Occupant restraint cushion system

• US 4,191,392 A
• Filed: 08/24/1978
• Issued: 03/04/1980
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/1978
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: General Motors Corporation (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors Corporation (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Barnett, Ronald R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mitchell, David M.
• Application Number:
  US05/936,353
• Time in Patent Office: 558 Days
• Field of Search: 280/740, 280/728, 280/729, 280/732, 280/741, 280/742, 280/743
• US Class Current: 280/740
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/2171 specially adapted for elongated cylindrical or bottle-like inflators with a symmetry axis perpendicular to the main direction of bag deployment, e.g. extruded reaction canisters B60R21/2176 takes precedence

Abstract

An occupant restraint cushion system including a housing provided with a J-shaped base wall connected to a pair of laterally spaced side walls with one of the side walls having an enlarged circular opening formed therein and the other side wall having an aperture formed therein. A gas generator-diffuser combination is mounted in the opening with a threaded stud fixed with one end of the gas generator extending through the aperture and adapted to have a nut tightened thereon so as to draw the gas generator towards the associated apertured side wall and cause said one end of the gas generator together with the associated side wall and diffuser to define a chamber that communicates with the interior of the cushion through a portion of the diffuser that is spaced from the other of the side walls.

Claims

1. An occupant restraint system comprising, in combination, an elongated housing adapted to be fixedly mounted on a motor vehicle, said housing including a base wall connected to a pair of laterally spaced side walls, one of said side walls having an enlarged opening formed therein and the other side wall having an aperture formed therein, a restraint cushion having a pair of laterally spaced side walls, a diffuser located within said restraint cushion and being positioned in the housing between the end walls, means fixed with said diffuser and passing through the restraint cushion for rigidly connecting the diffuser to said base wall so as to locate said diffuser concentrically and in spaced relationship with respect to said enlarged opening in said one of said side walls of said housing, a gas generator having a body portion positioned in said diffuser and having a stud formed with one end thereof that extends through one of said side walls of said restraint cushion and through said aperture in said other side wall of said housing, an enlarged head formed with the other end of said body portion and extending out of the other of said side walls of the restraint cushion, a nut on the stud, said diffuser having a longitudinal length greater than the longitudinal length of said body portion with one end of said diffuser abutting a fixed portion of said one of said side walls of said housing and the other end abutting said enlarged head, the stud end of said body portion being spaced from said one of said side walls so as to form a chamber between said stud end of said body portion and the restraint cushion along said one of said side walls so that upon tightening of said nut on the stud the opposite ends of said diffuser cooperate with said one of said side walls of said housing and with said enlarged head respectively to provide a seal at each end of the diffuser, and a portion of said one end of said diffuser being spaced from said fixed portion of said one of said side walls of said housing so as to provide a vent for said chamber that prevents a pressure build-up therein.

2. An occupant restraint system comprising, in combination, an elongated housing adapted to be fixedly mounted on a motor vehicle, said housing including a J-shaped base wall connected to a pair of laterally spaced side walls, one of said side walls having an enlarged opening formed therein and the other side wall having an aperture formed therein, a restraint cushion having a pair of laterally spaced side walls, an elongated tubular diffuser located within said restraint cushion and being positioned in the housing between the end walls, means radially extending from said diffuser and passing through the restraint cushion for rigidly connecting the diffuser to said base wall so as to locate said diffuser concentrically and in spaced relationship with respect to said enlarged opening in said one of said side walls of said housing, a gas generator having a cylindrical body portion positioned in said tubular diffuser and having a threaded stud formed with one end thereof that extends through one of said side walls of said restraint cushion and through said aperture in said other side wall of said housing, an enlarged conical head formed with the other end of said cylindrical body portion and extending out of the other of said side walls of the restraint cushion, a nut on the threaded stud, said diffuser having a longitudinal length greater than the longitudinal length of said body portion with one end of said diffuser abutting said one of said side walls of said housing and the other end abutting said enlarged head, the stud end of said body portion being spaced from one end of said side walls so as to form a chamber between said stud end of said body portion and the restraint cushion along said one of said side walls so that upon tightening of said nut on the threaded stud the opposite ends of said diffuser cooperate with said one of said side walls of said housing and with said enlarged conical head respectively to provide a seal at each end of the diffuser, and a cut-out portion formed in said one end of said diffuser adjacent said one of said side walls of said housing so as to provide a vent for said chamber that prevents a pressure build-up therein.