig. 2.

The hoop ,6 holding thej leather accordspacing apartmovement of the uprights 10" during the lowering operation. Moreover, the arms of this hoop are broken at the point 15 by horizontal axisp and atjthe point 17 for allowing: them to fold back when the the uprights 10. i F or rendering with the raising of the -hood, a sm'all link 14 hinged at both ends compelsthe arms'of the'hoop 6 to unfold byjthe'pulling of the leather on the part 16.

The front of the hood. covering the top .hoodsis lo'wered down. in Order w y. I not extend beyond'the alignment of this operation automatic,"

of the doors operates according to the known systems and locks itself on the uprights 7 of the front glass (Fig.4).

The whole of the hood is held rigid by two rule joints 12 hinged on the top of the uprights and the hood support 20.

The front glass disappears in the back of the front seat as well as the uprights 7 which serve as vertical supports therefor and the upper spacing cross bar 9 on which is placed a sheet iron or wooden bridge 13 completely hiding the passage of the glass when it is lowered down. The uprights '7 are connected to the spacing bar 9 by two links 8 hinged at both ends in order to raise the whole by pulling vertically on the spacing bar 9.

When the frame formed by the two up rights and the spacing bar has been rendered rigid by locking it to the hood by a fastening device arranged at the upper part of the uprights, the glass is fitted up by the systems currently employed.

The glasses of the doors move down in the hollow of the doors with their metal uprights (according to the known system) and the passages are covered by piano hinges 15' e).

. For lowering the hood, the front of the latter is first disengaged from the front up rights, then one of the rule joints is closed (the other being combined with the first one by a common axis passing through the car along the back) and the whole folds back outside the carriage body. For preventing the dust from entering in the members of the hood, the whole is enclosed in a cover as usual.

The combination of the three glasses for constituting a hinged window can be used when the hood is folded down. i

The uprights of the front glass disappear as-shown in Fig. 2.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a hood for motor vehicle, a front hoop supporting the hood and the ends of which are connected by pivoted links to two uprights about midway of the height of these uprights, said uprights being pivoted at their lower ends to the rear face of the 'back of the driver seat in order to be capable of being brought down parallel to the said rear face, rear door uprights the lower ends of which rest on the elbow rests and are connected with extensions movable about an axls at right angles to the side faces of the carriage body,means for displacing the ZLXIS Of rotation of the said extension n to the rear hoop supporting the latter, so as to permit the spacing'of the said skeleton work at the same time as; that of the rear door uprights.

2. In a hood for motor vehicles, a front hoop supporting the hood and carried by two front door uprights pivoted at their lower end on the rear face of the back of the driver seat so as to be capable of being brought down horizontally in a plane parallel to the said rear face, links connecting the ends of the front hoop to the middle of the front door uprights for causing the hoop to come behind the back of the driver seat of which it is capable of forming the upper face ;-rcar door uprights the upper ends of which are connected to the front hoop by bridges made of two jointed parts hooking on the ends of the front hoop, the two parts of the said bridges being capable of folding on each other and on the rear door uprights. supporting levers secured at the lower end of the rear door uprights and connected with an axis pivoting in a socket secured in the thickness of the carriage body, the said axis being slidable relatively to the socket by means of a finger guided in a helical groove, the rear door uprights resting on the upper face of the elbow rests when the hood. is raised and coming outside the carriage body and below the plane of the elbow rests when the hood is folded, a rear bow for the hood hingedly connected to the rear ends of two lateral joint-ed links whose other ends are pivoted to the rear door uprights. at about the central. portion of the height of these latter, and struts having their upper ends pivotally connected to the rear door uprights and their lower ends pivoted on a common axis attached transversely at the rear of the carriage body and intended to synchronize the movement of each of the lateral portions of the frame of the hood.

3. The combination with a vehicle tonneau having a drivers seat of uprights movable toward and away from said seat and adapted in lowered position to be concealed by said seat, a front hood bow operatively c0nnected with said uprights and adapted to be lowered with the uprights and to align with the rear portion of said seat, rear uprights having lower extensions, axially movable pivot pinsarranged transversely to the longitudinal axis of the tonneau and connected to said tonncau and said extensions, an intermediate bow having its ends pivotally connected to said rear uprights in such manner as to permit the lower ends of said uprights to move with said pivot pins toward and away from the longitudinal axis of the tonneau, a rear bow, links connecting the rear bow to the rear uprights, pivots connecting said links to the rear bow and capable of permitting the forward ends of said links to move laterally with the rear uprights, and hinged struts pivot-ally connected to the rear uprights and to. the tonneam.

4. The combination with a vehicle tonneau havin a drivers seat, of u ri hts connected to the tonneau and capable ofjmoveinent toward and away from the latter, a t front bow associated with said uprights, rear uprights having extensions at their lower ends, axially movable pivot pins connectingsaid extensions to said tonneau, an intermediate bow, means pivotally connecting the H intermediate bow to the rear uprights and the rear uprights, means pivotally connecting the rear ends of the jointed links to the rear bow and capable of permitting the forconnected to said ward ends of said links to move toward and away from the longitudinal axis'of the ton neau,' and hinged strut/shaving their ends tonneau.

5. A combination as claiined in claim 4 in- 1 eluding links having their rear ends pivotally connected to, the jointed links and their forward ends pivotally connected to 7 said uprights.

rear uprights and said Y 6. A- combination as claimed in claim 4,

including jointed bridge members connecting the upper ends of said rear'uprights to the upper ends of the front uprights.v

In testimony whereof I have signed my 7 name to this specification. I v V l JACQUES BOTELLA;

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