Patents Assigned to TRW Occupant Restraint System GmbH
  • Patent number: 5983148
    Abstract: A method of controlling multistage activation of a vehicle occupant restraint system having a gas generator and adapted to be activated in a plurality of activation stages includes measuring differences in velocity occurring during a vehicle collision. A point in time as of which differences in velocity are measured is determined. A point in time as of which a predetermined first threshold value of the differences in velocity is attained is determined. The intensity of the vehicle collision is determined from the time difference of the points in time. Different output signals are furnished depending on the values established by determining the points in time for initiating different ones of the plurality of activation stages in activating the restraint system, in accordance with the determined intensity of the vehicle collision.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 9, 1999
    Assignee: TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH
    Inventors: Dante Bigi, Allen Charles Bosio
  • Patent number: 5975560
    Abstract: An apparatus for securing a gas bag module to a vehicle part, more particularly to a steering wheel hub, is provided, in which the vehicle part comprises at least one protruding mounting part having one end split into two webs. The gas bag module has a housing comprising at least one pre-mounted bolt screwed into a side of one of the housing and a part connected thereto. The bolt has a shank engaging between the webs during mounting of the gas bag module on the vehicle part. The bolt has a bolt head and is supported on the mounting part by the bold head in subsequent tightening.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 2, 1999
    Assignee: TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH
    Inventor: Anton Fischer
  • Patent number: 5975570
    Abstract: A compressed gas storage means for a vehicle occupant restraining system comprising a storage container having a chamber formed therein, the chamber containing gas stored under a high pressure and having an internal wall surface bearing a coating of a material with a high specific surface area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 2, 1999
    Assignee: TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH
    Inventor: Allen Charles Bosio
  • Patent number: 5975566
    Abstract: A vehicle occupant restraint system, particularly for vehicle occupant side restraint, includes an inflatable gas bag which, in a restraint situation, is fully inflated and is arranged in a final, desired position to restrain a vehicle occupant, a gas generator and a means engaging the gas bag. The means pulls the gas bag in a restraint situation into the desired position and maintains it in this position when the vehicle occupant impacts the gas bag.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 2, 1999
    Assignee: TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH
    Inventors: Dietmar Bocker, Heinz Eyrainer
  • Patent number: 5971428
    Abstract: A vehicle steering wheel for equipment with an integrated gas bag restraint system includes a foam-sheathed steering wheel body. The hub part of which comprises a rear-side cavity for receiving a folded gas bag together with a pressurized gas source. A face cover which is a component of the foamed sheathing of the steering wheel body comprises a foam-sheated strengthening structure integrally connected to the hub part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 26, 1999
    Assignee: TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH
    Inventor: Alexander Heilig
  • Patent number: 5967442
    Abstract: A force limiter for a vehicular seat belt restraint system comprises a frame, a drum rotatably mounted in said frame for winding up a belt webbing, a blocking disk coupled to the drum, and a blocking mechanism for selectively locking said blocking disk to the frame in a non-rotatable arrangement. The blocking disk is axially held at one axial end of the drum and is coupled to the drum by at least two torsion elements anchored to the opposite end of the drum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 19, 1999
    Assignee: TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH
    Inventor: Franz Wier
  • Patent number: 5968381
    Abstract: The invention relates to a gas bag cover for a vehicle occupant restraining system wherein said cover has a tear line extending from the inner side thereof as far as a predetermined residual wall thickness and to a method for the production thereof. The cover is characterized in that as a main component thereof it comprises one or more layers in a composite structure of a material selected from the group consisting of elastomer alloys of a thermoplastic polymer with a non-cross linked, partly cross-linked or completely cross-linked EPDM terpolymer, of block copolymers of alternating polyester and polyether blocks and of block copolymers of polystyrene and polyolefines, in that the residual wall thickness amounts to between 0.3 and 1 mm along the major part of the course of the tear line, and in that the tear line, starting from an inner side of the cover, steadily tapers toward an outer side thereof. The tear line is produced with the aid of a laser from the inner side of the cover.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 19, 1999
