Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Patent
1989-04-02
1992-05-19
Rice, Kenneth R.
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
280739, B60R 2120
Patent
active
051141809
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an impact absorbing bag used for the protection of passengers in a car.
PRIOR ART
The use of an air bag apparatus is recommended, to prevent body injury to passengers during a collision between a car and another object. The air bag apparatus is comprised of a sensor for detecting a collision between the car and another object, and a gas generator which inflates the air bag on receipt of a signal from the sensor, whereby the air bag is expanded by gas from the gas generator and the force of impact on passenger when the car collides with another object is absorbed by the bag.
An example of a known conventional air bag used for a driver's seat is now explained. As shown in a plain view of FIG. 18 and a cross sectional view of FIG. 19, this air bag is obtained by providing a coating film 55 of a synthetic rubber or the like on the surfaces of two woven fabrics 52 and 53 composed of a synthetic filament such as Nylon 66 or the like, picking pieces of the woven fabrics having a predetermined shape from the obtained coated woven fabric, and joining each circumferential portion 57 by sewing by sewing threads 58 and 59. As shown in FIG. 18(B), an opening 54 in which the gas generator is fixed on a center position of the woven fabric 53, which is arranged at a side opposite to the steering wheel, and one or two gas exhausting holes 56a and 56b are provided on the woven fabric 53, before the sewing operation is applied. As shown in FIG. 18(A), a surface of the woven fabric 52, which is arranged at a side opposite to the driver, is wholly covered with the coating film. In the example shown in FIG. 18 and FIG. 19, a reinforcing fabric 62 is fixed on a circumferential portion of the gas generator opening 54 by the sewing threads 60 and 61. An air bag for a navigator seat or a rear seat has the same essential structure as that of the air bag 51 for the driver's seat, except that they have a different shape.
In the above-mentioned known air bag 51, the woven fabrics 52 and 53 are applied with the coating layers to prevent a leakage of the inflating gas from the woven fabrics 52 and 53 when the car collides with another object, and the resulting insufficient protection of the passenger. After the air bag is inflated, the air bag is required to hold the passenger on the seat, to prevent a rebounding of the passenger, and thus the air bag is made such that a predetermined volume of a gas in the air bag can be exhausted therefrom when a body of the passenger is forced out of the seat and into the air bag. In the above-mentioned air bag 51, two exhaust holes 56a and 56b are provided to obtain the above object.
The conventional known air bag having the above-described structure has a superior passenger protection function per se, but has several problems relating the accommodation of the air bag in a car, and in the manufacturing thereof.
Namely, a coating film is arranged on a whole surface of the woven fabric in the conventional known air bag, and accordingly, the obtained air bag becomes very heavy and stiff, and as a result, it is impossible to accommodate the air bag in a compact space. Further, it is necessary to make the gas generator relatively large in size for an air bag having a heavy weight, and accordingly a problem that the air bag apparatus itself becomes large in size is raised. Further since the exhausting holes are provided by a posttreatment, extra labor becomes necessary.
A proposal by which air in the inflated air bag is exhausted from the woven fabric without the use of the exhausting holes, has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems.
Namely, Japanese Examined Utility Model Publication (Kokoku) No. 48-20195 discloses an air bag manufactured by printing a dot type pattern with a resin on a knitted fabric or a woven-fabric having an air permeability, and sewing the obtained knitted fabrics or the woven fabrics together to obtain an air bag in which the air exhausting volume is controlled. In this air bag, a portion of the fabric at which the resin
REFERENCES:
patent: 3807754 (1974-04-01), Rodenbach et al.
patent: 3888504 (1975-06-01), Bonn et al.
patent: 4921735 (1990-05-01), Bloch
patent: 58-22360 (1983-02-01), JPX
Fukumori Kunihiko
Kami Yoshinori
Asahi Kasei Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Rice Kenneth R.
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