United States Patent
`
`[15]
`
`3,651,389
`
`Ito et al.
`[45] Mar. 21, 1972
`
`
`[54] SAFETY DEVICE FOR USE WITH
`AUTOMATIC AUTOMOBILE WINDOW
`REGULATOR
`
`{72]
`
`'
`.
`Inventors: Shigehiko Ito, Kanya—shx; Hiroshi Ami,
`Toyota-Sm, both of Japan
`,
`[73] Assignee: Nippon Denso Kabushiki Kaisha, Showa-
`cho, Kariya-shi, Alchi-ken, Japan
`Nov. 3, 1969
`Filed:
`[22]
`"
`[21] Appl. No.: 873,320
`
`[30]
`
`[:1]
`[
`1
`[58]
`
`Foreign Application Prior“)! Data
`~
`Nov. 9, 1968
`Japan...............:...................43/97823
`:J.S.CCII..
`""""""""""318/266’ 318/282l’03218/423
`
`'3'.
`a ............................................
`pl/
`Field of Search ......................... 318/266, 286, 466, 478;
`317/123 P; 340/258; ZOO/DIG.
`l
`
`[56]
`
`References Cited
`
`UNITED STATES PATENTS
`
`3,409,842 11/1968
`Emblins et a1. .......................... 331/65
`3,513,374
`5/1970 Koment ................318/266
`
`......... 318/478
`3,525,028
`8/1970
`Ruoss et al...
`Atkins et al.......................200/DIG. 1
`3,200,304
`8/1965
`Primary Examiner—Gene Z. Rubinson
`Assistant Examiner—W. E. Duncanson, Jr.
`Attorney—Cushman, Darby & Cushman
`
`_
`ABSTRACT
`[57]
`A safe automatic window regulator so designed that if the
`human body and the like touches the upper end of the window
`glass, it is sensed so that even if the switch has been closed in
`the direction to close the window, the electric circuit is auto-
`matically changed over so as to reopen the window thereby
`preventing ham to the human body and the like due to any In-
`0
`advertency.
`
`5 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure
`
`
`
`Webasto Roof Systems, Inc.
`Exhibit 101 5
`
`1
`
`Webasto Roof Systems, Inc.
`Exhibit 1015
`
`

`

`PAIENIEUMARZI 1972
`
`‘
`
`'
`
`, 3,651,389
`
`
`
`
`
`
`'
`
`. [Invcn‘f‘ors
`.
`Sham/<0 1m
`HImShI Aral
`‘ Wm ,% $35K
`
`mm
`“Mrbfi.
`(87"
`Webasto Roof Systems, inc.
`'
`Exhibit 101 5
`
`2
`
`2
`
`Webasto Roof Systems, Inc.
`Exhibit 1015
`
`

`

`10
`
`15
`
`20
`
`25
`
`30
`
`35
`
`40
`
`45
`
`50
`
`55
`
`60
`
`65
`
`7O
`
`The general object of the present invention is to provide a
`highly safe automatic window regulator wherein, if a part of
`the human body and the like touches the upper end of the win-
`dow glass, it is sensed so that, even if the switch has been
`closed in the direction to close the window, the electric circuit
`is automatically changed over so as to reopen the window to
`thereby prevent hurt to the human body and the like due to an
`inadvertency.
`“
`‘
`'
`More specifically, the object of the present invention is to
`provide what is stated in the claim.
`According to the present invention, a relay circuit for de- '
`tecting a hand or the like which is caught by the window glass
`includes an oscillation circuit wherein the base circuit of its
`' oscillating transistor is connected to an electrode mounted on
`the upper end of the window glass, and a high-frequency oscil-
`lation circuit is employed as the said oscillation circuit whose
`oscillation frequency is determined by the inductance and
`stray capacitance 'of the oscillating coil and by the stray in-
`ductance and stray capacitance of the base circuit of the oscil-
`lating transistor, whereby the oscillating condition of the oscil-
`lation circuit in the device of the present invention is made
`very critical so that a very slight electrical change in the base
`circuit of the oscillating transistor caused by a hand or the like
`touching the electrode may readily cause the oscillation cir-
`cuit to start or stop its oscillation, hence not only the detection
`sensitivity is excellent but also the external appearance of the
`window is not spoiled since the sensing means comprises
`merely an electrode of a very simple construction such as a
`conductor foil. These are the remarkable effects attributable
`to the present invention.
