Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Nifco Inc.

Chuo Spring Co., Ltd.

Yamada Electric Mfg. Co., Ltd.

Kazuo Ito

Kiyoshi Isogai

Katsutoshi Kitagawa

Taku Tashima

Masahiko Niino

Naka Takita

Itsuo Koga

Nobuo Ohmori

Makoto Okamoto

Tomoyuki Ito

A clip includes a female member, a male member, and a connecting piece. The female member is formed in a cylindrical shape with two open ends, and has an outer flange at an upper cylinder end. A flexible engaging piece is formed in a side section defined by slits formed in the side section, and is provided with an engaging surface facing the outer flange. The male member is formed of a leg shaft and a head provided at an upper end of the leg shaft for a pushing operation. The connecting piece connects the head of the male member with the outer flange of the female member, so that a lower end of the leg shaft of the male member is positioned directly above the upper cylinder end of the female member.

Clip and airbag body installation structure

A bimetal 40 is secured at a holding portion 40b to a fixed pin 52 and a snap portion 40a is supported by a support portion 12a. The free end 40a' of the snap portion 40a comes in contact with a movable contact plate 30 to thereby rock the plate 30. The displacement of the snap portion 40a is restricted at a boundary end portion 40a' by the holding portion 40b. Due to this, when the thermal protector carries out a snap action (or is reversed), the snap portion 40a is rocked like a lever around the support portion 12a supporting the snap portion 40a, and the free end 40a' of the snap portion 40a is greatly displaced. Thus, the travelling distance by which the movable contact 32 travels when the movable contact plate 30 is rocked, can be increased. This can prevent a delay in snap.

Thermal protector

An elastic supporting and sealing member, for mutually supporting a first body and a second body, and for sealing the gap between the first body and the second body, includes a first portion and a second portion of wire net and a piece of thermal foaming material, between the first and the second wire net portion, which expands and foams when it is heated up. A method of making such a member includes the steps of flattening a tubular shaped piece of wire net, and of introducing a strip shaped piece of such thermal foaming material between the two sides of the flattened tube of wire net, so that the longitudinal directions of the strip shaped piece of thermal foaming material and of the flattened wire net tube substantially coincide.

Elastic supporting and sealing member with thermal foaming strip

Growing community of inventors

Nagoya, Japan

Kazuo Ito