Patents by Inventor Hiroko Yoshikawa

Hiroko Yoshikawa has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 9132804
    Abstract: A seatbelt device for preventing a torque limiter mechanism from operating due to inertia force when a gear rotates quickly due to a winding force of an electric actuator, while maintaining satisfactory operating characteristics of the torque limiter mechanism. In the torque limiter mechanism, when a motor is driven to perform a wind-up operation, a prescribed operational torque that is set as a torque at which a limit spring moves from an engaging surface where the limit spring is positioned when a large-diameter side gear and a small-diameter side gear are in an assembled state, to an adjacent engaging surface, is greater than an operational torque at which the limit spring moves from the adjacent engaging surface to a next adjacent engaging surface by means of a shear pin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2015
    Assignee: AUTOLIV DEVELOPMENT AB
    Inventors: Eiji Maemura, Hiroko Yoshikawa, Yukinori Midorikawa
  • Patent number: 8469301
    Abstract: A clutch includes a clutch housing that rotates with a spindle and has inner teeth; a pair of pawls that can engage with the inner teeth; a gear wheel that is joined to a motor and has a pair of sliding grooves that hold the pawls such that the pawls can move in the sliding grooves between a first position when the motor is not operating, a second position at which the pawls engage with the inner teeth of the clutch housing through operation of the motor, and a third position at which the pawls become positioned on the opposite side to that of the second position across the first position upon operation of the pretensioner; and a return prevention mechanism that prevents the pawls from returning to the first position and the second position after having moved to the third position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2013
    Assignee: Autoliv Development AB
    Inventors: Eiji Maemura, Hiroko Yoshikawa, Junichi Nagatomo
  • Patent number: 8366034
    Abstract: A seat belt retractor may include: a motor that generates a driving force for retracting and unreeling a seat belt by rotating a shaft, a gear case has an interior portion that houses a gear that converts a rotary force of the shaft into a driving force, a harness connected to a side of the motor including the shaft that is disposed opposite the gear case, a motor case having an opening disposed in only one end thereof, and a motor cap disposed on a side of the motor including the shaft opposing the gear case. The motor cap may include a passage portion through which the harness passes to an exterior thereof. The opening in the motor case may be sealed by attaching the motor case to the motor cap and the gear case in a sandwiched manner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2013
    Assignee: Autoliv Development AB
    Inventors: Tatsuya Harada, Hiroko Yoshikawa
  • Publication number: 20120211579
    Abstract: A clutch includes a clutch housing that rotates with a spindle and has inner teeth; a pair of pawls that can engage with the inner teeth; a gear wheel that is joined to a motor and has a pair of sliding grooves that hold the pawls such that the pawls can move in the sliding grooves between a first position when the motor is not operating, a second position at which the pawls engage with the inner teeth of the clutch housing through operation of the motor, and a third position at which the pawls become positioned on the opposite side to that of the second position across the first position upon operation of the pretensioner; and a return prevention mechanism that prevents the pawls from returning to the first position and the second position after having moved to the third position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 4, 2010
    Publication date: August 23, 2012
    Inventors: Eiji Maemura, Hiroko Yoshikawa, Junichi Nagatomo
  • Publication number: 20120168548
    Abstract: A seatbelt device for preventing a torque limiter mechanism from operating due to inertia force when a gear rotates quickly due to a winding force of an electric actuator, while maintaining satisfactory operating characteristics of the torque limiter mechanism. In the torque limiter mechanism, when a motor is driven to perform a wind-up operation, a prescribed operational torque that is set as a torque at which a limit spring moves from an engaging surface where the limit spring is positioned when a large-diameter side gear and a small-diameter side gear are in an assembled state, to an adjacent engaging surface, is greater than an operational torque at which the limit spring moves from the adjacent engaging surface to a next adjacent engaging surface by means of a shear pin.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 1, 2010
    Publication date: July 5, 2012
    Applicant: AUTOLIVE DEVELOPMENT AB
    Inventors: Eiji Maemura, Hiroko Yoshikawa, Yukinori Midorikawa
  • Publication number: 20100270414
    Abstract: A seat belt retractor may include: a motor that generates a driving force for retracting and unreeling a seat belt by rotating a shaft, a gear case has an interior portion that houses a gear that converts a rotary force of the shaft into a driving force, a harness connected to a side of the motor including the shaft that is disposed opposite the gear case, a motor case having an opening disposed in only one end thereof, and a motor cap disposed on a side of the motor including the shaft opposing the gear case. The motor cap may include a passage portion through which the harness passes to an exterior thereof. The opening in the motor case may be sealed by attaching the motor case to the motor cap and the gear case in a sandwiched manner.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 8, 2010
    Publication date: October 28, 2010
    Inventors: Tatsuya Harada, Hiroko Yoshikawa
  • Patent number: 6295487
    Abstract: A hybrid vehicle (1) including an internal combustion engine and electric motors and selectively uses them as a running drive source according to a running state. When one of wheels (5) driven by an engine (7) skids to rotate excessively, a motor (13) connected to that wheel is caused to make a regenerative operation to remedy the skid of the wheel, and running traction made insufficient due to the skid is compensated by driving another wheel (4) by a motor (12) of another wheel by using electric energy recovered by the regenerative operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2001
    Assignee: Tokyo R & D Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masao Ono, Nobuhito Ohnuma, Jun Morimoto, Hiroko Yoshikawa, Akifumi Kurita, Osamu Watanabe
  • Patent number: 5405996
    Abstract: A process for producing acetic acid comprising reacting ethylene and oxygen in the presence of a catalyst comprising metallic Pd and at least one member selected from the group consisting of heteropoly-acids and their salts, or in the presence of a catalyst comprising metallic Pd, at least one member selected from the group consisting of heteropoly-acids and their salts and at least one member selected from the group consisting of metallic elements of Groups 11, 14, 15 and 16 of the Long-Form Periodic Table.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 1994
    Date of Patent: April 11, 1995
    Assignee: Showa Denko K.K.
    Inventors: Toshiro Suzuki, Hiroko Yoshikawa, Kenichi Abe, Kenichi Sano