Mechanical acceleration sensor
AssigneeHonda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorYasuki Motozawa
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A mechanical acceleration sensor includes a housing and a weight which is rotatably supported by the housing. An actuating member for triggering an output device is mounted on an actuating arm which is rotatable in the same direction as the weight and abuts against the weight from one direction. The actuating arm is usually biased by a toggle spring in a direction for abutting against the weight, whereby the weight is held in its inoperative or initial position by the toggle spring. When the weight is rotated against the force of the toggle spring due to an inertial force, the biasing direction of the toggle spring is inverted to rotate the actuating arm away from the weight. The weight may be implemented as a pair of interconnected and spaced weight parts.
Claims9
A mechanical acceleration sensor comprising:
- a housing;
- a weight rotatably supported by said housing;
- an actuating arm rotatable about an axis parallel or coaxial to an axis of rotation of said weight and abutting against said weight when rotated toward said weight;
- a toggle spring preloaded between said actuating arm and said housing for usually biasing said actuating arm in one direction such that said actuating arm abuts against said weight to prevent said weight from rotating and, when said weight is rotated to a predetermined position together with said actuating arm against a biasing force of said toggle spring, urging said actuating arm in a direction opposite to said one direction such that said actuating arm is released from said weight and rotated alone;
- an actuating member mounted on said actuating arm;
- and
- an output device positioned on a path along which said actuating member is movable and being operated by said actuating member when said actuating arm is rotated to a predetermined position away from said weight.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.