`Moreover, because the oscillating transistor is provided
`with an emitter bias resistor and a portion of this bias resistor
`is composed of a variable resistor to accomplish a negative
`feedback from this variable resistor
`to the oscillating
`transistor, there is a further advantage that the magnitude of
`the negative feedback to the oscillating transistor is changed
`according to the resistance value of the variable resistor to ad-
`just the stability of the oscillation circuit thereby achieving the
`adjustment of the sensitivity of the oscillation circuit very easi-
`ly. Furthermore, there is anotheradvantage that there is no
`need to especially provide a transformer and the like in the
`output circuit of the oscillation circuit, since the oscillation
`output is taken out from the said emitter bias resistor.
`
`2
`DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
`
`The present invention will be explained hereinafter in con-
`junction with the illustrated embodiment. In the accompany-
`ing drawing, numeral 1 designates a power source such as a
`storage battery, and 2 a switch in which a movable contact 2c
`is manually operated to contact with either one of fixed con-
`tacts 2a and 2b. Numeral 3 designates an electric motor for
`operating the window regulator which is so constructed that it
`makes a forward rotation when the motor is energized through
`a field coil 3a, and that the direction of rotation of the motor is
`reversed when it is energized through the other field coil 3b.
`Numeral 4 designates a relay circuit according to the present
`invention, and 401 an antenna connected to an electrode such
`as a conductor foil mounted on the upper end of the window
`glass. Numeral 402 designates a capacitor to block the relay
`circuit 4 from the antenna 401 with respect to the DC com-
`ponent. Numeral 403 designates a resistor, and 404 a capaci-
`tor to block the DC component. Numeral 405 designates an
`oscillating coil, and 406 also designates an oscillating coil,
`both 'coils being wound so that they have their polarities set as
`shown by the mark “." in the drawing. Numeral 407
`designates an oscillating transistor, and the oscillation circuit
`c0mposed of the transistor 407 and the coils 405 and 406
`forms a high-frequency oscillation circuit whose oscillation
`frequency is of the order of several MHz. Here, the oscillation
`frequency of the oscillation circuit is determined by the in-
`ductance and stray capacitance of the oscillating coil 405 on
`the side of the base of the oscillating transistor 407 and by the
`stray inductance and stray capacitance of the base circuit of
`the oscillating transistor 407. Numeral 408 designates a varia-
`ble resistor constituting a portion of the emitter bias resistor
`for the oscillating transistor 407, and 409 a resistor constitut-
`ing also a portion of the emitter bias resistor for the transistor
`407, a bypass capacitor 410 being connected in parallel with
`the resistor 409. Numeral 411 designates a bias resistor for a
`transistor 412; 413 and 414 capacitors to ensure the conduc-
`tion of the transistor 412 upon applying the source voltage to
`the circuit so that a relay coil 418 will not be operated by
`mistake due to the conduction of a transistor 416. Numeral
`415 designates a load resistor of the transistor 412. The
`transistor 416 forms a Schmitt circuit with the transistor 412.
`Numeral 417 designates a common emitter resistor of both
`transistors 412 and 416, which provides a hysteresis effect for
`the on-off operations. Numeral 419 designates a movable con-
`tact actuated by the relay coil 418 and 420 and 421 a normally
`closed fixed contact and a normally open fixed contact as-
`sociated with the movable contact, respectively.
`.
`With the construction described above, the operation of the
`device according to the present invention will be explained
`hereinafter. Now, assuming that the movable contact 2c of the
`switch 2 is caused to contact with the fixed contact 2a to close
`the window, current
`is supplied to the electric motor 3
`through the field coil 3a, and the motor 3 makes a forward
`running, whereupon the window glass is moved upward. At
`this instance, the relay circuit 4 is supplied with the source
`voltage through the contacts 2c and 2a, so that the oscillation
`operation of the oscillating transistor 407 is caused by the
`feedback action between the oscillating coils 405 and 406,
`and the oscillation output voltage of the transistor appears
`across the resistors 408 and 409. This causes the potential
`raise at the junction point A‘of the resistors 408 and 409, and
`the transistor 412 in the succeeding stage conducts, so that the
`transistor 416 is brought into a nonconducting state, and the
`relay coil 418 remains deenergized, thereby leaving the mova-
`ble contact 419 to be in contact with the normally closed fixed
`contact 420. On the other hand, since the antenna 401 of the
`relay circuit 4 is connected with the electrode mounted on the
`upper end of the window glass or in the vicinity thereof, if a
`portion of the human body such as a hand and the like touches
`the said electrode, it is equivalent to that the base of the oscil~
`lating transistor 407 is grounded by means of a certain
`
`3,651,389
`
`'1
`SAFETY DEVICE FOR USE WITH AUTOMATIC
`AUTOMOBILE WINDOW REGULATOR
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`
`1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
`
`The present invention relates to a safety device for use with
`automatic automobile window regulators, which automatically
`stops the rising movement of the window glass to prevent any
`harm to the human body,'should a hand or the like be caught
`between the window glass and the window frame.