    Assignee: TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH
    Inventor: Bernd Nusshor
  • Patent number: 5961147
    Abstract: An anchorage for a belt buckle arranged alongside a vehicle seat in a seat belt system is characterized by the belt buckle being affixed to the anchorage and having a laterally deflectable buckle head. The anchorage has a flexible fitting to which the buckle head is secured and which opposes a deflection of the belt buckle towards the vehicle seat a lesser resistance than away from it.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 5, 1999
    Assignee: TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH
    Inventor: Franz Wier
  • Patent number: 5956954
    Abstract: A linear drive for a belt tensioner comprises a pyrotechnic propellant charge, a cylinder tube and a piston displaceably arranged therein. The propellant charge, upon ignition, provides a pressurized gas acting on the piston. The piston has a hollow interior adapted to be subjected to the pressurized gas and an axial end at which an end wall is provided. The end wall has a bursting disc arranged facing the interior of the piston and a through opening formed by a stepped bore. The stepped bore has a first section facing the interior of the piston and is provided with an edge facing the interior, and a second section adjacent the first section. The second section has a diameter which is smaller than a diameter of the first section. The bursting disc abuts at the edge of the first section of the stepped bore.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 1998
    Date of Patent: September 28, 1999
    Assignee: TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH
    Inventor: Johannes Schmid
  • Patent number: 5957487
    Abstract: A lateral impact protective device for a front and a rear vehicle occupant comprises an elongated head gas bag which is convertable from a folded state to an inflated state. The gas bag has two opposite lateral ends and is adapted to extend, in the inflated state, from sidewards of said front vehicle occupant as far as sidewards of said rear vehicle occupant. The lateral protective device provides a common and, therefore, low-price protection for the front and the rear vehicle occupant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 1997
    Date of Patent: September 28, 1999
    Assignee: TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH
    Inventor: Michael Stutz
  • Patent number: 5954361
    Abstract: A gas bag for a vehicle occupant restraint system has a wall, an inflation opening, a rim as part of the wall, surrounding the inflation opening, the gas bag being adapted to be secured to a gas generator housing in the region of the rim. The gas bag further has at least one limiting strap which is secured to the wall and has a reinforcement layer connected with the wall and at least partially covering the rim on the inner side of the gas bag. The reinforcement layer is exclusively formed by the limiting strap connected with the wall in the region of the rim.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 1998
    Date of Patent: September 21, 1999
    Assignee: TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH
    Inventor: Norbert Lang
  • Patent number: 5954365
    Abstract: A vehicular seat belt has an anchorage fitting fastened to a belt webbing. To simplify production of the vehicular seat belt and to save belt webbing, said anchorage fitting comprises two clamping surface areas opposing each other, between which said belt webbing is clamped.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 1998
    Date of Patent: September 21, 1999
    Assignee: TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH
    Inventors: Franz Wier, Michael Wier
  • Patent number: 5951044
    Abstract: A method of fabricating a gas bag for a vehicular occupant restraint system, the gas bag having an inner side and an outer side and being formed by fabric portions having margins which overlap each other, comprises a first step in which a seam is formed along a substantial portion of the margins at the inner side of the gas bag or between the inner side and the outer side thereof. The method further comprises a second step in which the remaining portion of the margins is closed by a seam formed only from the outer side. A gas bag which can be formed by means of the method described above, has an inner side and an outer side and is formed by fabric portions having margins which overlap each other. The margins are connected to each other by means of a seam. The margins have a first part which, when the gas bag is deployed, faces a vehicle occupant, and a second part corresponding to the remainder of the margins.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 1997
    Date of Patent: September 14, 1999
    Assignee: TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH
    Inventor: Jurgen Berger
  • Patent number: 5941564
