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US 7,461,727 B2Granted
Energy absorber
AssigneeKeyguard Limited
InventorJulian Renton
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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AssigneeKeyguard Limited
InventorJulian Renton
Estimating the term…
An energy absorber comprises a helically coiled stores of at least partially yielding material that is drawn over a roller, or two rollers on perpendicular rotational axes, and securely fixed to a base that is attached to fragile structure such as a roof so that when an external force of sufficient size is applied to the roller or rollers through a connecting attachment eye the coil together with roller or rollers moves away from the attachment to the base whilst the coiled material is deployed over the roller or rollers. The absorber may be housed in a casing that is fixed to the base such that the strength of the fixing to the base is sufficient to withstand a predetermined load after which the fixing fails and the housing moves with the coiled store providing protection for both the coiled store and fragile structure.
An energy absorber comprising:
An energy absorber comprising support attachment means for attaching the energy absorber to a supporting structure, means for securing the energy absorber to a load element, a substantially cylindrical casing having a lower trim adjacent to the support structure, and a store of plastically deformable material and deployment means contained within the casing, the plastically deformable material and deployment means being responsive to a second predetermined tensile load to deploy said plastically deformable material in a controlled manner whereby said material is permanently plastically deformed during said deployment, thereby absorbing the energy created by said second predetermined tensile load, and further comprising orientation means including said casing responsive to a first predetermined tensile load lower than the second predetermined tensile load to maintain the energy absorber in an initial position which is not aligned with the applied load when the applied load is less than the first predetermined tensile load and to allow the orientation of the energy absorber to change by rotation about a lower rim of the casing towards the direction of the applied load when the applied load is greater than the first predetermined tensile load.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.