Roof weather strip for use in a convertible car is composed of a plurality of weather strip pieces corresponding to the folding of a sliding roof thereof. When the sliding roof is unfolded to form a roof of the convertible car, longitudinal end parts of adjacent roof weather strip pieces contact each other to define a continuously extending roof weather strip for sealing a side edge of the sliding roof.

Each of the weather strip pieces has a base portion, a tubular door glass-sealing portion, and a sliding roof-sealing portion. In each of the longitudinal end parts, the sliding roof-sealing portion is formed tubular, and the tubular sliding roof-sealing portion and the tubular door glass-sealing portion are closed with end faces, respectively, which are provided in each of the longitudinal end parts.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a roof weather strip for use in a convertible car, which is divided into weather strip pieces, each having a sliding roof-sealing lip, wherein when a sliding roof is unfolded andslid to form a roof of the convertible car, facing end faces of adjacent weather strip pieces, inclusive of facing end faces of the sliding roof-sealing lip thereof, contact each other, thereby effecting a good seal between the sliding roof and a doorglass in its fully closed position.

The roof weather strip in accordance with the present invention is composed of a plurality of weather strip pieces corresponding to the folding of the sliding roof, which are secured to a roof-side frame for the sliding roof. When the slidingroof is unfolded to form a roof of a car body, facing longitudinal end parts of adjacent weather strip pieces contact each other to form a continuously extending roof weather strip for sealing a side edge of the sliding roof. Each of the weather strippieces has a base portion for attachment to a retainer which is secured to the roof-side frame, a door glass-sealing portion which is integrally formed with the base portion for contacting a peripheral edge of a door glass, and a sliding roof-sealingportion which is formed along the door glass-sealing portion integrally therewith for contacting the side edge of the sliding roof. In each of longitudinal end parts of each weather strip piece, the sliding roof-sealing portion has a tubularconfiguration, and the tubular sliding roof-sealing portion and a tubular part of the door glass-sealing portion are respectively closed with end faces in each longitudinal end part of each weather strip piece.

Since the roof weather strip in accordance with the present invention is composed of a plurality of weather strip pieces corresponding to the folding of the sliding roof, which are secured to roof-side frames for the sliding roof, when thesliding roof is unfolded to form a roof of a car body, facing longitudinal end parts of the weather strip pieces contact each other to form a continuously extending roof weather strip for sealing the side edge of the sliding roof, and when the slidingroof and the roof-side frame are folded and retracted inside the car body, the roof weather strip can be also retracted inside the car body along with the sliding roof and the roof-side frame. And when the sliding roof is unfolded to form a roof of thecar body, the side edge of the sliding roof can be sealed with the continuously extending roof weather strip.

Since the weather strip piece has a base portion for attachment to a retainer which is secured to the roof-side frame, a door glass-sealing portion which is integrally formed with the base portion for contacting a peripheral edge of the doorglass, and a sliding roof-sealing portion which is formed along the door glass-sealing portion integrally therewith for contacting an inside face of a side edge of the sliding roof, by attaching the base portion to the retainer, the door glass-sealingportion and the sliding roof-sealing portion of each weather strip piece can be attached to the car body at the same time, thereby improving the attaching efficiency of the roof weather strip. In addition, the sliding roof-sealing portion can beintegrally formed with the door glass-sealing portion at the same time by extrusion, thereby facilitating the production of the roof weather strip.

Since when the sliding roof is unfolded to form a roof of the car body, a projecting end of the sliding roof-sealing portion of each weather strip piece contacts and seals the inside face of the side edge of the sliding roof, a gap between thesliding roof and the roof weather strip can be securely sealed. And since when the door glass is raised to its fully closed position, the door glass-sealing portion of each weather strip piece seals a gap between the door glass and the roof weatherstrip, a gap between the sliding roof and the door glass can be sealed with the sliding roof-sealing portion and the door glass-sealing portion.

Since in each of the longitudinal end parts of each weather strip piece, the sliding roof-sealing portion is formed to have a tubular configuration, when facing longitudinal end parts of the weather strip pieces contact each other to form acontinuously extending roof weather strip, the rigidity of each longitudinal end part is enhanced, and the facing longitudinal end parts can be prevented from greatly deforming, and can readily contact each other. And if the facing longitudinal endparts do not properly meet each other upon contacting, they are prevented from coming off from each other and good sealing properties can be achieved, because the tubular sliding roof-sealing portion has a greater sectional area.

