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:
Apr. 08, 1997
Filed:
Feb. 23, 1996
Robert D Sayles, Rochester, MI (US);
TRW Vehicle Safety Systems Inc., Lyndhurst, OH (US);
Abstract
A seat belt webbing retractor (10) includes a spool assembly (60) around which seat belt webbing (16) is wound. The spool assembly (60) is rotatable in webbing withdrawal and webbing retraction directions (A,B). A ratchet wheel (70) is rotatable in the withdrawal and retraction directions (A,B) with the spool assembly (60). A lock pawl (146) is engageable with the ratchet wheel (70) for blocking rotation of the ratchet wheel (70) and the spool assembly (60) in the withdrawal direction (A). The spool assembly (60) is rotatable relative to the ratchet wheel (70) upon an occurrence of a tension above a predetermined amount in the webbing (16). A take-up member (102) is rotatable with the spool assembly (60) relative to the ratchet wheel (70). A deformable member (120) is plastically deformed during a plurality of rotations of the take-up member (102) and spool assembly (60) relative to the ratchet wheel (70). In one embodiment, a plurality of deformable members (266) are included, and a controller (362) controls the deformation of the plurality of deformable members, thereby to change the amount of energy absorption.