Air bag type of passenger protectors for protecting passengers from being injured in a vehicle collision

Abstract: A passenger protector of the air bag type is mounted in a vehicle. The passenger protector comprises a compressed gas supplying assembly (1) and an air bag receiving assembly (2) for receiving an air bag (33) which is connected to the compressed gas supplying assembly (1) by means of a power hose (3). The compressed gas supplying assembly (1) comprises a compressed gas container (13), a movable weight (6), a hinged link (8), a hinged lever (14) and a perforating pin (19). If there occurs a vehicle collision, the weight (6) is reliably operated in response to a mechanical shock caused by the vehicle collision and this causes the hinged link (8) and the hinged lever (14) to be sequentially turned and in turn causes the perforating pin (19) to be pushed so as to perforate a closed tip of the compressed gas container (13). As the closed tip of the gas container (13) is perforated by the perforating pin (19), the compressed gas is rapidly blown out of the gas container (13) and into the air bag (33) having an outer shape which is coincident with the human body by forming an upper junction point (38), a pair of middle junction points (39, 40) and a U-shaped junction line (41), thereby efficiently preventing a passenger from being directly struck on a vehicle body and in this respect, protecting the passenger from being injured.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates in general to apparatus for protecting passengers from being injured in traffic accidents, and more particularly to an air bag type of passenger protector equipped in a vehicle in which a compressed gas supplying assembly is automatically operated in order to cause an air bag to be rapidly filled with a compressed gas in the case of a traffic accident, particularly a vehicle collision, thereby preventing the passenger from being directly struck against a vehicle body and, in this respect, protecting the passenger from being injured. In particular, the invention relates to a passenger protector as defined in the preamble of claim 1. Description of the Prior Art Known air bag type of passenger protectors equipped in vehicles are generally classified into two types, that is, an electronic type and a mechanical type. The electronic type of passenger protector comprises a shock sensing part wherein a electronic sensor automatically senses a mechanical shock caused by a vehicle collision and outputting a shock signal, a comparing and determining part wherein, upon receiving the shock signal outputted from the shock sensing part, a microcomputer determines whether the sensed shock intensity exceeds a predetermined reference shock intensity and an air bag drive part for making an air bag be filled with a compressed gas in response to a signal outputted from the comparing and determining part. However, this type of protector has a complicated structure due to the aforementioned component parts and this impairs the productivity and increases the manufacturing cost. In result, this apparatus has a disadvantage in that it inevitably imparts an economical burden to the user so that it has a serious problem in putting to practical use. Furthermore, in the case of using this type of protector in a superannuated vehicle or in the case of changing a part of the component parts of the protector for the others, there often occurs an error in operation of the shock sensing part of the protector so that this protector has another disadvantage in that it can not be reliably operated in the case of occurrence of a vehicle collision and this causes the air bag to be filled with the compressed gas with no reliability. On the other hand, a representative embodiment of the mechanical type of known passenger protectors is disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 91-15452 entitled "Air bag type of apparatus for protecting passengers from being mechanically shocked". The apparatus disclosed in the above Korean Patent is constructed such that, in response to a mechanical shock caused by a vehicle collision, a movable weight inertially moves to push a L-shaped lever which in turn causes using a spring force a biased hammer to strike a perforating pin. As being struck by the hammer, the perforating pin perforates a compressed gas container so as to permit the compressed gas to blow out of the container and into an air bag through a gas flow tube connecting the container to the air bag, thereby causing the air bag to be full inflated with the compressed gas so as to form an air mattress type of protector for protecting the passenger from being directly struck against the vehicle body. However, it is known that this apparatus has the following disadvantages. That is, first, the movable weight is constructed to have a perpendicular