The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 19, 1991
Filed:
Mar. 12, 1990
Hans J Borlinghaus, Mt. Clemens, MI (US);
General Motors Corporation, Detroit, MI (US);
Abstract
A vehicle seat is mounted on the vehicle body by a seat adjuster which enables movement of the seat relative to the vehicle body to a position chosen by the occupant. A seat belt is anchored on the seat so that the seat belt moves with the seat to the adjusted position. An extensible cylinder extends from the vehicle floor to the seat belt anchor on the seat and extends and retracts as necessary to accommodate the adjusting movement of the seat. The extensible cylinder includes a piston movable within a chamber filled with electro-rheological fluid. During adjusting movement of the seat, electrical voltage is interrupted to the electro-rheological fluid to liquefy the fluid for flow through orifices in the piston, so that the cylinder may extend and retract to follow the seat. At all other times, voltage is applied to the electro-rheological fluid so that the fluid solidifies and is unable to flow through the orifices so that the piston is locked within the cylinder and the occupant restraint load is transmitted from the seat belt to the floor.