Energy Absorber Assembly

Abstract

The present invention is formed by an energy absorber and a fastener. The energy absorber has coincidingly bounded first portion and second portion and makes the top edges of the first portion and the second portion to form a diverged shape. The fastener is locked at the diverged top edge of the energy absorber. When the user falls, it makes the fastener to release the diverged top edge of the energy absorber. Then it makes the energy absorber to pull along the diverged top edge to further sequentially tear the coincidingly bound part of the first portion and the second portion, so as to absorb the impact force of the falling. The present invention mainly uses the overall arrangement of the fastener and the energy absorber to improve on the drawbacks of high costs and long assembling hours of the processing of the prior art.

Description

NOTICE OF COPYRIGHT

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to any reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the United States Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

Field of Invention

The present invention provides an energy absorber assembly, which, in particular, relates to an energy absorber that directly has a fastener arranged thereon.

Description of Related Arts

Person in high altitude circumstances, such as doing rock climbing, mountaineering, construction, and etc., has to wear a safety harness or safety belt with anti-falling device and to be hung on the high altitude circumstance with the anti-falling device, such that when the person accidentally falls, the anti-falling device and safety harness can hang the person in the air for later rescue. However, the person can easily be hurt because of being pulled by the reacting force of the anti-falling device at the falling moment. Therefore, it has to add an energy absorber assembly between the safety harness and the anti-falling device.

Accordingly, the latest technology of energy absorber assembly can be found in U.S. patent Ser. No. 13/826,876, entitled “Energy Absorber Assembly and Components Thereof,” which discloses a connector capable of mounting on a safety harness, a fastener arranged on the connector, a bracket assembly coupled with the fastener, and an energy absorber arranged between the connector and the bracket assembly, such that the fastener can make the bracket assembly and the energy absorber shift upwards for mounting on the connector on the back of the safety harness. Therefore, when the user is moving, the energy absorber is not likely to hit his/her waist, which improves on the inconvenience of traditional products. Besides, when the user falls, the fastener will be firstly broken to release the bracket assembly to subsequently make the energy absorber be torn to absorb the impact of the falling, so as to safely hang the user in the air.

Because this prior patent uses the fastener to couple the bracket assembly with the connector, it has to drill holes on the bracket assembly and the connector first. Then it can install the fastener in the drilled holes. Unfortunately, such structure and arrangement also bring drawbacks like high processing costs and long assembling hours.

Because of this, the present inventor has elaborately conducted his research and development and eventually come up with the present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The present invention provides an energy absorber assembly, comprises an energy absorber and a fastener.

The energy absorber comprises a coincidingly bounded first portion and second portion. The top edges of the first portion and second portion are made into diverged shape. The top edge of the first portion is further defined a first connecting portion. The top edge of the second portion is defined a second connecting portion.

The fastener is locked at the diverged top edge of the energy absorber. When the user falls, it makes the fastener to release the diverged top edge of the energy absorber. Then it makes the energy absorber to pull along the diverged top edge to further sequentially tear the coincidingly bound part of the first portion and the second portion, so as to absorb the impact force of the falling.

Therefore, the overall arrangement of the present invention can be implemented by directly disposing fasteners into an automatic production line of energy absorber. Contrasting to the above mentioned conventional technology, the present invention not only greatly saves manufacturing hours and enhances assembling efficiency, but also achieves economic guidelines and novel functions, which certainly provides an useful novel technology to solve the issues of the drawbacks of the above mentioned conventional technology.

Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.

These and other objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side perspective view of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an implementation of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side perspective view of FIG. 3.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are perspective views of a second preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are perspective views of a third preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1-4, the present invention comprises an energy absorber E, a fastener 30, a retaining ring 40, and an anti-falling device 50.

The energy absorber E has a first portion 10 and a second portion 20. Specifically, it is folded upwards with a band shaped fabric, so as to form a first portion 10 on one side and to form a second portion on the other side. Besides, it makes the first portion 10 and the second portion 20 coincidingly bounded integrally by stitch thread sewing all the areas besides the top edges thereof. As a result, the top edges of the first portion 10 and the second portion 20 will naturally form a diverged shape. Further, the top edge of the first portion 10 is defined a first connecting portion 11. The top edge of the second portion 20 is defined a second connecting portion 21. The first connecting portion 11 has a first lughole 12 formed thereon. The second connecting portion 21 has a second lughole 22 formed thereon. In addition, in order to deal with the long length of the energy absorber E, the coincidingly bounded portion of the first portion 10 and the second portion 20 thereof can be curvedly folded into a plurality of layers firstly, and be positioned with a binding unit that is not shown in the drawings and is embodied as a coverage of a plastic cover in prior art.

The fastener 30, as FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrated, can be a plastic ring circling around the first lughole 12 and the second lughole 22, so as to keep the first connecting portion 11 and the second connecting portion 21 arranged abreast, which locks and closes the diverged top edge of the energy absorber 10. Besides, as FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrated, the fastener 30 can also be a stitch thread sewed on part of the first lughole 12 and the second lughole 22. Alternatively, the fastener 30, as FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrated, can also be a plastic ring circling around the periphery of the lower edges of the first connecting portion 11 and the second connecting portion 21. In other words, the present invention comprises fasteners 30 that can lock the diverged top edge of the energy absorber 10.

The retaining ring 40 is operatively connected between the first connecting portion 11 and the safety harness (or safety belt).

