FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See Section 10; rule 13)
TITLE OF INVENTION
The Method Of Manufacturing Seating Buck And Running Mules


APPLICANTS
TATA MOTORS LIMITED, an Indian company
having its registered office at Bombay House,
24 Homi Mody Street, Hutatma Chowk,
Mumbai 400 001 Maharashtra, India

INVENTORS
Mr. K. K. Mirasdar and Mr. R.A.Mali
Both are Indian Nationals
of TATA MOTORS LIMITED,
an Indian company having its registered office
at Bombay House, 24 Homi Mody Street, Hutatma Chowk,
Mumbai 400 001 Maharashtra, India
PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner
in which it is to be performed.


FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention relates to a method of manufacturing Seating buck and Running Mules.
PRIOR ART
Seating buck is a very initial process of making vehicle interiors of a new model based on the initial stages of design & styling. Seating bucks are used to give an idea about the interior space, ergonomics, seating arrangements, and in-grace and out-grace of the vehicle, the vehicle height, seat locations & 'H' point of the seats, leg space, head room, luggage space etc.
A mule is the initial skeleton of the fully built prototype without body, trims, insulation, HVAC, carpet etc. The mules are made to get initial feedback of ride & handling & the performance of different aggregates like Front suspension, Rear suspension. Breaks etc.
The conventional method of making a seating buck is;
The floor panel of the vehicle is made with suitable material.
All around the periphery of the floor panel, steel tubes of the desired diameter are bent as per the sections provided in the design. There are several tubes bent as per the drawing. All these steel tubes are placed along the length of the new model and welded to the floor to make interior sheet metal body. As per the drawing, a structure of steel tubes is made for the front & the rear portion of the vehicle. The seats are then mounted at the locations created on the floor. The controls like accelerator, break, clutch, hand break etc are mounted at the locations as per design. Dashboard model along with steering column is also mounted on the front steel tube structure. The steering wheel is then mounted on the column.
The conventional method of making a running mule is:
The floor panel of the vehicle is made with suitable material To mount this floor on
the chassis of the vehicle & assemble all the other aggregates like suspension, tyres,


exhaust, steering column & steering wheel, all controls, engine etc to make the skeleton mobile.
The disadvantage in the conventional methods is that the appearance of the seating buck is poor and shabby. Also the feel of the actual vehicle interior is not achieved. U is also not possible to view the design intent seating buck. In the conventional process the mules run on test tracks without body which is not safe. Also, actual test results of the running mules are not achieved and this increases fatigue of the testing drivers.
SUMMERY OF INVENTION
The objective of the present method is to develop a single piece, thin & hollow exterior fibre reinforcement plastic (FRP) body for a Seating Buck and running mules that will be; easy to assemble; create a good appearance of the assembly; gives the actual feel of the vehicle interiors; can be used for few running mules; saves cost and time for making sheet metal panels for initial few running mules; and gives good visualization of the complete vehicle.
The above objectives is achieved by making a single piece, thin and hollow exterior fibre reinforcement plastic component of the complete vehicle and mount the same on the seating buck or the running mule with suitable arrangements. The single piece FRP component is made from the 1:1 full scale exterior model cut on the 5 axis CNC machine. With the help of this full scale exterior model, five piece FRP mould is prepared. These moulds are assembled together and laminated to make a single piece FRP component. This exterior FRP component is hand finished & painted & then mounted on the seating buck or the mule.
STATEMENT OF INVENTION
This invention relates to a method of manufacturing seating buck and running mules comprising the steps of; making a single piece thin and hollow exterior Fibre Reinforcement Plastic (FRP) component of vehicle body; mounting said component
3 1 MAR 2009

onto a steel board fitted with a skeleton of steel sections of appropriate shape to form seating buck or running mule; wherein said single piece component is derived from a I: i full scale model of said vehicle body by; marking parting lines along the various surfaces of said full scale model; preparing moulds of the various surfaces of said model; fitting surfaces of said moulds with flanges along parting lines; removing said moulds from said model; assembling together said moulds by connecting said flanges; laminating inside surfaces of said assembled mould to get said single piece FRP component.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
Figure 1 shows the full scale solid model
Figure 2 shows the full scale solid model with flanges at parting lines of different
surfaces Figure 3 shows the different surface moulds after laminating solid model with
flanges. Figure 4 exploded view of moulds of different surfaces. Figure 5 shows the single piece FRP component after laminating the combined
moulds from inside Figure 6 shows the floor panel and tubular structure for seating buck.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION
Referring now to the drawings wherein the showings are for the purpose of illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention only, and not for the purpose of limiting the same
The following steps are followed to build a single piece, thin and hollow exterior body in fibre reinforcement plastic;
A 1:1 full scale model (1) machined as shown in Fig: 1. For a preferred embodiment model is chosen as a four wheeled vehicle with front face(F), rear side (R), body side outer RH & LH and roof (RF). Flanges (2) are added on the 1:1 full scale model


