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:
Dec. 04, 2001
Filed:
May. 31, 2000
Lawrence J. Zelinski, Chesterfield, MI (US);
Laurence H. Keeler, Marysville, MI (US);
TRW Vehicle Safety Systems Inc., Lyndhurst, OH (US);
Abstract
A vehicle occupant protection apparatus (,) for mounting on a portion (,) of a vehicle (,) includes an inflatable vehicle occupant protection device (,). The apparatus (,) includes an actuatable inflator (,) for inflating the protection device (,), and a support (,) for supporting the inflator and the protection device (,) on the vehicle portion. The apparatus (,) also includes a deployment door (,) having a first condition covering the protection device (,) when the protection device is in the deflated condition. The door (,) is movable from the first condition to a second condition in response to inflation of the protection device (,). A flexible tether (,) is secured to the vehicle portion (,) and to the protection device (,) and to the deployment door (,). The flexible tether (,) remains secured to the vehicle portion (,) to limit movement of the deployment door (,) away from the vehicle portion in response to inflation of the protection device (,).