Since the tubular sliding roof-sealing portion and the tubular part of the door glass-sealing portion are respectively closed with end faces provided in each of the longitudinal end parts of each weather strip piece, the rigidity of the end facesof the longitudinal end parts of each weather strip piece can be enhanced, whereby when the facing longitudinal end parts of adjacent weather strip pieces contact each other, the configuration thereof can be prevented from greatly deforming, and goodstability thereof can be obtained. In addition, rainwater, dust, noise or the like can be prevented from intruding into an interior of the car body via gaps between the facing longitudinal end parts of the adjacent weather strip pieces.

In accordance with the present invention, it is preferable that in a central part of each weather strip piece, the sliding roof-sealing portion is composed of a tubular base which is formed integrally with the door glass-sealing portion, and twosliding roof-sealing lips for contacting the sliding roof, which project from the tubular base in a vertically parallel relation. The central part thus arranged can be readily formed by extrusion, and the two sliding roof-sealing lips can be provided soas to project from the tubular base towards an inside face of the side edge of the sliding roof. Thus, in the central part of each weather strip piece, a double sealing can be effected against the sliding roof by virtue of the two sliding roof-sealinglips, whereby a secure seal can be effected between the sliding roof and the central part.

And it is preferable that in each longitudinal end part of each weather strip piece, the two sliding roof-sealing lips are connected to each other at projecting ends thereof to define a tubular sliding roof-sealing portion. Consequently, therigidity of each longitudinal end part is enhanced, and when facing longitudinal end parts contact each other, they do not deform, and a continuous seal without generating any gap between contacting longitudinal end parts can be obtained. In addition,the double sealing in the central part gradually varies to a single sealing in the longitudinal end parts, and accordingly, any interruption of seal lines does not occur.

It is preferable that the central part of each weather strip piece is formed by extrusion, and the longitudinal end part of each weather strip piece is formed by molding. With this arrangement, as compared with the case where each weather strippiece is entirely formed by molding, a molding die can be made small, and the construction of the molding die can be made simple. Consequently, production costs of the molding die can be reduced, and the molding rate can be increased, thereby reducingthe entire production costs of the roof weather strip.

It is preferable that in the longitudinal end part of each weather strip piece, the sliding roof-sealing lips and the tubular base of the sliding roof-sealing portion define a tubular cross-section with a generally elliptic shape. With thisarrangement, in the longitudinal end part of each weather strip piece, a projecting outside face of the tubular sliding roof-sealing portion with an elliptic cross-section contacts and seals an inside face of the side edge of the sliding roof. By virtueof the tubular sliding roof-sealing portion thus arranged, the sliding roof-sealing lips provided in the central part is prevented from readily deforming, and only a single core is needed in a molding die for molding the tubular sliding roof-sealingportion, and accordingly the production of the roof weather strip is facilitated.

It is preferable that the door glass-sealing portion is composed of a tubular sealing portion.

With this arrangement, when the door glass is raised, a peripheral edge of the door glass contacts the tubular sealing portion, thereby effecting a seal therebetween. If the peripheral edge of the door glass vibrates when the car body vibrates,or when the door glass is drawn outwardly during running of a car, the tubular sealing portion which exhibits elasticity and has a considerable width can absorb the vibrations of the peripheral edge of the door glass, and consequently, the peripheraledge of the door glass can continuously contact the tubular sealing portion.

It is preferable that in the central part of the weather strip piece, the tubular base of the sliding roof-sealing portion is formed to have a generally lozenge-shaped cross-section so as to accommodate variations in the thickness of the slidingroof, and in the longitudinal end part of the weather strip piece, an outside wall of the tubular base protrudes outwardly to connect the projecting ends of the two sliding roof-sealing lips each other. With this arrangement, where the thickness of thesliding roof varies, the lozenge-shaped sliding roof-sealing portion deforms to accommodate the variations therein, thereby ensuring good sealing properties.

And, in the longitudinal end part of the weather strip piece, the tubular sliding roof-sealing portion can be readily formed. The two sliding roof-sealing lips in the central part can be gradually and smoothly varied to the tubular slidingroof-sealing portion in the longitudinal end part.

In accordance with the present invention, in each longitudinal end part of each of the weather strip pieces composing the roof weather strip for the sliding roof of a convertible car, the sliding roof-sealing portion is formed tubular. Accordingly, when the sliding roof is unfolded to form a roof of the convertible car, the sliding roof-sealing portion in each longitudinal end part exhibits high rigidity so that the deformation thereof is reduced. Accordingly, facing longitudinal endparts of adjacent weather strip pieces readily contact each other with good sealing properties.