Tension Responsive Patents (Class 242/381.4)
  • Patent number: 9821759
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a mounting plate having at least one deformable opening arranged to receive a securing member. The opening is configured to deform when a load on the mounting plate exceeds a predetermined threshold. The apparatus includes a ring member connected to the mounting plate. The ring member includes an opening to receive a strap there-through.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Iskander Farooq, Mohammed Omar Faruque, Dean M. Jaradi
  • Patent number: 9695633
    Abstract: A covering for an architectural opening including a first rail, a second rail moveable relative to the first rail, and a lift assembly coupled to the first rail. The lift assembly includes a drum rotatable about an axis, and a brake selectively engageable with the drum. The brake automatically engages the drum to resist the second rail moving away from the first rail; and the brake automatically disengages the drum in response to the second rail moving toward the first rail.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2017
    Assignee: SPRINGS WINDOW FASHIONS, LLC
    Inventors: John Morris, Dustin Johnson
  • Patent number: 9643568
    Abstract: A seat belt retractor includes a housing and a spool supported by the housing. Webbing is wound around the spool. A webbing engagement member is supported by the housing and is movable to a locked position engaged with the webbing for preventing movement of the webbing relative to webbing engagement member. An activating device is slideably supported by the housing and is slideably engageable with the webbing engagement member for moving the webbing locking device to the locked position. In the locked position, the webbing locking device prevents the webbing from being fed from the spool, thus preventing any slack in the webbing on the spool from being fed out when the webbing locking device is in the locked position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Mangala A. Jayasuriya, Parakrama V. Weerappuli, Saeed David Barbat
  • Patent number: 9168890
    Abstract: A seat belt system includes a spool, a harness, a wedge clamp, and a load limiting plate. The harness is at least partially wound about the spool. The wedge clamp selectively engages the harness. The load limiting plate, which has deformable teeth, is operably attached to the spool. The teeth engage a pin. The pin deforms the teeth after a vehicle impact.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2015
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Dean M. Jaradi, Mohammed Omar Faruque, Iskander Farooq
  • Publication number: 20150076272
    Abstract: A reel for tightening an article includes a housing and a spool positioned within the housing. A knob is coupled with the spool to cause the spool to rotate within the housing and thereby wind a tension member about a central post of the spool. A load holding mechanism is coupled with the spool and the housing and includes a first friction element and a second friction element that are frictionally engageable to prevent rotation of the spool in a second direction to prevent unwinding of the tension member from the spool's central post. Rotation of the knob in a first direction reduces frictional engagement of the friction elements to enable rotation of the spool in the first direction and tension in the tension member biases the spool toward rotation in the second direction which increases the frictional engagement of the friction elements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 15, 2014
    Publication date: March 19, 2015
    Inventors: Thomas Trudel, Eric Craig Irwin, Eric Whewell
  • Patent number: 7762303
    Abstract: A double-sided tape dispenser is provided, in which a rolling tape mechanism is axially formed at the inner wall of body. The rolling tape mechanism comprises a driving gear and a drawback gear joggling with the driving gear. A drawback roll wheel pivots onto the drawback gear. A double-sided tape pivots onto the driving gear to wind the tail of tape onto the roll wheel. Double-sided adhesive is formed over the outer circumference of double-sided tape. An adjustment part pivots onto the drawback roll wheel, so when the gear is driven to joggle with the drawback gear to run, a frictional resistance is caused between the drawback roll wheel and the drawback gear to keep the tightness of drawback of the drawback release paper, preventing the release paper from being blocked on the drawback roll wheel and then the double-sided tape from not drawing back completely.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2010
    Inventor: Hsiu-Man Yu Chen
  • Patent number: 6299092
    Abstract: A retractor for a vehicle safety restraint which comprises web locking wedges (49a, 49b) which grip the seat belt webbing (19), under certain predetermined load conditions, so as to more securely restrain the vehicle occupant at the beginning of a crash pulse and which includes a load limiting arrangement so as to allow a limited and controlled pay out of webbing at the beginning of the crash pulse. The web locking retractor thus comprises a wedge (49a, 49b) which has an inner gripping surface with a predetermined coefficient of friction relative to the seat belt webbing so that, at a predetermined loading, the webbing slips past the friction surface of the wedge. This may be achieved by using double thickness webbing along a predetermined portion of the seat belt, for example two layers of webbing, or coating the wedge or a part of the webbing with a material (322) which is erodible or deformable and which may be cut into or eroded by the friction surface of the wedge, or by teeth (320) on that surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2001
    Assignee: Breed Automotive Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Alan George Smithson, Joseph Patrick Harte, John Bell, Kenneth Williamson, Elizabeth Rees, Darren Laidlaw