SAFETY DEVICE FOR MOTOR VEHICLE

• US 3,811,702 A
• Filed: 06/05/1972
• Issued: 05/21/1974
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/1971
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Syuichi Otani, Yoshiya Kurasawa
• Original Assignee: Syuichi Otani, Yoshiya Kurasawa
• Inventors: Kurasawa, Yoshiya, Otani, Syuichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Wood, Jr., M. Henson
• Assistant Examiner(s): Eisenzopf, Reinhard J.
• Application Number:
  US05/259,768
• Time in Patent Office: 715 Days
• Field of Search: 280/15SB,15B,15AB 188/1C 297/386,384,385,387-390
• US Class Current: 297/470
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 22/341 comprising energy-absorbing means

Abstract

A safety device for protecting a vehicle occupant from injury during a collision of a motor vehicle, which device includes a seat belt extending over the seat portion of a seat of the motor vehicle, and a shock absorber associated with the seat belt for absorbing an energy of the vehicle occupant due to a sudden deceleration of the motor vehicle when the motor vehicle encounters the collision. The shock absorber includes a cylinder body having a fluid chamber containing therein a fluid, the cylinder body being connected at one end to a leading end of the seat belt, a piston slidably disposed in the fluid chamber of the cylinder body, a connecting rod connected to the piston and movable therewith, a coupling means having one end connected to the other end of the cylinder body and the other end pivotally connected to a structural part of the motor vehicle, and destructible retaining means provided for connecting the other end of the cylinder body to the destructible means for retaining the piston in a rest position, the retaining means being destroyable when the seat belt connected to the cylinder body is subjected to a predetermined magnitude of tension due to the forward movement of the vehicle occupant during the collision of the motor vehicle.

Claims

1. In a safety device for a motor vehicle having a ceiling structure, the combination comprising a seat belt extending over the seat portion of a seat and including a lap belt which extends over and across said seat portion and which is anchored to the floor pan of said motor vehicle and a shoulder strap which is anchored at one end to an intermediate portion of said lap belt and at the other end to said ceiling structure of said motor vehicle substantially over a seat back portion of said seat, retracting means connected to said other end of said shoulder strap, and a shock absorbing means disposed between said retracting means and said ceiling structure of said motor vehicle, said shock absorbIng means having a cylinder for containing a fluid and with a piston and connecting rod movable therein, said cylinder being integrally connected at its one end to said retracting means and with said connecting rod projecting from the other end, retaining means for securing said retracting means on said ceiling structure, said retaining means being releasable when a predetermined magnitude of force is applied thereto during sudden deceleration of said motor vehicle, coupling means swingably connecting the end of the connecting rod projecting from said cylinder to said ceiling structure, and a second retaining means connected to said cylinder and to the portion of said connecting rod lying between said cylinder and said coupling means, said second retaining means also being releasable after said first retaining means is released.