Davidson Textron Inc.

Other

James C Carter

Michael J Gallagher

Peter J Iannazzi

Kent L Parker

An air bag restraint system is housed within an interior trim product with a hidden door that is opened when an air bag is inflated for deployment into the passenger car or a vehicle. The door is formed in a reinforced segment of a layer of low density rigid foam material that forms the load bearing support for the interior trim product and a backing for an outer skin or decorative surface that forms the outer cover of the interior trim product. The hidden door is formed by cast in place segments in the reinforced segment of the layer of low density rigid foam material a door hinge segment and a weakened tear seam segment which separates when the air bag impacts thereagainst to tear the outer skin for forming an opening therethrough for deployment of the air bag into the passenger compartment of a vehicle.

Hidden door for an air bag restraint system

A method of molding automotive interior trim parts wherein a block of a predetermined thickness and area of a suitable grade of fiber or other suitable insert material is pressed into a molten vinyl shell during the latter's curing cycle. The fiber block or insert becomes fused to the vinyl shell and may expand to approximately three times its original thickness to serve as the backing and mounting insert for the finished two-component interior trim part.

In-mold mating of substrate material to vinyl skin covering for the

A cover assembly for an air cushion restraint has a smooth cover with a layer of foam between the cover and a load bearing insert for covering a housing for an airbag and a gas generator which generates an inflatant for the airbag for deploying the airbag; the cover assembly includes a single cutter which has three blade edges of a depth to cut through the layer of foam and smooth cover before a cover insert member is actuated to form a three sided opening through the cover assembly through which the airbag is deployed; the single cutter is pivoted on a retainer insert member as the airbag is inflated to cause cutting edges on the cutter to pierce the smooth outer cover member. The cutter is recessed within the cover assembly to avoid incidental contact with the cutting edges prior to deployment. The cutter is bent to be self-retained following airbag deployment to shield the cutting edges from passenger contact during secondary impacts.

Single cutter self-piercing cover assembly for airbag

Submersible electric motor driven inducer equipped centrifugal pump units, especially suitable for the pumping of cryogenic fluids or fluids at their boiling point, and capable of maintaining full flow under low submergence conditions are provided by disconnecting the inducers from co-rotation with the main impeller shaft while still retaining the main shaft for support and are powered by a source in the unit such as a slip coupling, a hydraulic turbine driven by pumpage from the pump impeller, or a separate electric motor. These power sources drive the inducer at speeds slower than the pump impeller to develop the desired suction head for the impeller without drawing excessive power or producing undesirable thrusts and reduce pump-out time for the last few feet of cargo. A hydraulic or magnetic clutch coupling with the main electric motor drive may be used in combination with the turbine power source for the inducer to start the pumping action. The inducers preferably have two spiral blades and are preferably driven at about one-half to two-thirds the speed of the main impeller.

Pump

Motor driven inducer equipped centrifugal pumps have the inducer and centrifugal pump impellers mounted on a motor shaft on opposite ends of the motor so that the inducer will not create prerotation in the impeller entrance permitting both the inducer and the impeller to operate independently and produce a head which is the sum of the two individual heads produced by the inducer and the impeller. The heretofore required relationship between the inducer outer diameter and the impeller inner diameter is eliminated and inducer sizes may be varied for best efficiency. Pumpage is vented to the motor through a hollow motor shaft to cool the motor and lubricate the bearings. Multi-staging of the pump is simplified with standard parts being stacked to produce the desired number of stages and, in the multi-stage embodiment, the second stage impeller is subjected to an upward thrust by the pumpage from the first stage to balance inducer thrust loads on the bearings with opposite impeller thrust loads.

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Dover, NH, United States of America

James C Carter