Abstract: A gasket for joining separate panels in an edge-to-edge relation with a level surface between the panels. This device may be used for mounting a fixed glass panel such as a windshield in an opening provided in a sheet metal panel. The device comprises a U-shaped channel member for securing to the glass panel, and a contiguous sealing member which is attached to the channel member and mounts the glass in a vehicle bay. The gasket forms a contour, level with the outside surface of the sheet of glass and the car body, thereby minimizing undesirable aerodynamic effects. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the laminated glass panel has an inner ply that extends beyond the periphery of the outer ply to form a stepped edge. The sides of the channel are shaped so that the outer side forms the same contour as the outside surface of the sheet of glass while the outer surface of the other side complements the surface of a flange in the vehicle bay in which it is mounted.

Abstract: A window has a heating grid and a moisture sensor formed thereon for connection to a detector which automatically controls the heating. The sensor has an output terminal and another terminal connected to a heating conductor, the sensor being positioned outwardly of the heating grid with the area of the sensor including the output terminal lying in the heating zone. Advantageously the outer limit of the sensor is closely adjacent the outer limit of the heating zone. The output terminal is positioned between the outward limit of the sensor electrodes and the boundary heating conductor. A shield electrode connected to the heating conductor may be provided. The sensor may be located between a pair of heating conductors adjacent a heating grid collector with one electrode connected to the conductors. For deep windows, the sensor may be located in an offset branched section of a boundary heating conductor.

Abstract: Apparatus for controllably heating a vehicle window having a heating grid is described including an oscillator and a signal detector, with a signal circuit coupling the oscillator and the signal detector having a DC voltage component at one or more points thereof. One or more humidity detectors are coupled to the signal circuit to control the amplitude of the oscillations supplied from the oscillator to the signal detector, advantageously by voltage divider action, and capacitor means provides DC isolation between the humidity detector(s) and any DC voltage component in the signal circuit, and also between humidity detectors when a plurality are used. Advantageously the humidity detector(s) are directly connected to the heating grid, and varying DC voltage levels at the point(s) of connection to the grid are isolated by the capacitor means. Particular arrangements of the humidity detectors on the window and connections to the heating grid are described.

Abstract: A grid of heating conductors for defrosting applied to the window of a vehicle is connected to a source of electrical energy through a relay-operated switch. This switch is closed either in response to a drop in the resistance between two conductors or electrodes mounted in spaced relation on an insulating support such as the window (the drop occurring by accumulation of moisture on the support and between the conductors) or in response to a drop in temperature at or near the window. For this purpose the resistance between the two conductors over the surface of the support may be paralleled by a thermostatic switch which closes with drop in temperature, both this resistance and the thermostatic switch being in the input to a trigger circuit controlling the relay to energize it in response to a decline in resistance at that input. Alternatively the trigger circuit may include thermistors which sense the drop in temperature and set the trigger circuit to the condition which energizes the relay.