Vehicle window operating mechanism

Claim 1

For use with an automobile door having a window opening and a window slidably mounted in the opening, a mechanism for raising and lowering the window comprising: (a). a rigid track fixed to the door below the window opening and having a slot opening along its length, (b). a flexible non-metallic belt slidably mounted in the track and having a portion thereof connected to the lower part of the window, and having equally spaced perforations formed along its length which are accessible through the slot opening in the track, (c). operating means for the window comprising an externally toothed gear rotatably mounted on the door with its teeth meshing with the perforations in the belt, and a handle connected to the gear for operating the gear to move the belt along the track, (d). a fixed shaft mounted on the door adjacent the track, (e). a hollow cylindrical externally toothed casing rotatably mounted on the shaft with its teeth in meshed engagement with the perforations in the belt, and (f). a backwound spiral spring within the casing having its outer end fixed to the inner peripheral wall of the casing and its inner end fixed to the shaft, the spring being moved from its normal position adjacent the peripheral wall of the casing to its position adjacent the shaft on lowering the window and unwound to its normal position on raising the window.