front end so that the pushing operation thereof for the L-shaped lever is not reliably performed; Second, there is a structural defect at a contact portion, wherein a contacting end of the L-shaped lever comes in contact with the biased hammer, so that the biased hammer is not reliably locked into or released from the L-shaped lever; Third, even though the biased hammer intends to strike the perforating pin using a return force of a spring when the hammer is released from the L-shaped lever, it practically strikes the perforating pin with no reliability and, moreover, destroys a front end of the perforating pin because the hammer. nearly perpendicularly strikes the perforating pin; and Fourth, the air bag is constructed to be a mattress type so that it is relatively slow to form a desired inflated shape of the air bag, furthermore, the inflated outer shape of the air bag is not coincident with the human body so that it may not prevent the passenger from being slightly injured even though it prevents the passenger from being heavily injured in the case of a vehicle collision. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object underlying the invention is to improve the reliability of the operation of a passenger protector of the type in question. It is a further object of the present invention to provide an air bag type of passenger protector equipped in a vehicle in which a mechanical shock sensing mechanism permits a compressed gas supplying assembly to be automatically operated in order to cause an air bag to be rapidly filled with compressed gas in the case of occurrence of a traffic accident, particularly a vehicle collision, thereby preventing the passenger from being directly struck against a vehicle body and, in this respect, protecting the passenger from being injured. It is another object of the present invention to provide an air bag type of passenger protector equipped in a vehicle in which each component part thereof such as an air bag is easily rapidly separated from the others in the case of occurrence of the vehicle collision. It is a further object of the present invention to provide an air bag type of passenger protector equipped in a vehicle which comprises an air bag having an outer shape which is coincident with the human body, thus efficiently reducing the mechanical shock which is imparted to the human body, and which is reliably operated even when it is equipped in a superannuated vehicle or a part of its component parts equipped in a vehicle is inevitably changed for the others, thereby preventing occurrence of error in its operation. The problem underlying the present invention is solved by a passenger protector of the air bag type as defined in patent claim 1. Further developments of the passenger protector according to the invention have been specified in the dependent claims 2 to 18. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an air bag type of passenger protector in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 is an exploded view of an embodiment of a compressed gas supplying assembly of the passenger protector of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a sectioned view of the compressed gas supplying assembly taken along the section line A-A of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a view corresponding to Fig. 3, but showing an operation of the compressed gas supplying assembly; Fig. 5 is a sectioned view of an air bag receiving, assembly taken along the section line C-C of Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing a protecting operation of the passenger protector of Fig. 1; Fig. 7 is a plane view showing an example of installation of the passenger protector of Fig. 1 in a vehicle; Fig. 8 is a view corresponding to Fig. 2, but showing a second alternate embodiment of a compressed gas supplying assembly of the present invention; Fig. 9 is a view corresponding to Fig. 1, but showing another embodiment of a passenger protector of the present invention; Fig. 10 is a view corresponding to Fig. 5, but showing a second alternate embodiment of an air bag receiving assembly equipped in the passenger protector of Fig. 9; Fig. 11 is a plane view showing an example of installation of the passenger protector of Fig. 9 in a vehicle; Fig. 12 is a longitudinal sectioned view of a second alternate embodiment of a perforating pin in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 13 is an enlarged view of the circle B of Fig. 12; and Figs. 14 to 17 are views corresponding to Fig. 2, but showing the other embodiments of a compressed gas supplying assembly in accordance with the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS With reference to Fig. 1 showing a primary embodiment of an air bag type of passenger protector according to the present invention, the passenger protector comprises a compressed gas supplying