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. 18, 1997
Filed:
Jun. 22, 1995
Mitchell P Zakula, Tempe, AZ (US);
TRW Inc., Lyndhurst, OH (US);
Abstract
An air bag inflator (20) comprises a container (22) defining a chamber (42) for storing inflation fluid under pressure. The container (22) has an opening (44) through which the inflation fluid flows from the chamber (42) for inflating an air bag. An initiator (26, 226, 326, 426) includes a housing (84, 240, 328, 428) which contains an actuatable device (164). A closure (86, 242, 344, 464) forms a portion of the housing (84, 240, 328, 428) and is fixed to the container (22) to block the flow of inflation fluid from the chamber (42). The housing (84, 240, 328, 428) is rupturable in response to actuation of the actuatable device (164) and is rupturable in response to the pressure of the inflation fluid in the chamber (42) reaching a predetermined pressure when the actuatable device is unactuated. The housing may rupture in different areas (102, 108, 122, 246, 262, 362, 364, 386, 464, 484) depending on whether the rupture occurs in response to actuation of the actuatable device or in response to the pressure of the inflation fluid reaching the predetermined pressure.