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. 29, 1997
Filed:
Sep. 01, 1995
Lloyd M Snyder, Sterling Heights, MI (US);
Joseph G Dick, Macomb, MI (US);
TRW Vehicle Safety Systems, Inc., Lyndhurst, OH (US);
Abstract
A vehicle seat belt retractor (10) includes a spool (170) on which seat belt webbing (16) is wound. The spool (170) is supported for rotation on hubs (102, 162). In a vehicle emergency, an actuator (230) rotates with the spool (170) and transmits force through first and second link arms (312, 314) to a belt webbing clamp mechanism (270) to block the withdrawal of belt webbing (16) from the retractor (10). In the event the primary belt locking mechanism (270) is unable to block the withdrawal of belt webbing (16) from the retractor (10), the spool (170) continues to rotate. The first link arm (312) moves relative to the second link arm (314) to enable the actuator (230) to continue to rotate, actuating a secondary belt locking mechanism (200, 178), without damaging parts of the retractor (10).