Passive restraining barrier arrangement for vehicles

The combination with a vehicle having a body with a floor, a ceiling including a rigid portion, and a floor mounted, forwardly facing vehicle seat, of a passive restraining barrier arrangement;

• said restraining barrier arrangement including:
• a. a restraining barrier having a first upper end portion and a second lower end portion, the barrier being fixedly anchored at a first upper end thereof to a rigid ceiling portion of the body in position generally above the seat;
• b. first and second elongate takeup belts, each having a first end thereof effectively connected to a separate outside corner of the second lower end portion of the restraining barrier;
• c. first and second spaced-apart takeup belt retractors mounted to structural portions of the body adjacent opposite sides of the vehicle seat;
• d. said takeup belts each having a second end portion received by one of said takeup belt retractors, each takeup belt being movable between a stowed position with a substantial portion of its length outside of its retractor and a restraining position with a substantial portion of its length inside of its retractor;
• e. break-away fastening means at least partially affixed with respect to the vehicle ceiling, at least partially affixed to the restraining barrier and positioned to nominally hold the restraining barrier in a stowed position adjacent to the vehicle ceiling and to hold a portion of the takeup belts in substantially upright position between the retractors and the vehicle ceiling;
• f. said retractors being provided with powered drive means for moving said takeup belts from their stowed positions to their restraining positions;
• g. enabling means for enabling said drive means to move said takeup belts from their stowed positions to their restraining positions responsive to change of vehicle condition of predetermined magnitude;
• h. wherein the configuration of the restraining barrier is such that when the retractor drive means has moved the takeup belts from their stowed positions to their restraining positions, the restraining barrier will have position extending downwardly from the point where it is fixedly anchored to the ceiling;
• and
• i. wherein the restraining barrier arrangement is provided with locking means responsive to the arrival of the restraining barrier at its restraining position to instantly prevent said takeup belts from returning toward their stowed positions.

The combination with a vehicle having a body with a floor, a ceiling including a rigid portion, and a floor mounted, forwardly facing vehicle seat with an upright back, of a passive restraining barrier arrangement for humans;

• said restraining barrier arrangement including:
• a. a restraining barrier including:
• (1) a restraining shield having top and bottom edge portions and a pair of side edge portions, at least a portion of the shield being transparent,
• (2) first and second shield belts, each having a first upper end portion and a second lower end portion, each belt being fixedly anchored at a first upper end thereof to a rigid ceiling portion of the body to have position generally above the seat and each belt being fixedly attached to the restraining shield along the entire length of one of the pair of shield side edge portions,
• (3) a third restraining shield belt fixedly attached to the restraining shield along the entire length of the shield bottom edge portion and to the second lower end portion of each of the first and second restraining shield belts, and
• (4) first and second elongate takeup belts, each having a first end effectively connected to a second end of one of the first and second restraining shield belts;
• b. first and second spaced apart takeup belt retractors mounted to structural portions of the body adjacent opposite sides of the vehicle seat;
• c. said takeup belts each having a second end portion received by one of said takeup belt retractors, each takeup belt being moveable between a stowed position with a substantial portion of its length outside its retractor and a restraining position with a substantial portion of its length inside its retractor;
• d. energizing means operative responsive to movement of the takeup belts from their restraining positions to their stowed positions to precharge the retractors with sufficient energy to rapidly return the restraining belts to their restraining positions;
• e. blocking means operative responsive to movement of the takeup belts to their stowed positions to inhibit release of such precharged energy;
• f. energy release means operative to disable said blocking means responsive to change of vehicle condition of predetermined magnitude to cause said retractors to move said takeup belts from their stowed positions to their restraining positions;
• g. first breakaway fastening means at least partially affixed to the vehicle ceiling in generally vertical aligned relation with the vehicle seat back and adapted to hold a portion of each takeup belt in adjacent relation to the ceiling when said takeup belts are in their stowed positions;
• h. second breakaway fastening means at least partially affixed with respect to the vehicle ceiling in forwardly spaced relation with respect to the first fastening means and operative at least upon portions of the restraining shield and the first and second restraining shield belts to hold the restraining barrier in a stowed position in close proximity to the vehicle ceiling as long as the first fastening means holds said takeup belt portions in their stowed positions in adjacent relation to the ceiling;
• i. wheren the configuration of the restraining barrier is such that when the retractors have caused the takeup belts to move from their stowed to their restraining positions, the restraining shield will have a restraining position immediately in front of the head and upper body of a human seated on the vehicle seat;
• and
• j. wherein the arrangement includes locking means responsive to the arrival of the restraining shield at its restraining position to instantly prevent said takeup belts from returning toward their stowed positions.

The combination with a vehicle having a body with a floor, a ceiling including a rigid portion, and a floor mounted, forwardly facing vehicle seat, of a passive restraining barrier arrangement;

• said restraining barrier arrangement including:
• a. a restraining barrier including:
• (1) a restraining shield having top and bottom edge portions and a pair of side edge portions;
• (2) first and second restraining shield belts, each having a first upper end portion and a second lower end portion, each belt being fixedly anchored at a first upper end thereof to a rigid ceiling portion of the body to have position generally above the seat and each belt being fixedly attached to the restraining shield along the entire length of one of the pair of shield side edge portions, and
• (3) first and second elongate takeup belts, each having a first end effectively connected to a second end of one of the first and second restraining shield belts;
• b. first and second spaced-apart takeup belt retractors mounted to structural portions of the body adjacent opposite sides of the vehicle seat;
• c. said takeup belts each having a second end portion received by one of said takeup belt retractors, each takeup belt being movable between a stowed position with a substantial portion of its length outside of its retractor and a restraining position with a substantial portion of its length inside of its retractor;
• d. energizing means operative responsive to movement of the takeup belts from their restraining positions to their stowed positions to precharge the retractors with sufficient energy to rapidly return the restraining belts to their restraining positions;
• e. blocking means operative responsive to the movement of the takeup belts to their stowed positions to inhibit release of such precharged energy;
• f. energy release means operative to disable said blocking means responsive to change of vehicle condition of predetermined magnitude to cause said retractors to move said takeup belts from their stowed positions to their restraining positions;
• g. first releaseable fastening means at least partially affixed to the vehicle ceiling in generally vertical aligned relation with the vehicle seat and adapted to hold the portion of each takeup belt in adjacent relation to the ceiling when said takeup belts are in their stowed positions;
• h. second releaseable fastening means at least partially affixed with respect to the vehicle ceiling in forwardly spaced relation with respect to the first fastening means and operative at least upon portions of the restraining shield and restraining shield belts to hold the restraining barrier in a stowed position in close proximity to the vehicle ceiling as long as the first fastening means holds said takeup belt portions in their stowed positions in adjacent relation to the ceiling;
• i. wherein the configuration of the restraining barrier is such that when the retractors have caused the takeup belts to move from their stowed to their restraining positions, the restraining shield will have a restraining position extending downwardly from the first upper ends of the restraining shield belts in direction generally toward the vehicle seat;
• and
• j. wherein the arrangement includes locking means responsive to the arrival of the restraining shield at its restraining position to instantly prevent said takeup belts from returning toward their stowed positions.