Electricity: circuit makers and breakers – Special application – Change of inclination or of rate of motion responsive
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-15
2001-01-09
Chapman, John E. (Department: 2856)
Electricity: circuit makers and breakers
Special application
Change of inclination or of rate of motion responsive
C200S06145M
Reexamination Certificate
active
06172313
ABSTRACT:
This application corresponds to and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 with respect to Japanese Application No. 09(1997)-344918 filed on Dec. 15, 1997, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention generally relates to an acceleration or impact detecting device. More particularly, the present invention relates to an impact or acceleration detecting device that is adapted to detect the acceleration or impact associated with, for example, the collision of a vehicle for triggering a safety system such as a vehicle air bag system.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 08-264088 published on Oct. 11, 1996 discloses an acceleration detecting device, that includes a hollow housing having a closed end and an open end, a weight pivotally supported in the hollow housing to be rotated in response to an applied acceleration, and a contact assembly electrically closed by the rotation of the weight. The open end of the hollow housing is closed by a cover that is pressed into the open end. The weight and the contact assembly are both supported by the cover.
However, in this known acceleration detecting device, the weight and the contact assembly may prevent the cover from sufficiently overlapping with the hollow housing. Accordingly, the cover may be inclined with respect to the hollow housing when a clearance is generated as a result of dimensional errors between the hollow housing and the cover. By virtue of such inclination, the weight and the contact assembly may interfere with the hollow housing. Although the cover may be thickened to enlarge the overlapping area between the hollow housing and the cover, this undesirably increases the size of the acceleration detecting device.
Accordingly, a need exists for an acceleration detecting device that is not susceptible of the same disadvantages and drawbacks noted above.
Thus, a need exists for an acceleration detecting device that is able to support the contact assembly in a more reliable manner.
Also, a need exists for an acceleration detecting device that permits the housing to be hermetically sealed with the cover.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In light of the foregoing, one aspect of the present invention includes an acceleration detecting device that includes a hollow housing having a side wall, a closed end and an open end, a cover closing the open end, a weight pivotally mounted inside the housing to be rotated about a locus in response to an applied acceleration, and a contact assembly that is adapted to be electrically closed through rotation of the weight. The contact assembly includes a main body held inside the hollow housing along the side wall to support the contact assembly and keep the contact assembly spaced from the locus of the weight during rotation of the weight.
In accordance with the present invention, the main body supporting the contact assembly can have wider support along the side wall of the hollow housing, which is independent from the cover fixture. Therefore, the contact assembly can be supported by the hollow housing through the main body in a more reliable manner. Further, the weight is able to rotate without any interference to the contact assembly because the contact assembly is kept off or spaced from the locus of the weight.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, an acceleration detecting device includes an enclosing device for enclosing an internal space, a movable element positioned in the internal space for moving along a locus in response to an applied acceleration, a detecting device for detecting movement of the movable element, and a holding mechanism for holding the detecting device in the internal space to keep the detecting device off the locus of the movable element.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5034580 (1991-07-01), Tada et al.
patent: 5373124 (1994-12-01), Abendroth et al.
patent: 5389751 (1995-02-01), Breed
patent: 19523786 (1996-01-01), None
patent: 08235980 (1996-09-01), None
patent: 08235981 (1996-09-01), None
patent: 08264088 (1996-10-01), None
Fujita Koichi
Kawamura Tateki
Sakamoto Kazunori
Takeuchi Tsutomu
Aisin Seiki Kabushiki Kaisha
Burns Doane , Swecker, Mathis LLP
Chapman John E.
LandOfFree
Acceleration detecting device does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Acceleration detecting device, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Acceleration detecting device will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2554647