Trw Limited

Repa Gmbh Feinstanzwerk

Thomas F Martin

Harold R Scibbe

Jeffrey A Oicles

James A Nagy

An emergency locking retractor system for storing a length of safety belt incorporates a sensor which includes a multi-directional pendulum device displaceable from its rest position by acceleration. Displacement of the pendulum is utilized to change the strength of an energy field imposed upon an electrical signal means. The output signal of the signal means responds to the change in the energy field imposed thereon and the changed signal is employed to activate solenoid switches which lock the retractor. The energy field source may be a magnet or a light source and the signal means then may include, respectively, a Hall device or a phototransistor. Movement of the pendulum from its rest position is utilized to move the magnet closer to or further from the Hall device, or to interpose a shield between the light source and the phototransistor, or to change the position of a reflector used to reflect light from the light source onto the phototransistor. The resultant change in output signal is employed to close a circuit which connects a power source to the locking medium.

Locking sensor for belt retractor

A digital speedometer, frequency or event counter with digital display. The speedometer conventionally receives speed pulses representative of the speed of the vehicle. Due to the lack of synchronization between speed pulses and clock pulses the last display digit exhibits undesirable jitter. This may also be caused by backlash in the drive train or the like. This jitter is minimized by the provision of a precounter between the counter and the gate transfer to a storage register. This will permit transfer of the number generated in the counter only if the precounter is in the zero state, thus minimizing the jitter due to random occurrences of the last pulse.

Growing community of inventors

Euclid, OH, United States of America

Thomas F Martin