Air bag apparatus

• US 5,316,336 A
• Filed: 07/17/1992
• Issued: 05/31/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/1991
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Nippon Soken, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Nippondenso Co., Ltd. (DENSO Corporation), Nippon Soken, Inc.
• Inventors: Taguchi, Masahiro, Tominaga, Motonori, Matsuhashi, Toshiaki
• Primary Examiner(s): CULBRETH, ERIC D
• Application Number:
  US07/914,743
• Time in Patent Office: 683 Days
• Field of Search: 280/728 R, 280/730 R, 280/730 A
• US Class Current: 280/730.2
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/21 in vehicle side panels, e.g. doors pillar mounted arrangements B60R21/213

Abstract

An air bag is stored in a folded state in a space in a door or an arm rest, laterally of a passenger in a cabin. An inflator for generating a flow of gas is also stored inside the door or the arm rest. When a collision occurs, the inflator discharges a flow of gas directed upward and introduced into the air bag, which causes the air bag to be inflated so that the inflated air bag occupies a space between a passenger and the door or the vehicle body, laterally of passenger. As a result, the passenger is cushioned from any shock caused by the collision, to thereby protect the passenger from injury.

Claims

1. An air bag apparatus adapted to be mounted to a body of a vehicle, for protecting a passenger and comprising:

an air bag;

means for storing said air bag, in at least a partly retracted condition, at a location inside the vehicle body, laterally of the passenger;

means for detection of a collision; and

means for injecting a flow of gas, when a collision is detected, directly upward into the air bag so that the air bag is inflated upward and the inflated bag couples a space between the passenger and the vehicle body, laterally of the passenger;

wherein;

said vehicle body has an arm rest fitted laterally of the passenger, said storing means stores said air bag at least partly in said armrest, said gas injecting means discharges a flow of the gas upward from said arm rest; and

said gas injecting means comprise an inflator for instantly generating a flow of gas and having an outlet, a gas discharge pipe having axially spaced first and second ends, the first end being open and the second end being closed, the opened end of the gas discharge pipe being connected to the outlet of the inflator for receiving the generated gas flow, the gas discharge pipe having a slit opened laterally to the pipe, and an elbow pipe having one end connected to said slit of the gas discharge pipe and a second end opened upward to the space inside the air bag, for obtaining a flow of the gas directed upward into the air bag.

2. An air bag apparatus adapted to be mounted to a body of a vehicle, for protecting a passenger and comprising:

an air bag;

means for storing said air bag, in at least a partly retracted condition, at a location inside the vehicle body, laterally of the passenger,

means for detection of a collision; and

means for injecting a flow of gas, when a collision is detected, directly upward into the air bag so that the air bag is inflated upward and the inflated bag occupies a space between the passenger and the vehicle body, laterally of the passenger;

wherein;

said storing means stores said air bag in a wall of said vehicle laterally of the passenger, said gas injecting means discharges a flow of the gas upward from the side wall;

said storing means comprise a pad connected to the wall of the vehicle, the pad having at a top side thereof a breakable portion which is broken upon an inflation of the bag, and said gas injecting means comprise an inflator for generating a flow of the gas, a guide casing arranged around the inflator, the guide casing having a mouth opened upward so that the flow of the gas is directed into the air bag, and means for connecting the inflator and the guide casing to the wall of the vehicle body while being covered by the pad; and

said inflator comprises an inflator casing, a central casing located inside the casing for storing an ignitable material therein, a gas generating material being filled in a space between the central casing and the inflator casing, the central casing having nozzles for generating flames caused by the ignition of the ignitable material, the inflator casing having nozzles for ejecting the flow of the gas toward the guide casing.

3. An air bag apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said vehicle body has a side portion defining a general plane along the side of the vehicle, and said casings have a generally flattened-disk shape with a circumference defining a general plane thereof which is substantially parallel to the general plane of the vehicle body.

4. An air bag apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said vehicle body has a side portion defining a general plane along the side of the vehicle, and said casings have a generally cylindrical shape, an axis of which is horizontally extended along the general plane of the vehicle body.