assembly 1 and an air bag receiving assembly 2 which are connected to each other by means of a power hose 3 through which a compressed gas is supplied from the gas supplying assembly to an air bag received in the air bag receiving assembly. This passenger protector is preferably installed at inner front corners of the ceiling of a vehicle as depicted in Fig. 7. As shown in detail in Figs. 2 to 4, the compressed gas supplying assembly 1 has an outer casing comprising an outer frame 4 and a cover 5. This outer frame 4 is provided thereon with a longitudinal partition 4a by which the inner space of the frame 4 is schematically divided into two inner longitudinal spaces of which one receives a longitudinal movable weight 6, which is movable in the axial direction and simply supported by a support member such as a support spring 7 with a buffer packing 9 interposed between the rear end of the movable weight 6 and the front end of the support spring 7. At the front of the weight 6, a hinged link 8 is disposed as being hinged to a seat 11, which is mounted on a bottom surface of the outer frame 4, so as to be elastically turned about its hinged connection 10. On the other hand, the other longitudinal inner space provided by the partition 4a receives a compressed gas guide member 12 which is provided at the rear end thereof with an inner threaded hole with which an outer threaded tip of a compressed gas container 13 airtightly engages. In addition, a hinged lever 14 is hinged to the seat 11 at the front of the gas guide member 12 so as to be elastically turned about its hinge shaft 16 with a torsion coil spring 15 of which an end is supported by the hinged lever 14 and the other end is supported by the seat 11. This lever 14 comes into contact at its free end with a side surface of the hinged link 8 and at its hinge-side surface with a rounded rear end 19a of a perforating pin 19 of which a sharp front end 19b is orientated toward the closed tip of the gas container 13 with a predetermined distance therebetween. The outer frame 4 is provided at its both ends with a plurality of through holes 4c, respectively, through which this frame 4 is detachably mounted to a corner of an inner ceiling of a vehicle by means of appropriate screw members. The cover 5 is formed with an exhaust hole 5a, from which a cylindrical pipe 4b integrally outwardly extends, and is mounted on the outer frame 4 after the assemblage of the above-described component parts in the frame 4 is accomplished. The movable weight 6 is disposed in the one inner space of the frame 4 in such a manner that it is prevented from moving in the backward direction by virtue of the support spring 7 which is disposed at the back thereof but can axially advances forwards. This weight 6 is constructed to have a curved taper surface 6a at its front end. In addition, the hinged link 8 is formed with an arc-shaped front end 8a which always comes into slidable contact with the curved taper surface 6a of the weight 6 so that it is normally upwardly disposed as depicted in Fig. 3 but turns counterclockwise as the weight 6 advances forwards in response to the mechanical shock caused by the vehicle collision as depicted in Fig. 4. This hinged link 8 is also provided at a side surface of its rear end with a curved surface 8c. Also at a middle portion of the hinged link 8 between the arc-shaped front end 8a and the rear end having the curved surface 8c, a locking slot 8b is formed such that an acute angular part is provided at a locking part at which the hinged lever 14 is normally locked into the locking slot 8b. On the other hand, the hinged lever 14 is provided at the rear end thereof with a spring support slot 14a, an acute angular end 14b and a gently curved end 14c. Also, this hinged lever 14 has a gently curved front end 14d. Here, this hinged lever 14 is counterclockwise biased by means of the torsion coil spring 15 of which the one end is supported by the spring support slot 14a of the lever 14 and the other end is supported by the seat 11 of the frame 4. Also as shown in Fig. 3, the acute angular end 14b of the lever 14 is normally locked into the acute angular part of the locking slot 8b of the hinged link 8 when the hinged link 8 is normally upwardly disposed. Here, if the movable weight 6 suddenly advances forwards in response to a mechanical shock caused by a vehicle collision, the hinged link 8 turns counterclockwise about its hinged connection 10 and this causes the acute angular end 14b of the hinged lever 14 to be released from the locking slot 8b of the hinged link 8. In result, the hinged lever 14 turns counterclockwise about its hinge shaft 16 by the torsional force of the torsion coil spring 15, thus causing the curved front end 14d of the hinged lever 14 to slidably push the rounded rear end 19a of the perforating pin 19. The seat 17 mounted