Vehicle safety device
AssigneeMartin Schwimmer
InventorsMartin Schwimmer, Max Moskowitz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An alerting device for an vehicle includes a sensor which senses the position of the movable locking knob of the vehicle and provides a switch output to a circuit which produces an alerting sound when the door locking knob has been opened. In one form thereof, the door locking knob is replaced with a structure which movably supports a magnet which moves between a position which is near a magnet sensor and a position where it is away from the magnet sensors. When the door locking knob is moved to the open position, the magnetic sensor senses its condition and causes the circuit to output an audible alert.
Claims18
An alerting device for a vehicle, the alerting device comprising:
- a sensor for sensing a position of a movable door locking knob of the vehicle, wherein the door locking knob is a manually operable knob located on a door inside the vehicle and is manually operable to lock a door opening handle of the vehicle, the movable locking knob having at least two positions corresponding to an open position and a closed position of the locking knob;
- a circuit coupled to the sensor and responsive thereto, the circuit including an alerting element;
- the sensor being effective for activating the alerting element when the sensor senses that the locking knob has been moved away from the closed position to alert a driver of the vehicle that the door locking knob has been opened;
- and
- the sensor comprising:
- a first portion securable to and movable with the door locking knob;
- a gripping portion interlinked with and slidable and movable relative to the first portion;
- electrical contacts;
- and
- the sensor being such that relative movement between the first portion and the gripping portion results in the closing and opening of the electrical contacts.
A method for alerting a driver of a vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a sensor for sensing a position of a movable door locking knob of the vehicle, wherein the door locking knob is a manually operable knob located on a door inside the vehicle and is manually operable to lock a door opening handle of the vehicle, the movable door locking knob having at least two positions corresponding to an open position and a closed position of the locking knob;
- providing a circuit coupled and responsive to the sensor, the circuit including an alerting element;
- activating the alerting element with the sensor when the locking knob has been moved from the closed position to alert a driver of the vehicle that the door locking knob has been opened;
- said sensor comprising a first portion securable to and movable with the door locking knob;
- a gripping portion interlinked with and movable and slidable relative to the first portion;
- electrical contacts;
- and
- the sensor being such that relative movement between the first portion and the gripping portion results in the closing and opening of the electrical contacts.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.