along the parting lines between the five different surfaces as mentioned above as shown in Fig; 2. flanges added to make five different moulds from the different parts of the model, i.e. Front face, roof, body side outer LH, body side outer RH and the rear side ol the model. The moulds are prepared by the regular process of lamination (3) and the wooden structure is bonded to each mould for reinforcement.
The process of lamination consists of three steps. First wax polish is applied on the surface to be laminated which acts as a releasing agent. The second step is to apply a mixture of white gel coat and hardener to get a good surface finish and the third step is to apply a mixture of resin and hardener along with cut pieces of FRP mat. After curing the moulds are released with suitable tools. All the five surfaces of the model are laminated and locations (4) are created on the flanges for assembling the five moulds together during component lamination as shown in fig 3, The separated moulds for five different surfaces ( F,R,LH,RH & RF) shown in the exploded view in Fig 4.
rhe moulds are released, finished & assembled together. The moulds are manually finished to get a good surface finish. The moulds assembled again with suitable clamping means to form a single piece hollow mould. Lamination is done to the assembled mould from inside to get a single piece, thin and hollow exterior FRP component (5) of the model as shown in Fig; 5. The FRP component is finished and painted.
To make the seating buck, floor panel (6) of the new model is created using suitable material. As shown in Fig: 6 all around the periphery of the floor panel, steel tubes (7) of the desired diameter are bent as per the design to form the shape of the vehicle. There are several tubes bent as per the drawing. All these steel tubes are placed along the length of the floor panel and fix to the floor to make vehicle body. The FRP component of the model as shown in Fig: 5 is mounted on the above tubular structure with the help of suitable mounting arrangements. The controls like accelerator, break, clutch, hand break etc are mounted at the locations as per design. Dashboard mode) along with steering column is also mounted on the front steel tube


structure. The steering wheel is then mounted on the column. The front and rear seats are mounted on the floor. A fully assembled seating buck is ready for inspection and design review,
Same procedure is followed For mounting the FRP body on to the mule, tubular structure is made at suitable places and the FRP body is mounted to this structure with the help of brackets & suitable clamping means.
Advantages of the assembly of single piece, thin and hollow FRP body on the seating buck or the running mules are;
a) The appearance of the seating buck is good.
b) The feel of the design intent vehicle interior is achieved.
c) Reduction in time of making sheet metal panels for the body to mount on the mule.
d) Reduction in manufacturing cost of sheet metal body.
e) Total vehicle can be seen for design review.
f) Due to the FRP body on the running mule the driving fatigue is reduced,
g) Increases safety of the driver during testing the running mules.
The foregoing description is a specific embodiment of the present invention. It should be appreciated that this embodiment is described for purpose of illustration only, and that numerous alterations and modifications may be practiced by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is intended that all such modifications and alterations be included in, so far as they come within the scope of the invention as claimed or the equivalents thereof.


WE CLAIM
1) A method of manufacturing seating buck and running mules comprising the
steps of:
making a single piece thin and hollow exterior Fibre Reinforcement Plastic (FRP) component of vehicle body;
mounting said component onto a steel board fitted with a skeleton of steel sections of appropriate shape to form seating buck or running mule;
wherein said single piece component is derived from a 1:1 full scale model of said vehicle body by:
marking parting lines along the various surfaces of said full scale model;
preparing moulds of the various surfaces of said model;
fitting surfaces of said moulds with flanges along parting lines;
removing said moulds from said model;
assembling together said moulds by connecting said flanges;
laminating inside surfaces of said assembled mould to get said single piece FRP component.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a wooden structure is bonded to each said mould for reinforcement.
3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said moulds are assembled together by clamping on locations along the length of said flanges to form a single piece hollow mould.
4. The method as claimed in claim 1. wherein said 1:1 full scale model is made by cutting on the 5 axis CNC machine.
5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said model is a four wheeled vehicle with front, rear, body side RH & LH and roof surfaces.


6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said process of lamination consists of wax polishing said surface to be laminated, applying a mixture of white gel coat and hardener; and applying a mixture of resin and hardener along with cut pieces of FRP mat.
7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a floor panel is created using a plurality of steel tubes of the desired diameter bent all around the periphery of the floor panel to form the shape of the vehicle to make the seating buck.
8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein controls such as accelerator, break, clutch, hand break, dashboard model along with steering column and steering wheel, front and rear seats are mounted on said floor board or said skeleton at predetermined locations to obtain a fully assembled running mule.
9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said FRP component is mounted to said floor board and said skeleton with the help of brackets & suitable clamping means.
10. The method largely as described in the specification and as illustrated in the accompanying figures.
Dated this 31st day of March 2009
TATA Motors Limited By their Agent & Attorney

(Karuna Goleria)
of De PENNING & De PENNING