Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-21
2004-12-21
Dickson, Paul N. (Department: 3616)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
C280S740000, C280S742000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06832779
ABSTRACT:
This application claims priority from Japanese patent application of Tajima et al, filed Dec. 28, 2000, No. 2000-403092, the complete disclosure of which is hereby incorporated into the present application by this reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a passenger's seat airbag device to be arranged in an instrument panel (as will be shortly referred to as the “in-pane”) in front of a passenger's seat.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the passenger's seat airbag device of the prior art, the airbag is constructed to include an opening side wall portion having a gas inlet port for introducing an inflating gas, and a passenger's side wall portion for confronting the passenger when the airbag is extended/inflated. This airbag is folded up and housed in a case which is arranged in the in-pane in front of the passenger's seat. When the inflating gas is introduced, moreover, the airbag is extended/inflated to protrude from the opening in the upper face of the in-pane backward of the vehicle (as referred to Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Application No. 11-278192).
The airbag of this kind is desired to protrude, when extended/inflated, toward the passenger in a widely open state and at a suppressed moving velocity so that it may not apply a partial pushing force to the passenger.
In the airbag of the prior art, therefore, the passenger's side wall portion is horizontally and vertically folded in such predetermined manners that it is flatly overlapped close to the opening side wall portion side. Moreover, the airbag is guided, when extended/inflated, to protrude along the windshield toward the passenger. At this time, the passenger's side wall portion is arranged with a wide opening and generally in the vertical direction.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
However, the airbag has been troubled by the following problems, if it is provided, when completely extended/inflated, with the passenger's side wall portion and the peripheral wall portion. The passenger's side wall portion is arranged generally in the vertical direction on the passenger's side when the airbag is completely extended/inflated. The peripheral wall portion is narrowed generally into a conical shape forward of the vehicle from the outer peripheral edge of the passenger's side wall portion. A gas inlet port is arranged as an open face generally in the horizontal direction in front of the lower side of the peripheral wall portion when the extension/inflation is completed. Moreover, the airbag is mounted at its gas inlet port peripheral edge in the case.
In this airbag, the peripheral edge of the gas inlet port of the peripheral wall portion is arranged generally in the horizontal direction when the airbag is completely inflated by itself. Moreover, the passenger's side wall portion is arranged generally in the vertical direction. In other words, the peripheral edge of the gas inlet port is generally normal to the passenger's sidewall portion which is arranged generally in the vertical direction. Even if the horizontal or vertical folding is done by overlapping the passenger's side wall portion so flatly on the peripheral wall portion as comes closer to the gas inlet port, therefore, there arises a problem that the passenger's side wall portion is hard to arrange quickly generally in the vertical position when the airbag is extended/inflated.
The present invention has been conceived to solve the above-specified problems and has an object to provide a passenger's seat airbag device which can arrange the passenger's side wall portion quickly generally in the vertical direction with respect to the gas inlet port peripheral edge when the airbag is extended/inflated.
The object of the present invention can be achieved by a passenger's seat airbag device having the following construction.
Here, the longitudinal and transverse directions are taken herein to correspond to the longitudinal and transverse direction of a vehicle running straight, with respect to the state in which the passenger's seat airbag device is mounted on the vehicle. Moreover, the upper edge and the lower edge of the passenger's side wall portion in the airbag are taken with respect to the state in which the airbag is completely extended/inflated.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a passenger's seat airbag device comprising: an airbag folded up and housed in a case for being extended/inflated and protruded backward of a vehicle while pushing and opening a door arranged in an instrument panel, by introducing an inflating gas thereinto from a gas inlet port.
The airbag includes, as a shape when completely extended/inflated:
a passenger's side wall portion arranged on the passenger's side and generally in a vertical direction; and
a peripheral wall portion converging generally into a conical shape from the outer peripheral edge of the passenger's side wall portion forward of the vehicle.
The gas inlet port is arranged as an open face on the front side on the lower side of the peripheral wall portion when the airbag is completely extended/inflated.
The gas inlet port is mounted at its peripheral edge on the case.
The airbag is so shaped, when preliminarily folded, that a portion near the upper edge of the passenger's sidewall portion is arranged at a position to confront the gas inlet port to lay the passenger's side wall portion flatly on the lower side of the peripheral wall portion.
In the passenger's seat airbag device of the aforementioned construction, the airbag introduces, when extended/inflated, the inflating gas thereinto from the gas inlet port so that it is extended/inflated while eliminating the horizontal and vertical creases. At the position to confront the gas inlet port at the preliminarily folding time of the airbag, there is arranged the portion which is near the upper edge of the passenger's side wall portion. Therefore, the portion near the upper edge of the passenger's side wall portion to confront the gas inlet port is forcibly pushed up prior to the remaining portions such as the portion of the lower edge side of the passenger's side wall portion by the pushing force of the inflating gas just introduced. As a result, the passenger's side wall portion can be easily arranged generally in the vertical direction.
If the portion near the upper edge of the passenger's sidewall portion is forcibly pushed up, moreover, the horizontal and vertical creases can be quickly eliminated. Therefore, the passenger's side wall portion can be widely extended.
In the passenger's seat airbag device according to the present invention, therefore, the passenger's sidewall portion to take the position generally perpendicular to the gas inlet port peripheral edge can be quickly arranged generally in the vertical direction when the airbag is extended/inflated. Moreover, the airbag can be extended in the widely open state so that no partial pushing force may be applied to the passenger's side.
In the aforementioned passenger's seat airbag device, it is preferred that when the airbag is preliminarily folded, the peripheral wall portion is folded up to extend substantially all the area of the passenger's side wall portion flatly.
With this construction of the preliminarily folded shape of the airbag, substantially all the area of the passenger's side wall portion may be flatly extended and folded up on the peripheral wall portion side when the airbag is preliminarily folded. Therefore, it is possible to do the preliminarily folding work of the airbag conveniently. Moreover, substantially all the area of the passenger's side wall portion is flatly extended at the preliminarily folding time so that the airbag can move more easily toward the passenger's side while being extended widely vertically and transversely than the case in which the passenger's side wall portion is f
Asanuma Junichi
Hirano Tatsuo
Okada Yasushi
Tajima Koh
Dickson Paul N.
Posz & Bethards, PLC
To Toan C
Toyoda Gosei Co,., Ltd.
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