Molded gap seal apparatus with inward pointing fibrillations

摘要

A cover for the gap in an automobile automatic gear shift assembly is presented. The gap cover is formed from a single molded housing with inward pointing fibrillations. These fibrillations act as fingers to cover the hole created when the multi position mechanism is moved from one position to another. The fibrillations are assisted back to their original position through (1) physical properties of the advanced polymeric substance used to mold the housing and (2) through the interactions of assisting tabs formed on the back side of the fibrillations, which act as springs.

主权项

1. A gap seal cover, comprising:
a housing, where the housing is substantially flat with a top surface and a bottom surface further comprising:
a gap cover region having a travel axis and a stationary axis;a shift lever travel path formed by a first slit through the gap cover region substantially parallel to the travel axis;multiple fibrillations formed by multiple fibrillation slits cut through the gap cover region where each fibrillation slit intersects the shift lever travel path, and each fibrillation is bounded by two fibrillation slits and the shift lever travel path; anda connection area surrounding the gap cover region; andmultiple assistance tabs, each assistance tab is associated with a fibrillation, and each assistance tab is formed upon a bottom surface of the associated fibrillation,wherein the multiple assistance tabs are configured to provide a springing action to assist the associated fibrillation to return to an original position when the fibrillation is moved to a different position along the shift lever path.