The anti-falling device 50 has a lifting eye 51 operatively connected with the second connecting portion 21. The anti-falling device 50 also has a cable 52 pulled out therefrom. The free end of the cable 52 has a hook 53 capable of hanging on a high altitude environment mounted thereon.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, when utilizing the present invention, the fastener 30 can shift the anti-falling device 50 and energy absorber E upwards for mounting on the retaining ring 40 on the back of the safety harness. Therefore, the bottom end of the energy absorber E will be less likely to hit the waist of the user. Nonetheless, when the user falls, it will first add a predetermined loading to break the fastener 30 in order to release the diverged top edge of the energy absorber E. Then, it will draw the energy absorber E to break the binding unit, to smoothly unfold, and to pull along the diverged top edge of the energy absorber E, such that the coincidingly bounded part of the first portion 10 and the second portion 20 is sequentially torn from top to bottom, so as to absorb the impact force of the falling of the user. Eventually, the user can be bufferedly and safely hung on the air.

Based on the above structure and description of the embodiment of the present invention, it only has to arrange the fastener 30 on the diverged top edge of the energy absorber E in the automatic production line of the energy absorber E and then to make it coordinate with external anti-falling device 50 and retaining ring 40 to accomplish a relatively complete energy absorber assembly in a modular manner. This should be easier and faster than what is based on the above prior patent that has to drill holes on the bracket assembly and the connector and to install fastener on the holes. Hence, the present invention can certainly elaborate a revolutionarily great creation and economic benefits, which makes the productivity more effective and therefore achieves economic efficiency.

All in all, the present invention completely breakthroughly reforms the entire structural feature of the prior patent mentioned above and provides a novel structure from the prior art. The present invention not only reduces the processing costs, but also improves the assembling efficiency, which shows significant non-obviousness and thus meets the condition of patent application. However, the above descriptions are only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, but not to be used to confine the scope of embodying the present invention, which means all equivalent varieties and modifications based on the appended claims of the present invention are within the scope of the present invention.

One skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment of the present invention as shown in the drawings and described above is exemplary only and not intended to be limiting.

It will thus be seen that the objects of the present invention have been fully and effectively accomplished. The embodiments have been shown and described for the purposes of illustrating the functional and structural principles of the present invention and is subject to change without departure from such principles. Therefore, this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. An energy absorber assembly, comprising:

an energy absorber comprising a coincidingly bounded first portion and second portion, wherein the top edges of said first portion and said second portion are made into diverged shape, wherein the top edge of said first portion is further defined a first connecting portion, wherein the top edge of said second portion is defined a second connecting portion; and

a fastener arranged on said energy absorber, wherein said fastener is locked at said diverged top edge of said energy absorber, wherein when the user falls, it makes said fastener to release said diverged top edge of said energy absorber, then to make said energy absorber to pull along said diverged top edge to sequentially tear the coincidingly bound part of said first portion and said second portion, so as to absorb the impact force of the falling.

2. The energy absorber assembly, as recited in claim 1, wherein said first connecting portion has a first lughole formed thereon, wherein said second connecting portion has a second lughole formed thereon, wherein said fastener is a ring circling around said first lughole and said second lughole, so as to keep said first connecting portion and said second connecting portion arranged abreast.

3. The energy absorber assembly, as recited in claim 1, wherein said first connecting portion has a first lughole formed thereon, wherein said second connecting portion has a second lughole formed thereon, wherein said fastener is a stitch thread sewed on part of said first lughole and said second lughole, so as to keep said first connecting portion and said second connecting portion arranged abreast.

4. The energy absorber assembly, as recited in claim 1, wherein said first connecting portion has a first lughole formed thereon, wherein said second connecting portion has a second lughole formed thereon, wherein said fastener is a ring circling around the peripheries of the lower edges of said first connecting portion and said second connecting portion, so as to keep said first connecting portion and said second connecting portion arranged abreast.

5. The energy absorber assembly, as recited in claim 2, wherein said energy absorber is folded upwards with a band shaped fabric, so as to form a first portion on one side and to form a second portion on another side, such that said first portion and said second portion are coincidingly bound integrally by stitch thread sewing.

6. The energy absorber assembly, as recited in claim 3, wherein said energy absorber is folded upwards with a band shaped fabric, so as to form a first portion on one side and to form a second portion on another side, such that said first portion and said second portion are coincidingly bound integrally by stitch thread sewing.

7. The energy absorber assembly, as recited in claim 4, wherein said energy absorber is folded upwards with a band shaped fabric, so as to form a first portion on one side and to form a second portion on another side, such that said first portion and said second portion are coincidingly bound integrally by stitch thread sewing.

8. The energy absorber assembly, as recited in claim 2, wherein the coincidingly bound portion of said first portion and said second portion is allowed to be curvedly folded into a plurality of layers and be positioned with a binding unit.

9. The energy absorber assembly, as recited in claim 3, wherein the coincidingly bound portion of said first portion and said second portion is allowed to be curvedly folded into a plurality of layers and be positioned with a binding unit.

10. The energy absorber assembly, as recited in claim 4, wherein the coincidingly bound portion of said first portion and said second portion is allowed to be curvedly folded into a plurality of layers and be positioned with a binding unit.

11. The energy absorber assembly, as recited in claim 1, wherein said first connecting portion has a first lughole formed thereon, wherein said second connecting portion has a second lughole formed thereon, wherein said first lughole is operatively connected with a retaining ring, wherein said second lughole is operatively connected with an anti-falling device.