Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-28
2004-04-06
Dunn, David R. (Department: 3616)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
C280S733000, C297S216100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06715788
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a passenger protecting apparatus for protecting a passenger sitting on the seat of the vehicle such as an automotive vehicle in the event of a collision.
Various types of air bag apparatuses, air belt apparatuses, or air curtain apparatuses have been developed as systems to protect passengers in the automotive vehicle in the event of a collision.
An apparatus has been proposed for raising the front portion of the seat cushion upon collision of the vehicle in order to prevent a submarine phenomenon where the passenger is squeezed out through the lap belt downwardly in case of a frontal crash even when the passenger is wearing the seat belt. For example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-309967, a vehicle seat in which the front end of the seat cushion is adapted to be raised by a cartridge actuator is disclosed, and in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-217818, a vehicle seat in which the front end of the seat cushion is raised by an air bag is disclosed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a passenger protecting apparatus adapted to generate a driving force by an air belt.
The passenger protecting apparatus of the present invention comprises a seat having a seat cushion and a seat back, and means for hardening the front portion of said seat cushion in the event of emergency of the vehicle, wherein said means is an air belt which decreases in length when inflated.
In the passenger protecting apparatus, the air belt is preferably disposed under the seat cushion and is prevented from moving downward and forward when inflated, and there may be provided a back-up member for preventing said air belt from moving downward under the air belt.
In the passenger protecting apparatus in this arrangement, the seat cushion is raised by the inflation of the air belt, or is hardened by applying a pressure from below to the portion being in contact with the air belt in case of emergency such as a collision of the vehicle or the like so as to prevent a submarine phenomenon of the passenger.
When a back-up member is disposed under the air belt, a projection extending upward for positioning the air belt may be provided on the back-up member. In this case, the projection deforms when a pressure in excess of a prescribed value is applied to said projection by the air belt so that the forward movement of the air belt is permitted.
In this arrangement, it is assured that the front portion of the seat cushion is pushed up or hardened by the air belt in case of emergency of the vehicle, and when the passenger bumped against the front portion of the seat cushion with an excess of an impactive force, the base plate moves forward of the seat cushion while deforming the projection in accordance with the movement of the passenger and absorbs the impactive force.
In this passenger protecting apparatus, the air belt may be extended in the direction of the width of said seat cushion and connected to the structural member of said seat cushion at both ends thereof.
In this passenger protecting apparatus, the air belt is preferably provided with a shock-absorbing mechanism.
In this case, the shock-absorbing mechanism may be a gas outlet for preventing the internal pressure of the air belt from increasing excessively by discharging the gas from the air belt when the air belt is inflated (hereinafter such a gas outlet may be referred to as “vent hole”), or may be a tear seam formed in such a manner that a part of the air belt is seamed with a thread for reducing the volume of the air belt in the inflated state and the thread is broken and the seamed portion is torn when the internal pressure of the air belt reaches or exceeds a prescribed pressure in order to allow the air belt to increase in volume and to lower the internal pressure therein. When the gas outlet is used as a shock-absorbing mechanism, it is also possible to construct in such a manner that valve means that opens when the gas pressure reaches or exceeds the prescribed value is provided to prevent the gas from escaping when the air belt is being inflated.
The shock-absorbing mechanism comprises a gas outlet provided on the air belt, and a tear seam formed by seaming a part of said air belt and closing said gas outlet, wherein the tear seam is broken so that said air belt increase in volume and simultaneously said gas outlet is opened to allow the gas to escape when the internal pressure of the air belt reaches or exceeds a prescribed value.
In this arrangement, when the internal pressure of the inflated air belt is not more than the prescribed value, a part of the air belt is being seamed to form a tear seam and the vent hole is closed. When the internal pressure of the air belt reaches or exceeds a prescribed value, since the tear seam is broken to allow the air belt to increase in volume and simultaneously to allow the vent hole to open, the internal pressure of the air belt decreases with the increase of the volume of the air belt, and a gas is escaped through a vent hole to prevent the internal pressure of the air belt from excessively increasing.
The shock-absorbing mechanism may be means to limit deployment of the air belt when the internal pressure of the air belt is not more than the prescribed value, and release the limitation and allow the air belt to increase in volume and decrease in internal pressure accordingly when the internal pressure of the air belt reaches or exceeds the prescribed value.
In the passenger protecting apparatus of the present invention provided with such a shock-absorbing mechanism, when the passenger bumped against the front portion of the seat cushion with a large impactive force when the air belt inflated and thus the front portion of the seat cushion is raised or hardened, the air belt receives the passenger via said seat cushion. When the air belt is pressurized by the impactive force and thus the internal pressure of the air belt reaches or exceeds a prescribed value, the shock-absorbing mechanism described above is actuated to decrease the internal pressure of the air belt or to prevent an excessive increase of the internal pressure of the air belt, thereby absorbing the impactive force.
The passenger protecting apparatus of the present invention may further comprise a seat belt apparatus for restraining the passenger sitting on the seat and a lowering mechanism for lowering at least one of the buckle and the lap anchor of said seat belt apparatus in case of emergency of the vehicle, wherein said lowering mechanism includes an air belt that decreased in length by inflation thereof as a driving power source for lowering movement.
In the passenger protecting apparatus described above, a shrinking force of the air belt can apply a pretension to the seat belt.
In the passenger protecting apparatus including the seat belt apparatus, the end of the air belt and at least one of said buckle and the lap anchor are preferably connected via a linkage. As an alternative to this linkage, it is also possible that the end of the air belt and at least one of the buckle and the lap anchor are connected via a rack-and-pinion mechanism, or that the end of the air belt and at least one of said buckle and the lap anchor are connected via a linear body.
In the air belt including the seat belt apparatus in which the end of the air belt and at least one of the buckle and the lap anchor are connected, the shrinking force of the air belt is transmitted to the buckle or the lap anchor by said linkage, the rack-and-pinion, or the linear body, and thus the buckle or the lap anchor is pulled down, thereby applying a pretension to the seat belt.
When the end of the air belt and at least one of the buckle and the lap anchor are connected via a linear body, the linear body may be a flexible elongated member such as a wire or a rope, or webbing or mesh webbing having one end elongated.
The linear body may be guided by a guide column or the like, or by a member such as a pulley or a
Fujii Hiroaki
Higuchi Masahiro
Kobayashi Ichizo
Saiguchi Ryoji
Sakai Katsuyuki
Dunn David R.
Foley & Lardner
Takata Corporation
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