Seat belt pre-tensioner
AssigneeGeneral Engineering (Netherlands) B.V.
InventorsEnar T. Skanberg, Lars B. Axelsson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A pre-tensioner arrangement applies tension to a safety belt in response to deceleration of a vehicle. A spring stores a force which is to be applied to the safety belt. A trigger mechanism comprises a lever which exhibits a mechanical advantage, one end of the lever engaging the spring, or an element associated with the spring, to retain the spring in a compressed state, and the other end of the lever engaging an over-dead-center linkage. An inertia mass is provided to engage the over-dead-center linkage to move it through the dead-center condition to release the lever and cause the spring to be released when severe deceleration is experienced.
Claims18
A trigger for a pre-tensioner arrangement adapted to apply tension to a safety belt in response to severe deceleration of a vehicle in which the arrangement is fitted, which arrangement comprises force-storing means adapted to store force and adapted to apply the force to a safety belt or to a device associated with the safety belt, and a trigger comprising a pivotted lever which exhibits a mechanical advantage, one end of the lever being adapted to engage part of the pretensioner arrangement for retaining the force-storing means in a predetermined condition, the other end of the lever engaging an over-dead-centre linkage, which prevents the lever from moving pivotally, there being an inertia mass adapted to move in a predetermined way when subjected to said severe deceleration, the inertia mass having means thereon adapted to engage the over-dead-centre linkage and to move the over-dead-centre linkage through the dead-centre condition to release the lever so that the said one end can move under the force from the force-storing means, thus causing the said one end of the lever to be disengaged from said part and the force-storing means to be released to move the safety belt or the said device associated with the safety belt.
A pre-tensioner arrangement adapted to apply tension to a safety belt in response to severe deceleration of a vehicle in which the arrangement is fitting, which arrangement comprises force-storing means adapted to store force and adapted to apply the force to a safety belt or to a device associated with the safety belt, provided with a trigger, the trigger adapted to apply tension to a safety belt in response to severe deceleration of a vehicle in which the arrangement is fitted, which arrangement comprises force-storing means adapted to store force and adapted to apply the force to a safety belt or to a device associated with the safety belt, and a trigger comprising a pivoted lever which exhibits a mechanical advantage, one end of the lever being adapted to engage part of the pretensioner arrangement for retaining the force-storing means in a predetermined condition, the other end of the lever engaging an over-dead-centre linkage, which prevents the lever from moving pivotally, there being an inertia mass adapted to move in a predetermined way when subjected to said severe deceleration, the inertia mass having means thereon adapted to engage the over-dead-centre linkage and to move the over-dead-centre linkage through the dead-centre condition to release the lever so that the said one end can move under the force from the force-storing means, thus causing the said one end of the lever to be disengaged from said part and the force-storing means to be released to move the safety belt or the said device associated with the safety belt.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.