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. 21, 1999
Filed:
May. 20, 1998
Daniel R Reneau, Madison, WI (US);
Breed Technologies, Inc., Lakeland, FL (US);
Abstract
A ferromagnetic shunt is pivotally mounted to a housing to form a pendulum which swings between a reed switch and a magnet. As long as the shunt remains between the reed switch and the magnet the reed switch remains open. The shunt is held or biased between the magnet and the reed switch by the force of the magnetic attraction between the shunt and the magnet. The mass of the shunt acts as both a tilt sensor which responds to gravity and an accelerometer sensitive to crash-induced accelerations. The reed switch, magnet and shunt are mounted in a housing which positions the reed switch and magnet and controls the maximum range of motion of the shunt. The magnet is located between two sidewardly spaced pendulum arms, which allow the shunt to swing out from between the reed switch and the magnet in two opposite directions.