Vehicular body panel or component part and method for manufacturing same

Abstract

A vehicular body panel or component part having a reinforcing backing plate reconciled to a part of a blank material at a position wherein a bending formation is implemented. The backing plate has one or more than two apertures formed in at least one lateral raw at a location equivalent to the position of the bending formation. When forming the blank material and the backing plate concurrently by bending operation, the backing plate becomes intimate with the blank sheet to avoid the backing plate from locally separating from the blank material and from forming a gap relative thereto, with a resultant improved product quality.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A vehicular body panel or component part comprising: 
 a blank material having a formed portion; and    a backing plate joined with the blank material and having at least one aperture located in a position corresponding to the formed portion to cope with a characteristic of the blank material.    
     
     
         2 . A vehicular body panel according to  claim 1 , wherein the vehicular body panel comprises an inner skin forming part of a bonnet.  
     
     
         3 . A vehicular body panel according to  claim 2 , wherein both side edge portions of the inner skin have the backing plates, respectively, in a widthwise direction of a vehicle body.  
     
     
         4 . A method for manufacturing a vehicular body panel or component part, comprising the steps of: 
 preparing a blank material for the vehicular body panel or a blank material for the vehicular component part;    preparing a backing plate formed with at least one aperture to cope with a characteristic of the blank material;    reconciling the backing plate to the blank material; and    forming the blank material together with the backing plate.    
     
     
         5 . A method for manufacturing a blank material for use as a vehicular body panel, comprising the steps of: 
 preparing a first backing plate for reinforcing the vehicular body panel while feeding a strip-shaped plate for the vehicular body panel between upper and lower blanking die halves;    blanking the strip-shaped plate by mating the upper blanking die half with the lower blanking die half relative to one another for obtaining a blank material for the vehicular body panel while obtaining a second backing plate, which has the same profile as the first backing plate, from a scrap portion;    mounting the backing plate by locating and reconciling the first backing plate onto the blank material remaining between the upper and lower blanking die halves; and    separating the upper blanking die half from the lower blanking die half for discharging the blank material with the backing plate.    
     
     
         6 . A manufacturing method according to  claim 5 , wherein the second backing plate is shifted to a position, in which the first backing plate is preliminarily located, and is reconciled to a subsequent blank material.  
     
     
         7 . An apparatus for manufacturing a blank material for use as a vehicular body panel by blanking a strip-shaped sheet by upper and lower blanking die halves, the apparatus comprising: 
 the upper and lower blanking die halves including cutter segments and die segments for blanking a backing plate from a scrap portion;    backing plate transfer means for transferring the backing plate, which is formed by blanking with the cutter segments and the die segments, from a blanking area to a mounting area; and    backing plate reconciling means for locating the reconciling the backing plate onto the blank material at the mounting area.    
     
     
         8 . A manufacturing apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein: 
 the backing plate reconciling means includes a caulking mechanism having a cavity segment remaining at one side and a punch remaining at the other side such that two sheets, which are composed of the blank material and the backing plate placed thereon, are located between the cavity segment and the punch to allow the punch to thrust toward the cavity segment for thereby caulking the two sheets.