Patent ID: 7735871
Filing Date: 2010-06-15
Classification: B60R

Abstract:
1. A seat belt retractor for a seat belt including a pretensioner, especially for use in motor vehicles, comprising: a belt retractor housing, a belt spool rotatably mounted to the housing and attached to a safety belt, the belt spool being configured to rotate in a retraction direction of the safety belt when a gas generator, coupled to the belt spool by a tube, is activated, wherein the belt spool is attached to a drivewheel with recesses on the periphery thereof for accepting mass bodies configured as a drive means for pretentioning the safety belt, the mass bodies being stored in the tube and arranged to tangentially flow into the drivewheel, the mass bodies being accelerated in the tube by means of the gas generator arranged at one end of the tube, and the tube includes at least one straight section that stores at least a portion of the mass bodies, the at least one straight section extending in a parallel direction to an axis of rotation of the belt spool between opposing housing sides of the belt retractor housing, and further including an end section running in a plane of the drivewheel and wherein the tube is configured in a U-shape comprising two straight sections located between the opposing housing sides of the belt retractor housing with one bent section running in the plane of the housing side that is opposite the drivewheel.