US 2003/0213864 A9 · Seat belt retractor

Abstract

A seat belt retractor with a ball type pretensioner including a pipe in which the balls are retained. A front end portion of the pipe is securely retained so that reliable operation of the pretensioner is provided. The pipe does includes a cut-out that does not extend to the front-most end of a pipe. A guide block is fitted in the front-most end of the pipe. The pipe and the guide block are fixed to the plate together by a fastener. The portion where the guide block is fitted to the pipe can provide high rigidity and is thus hardly deformed in every directions. The fastener may be hardened or the material for the fastener may be selected to obtain sufficient strength.

Claims5

Dependent claims

A seat belt retractor including a pretensioner, the retractor comprising:

a pipe;
a gas generator disposed on one end of the pipe;
a piston arranged in the pipe;
and
a plurality of balls arranged in the pipe;
wherein the balls are configured to be moved by the piston as a result of gas pressure produced by the gas generator;
wherein the balls are configured to be discharged through an outlet disposed at the other end of the pipe;
a guide block fitted into the other end of said pipe to guide the balls to be discharged;
a plate held by a pretensioner cover wherein said pipe and said guide block are secured to said plate by a fastening member;
and
wherein a pretensioner gear and a gear connected to a spool are configured to mesh together when the balls are discharged from the pipe and to rotate in response to the balls being discharged, thereby pretensioning a seat belt.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Seat belt retractor

Life of this patent

Seat belt retractor

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims5