Kabushiki Kaisha Tokai Rika Denki Seisakusho

Fuminori Teraoka

Kenji Matsui

Tatsushi Kubota

Yasutaka Watanabe

Shinji Mori

Keisuke Imai

Takehiko Nishikawa

Yuichiro Kaneko

Takashi Kawaharazaki

Takayuki Ando

Hiroshi Tsuge

Hideki Tanaka

Kohbun Tanaka

Seiji Nishide

Bunji Inagaki

Hiroki Iwasa

Keiichi Kato

Shigeru Kotama

Akio Numazawa

Kiyoharu Iga

Takeo Matsui

Michiyasu Yajima

When a vehicle mirror assembly is assembled, a bracket is firstly set as an assembling reference member, disposed on a bracket jig and positioned with respect to the bracket jig. Next, a retracting unit, a mirror surface adjustment unit, a door mirror stay and a mirror are mounted to the bracket. Finally a door mirror visor is mounted to the bracket. The bracket is made common regardless of a vehicle type thus a fixed bracket jig can be used resulting in cost reduction. Further, as the door mirror visor is mounted in a final process, defects of the door mirror visor due to scratches can be reduced thereby improving the production efficiency.

Vehicle mirror assembly and method for assembling the same

A pretensioner is disclosed which, when a vehicle suddenly decelerates, a large quantity of gas is generated, and the gas flows into a cylinder from a gas-generating a device. As a result of pressure of the gas, a movable pulley moves instantaneously together with a piston, so that the wire trained around the movable pulley is pulled. An amount by which a wire is pulled is twice an amount by which a wire is pulled in cases where the wire is directly connected to the piston, as in conventional devices. Accordingly, the wire can be pulled by the same amount by using only half of a length of a conventional cylinder, thus making it possible to manufacture a pretensioner which has a short cylinder.

Pretensioner

When a vehicle accelerates to a predetermined value, a pretensioner mounted to an occupant seat applies a pulling force to a seat belt under a force produced by detonating an explosive material. When the seat is moved in the longitudinal direction of a vehicle in order to adjust the position and the seat comes to a halt at a frontal end position, an acceleration more than or equal to the predetermined value is developed in an acceleration sensor. However, the acceleration sensor is provided with a lock means mounted to the seat. Even if the seat suddenly stops at the frontal end position, the acceleration sensor is restrained from moving and the pretensioner is not actuated. The lock means is actuated even when a walk-in mechanism for directly moving the seat to the frontal end is operated.

Device for controlling acceleration sensor

A preloader for use in a webbing retractor for retracting an occupant-restraining webbing onto a webbing takeup shaft, and adapted to allow a webbing to be applied to a vehicle occupant with appropriate tightness. An engaging shaft is coaxially coupled with the takeup shaft, and a rotating drum is disposed around the engaging shaft at a fixed distance from the engaging shaft. The rotating drum is held by a plate, and a wire is tightly wound around the outer periphery of the rotating drum. A clamp member is disposed swingably in a direction in which the clamp member engages the webbing and in a direction in which the clamp member moves away therefrom. An urging member is provided for constantly urging the clamp member in a webbing-clamping direction. A trigger member is disposed between the clamp member and the plate, and holds the clamp member in spaced-apart relationship with the webbing. A driving force is imparted to the wire when the vehicle suddenly decelerates, and the wire is tightly wound around the drum, thereby allowing the rotating drum and the engaging shaft to rotate integrally in a webbing-taking-up direction. As the plate rotates with the rotating drum, the state in which the clamp member is held by the trigger member in spaced-apart relationship with the webbing is canceled. Consequently, the webbing is clamped by the clamp member, thereby preventing the tight winding of the webbing and restraining the occupant reliably.

Preloader for use in a webbing retractor

A preloader adapted to forcibly pull a webbing in a taking-up direction when the vehicle suddenly decelerates, so as to allow the webbing to be applied closely around an occupant. A clamp member for clamping the webbing is provided to prevent a subsequent tight winding of the webbing. The clamp member is constantly urged in a webbing-clamping direction by an urging member, and is normally held in a position spaced apart from the webbing against an urging force of the urging member. As the holding is canceled after the forcible taking up of the webbing, the clamp member is capable of clamping the webbing.

Preloader

A preloader for use in a webbing retractor for retracting an occupant-restraining webbing onto a takeup shaft so as to allow the webbing to be applied to the occupant with appropriate tightness. A rotating drum disposed coaxially with the takeup shaft has an annular groove. A wedge member is held around the rotating drum at a certain distance from the rotating drum by a shear pin. A wire is wound in advance around the outer periphery of the wedge member. At the time of a sudden deceleration of a vehicle a driving force is applied to the wire, and the wire in turn tightens the wedge member by being more tightly wound therearound. The shear pin is broken by the tight winding by the wire, and the wedge member is wedge-fitted to the rotating drum, so that the wedge member and the rotating drum rotate integrally and cause the takeup shaft to rotate.

A webbing retractor which, when a webbing is drawn out instantaneously, prevents the drawing out of the webbing by operating a lock mechanism. In addition, when a vehicle is decelerated suddenly, the drawing out of the webbing is also instantaneously prevented by causing a pawl to engage with a lock wheel preventing the lock wheel from rotating. The webbing retractor includes a lever which is swung in such a manner as to be movable between a first position in which the pawl is made unengageable with the lock wheel and a second position in which the pawl is made engageable with the lock wheel. The webbing retraction also includes a lever swing member which causes the lever to be located in the first position as the take-up shaft rotates in a webbing taking-up direction and to be situated in the second position as the take-up shaft rotates in a webbing draw-out direction. Accordingly, the pawl is prevented from engaging with the lock wheel at a take-up limit of the webbing.

Webbing retractor

In an acceleration sensor for use in an automobile seatbelt system comprising a rolling body which moves when subjected to an acceleration, a cup-like receptacle member for supporting the rolling body on a sloping surface rising towards an outer periphery of the receptacle member, and a pivotally mounted actuator over the rolling body for triggering a web halting mechanism, wherein the sloping surface is formed with a plurality of radially disposed ribs, so that the rolling body is prevented from rolling around the sloping surface even when subjected to vibration from rough roads. The invention prevents the web belting mechanism from being triggered spuriously without diminishing the sensitivity of the acceleration sensor in a bona fide vehicular emergency situation.

Acceleration sensor

In a webbing retractor used in a seatbelt system for protecting an occupant in an emergency situation of a vehicle, a first guide portion of a cam ring is opposed to a transmitting means to thereby put a locking means in an engageable condition until a webbing is unwound up to a first predetermined amount, an acceleration sensor puts the locking means in an engaged condition to stop a webbing-unwinding rotation of a takeup shaft only in the emergency situation of the vehicle, a second guide portion of the cam ring is opposed to the transmitting means to thereby bias the locking means in the engaged condition when the webbing is unwound in an amount of more than the first predetermined amount, and, thereafter, an automatic locking mechanism is worked when the occupant, a fixture such as a child seat or the like is embraced by the webbing, so that the occupant, the fixture or the like is restrained surely.

A seatbelt retractor for use in a motor vehicle to retract a passenger restraining seatbelt to be fastened around an occupant. The seatbelt is wound around a rotatable takeup shaft in layers by a biasing force in the seatbelt retractor. Fixed on the takeup shaft is a ratchet wheel, and a pawl is opposed to the ratchet wheel, whereby when the pawl meshes with the ratchet wheel, and thereby stops the belt-unwinding rotation of the takeup shaft. An inertia lock mechanism is provided in the retractor to actuate the pawl to mesh with the ratchet wheel in a vehicular emergency situation. A cam mechanism is also provided in the retractor, which includes a cam member or ring rotated by the takeup shaft and a follower member or linear spring driven by the cam member and opposed to the pawl. The cam member actuates the follower member to move the pawl into engagement with the ratchet wheel when the seatbelt is unwound more than a predetermined value, namely a value necessary for the fastening of the seatbelt. When the seatbelt is unwound within the predetermined value from the takeup shaft, the takeup shaft is kept rotatable in either direction and its belt-unwinding rotation is stopped by the inertia lock mechanism during a vehicular emergency situation. When the seatbelt is unwound more than the predetermined value, the takeup shaft is automatically stopped in its belt-unwinding rotation by the cam mechanism.

Seatbelt retractor

A first and a second spring are connected in series to a take-up shaft of a seatbelt so as to generate wind-up force; when the seatbelt is put on by an occupant, a pawl is engaged with a latch gear provided at a connecting portion between said springs, whereby the biasing force of only one of said springs is imparted to the take-up shaft, thereby decreasing the wind-up force of the take-up shaft; after the seatbelt is released from the occupant, the pawl is disengaged from the latch gear by a camplate means, whereby the wind-up forces of both springs are imparted to the take-up shaft, thereby increasing the wind-up force of the take-up shaft; and further, frictional means for engaging the latch gear with the pawl is brought into frictional contact with the take-up shaft by means of a pair of projecting resilient means oscillatingly movable, thereby securing the engagement between the latch gear and the pawl.

A safety belt device for use in vehicles, having at least one belt extending across the body of a passenger sitting on a seat, in which the belt is held in a disengaging position forwardly of the seat irrespective of the door opening and closing operation when the passenger is not sitting on the seat, providing for the passenger to get into the vehicle, and is placed in an engaging position when the passenger has sat down on the seat and closed the door, restraining the body of the passenger, and is retracted to the disengaging position when the passenger sitting on the seat has opened the door providing for alighting of the passenger from the vehicle.

Growing community of inventors

Aichi, Japan

Fuminori Teraoka