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:
Sep. 26, 1995
Filed:
May. 12, 1994
Gary M Ray, Royal Oak, MI (US);
TRW Vehicle Safety Systems Inc., Lyndhurst, OH (US);
Abstract
A seat belt retractor (10) stores belt webbing (16) which is used as a restraint for a vehicle occupant. The retractor (10) includes a rotatable webbing storage spool (14) and two springs (50, 52) for biasing rotation of the spool (14). A rotatable ratchet wheel (54) is connected between the springs (50, 52) to permit the spring force from one spring (50) to be blocked from acting on the spool (14) when the ratchet wheel (54) is prevented from rotating. A movable pawl (56) selectively engages the ratchet wheel (54) to prevent rotation of the ratchet wheel (54) in a belt retraction direction (A). The pawl (56) is both pivotable and movable transversely relative to a pawl axis (90). An actuator (60) selectively pivots the pawl (56) towards engagement with the ratchet wheel (54). A rotatable clutch (64) moves the pawl (56) transversely relative to the pawl axis (90) and away from the ratchet wheel (54), independently of the actuator (60), during rotation of the spool (14) in a belt withdrawal direction (B) to reduce noise.