Chain link rack pretensioner
AssigneeAlliedSignal Inc.
InventorsNiels Dybro, Jason Raines
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus (20, 100) comprising: a driven gear (102) operatively linked to a spool of a retractor (20) to rotate the spool (24) in a direction of retraction to cause a seat belt (31) wound thereabout to retract; an arcuate tube (108) having a flat exit end (110) proximate the gear; a flexible chain link rack (130), movable within the tube, having a front end (134a) initially maintained out of engagement with the first driven means and pushed into engagement with the first driven means to cause same to rotate; a piston (140) for pushing the rack (130) into engagement with the gear thereby causing the gear to rotate and catching mechanism for retaining the rack after it has exited the exit end of the tube.
Claims21
An apparatus (20, 100) comprising:
- retractor having a frame and a spool rotationally supported on the frame to store seat belt webbing:
- driven means (102) operatively linked to the spool of the retractor (20) to rotate the spool (24) in a direction of retraction to cause a seat belt (31) wound thereabout to retract to eliminate belt slack about an occupant;
- an arcuate passage (108), generally laying within the profile of the frame, having a flat exit end (110) proximate the driven means;
- flexible drive means (130), movable within the passage, having a front end (134a) initially maintained out of engagement with the driven means and pushed into engagement with the driven means to cause same to rotate;
- first means (120) for pushing the drive means into engagement with the driven means thereby causing the driven means to rotate;
- and
- catch means, located within the profile of the frame, for retaining a portion of the drive means after it has exited the exit end of the passage.
A flexible chain link rack (130) for driving a toothed gear (102) of a retractor pretensioner (100) comprising:
- a plurality of first links (134b) and a plurality of interleaved second links (134c)
- each first and second link comprising:
- a plurality of spaced plates (150), each plate of each first and second link being identical and including a body (154) having pin receiving openings (158a,b) to receive a link pin (160) and two teeth (156) extending therefrom, the teeth each having angled side walls (164), wherein
- each of the second links (134c) comprising one less plate than the first links so that the plates of the second links fit in spaces between the plates of the first links;
- when laid flat the teeth of the plates of adjacent first and second links being in line with one another such that the teeth of each such plate can simultaneously engage a tooth of the gear (102).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.