Webbing retractor
First Claim
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1. A webbing retractor for use in a seatbelt system for a vehicle designed to protect an occupant in an emergency vehicular situation, comprising:
- (a) a take-up shaft for winding up a webbing;
(b) driving means for applying a relatively strong wind-up force on the take-up shaft;
(c) biasing means for applying a relatively weak wind-up force on the take-up shaft until said driving means is actuated;
(d) detecting means including sensors disposed at least two positions, respectively for detecting whether or not a predetermined amount of said webbing unfastened form the occupant'"'"'s body has been wound up on said take-up shaft; and
(e) control means including means for actuating said driving means operatively connected to said take-up shaft, and adapted to activate said driving means only when said detecting means senses that a predetermined amount of said webbing has been wound up on said take-up shaft, so that said webbing is initially wound up by means of a relatively weak biasing force in the webbing wind-up operation carried out after the occupant has unfastened said webbing, and said webbing is finally wound up by means of a relatively strong biasing force after said initial wind-up is concluded.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A webbing retractor for a vehicle includes a webbing take-up shaft which winds up an occupant restraining webbing with a relatively weak biasing force from a spiral spring, thus reducing the pressure applied to the body of an occupant from the webbing. When the occupant unfastens the webbing and a predetermined amount of webbing is rewound on the take-up shaft, a controller activates a motor to rotate the take-up shaft so as to rewind the whole of the unwound webbing with a relatively strong driving force.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A webbing retractor for use in a seatbelt system for a vehicle designed to protect an occupant in an emergency vehicular situation, comprising:
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(a) a take-up shaft for winding up a webbing; (b) driving means for applying a relatively strong wind-up force on the take-up shaft; (c) biasing means for applying a relatively weak wind-up force on the take-up shaft until said driving means is actuated; (d) detecting means including sensors disposed at least two positions, respectively for detecting whether or not a predetermined amount of said webbing unfastened form the occupant'"'"'s body has been wound up on said take-up shaft; and (e) control means including means for actuating said driving means operatively connected to said take-up shaft, and adapted to activate said driving means only when said detecting means senses that a predetermined amount of said webbing has been wound up on said take-up shaft, so that said webbing is initially wound up by means of a relatively weak biasing force in the webbing wind-up operation carried out after the occupant has unfastened said webbing, and said webbing is finally wound up by means of a relatively strong biasing force after said initial wind-up is concluded. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A webbing retractor for winding up on a take-up shaft a webbing which is fastened over the body of an occupant when said occupant drives a vehicle, comprising:
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(a) a motor for subjecting said take-up shaft to a relatively strong biasing force and completely winding up said webbing when actuated; (b) a spiral spring for constantly subjecting said take-up shaft to a relatively weak biasing force and partially winding up said webbing until said motor is activated; (c) a clutch interposed between said motor and said take-up shaft to transmit a driving force from said motor to said take-up shaft when said motor is activated; and (d) control means that decides that the occupant has said webbing fastened when it detects both a first unwound state wherein the amount by which said webbing is unwound from said take-up shaft is relatively small and a second unwound state wherein said amount is larger than that associated with said first unwound state, including means for actuating said motor operatively connected to said take-up shaft, and adapted to activate said motor only when a predetermined amount of said webbing has been rewound by means of the biasing force from said spiral spring after the occupant has unfastened said webbing, so that the balance of the unwound webbing is rewound by means of the relatively strong wind-up force from said motor after said webbing has been unfastened. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A webbing retractor for use in a vehicle, comprising:
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(a) a frame secured to a vehicle body; (b) a take-up shaft rotatably supported by said frame; (c) an occupant restraining webbing secured at one end thereof to said take-up shaft; (d) a spiral spring interposed between said frame and said take-up shaft to rotate said take-up shaft with a relatively weak biasing force; (e) a motor for rotating said take-up shaft so as to wind up said webbing; (f) a clutch for transmitting rotational force to said take-up shaft when said motor is activated to rotate; (g) a casing secured to said frame for covering said spiral spring, said clutch and said motor; (h) first detecting means for detecting a first state wherein the amount by which said webbing is unwound from said take-up shaft reaches a predetermined value; (i) second detecting means for detecting a second state wherein the amount by which said webbing is unwound from said take-up shaft is greater than said predetermined value; and (j) control means adapted to activate said motor when, after said second state has been detected by said second detecting means, said webbing is rewound to such an extent that said second state is no longer detected by said second detecting means but said first state is still detected by said first detecting means. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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19. A webbing retractor for use in a seatbelt system designed to fasten around and protect an occupant in an emergency vehicular situation, comprising:
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(a) a take-up shaft for winding up a webbing; (b) a selectively actuatable driving means for applying a relatively strong wind-up force on the take-up shaft when actuated; (c) a biasing means for applying a relatively constant and weak wind-up force on the take-up shaft which is capable of partially rewinding said webbing a predetermined amount when said webbing is extended; (d) detecting means including sensors disposed at least two positions, respectively for detecting whether or not said predetermined amount of webbing has been wound up on said take-up shaft after said, webbing has been unfastened from around the occupant'"'"'s body, and (e) control means operatively connected to said driving means and said detecting means for actuating the driving means only after said predetermined amount of webbing has been wound up on said take-up shaft by the relatively weak biasing force applied by said biasing means, so that only a weak biasing force is applied to said webbing, when said webbing is extended around the occupant'"'"'s body and when said webbing is initially wound up.
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Specification