Textiles: knitting – Fabrics or articles – Incorporated unknitted materials
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-13
2002-04-16
Worrell, Danny (Department: 3636)
Textiles: knitting
Fabrics or articles
Incorporated unknitted materials
C066S195000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06370924
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a warp-knitted fabric used in an inflatable belt cover for covering an envelope-like belt of an inflatable belt device. The envelope-like belt is a part of a seat belt and is inflatable with gas from a gas generator for protecting an occupant of a vehicle in a vehicle collision.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In Japanese Patent Application No. H09-23903, hereinafter referred to as the “'903 application”, the applicant of this invention has previously proposed an inflatable belt device which comprises an inflatable belt and a gas generator which supplies gas into the inflatable belt to inflate the inflatable belt. The inflatable belt comprises an envelope-like belt folded in a band-like configuration and a cover surrounding the envelope-like belt. The cover is hard to stretch in the longitudinal direction, but is stretchable in the inflating direction of the inflatable belt. This stretch of the inflatable belt in the inflating direction shortens the length of the inflatable belt in the longitudinal direction.
This inflatable belt device of the '903 application will now be described with reference to the attached drawings. FIG.
1
(
a
) is a perspective view illustrating a vehicle cabin equipped with an inflatable belt device of the '903 application. FIG.
1
(
b
) is a perspective view showing the inflatable belt device. FIG.
2
(
a
) is a plan view showing a portion of the inflatable belt device at the connection between an inflatable belt and a webbing. FIG.
2
(
b
) is a plan view showing an envelope-like belt. FIGS.
2
(
c
),
2
(
d
),
2
(
e
) are sectional views taken along lines C—C, D—D, and E—E of FIG.
2
(
a
), respectively. FIG.
3
(
a
) is a plan view showing a shoulder belt in a state where the inflatable belt is inflated. FIG.
3
(
b
) is a plan view showing the envelope-like belt in the inflated state. FIGS.
3
(
c
) and
3
(
d
) are sectional views taken along lines C—C and D—D of FIG.
3
(
a
), respectively. FIGS.
4
(
a
) and
4
(
b
) are views for explaining a way of knitting a cover for the inflatable belt.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, this inflatable belt system
1
comprises a shoulder belt
2
extending diagonally from the right side to the left side of an occupant, a lap belt
3
extending from the right side to the left side of the occupant, a buckle unit
4
fixed to a vehicle floor or the like, a tongue
5
to be inserted into and engaged with the buckle unit
4
when the belt is about to be worn, and an intermediate guide
6
for guiding the shoulder belt
2
.
The shoulder belt
2
comprises a webbing
2
A which is the same as in a typical conventional seat belt, i.e. a normal belt, and an inflatable belt
2
B connected to an end of the webbing
2
A. The webbing
2
A is slidably hung on the intermediate guide
6
. The other end of the webbing
2
A is connected to a seat belt retractor
7
with an emergency locking mechanism (ELR), which is fixed to the vehicle body. The webbing
2
A is arranged in such a manner as to be wound into the seat belt retractor
7
.
The inflatable belt
2
B is positioned to be in contact with the occupant, and is connected to the tongue
5
at an end opposite to the end connected to the webbing
2
A.
The lap belt
3
comprises a normal belt which is the same as in a typical conventional seat belt, of which one end is connected to the tongue
5
and the other end is connected to the seat belt retractor (ELR)
8
, which is fixed to the vehicle body. Further, connected to the buckle unit
4
is a gas generator
9
which acts in the case of an emergency such as a vehicle collision and generates high pressure gas.
The tongue
5
and the buckle unit
4
are provided with passages for introducing gas from the gas generator
9
into the inflatable belt
2
B.
As shown in FIGS.
2
(
a
) through
3
(
d
), the inflatable belt
2
B comprises an envelope-like belt
10
and a cylindrical knit cover
12
surrounding the envelope-like belt
10
. The envelope-like belt
10
has a wide portion corresponding to the chest and waist of the occupant sitting on the vehicle seat. The envelope-like belt
10
is folded into a shape of a band by folding the wide portion as shown in FIG.
2
(
b
). The envelope-like belt
10
is stitched together with stitches
11
.
The knit cover
12
is supplely stretchable in the lateral (course) direction, but is hard to stretch in the longitudinal (course) direction. FIGS.
4
(
a
) and
4
(
b
) illustrate ways of knitting this knit cover, respectively.
FIG.
4
(
a
) illustrates a general way of warp-knitting of yarns
20
wherein a plurality of yarns
20
(
20
A-
20
D) form loops R. Each yarn
20
extends upwardly to make loops R on the left side and the right side alternately. Each yarn
20
extends in such a manner that the upper end of each loop R (for example, the upper end of a loop R
B2
) is twined around the root of one of the adjacent loops (for example, the root loop R
A1
) and the root of each loop R (for example, the root of the loop R
B2
) is twined by the upper end of one of the adjacent loops (for example, the upper end of a loop R
A3
). Therefore, the loops R are arranged to be continued in the vertical direction in the drawing and loops of a left-side yarn and loops of a right-side yarn are alternated in the vertical direction. That is, the loop R
A1
, the loop R
B2
, and the loop R
A3
are arranged downwardly in this order.
FIG.
4
(
b
) shows a way of warp-knitting wherein insert yarns
30
are knitted in addition to the yarns
20
to increase the strength of an obtained fabric and to reduce the thickness of the obtained fabric. Each insert yarn
30
is knitted in such a manner as to extend along a vertical array of loops and pass through intersections of loops on the front and the back alternately. As shown in FIG.
4
(
b
), each insert yarn
30
is twined about one vertical array of loops.
The inflatable belt
2
B and the lap belt
3
are connected to the tongue. The knit cover
12
is attached to both the webbing
2
A and the tongue
5
so that the knit cover
12
is subjected to tension load applied to the inflatable belt.
As the gas generator
9
is actuated when the tongue
5
is latched to the buckle unit
4
, the inflatable belt
2
B is inflated. During the inflation, the knit cover
12
is shortened in the longitudinal direction of the inflatable belt
2
B so that the inflatable belt
2
B is tightened against the occupant, thereby securely protecting the occupant.
FIG.
5
(
a
) shows the normal state where the knit cover. FIG.
5
(
b
) shows a state where the knit cover
12
made of the warp-knitted fabric using the insert yarns
30
shown in FIG.
4
(
b
) is shortened in the longitudinal (course) direction and lengthened in the lateral (wales) direction when the inflatable belt
2
B (the envelope-like belt
10
) is inflated. As mentioned above, the knit cover
12
has been processed by a heat-stretching process whereby the knit cover
12
is hard to stretch in the longitudinal direction. Therefore, when the envelope-like belt
10
is inflated, the knitted loops of the knit cover
12
are elongated in the lateral direction with the result that the length of the knit cover
12
is shortened in the longitudinal direction, shortening the length of the inflatable belt
2
B.
In the inflatable belt device, when the inflatable belt is inflated as the gas generator is actuated, the cover is also inflated. Since the cover is hard to stretch in the longitudinal direction of the inflatable belt, the length of the cover is shortened during the inflation of the inflatable belt. The length of the inflatable belt is also shortened according to the shortening of the cover. As a result of this shortening, the inflatable belt is strongly fitted to the occupant, thereby securely protecting the occupant.
FIGS.
7
(
a
)-
7
(
c
) are schematic views illustrating states in which “run” is caused in a comparative example without insert yarns. As a yarn is cut in the state shown in FIG.
7
(
a
) and one twin of the loop is cancelled, loops are successive
Takata Corporation
Worrell Danny
LandOfFree
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