Patent ID: 11926280
Assignee: JOYSON SAFETY SYSTEMS ACQUISITION LLC
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 7:
8. A pretensioner for a seat belt device in a vehicle, the pretensioner comprising:
a frame;
a ball housing attached to the frame;
a drive wheel located within the ball housing;
a rotating spool connected to the drive wheel and configured to be fixed to one end of a seat belt webbing so that the webbing may be wound around the spool, the spool being rotatably mounted to the frame and configured to rotate in a pretensioning direction in response to an acceleration of the vehicle greater than a predetermined high acceleration;
a pipe connected to the ball housing;
a gas generator connected to the pipe;
at least one ball shaped power transmission element carried in the pipe that is driven by gas provided from the gas generator when the pretensioner device is activated so that the at least one power transmission element can contact the drive wheel to thereby rotate the spool to retract the seat belt; wherein at least one seal member is located between the at least one power transmission element and the gas generator, wherein the seal member is configured to travel through the pipe after the pretensioner device is activated and is sized to plug the pipe at an inlet to the ball housing
a ratchet ring disposed adjacent to the ball housing and connected to the spool; and
a spring configured to bias the ratchet ring towards the ball housing; and wherein the ratchet ring is configured to engage the ball housing when the webbing is pulled in an engagement direction so that the spool is prevented from rotating in a direction that allows extraction of the seat belt webbing.