on the frame 4 is provided with a receive depression 17a in which an under protrusion 12a of the gas guide member 12 is received so as to cause the gas guide member 12 to be mounted on the seat 17. This gas guide member 12 has a center through hole 12b of which the one end has the inner threaded part for achieving the airtight engagement with the outer threaded tip of the gas container 13 and the other end is connected to an elbow 18 which is in turn connected to the power hose 3. The center through hole 12b of the member 12 axially receives the perforating pin 19 which can be axially reciprocated in the through hole 12b so as to perforate the closed tip of the gas container 13 when there occurs a vehicle collision. The perforating pin 19 is provided with the rounded rear end 19a, the sharp front end 19b and a middle flange 19c. This perforating pin 19 is received in a cylindrical support 21 in such a manner that the pin 19 is biased by a compression coil spring 20 of which an end is supported by the middle flange 19c. The cylindrical support 21 is provided with an inner threaded part for engaging with an outer threaded front protrusion pipe 12c of the gas guide member 12. This protrusion pipe 12c supports the other end of the compression coil spring 20 when it engages with the cylindrical support 21 and guides the perforating pin 19. On the other hand, the air bag receiving assembly 2 comprises an outer casing 30, a cover 31 and the air bag 33 which is received in the casing 30 as shown in Figs. 1 and 5. The outer casing 30 is provided at an end thereof with a through hole 32 through which a gas inlet pipe 34 of an air bag 33 protrudes to the outside of the outer casing 30. To make this gas inlet pipe 34 be maintained at its predetermined position, it is preferred to use a lock nut 35 which engages with the gas inlet pipe 34 at the front of the through hole 32 of the casing 30. In stuffing the air bag 33 into the receiving assembly 2, it is required to make this air bag 33 be compactly received in the casing 30 so as to be easily, rapidly and reliably spread out when it is filled with the compressed gas in the case of occurrence of a vehicle collision. To achieve such an arrangement, it is preferred to fold up the air bag 33 neatly and to receive it in the casing 30 in accordance with a conventional manner for folding up a parachute and stuffing the parachute in a parachute bag. In addition, the cover 31 is simply mounted on the under part of the outer casing 30 in such a manner that it is easily separated from the outer casing 30 in the case of occurrence of the vehicle collision. The outer casing 30 is also provided at its upper part with a bracket 36 having a plurality of mounting holes so that it is detachably mounted on an inner surface of the vehicle ceiling by means of setting screws. As shown in Fig. 1, the cover 31 is disposed with respect to the outer casing 30 so as to downwardly protrude therefrom so that its front surface looks downwards. As shown in Fig. 6 showing a spreading state of the air bag 33, the air bag 33 is constructed to have an outer shape which is coincident with a human body by forming a twofold pocket bag which is provided with an upper junction point 38, a pair of middle junction points 39 and 40 and a U-shaped junction line 41 which is formed between the middle junction points 39 and 40. By virtue of the aforementioned characteristic outer shape of this air bag 33, the head of a passenger is covered with an inflated part around the upper junction point 38 while the upper body of the passenger is covered with the other inflated part around the middle junction points 39 and 40 and the U-shaped junction line 41 as the air bag 33 is rapidly filled with the compressed gas which blows into the bag 33 through the gas inlet pipe 34 when there occurs the vehicle collision. Hereinafter, the operational effect of the passenger protector having the aforementioned construction will be described in detail. A pair of passenger protectors of this invention are preferably installed at both inner corners of the ceiling 43 of the vehicle body 42 at the upper front of the front seats of the vehicle as depicted in Fig. 7. However, the position at which this passenger protector is installed is not limited by the above description. With reference to Fig. 7, the compressed gas supply assembly 1 is mounted on an appropriate position of the ceiling 43 above the passenger seat in such a manner that the movable weight 6 is axially disposed in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body 42 so as to inertially advance when there occurs a vehicle collision, while the air bag receiving assembly 2 is mounted on a front upper position above the passenger seat. If there occurs a sudden collision during a running of the vehicle, the vehicle is suddenly reduced in its running speed and