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:
Aug. 10, 1999
Filed:
Mar. 04, 1997
Daniel E Coleman, Mesa, AZ (US);
Trw Inc., Lyndhurst, OH (US);
Abstract
A vehicle safety apparatus (10) includes an inflatable vehicle occupant protection device (40) and an inflator (30). A cover (70) includes first and second cover parts (78, 80) releasably interconnected by a rupturable portion (82) of the cover. The cover (70) is movable from a closed condition to an open condition in which the rupturable portion (82) of the cover is ruptured and the first and second cover parts (78, 80) are spaced apart from each other to enable inflation of the inflatable device. An electric current carrying structure (100) is operable to actuate an electrically actuatable device (102) of the vehicle. The structure (100) includes first and second parts (140, 142) releasably interconnected by a rupturable portion (144) of the structure. The structure (100) is molded into the cover (70). The rupturable portion (82) of the cover overlies the rupturable portion (144) of the structure. The structure (100) comprises a substrate (120) and an electrically conductive, variable resistance material (110) on the substrate. The resistance of the variable resistance material (110) is variable in response to force applied to the cover (70) by the vehicle occupant to deform the cover. The first part (140) of the structure (100) is movable with the first cover part (78) from the closed condition to the open condition and the second part (142) of the structure (100) is movable with the second cover part (80) from the closed condition to the open condition.