US 4,955,638 AGranted

Deceleration sensor having safety catch means

AssigneeHonda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

InventorsYoshihiko Kinoshita, Hirosh Tabata, Mitsuru Goto

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A deceleration sensor for detecting a threshold level of deceleration indicative of vehicle crash, comprising a sensor mass, a spring-loaded firing pin received in a guide bore, a trigger lever for engaging the firing pin in a dormant state until the trigger lever is disengaged from the sensor mass as a result of the occurrence of a deceleration in excess of the threshold level and the resulting inertia motion of the sensor mass, and a safety catch which may include a rotary shaft extending perpendicular to the plane of the inertia motion of the sensor mass and a part of a front end portion of the guide bore, the rotary shaft being provided with a first notch and a second notch which, respectively, permits and prohibits the propulsion of the firing pin through the guide bore by aligning with the guide bore. The reliability and safety of this deceleration sensor are improved by preventing the spooling out of the seat belt when the safety catch is on, prohibiting the release of the safety catch when the firing pin is disengaged from the trigger lever, and preventing the motion of the sensor mass as well as the firing pin when the safety catch is on.

Claims9

Dependent claims

A deceleration sensor for releasing energy stored in energy storage means upon detection of an acceleration or deceleration in excess of a certain threshold level, comprising:

a firing pin urged by first spring means in a direction to thereby cause said energy storage means to release its energy;
a sensor mass which is urged by second spring means to a neutral state and guided to be moved against the spring force of said second spring means under its own inertial force upon detection of an acceleration or deceleration in excess of said threshold level;
trigger means cooperating with said sensor mass for retaining said firing pin to its dormant state when said sensor mass is at said neutral state and releasing said firing pin when said sensor mass is moved under its own inertial force;
and
safety catch means which includes stopper means for directly restraining a front end portion and a body portion of said firing pin and for directly preventing the propulsion of said firing pin under the spring force of said first spring means, said stopper means being adapted to be manually moved in a single stroke between a first position for substantially releasing said portions of said firing pin being restrained and for allowing the propulsion of said firing pin, and a second position for preventing the propulsion of said firing pin.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.