this causes the movable weight 6 to inertially advance forwards or to advance forwards as being biased by the support spring 7 which is instantaneously compressed and expands due to the mechanical shock caused by the vehicle collision. As the movable weight 6 advances forwards as described above, the curved taper surface 6a of the weight 6 makes the arc-shaped front end 8a of the hinged link 8 be pushed in order to cause the hinged link 8 to be turned counterclockwise about its hinged connection 10. As the hinged link 8 is turned counterclockwise about the hinged connection 10, the acute angular end 14b of the hinged lever 14 is released from the locking slot 8b of the hinged link 8. In result, the hinged lever 14 is also turned counterclockwise about the hinge shaft 16 by the torsional force of the torsion coil spring 15, thus causing the curved front end 14d thereof to push the rounded rear end 19a of the perforating pin 19. Thus, the perforating pin 19 advances toward the closed tip of the gas container 13 simultaneously with compressing the compression coil spring 20, thereby perforating the closed tip of the gas container 13 and permitting the compressed gas in the container 13 to be ejected from the container 13. After perforating the tip of the container 13, the perforating pin 19 rapidly returns to its original position by virtue of the return force of the compression coil spring 20. The compressed gas ejected from the gas container 13 is rapidly sequentially flows in the center through hole 12b of the gas guide member 12, the elbow 18 which is connected to the center through hole 12b and the power hose 3. This compressed gas in turn blows into the air bag 33 through the gas inlet pipe 34 so as to permit this air bag 33 to appear its inflated outer shape which is coincident with the human body. Here as described above, the cover 31 is simply inserted in the lower part of the outer casing 30 so as to easily escape therefrom when it is downwardly biased. Therefore, as the air bag 33 is filled with the compressed gas so as to be expanded to appear its inflated outer shape, the cover 31 is downwardly biased by the inflated air bag 33 and easily separated from the outer casing 31, thereby providing the outer casing 30 with a lower opening through which the air bag 33 descends from the outer casing 30. Simultaneously with being filled with the compressed gas in the aforementioned manner, the air bag 33 descends from the outer casing 30 through the lower opening of the casing 30 so as to be positioned at the front of the passenger or to be interposed between the passenger and an interior object disposed at the front of the passenger, for example, in the case of the passenger protector equipped for protecting a driver, the descended air bag 33 is interposed between the driver and a steering wheel. In result, the air bag 33 which is filled with the compressed gas and interposed between the passenger and the interior object of the vehicle can efficiently prevents the head and the upper body of the passenger from being directly struck against the interior objects of the vehicle due to the inertial force caused by a sudden reduction of the vehicle running speed when there occurs a vehicle collision. In accordance with a practical test wherein a collision occurred in a vehicle which had run at a running speed of 40 km/h, it was known that the passenger protector of this invention accomplished its operation, which started as the movable weight 6 inertially advanced forwards in response to a mechanical shock caused by the vehicle collision so as to cause the hinged link 8, the hinged lever 14 and the perforating pin 19 to be sequentially operated following suit and ended as the air bag 33 descended from the outer casing 30 and positioned at the front of the passenger with the compressed gas which filled the air bag 33 so as to permit the bag 33 to appear its inflated outer shape which is coincident with the human body, within the time range of 0.05 to 0.1 second. On the other hand, Fig. 8 shows a second alternate embodiment of a compressed gas supplying assembly 1 of the passenger protector of this invention. In this second alternate embodiment, the general construction of the assembly 1 remains the same as in the primary embodiment, but the arrangement of the whole component parts is alternated to be opposite to that of the primary embodiment. Therefore, the detailed description of this second alternate embodiment can be efficiently omitted. Turning to Figs. 9 to 11 showing another embodiment of the passenger protector of this invention, the air inlet pipe 34 of the air bag 33 may be allowed to protrude from a front surface of the outer casing 30. In this case, the power hose 3, through which the compressed gas flows from the gas supplying assembly 1 to the air bag 33, is relatively shortened in its