Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Patent
1992-01-28
1994-11-01
Focarino, Margaret A.
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
139389, B60R 2120
Patent
active
053602331
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an air bag unit for protecting an occupant in a vehicle by absorbing the shock caused during vehicle collision, and in particular to an air bag in an air bag unit for receiving the occupant pushed forward as the bag is inflated by high pressure gas from an inflator at the collision.
TECHNICAL BACKGROUND
An air bag unit is installed on a fixed portion of car body in front of seat in a vehicle. In an emergency such as vehicle collision, the air bag is inflated instantaneously by the pressure of reaction gas released from an inflator, which is fixed on a fixed portion of car body such as steering wheel or lower portion of instrument panel. Thus, the air bag plays an important role for protecting the occupant from injury caused by collision against car body.
As shown in FIG. 7, such air bag unit 01 comprises an inflator 02, which releases gas as gas generating agent is exploded by collision signal from collision detecting sensor when the deceleration of the vehicle exceeds a certain level, and an air bag 03, which is fixed with respect to the inflator 02 at its base and is inflated by the gas blown out from the inflator 02. With the air bag 03 folded up and placed in a pad, the air bag unit 01 is mounted on a fixed portion of the car body such as central portion of a steering wheel 04 or lower portion of instrument panel 05.
Then, as shown in FIG. 7, the gas generating agent in the inflator 02 reacts when the vehicle is collided, and the air bag 03 is instantaneously inflated and expanded by the generated gas. As the result, the air bag 03 receives the occupant M, who is pushed forward by inertia and protects the occupant M from the collision against car body.
Of such air bag 03 in an air bag unit 01, the air bag 03 for an occupant other than the driver is formed as shown in FIG. 8 (A) as follows: From a piece of base cloth, bag main unit 03a and a pair of lateral segments 03b and 03c, against which the occupant strikes, are cut into the predetermined shapes, and these are sewn up with lugs as shown in FIG. 8 (B).
However, when a plurality of the components (03a, 03b and 03c) of the air bag 03 are cut from a piece of base cloth and are sewn, many steps of processes are required.
Moreover, because it is difficult to mechanize the sewing of base cloth and the sewing of edges, all these works must be done manually, and the works need much labor because there are many points to sew up.
For this reason, the productivity of air bag has been not very high in the past.
To solve the above problems, the object of the present invention is to offer an air bag in an air bag unit, by which it is possible to reduce the number of manufacturing steps and to increase the productivity through mechanization.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To overcome these difficulties, the air bag according to the present invention is characterized in that a part of edges are formed at least partially from woven cloth woven by hollow weaving in single weave.
By the air bag of this invention with such arrangement, it is possible to manufacture air bag by producing an air bag base cloth from woven cloth of hollow weave with a certain portion woven in single weave and by cutting the base cloth on single weave because the air bag is made of woven cloth in hollow weave. In this case, a predetermined portion can be woven in single weave and the other portions can be woven mechanically in hollow weave, weaving in cylindrical form. Thus, the above base cloth can be produced in simple manner.
For this reason, it is possible to reduce the working steps to a great extent and to mechanize the production of air bag because the complicated working procedure can be eliminated such as the procedure to cut a plurality of air bag components into predetermined shapes or the procedure to sew up the edges of these components.
This contributes to extensive increase the productivity of the air bag and to manufacture the air bag at low cost.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an
REFERENCES:
patent: 2396905 (1946-03-01), Whitman
patent: 2463122 (1949-03-01), Savage
patent: 3991249 (1976-11-01), Yamashita et al.
patent: 5094477 (1992-03-01), Toyawa
Dickson Paul
Focarino Margaret A.
Takata Corporation
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