`2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
`Conventionally, the vertical movement of an automobile
`:swindow glass was effected by manually turning the handle to
`raise or lower the window glass. However, with the manufac-
`ture of more and more elaborate automobiles, the' recent
`trend is towards manufacturing an increasing number of win-
`dows in which the window glass is automatically powered by
`an electric motor. However, such powered windows are very
`dangerous in a sense, because, if its switch is operated by
`mistake by a child and the like and a hand or the like is caught
`.between the window glass and the window frame, the window
`glass will nevertheless continue its upward movement with the
`hand or the like being caught therebetween.
`
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
`
`The accompanying drawing is an electrical wiring diagram
`.75
`showing an embodiment of the present invention.
`
`3
`
`Webasto Roof Systems, Inc.
`Exhibit 101 5
`
`3
`
`Webasto Roof Systems, Inc.
`Exhibit 1015
`
`

`

`3
`
`3,651,389
`
`touched with a hand.
`
`4
`
`5
`
`10
`
`15
`
`capacitance of the human body, and the oscillating condition
`of the oscillation circuit including the transistor 407 collapses
`thereby stopping the oscillation.
`,
`Here, as the oscillation circuit comprising the oscillating
`transistor 407 and the oscillating coils 405 and 406 are formed
`as a high-frequency oscillation circuit whose frequency of
`oscillation is ’determined by the inductance and stray
`capacitance of the oscillating coil 405 and by the stray in—
`ductance and stray capacitance of the base circuit of the oscil-
`lating transistor 407, the waveform of the generated output is
`very unstable and the condition for oscillation of this oscilla-
`tion circuit is made extremely critical. It is thus possible to
`readily stop the oscillation of the transistor 407 by simply
`causing a small portion of the electric signal feedback to the
`oscillating transistor 407 to leak to the ground through the
`human body and the like. It is to be recalled here that the
`emitter bias resistors 408 and 409 is inserted into the emitter
`circuit of the oscillating transistor 407, and the variable re-
`sistor 408 is employed as a portion of this bias resistor to ac-
`complish a negative feedback from the variable resistor 408 to
`the oscillating transistor 407, and the sensitivity of the oscilla-
`tion circuit may be thereby readily adjusted, because any ad-
`justment of the magnitude of the variable resistor 408 to
`change the amount of the negative feedback will change the
`oscillating condition of the oscillation circuit and sub-
`sequently the stability of the oscillation. Then, since the suc- v
`ceeding stage transistor 412 is driven into cut off and the
`transistor 416 conducts when the oscillating transistor 407
`stops its oscillation as previously described, a current is sup-
`plied to the relay coil 418, and the movable contact 419
`comes into contact with the normally open fixedcontact 421.
`This causes a current to flow into the electric motor 3 through
`the reversing field coil 3b, hence the window glass in the up-
`ward movement is reversed. The instant an obstacle, such as
`the hand or the like, is removed, the oscillating transistor 407
`starts its oscillation again, and the transistor 412 conducts
`thereby cutting off the transistor 416, whereby the movable
`contact 419 comes into contact with the normally closed fixed
`contact 420 thus causing the window glass to move upward
`again. In this case, a limit switch and the like may be employed
`to detect the position of the window glass when it has moved
`up to the position where the upper end of the window glass
`contacts with the window frame to thereby prevent the relay
`coil 418 from being actuated again. By this means, such an un—
`desired operation may be avoided that, although no hand or
`the like is caught between the electrode and the window
`frame,
`the relay coil 418 should be energized by the
`capacitance between the electrode and the window frame, and
`that the direction of the rotation of the electric motor 3 should
`be thereby reversed to cause the window glass to go
`downwards even under such a normal operation condition. In-
`stead of employing a limit switch, the windOw frame may be
`formed so that only the electrode section of the antenna 401
`may be free from the contact with the window frame when the
`upper end of the window glass reaches the position where it
`contacts with the window frame. The present invention will
`not be limited to those in which the window regulation is ef~
`fected by means of an electric motor, but is equally applicable
`to a pneumatic or a hydraulic window regulator if a relay is
`utilized to control the opening and closing of the pneumatic or
`the hydraulic circuit.
