Mechanical motion-snubbing device

A mechanical motion-snubbing device comprising:

• a pair of telescoped members mounted for relative axial movement with respect to each other, said telescoped members being non-rotatable relative to each other about the longitudinal axes thereof;
• movement-converting means for converting the relative axial movement of said telescoped members into a rotation;
• a shaft supported by one of said paired telescoped members so as to be rotated by said movement-converting means, said shaft being axially fixed;
• a first inertia member fixed to the shaft;
• a second inertia member freely rotatable on an axis of said shaft, said second inertia member being axially fixed and being arranged for unrestrained rotation relative to said first inertia member over a given angle of rotation thereof in both opposite directions of rotation;
• a plurality of segmental cutouts formed in one of said first and second inertia members, said cutouts being formed substantially equiangularly in the circumferential direction of said one inertia member, each of said cutouts defining a pair of collision planes spaced from each other in said circumferential direction;
• and
• a corresponding plurality of segmental projections formed on the other of said first and second inertia members substantially equiangularly in the circumferential direction of said other inertia member so as to fit into respective corresponding cutouts with a predetermined space left therebetween, each of said projections defining a pair of collision planes spaced from each other in said circumferential direction and facing corresponding collision planes of the cutouts, the circumferential spacing between collision planes of a given projection being less than the circumferential spacing between collision planes of the respective cutout by a given distance, said second inertia member being rotatable unrestrained relative to said first inertia member over said given angle which corresponds to said given distance;
• whereby upon application of sudden opposing external forces exceeding a given value, the first inertia member rotates relative to said second inertia member such that collision planes of each projection alternately strike against a corresponding collision plane of a respective cutout, whereby said inertia members rotate in respective opposite directions in an alternating manner to produce a composite inertia moment of the first and second inertia members to absorb energy of said opposing external forces.