Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-07
2001-08-28
Johnson, Brian L. (Department: 3618)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
C280S808000, C297S483000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06279945
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to vehicular restraint systems and, more particularly, to guide fittings for use in association with an inflatable vehicular safety belt.
It is common for various vehicles, such as automobiles, to incorporate or employ restraint systems in an effort to protect passengers in the event of an emergency such as a vehicular collision. Typical vehicular restraint systems commonly incorporate one or more safety belts, oftentimes referred to as “seat belts,” in order to restrain an occupant such as to prevent, reduce or minimize the possibility of the occupant contacting or striking various portions of interior of the vehicle such as the instrument panel, steering wheel, door or the like in a forcible manner.
Common safety belt restraint systems include a lap belt, such as designed to extend over the lap of a seated occupant, and a torso belt such as designed to extend diagonally across the upper torso of a seated occupant. Such restraint systems also commonly include a torso belt retractor mounted on, near or adjacent the door pillar most near the respective door-adjacent front seat occupant. Typically, torso belts are designed to exit the retractor and travel along the associated pillar where the belt extends through a guide fitting supported on the vehicle pillar or the like. The torso belt is then slidably passed through a hole or opening provided in the guide fitting. The guide fitting thus serves to slidably guide and deflect the torso belt diagonally downward across the upper torso of the occupant.
Should the seat belt webbing become twisted in or at such a guide fitting, it may become impossible to apply the webbing correctly. In addition, such twisting may impede slidable (e.g., back-and-forth) movement of the belt through the fitting such as is generally desired to provide increased comfort to a wearer while still providing the desired level of occupant protection. Accordingly, the hole or opening provided in such fittings for the slidable passage of the safety belt therethrough is commonly designed and sized to avoid or prevent the undesired twisting of the associated safety belt.
In practice, safety belts used in such systems have conventionally taken the form of a strip of fibrous webbing. While the use of such safety belts has been generally effective in avoiding or reducing injuries to vehicle occupants, the restraint or protection afforded by such use of safety belts has been subject to certain limitations. For example, in common seat belt apparatuses of this kind, the width of the belt webbing cannot be made very large and therefore comparatively large loads may be undesirably concentrated or focused over a relatively small limited contact area of the belt with the occupant. The concentration or focusing of such loads can, if not otherwise addressed, undesirably result in or increase the possibility of injury to the associated vehicle occupant.
To reduce or minimize the occurrence of such situations, inflatable safety belts have been proposed and developed. Inflatable safety belts typically include the shape or form of an inflatable bag or cushion. Inflatable safety belts are commonly designed, upon actuation, to inflate or expand in a matter of no more than a few milliseconds with an inflation fluid, e.g., a gas, produced or supplied by a device commonly referred to as an inflator. As will be appreciated, upon inflation or expansion of such a safety belt, the kinetic energy of the associated occupant can favorably be distributed over the wider contact area provided by the inflated safety belt. As a consequence of such load dispersal, the possibility of injury to an associated vehicle occupant can be desirably reduced or minimized.
While the use of inflatable safety belts may afford various such advantages, the use of such inflatable safety belts may raise various complications in design and implementation. For example, as set forth above, the size, e.g., thickness, of the guide hole or opening provided in fittings employed with safety belts is commonly restricted or limited such as to avoid or prevent the undesired twisting of the associated safety belt. Consequently, where the safety belt is inflatable, proper or desired inflation of such a belt may be undesirably restricted or limited due to the limited thickness of the belt hole or opening in the guide fitting. For example, the free flow or passage of inflation fluid, e.g., gas, into or through the inflatable safety belt may be restricted by such a guide fitting so as to impair reliable and complete realization of the beneficial utilization of inflatable safety belts in the distribution of loads over the wider contact area provided by the inflated safety belt.
In view of the above, there is a need and a demand for an improved guide fitting for use in association with an inflatable vehicular safety belt.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A general object of the invention is to provide an improved guide fitting for use in association with an inflatable vehicular safety belt.
A more specific objective of the invention is to overcome one or more of the problems described above.
The general object of the invention can be attained, at least in part, through a specified fitting adapted for pivotal mounting onto a vehicle and for the guiding of an inflatable torso safety belt therethrough. In accordance with one preferred embodiment of the invention, such a fitting desirably includes a plate member having a first generally planar portion. The first generally planar portion defines a clearance opening of selected thickness wherethrough the inflatable torso safety belt is passed to permit slidable movement thereof. The plate member also includes a compressible clearance opening edge portion which is compressible in the plane of the plate member first portion upon inflation of the inflatable torso safety belt thereagainst to selectively change the thickness of the clearance opening.
The prior art generally fails to provide as effective and efficient as desired guide fittings for use in association with inflatable safety belts. Thus, the prior art has generally suffered from or resulted in either or both limiting the use of such inflatable safety belts as well as limiting the effectiveness of such inflatable safety belts when used.
The invention further comprehends, in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the invention, such a fitting which includes a plate member defining first and second opposed plate faces with an attachment through-hole opening adapted for mounting of the fitting onto a vehicle. The plate member includes a first generally planar portion which defines a clearance hole having a preselected thickness for passage of the inflatable safety belt therethrough. The fitting also includes a cover element secured to the plate member in covering relationship relative to the attachment through-hole opening and at least a portion of the first plate face, including a portion of the clearance hole, to define a clearance opening. The clearance opening has a thickness no greater than the preselected thickness of the clearance hole. The inflatable safety belt is permitted to pass through the clearance opening to permit slidable movement thereof. At least a portion of the cover element in covering relationship relative to a portion of the clearance hole is deformable upon inflation of the inflatable torso safety belt thereagainst to selectively change the thickness of the clearance opening.
Other objects and advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the appended claims and drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4102020 (1978-07-01), Lindblad
patent: 4642853 (1987-02-01), Plesniarski et al.
patent: 5037135 (1991-08-01), Kotikovsy et al.
patent: 5207452 (1993-05-01), Collins
patent: 5303953 (1994-04-01), Kamiyama et al.
patent: 5383713 (1995-01-01), Kamiyama et al.
patent: 5415433 (1995-05-01), Pfeiffer
patent: 5474326 (1995-12-01), Cho
patent: 5601311 (1997-02-01), Pfeiffer et al.
patent: 582
Schneider David W.
Soderstrom Pontus
Autoliv ASP Inc.
Brown Sally J.
Fischmann Bryan
Johnson Brian L.
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