`.
`Now, referring to the experiments conducted with the fol-
`lowing component parts: the oscillating coil 405—diameter of
`winding 15 4), number of turns 25; oscillating coil 406—
`diameter of winding 10 4), number of turns l5; the capacitor
`402—0001 to 0.01 pf; the resistor 403—1MQ; the capacitor
`402—»500 pf. to 0.1 pf; the electrode of the antenna 401—a
`conductor foil; and the oscillation frequency of the oscillation
`circuit — 4 to 5 MHz, the results obtained from the experi-
`ments have shown that the upward movement of the window
`glass was exactly prevented when the said electrode was
`
`20
`
`25
`
`30
`
`35
`
`40
`
`45
`
`50
`
`55
`
`60
`
`65
`
`70
`
`_
`'
`.
`,
`'
`.
`We claim:
`1. A safety devrce for use With automatic automobile wm-
`dow regulators wherein a reversible window regulating motor
`is provided for raising and lowering at least one window glass,
`said safety device comprising:
`an oscillation circuit comprising an oscillating transistor, se.
`ries connected emitter bias resistorsvconnected to the
`emitter of said transistor, oscillation coil means con-
`nected between the collector and the base of said
`transistor, and an electrode for mounting on the upper
`end of said window glass and connected to the base of
`said transistor, said oscillation circuit being oscillatable
`with a high frequency which is determined by the in-
`ductance of said oscillation coils and by the stray
`capacitance and the stray inductance of said electrode,
`one of said emitter bias resistors being a variable resistor
`for adjusting the amount of negative feedback from the
`emitter to the base of said oscillating transistor by varying
`the resistance thereof, the other of said resistors being
`bypassed by a capacitor and oscillation output of said
`oscillation circuit being taken from the junction of said
`emitter bias resistors;
`a relay and a relay control circuit, said relay control circuit
`being responsive to said oscillation output for controlling
`the energization of said relay; and
`means in said control circuit for automatically reversing
`said window regulating motor to lower said glass in
`response to operation of said relay.
`2. A safety device as in claim 1, wherein said emitter bias re-
`sistors are connected between the emitter of said transistor
`and ground, Said oscillation coil means comprising a first oscil-
`lation coil connected to the collector of said transistor and a
`second oscillation coil connected to the base of said transistor,
`and wherein a coupling capacitor is connected between said
`electrode and the base of said oscillating transistor.
`3. A safety device as in claim 2, wherein said oscillation cir-
`cuit further comprises a DC blocking capacitor connected in
`series with second oscillation coil, and a resistor connected
`between the base of said transistor and said power source.
`4. A safety device for use with an automatic automobile
`window regulator having a power source, a window regulator
`motor, and a manual switch for changing the direction of said
`motor to open or close a window glass, comprising:
`electrode detecting means adapted to be mounted on said
`window glass for signalling the presence of an adjacent
`human object by changing its stray impedance,
`a transistorized oscillator circuit electrically connected to
`said electrode and coil structured to change its normal
`operation into an abnormal operating condition when and
`only while the stray impedance of said electrode means
`changes as aforesaid, and -
`means connected‘to said oscillator circuit and responsive
`only to said abnormal condition for automatically
`reversing said motor to cause said glass to move in an
`opening direction while said manual switch is in a position
`normally to cause closing of the glass so as to prevent said
`human object from being caught by closing glass,
`said reversing means being also responsive immediately
`upon cessation of said abnormal condition and return of
`said oscillator circuit to its said normal operation due to
`sufiicient removal of said human object from said elec-
`trode detecting means to effect automatic re-reversing of
`said motor so that said window glass resumes its move-
`ment in the closing direction while the said manual switch
`remains in its said normal closing position.
`5. A safety device as in claim 4 wherein said oscillator ab-
`normal operating condition is a non-oscillating condition and
`said electrode detecting means is a conductor foil adapted to
`mount on the closing edge of said window glass.
`1‘
`*
`*
`*
`*
`
`75
`
`Webasto Roof Systems, Inc.
`Exhibit 101 5
`
`4
`
`Webasto Roof Systems, Inc.
`Exhibit 1015
`
`