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:
Jul. 21, 1992
Filed:
Jul. 24, 1990
Lawrence M Refior, St. Clair, MI (US);
Glyn O Dykins, Rochester Hills, MI (US);
TRW Vehicle Safety Systems Inc., Lyndhurst, OH (US);
Abstract
A seat belt retractor includes a mechanism for reducing the tension in the seat belt webbing. The retractor also includes a rewind spring which biases a retractor spool to wind the webbing onto the spool. The tension reducing mechanism comprises a comfort spring which is selectively engaged to counteract the biasing force of the rewind spring. The counteracting force of the comfort spring is applied throughout any range of movement of the vehicle occupant with the webbing fastened around the occupant. The amount of the counteracting force may be varied by the occupant. The comfort spring is engaged to oppose the rewind spring throughout winding up and unwinding of any length of webbing which is wound onto the retractor spool after the webbing is fastened around the occupant. The counteracting force of the comfort spring is proportional to the length of webbing wound onto the retractor spool while the webbing is fastened around the occupant.