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:
Mar. 21, 2000
Filed:
Dec. 19, 1997
Applicant:
Inventor:
Alfred Charles Maynard, Pittsfield, MA (US);
Assignee:
General Dynamics Armament Systems, Inc., Falls Church, VA (US);
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B60R / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
280736 ; 280741 ; 280742 ; 280737 ;
Abstract
An airbag inflator includes a pair of telescoping pistons slidingly mounted within a housing. Pressurization of a combustion chamber by a pyrotechnic initiator acts on one piston to pressurize a hydraulic fluid chamber, which, in turn, acts on the other piston to pressurize a liquid propellant reservoir. Liquid propellant can then be regeneratively pumped from the reservoir into the combustion chamber for combustion to generate an airbag inflation gas. A hydraulic fluid damping chamber is utilized to exert a controllable retarding force on the one piston, such as to control the rate of airbag inflation gas generation.