    Abstract: A gas bag for a vehicle has an substantially elongated shape and is convertable from a folded-up condition to an inflated condition. The vehicle has securing sites between which the bas bag is installed bow-shaped. The gas bag has an outer wall, two opposed longitudial ends and at least one element, the element constricting the gas bag in its inflated condition substantially transversely to the longitudinal direction of the gas bag so that the gas bag is shortened in the longitudinal direction and bridges the securing sites by the shortest way.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 1997
    Date of Patent: August 24, 1999
    Assignee: TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH
    Inventor: Dominique Acker
  • Patent number: 5941566
    Abstract: A belt height adjuster for a vehicle safety belt system comprises a U-shaped, vehicle-fixed rail and a sled adapted to slide in the rail. The rail has side flanges and a transverse flange and detent openings and comprises at least one pawl and a pin extending perpendicularly to the transverse flange. The pawl is pivotally mounted on the sled by means of the pin and is movable from a neutral position in which displacement of the sled is permitted into a locking position in which the pawl engages one of the side flanges and jams the sled in the rail. The pawl is so eccentrically and pivotally mounted on the sled that, in response to a downwardly directed acceleration, the pawl able to pivot out of the neutral position into the locking position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 1997
    Date of Patent: August 24, 1999
    Assignee: TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH
    Inventors: Volker Holzapfel, Jurgen Petzi
  • Patent number: 5934700
    Abstract: A gas bag restraint module is disclosed. According to a first embodiment, the gas bag restraint module comprises a housing having a generally cylindrical accommodation part and two axially extending attachment strips running outwards from the accommodation part. The gas bag restraint module further comprises a bottle-shaped pressurized gas container axially inserted into the accommodation part. The pressurized gas container provides a volume of pressurized gas after activation. Still further, the gas bag restraint module comprises a folded gas bag adapted to be inflated by pressurized gas provided by the pressurized gas container. The gas bag comprises an inflation opening surrounded by an attachment section. The attachment section is provided with an attachment frame comprising at least one through opening which is in fluid communication with the inflation opening. The attachment frame is accommodated between the attachment strips and is fixed at the accommodation part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 1997
    Date of Patent: August 10, 1999
    Assignee: TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH
    Inventors: Wolfgang Disam, Joachim Lutz
  • Patent number: 5934750
    Abstract: In the event of a rear end collision the headrest of a vehicle seat is moved from a normal initial position to a position approximate to the vehicle occupant's head under the effect of inertial forces occurring at a mass coupled to the headrest, thereby reducing the distance between the vehicle occupant's head and the headrest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 1997
    Date of Patent: August 10, 1999
    Assignee: TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH
    Inventor: Artur Fohl
  • Patent number: 5936186
    Abstract: An electrical igniter of a pyrotechnical gas generator including a propelling charge has a housing of its own in which pyrotechnical ignition material including an electrical ignition element and a cable end connected thereto are enclosed so that electrical plug contacts may be avoided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 1997
    Date of Patent: August 10, 1999
    Assignee: TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH
    Inventor: Franz Wier
  • Patent number: 5934597
    Abstract: A belt retractor with a belt spool rotatably mounted in a frame comprises an integrated force limiter, which has a metal band with a first end connected to the belt spool, and a control part rotatably mounted relative to the belt spool, said control part being able to be locked stationary on the frame by a locking mechanism, said metal band having a second end connected to said control part, said metal band being led through a baffle which is fixed to said control part, and on exceeding of a determined traction force in the belt webbing, said metal band is pulled through said baffle and is thereby plastically deformed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 10, 1999
    Assignee: TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH
    Inventor: Thomas Ludwig
  • Patent number: 5934759
    Abstract: A means for moving a fitting part with an insertion tongue of a vehicle seat belt from a resting position, suitable for a vehicle occupant getting in and out of the vehicle, into an ergonomically favorable presentation position in which the occupant is easily able to grasp the fitting part, includes a stirrup handle gripping the seat belt, a swivel arm to which the stirrup handle is applied and a drive for moving the swivel arm between the resting position and the presentation position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 1997
    Date of Patent: August 10, 1999
    Assignee: TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH
    Inventors: Joachim Paschek, Dieter Biller, Jurgen Petzi