length so that it provides an advantage in that the time for full filling the air bag 33 with the compressed gas is desirably shortened. However, it is noted that this another embodiment shown in Figs. 9 to 11 has the general construction remaining the same as in the primary embodiment shown in Fig. 1 except for the relatively shortened power hose 3 and can be installed in the interior of the vehicle in the same manner as described in conjunction with Fig. 7 (see Fig. 11). As shown in Figs. 12 and 13 showing a second alternate embodiment of a perforating pin 19, the perforating pin 19 may be constructed to have a sharp front end 19b which has a plurality of slots 50 each formed as depressed on each corresponding taper surface of the end 19b. In addition at the rear end 19a of the perforating pin 19, the pin 19 may have a center cylindrical depression 51 which is axially formed and in which a ball 53 is slidably received at the entrance thereof so as to normally remain its position with a compression coil spring 52 disposed in the depression 51 so as to outwardly bias the ball 53. Therefore, when the sharp front end 19b of the perforating pin 19 advances into and perforates the closed tip of the gas container 13 as the rear end 19a of the pin 19 is pushed by the curved front end 14d of the hinged lever 14, the compressed gas in the gas container 13 acts on the slots 50 of the sharp front end 19b and, in cooperation with the return force of the compression coil spring 20, permits the perforating pin 19 to rapidly return to its original position as soon as possible, thereby shortening the time when the perforating pin 19 remains at the tip of the gas container 13 after it perforates the tip. On the other hand, the ball 53 causes the curved front end 14d of the hinged lever 14 to come into smooth contact therewith when the end 14d pushes the rear end 19a of the perforating pin 19, thereby smoothly compressing the spring 52 and causing the perforating pin 19 to advance toward the closed tip of the gas container 13. Turning to Figs. 14 and 15 showing third and fourth alternate embodiments of a compressed gas supplying assembly 1 of this invention, the assembly 1 is provided with a fixed rubber 57 instead of the coil spring 7 which is disposed at the back of the movable weight 6, thereby causing the weight 6 not to move backwards from its normal position but to advance forwards. In addition, the hinged link 8 is upwardly biased by a compression coil spring 60 which is connected at an end to the link 8 and at the other end to the outer frame 4 of the assembly 1. Furthermore, the hinged lever 14, which is locked at its rear end into the locking slot 8b of the hinged link 8 as described above, is supported by a safety pin 58, which is inserted from the outside of the cover 5 so as to be disposed at a side surface of the hinged lever 14, so as to normally remain its position as shown in Fig. 14. On the other hand, the safety pin 58 may be disposed so as to support the hinged link 8 as shown in Fig. 15. In the embodiments shown Figs. 14 and 15, the hinged lever 14 is also formed as having a curved surface 59 with which the rounded rear end 19a or the slide ball 52 of the perforating pin 19 comes into slidable contact. This safety pin 58 is adapted to prevent the passenger protector of this invention from being unconsciously operated due to a careless appliance of a mechanical shock thereto during a distribution process thereof before installation in a vehicle. Thus, after the installation of the passenger protector in the vehicle is accomplished, the safety pin 58 must be removed from the protector. In the case of passenger protectors shown in Figs. 14 and 15, if there occurs a vehicle collision, the movable weight 6 inertially advances forwards and this causes the hinged link 8 to be counterclockwise turned about its hinged connection 10 simultaneously with compressing the compression coil spring 60. In result, in accordance with the same manner as described above, the hinged lever 14 is then turned counterclockwise about its hinge shaft 16, thereby causing its curved surface 59 to slidably push the rounded rear end 19a of the perforating pin 19. Here, the rounded rear end 19a of the perforating pin 19 comes into slidable contact with the curved surface 59 of the hinged lever 14 so that it is smoothly slidably pushed by the curved surface 59 when the hinged lever 14 is turned counterclockwise. As depicted in Figs. 16 and 17, the safety pin 58 may be disposed so as to prevent the movable weight 6 from unconsciously advancing. To achieve such an arrangement, the pin 58 is disposed in such a manner that it comes into contact with the tapered surface 6a of weight 6 as shown in Fig. 16 or it is inserted in a through hole which is formed in the weight 6 as shown in Fig. 17. Of course as described above, these safety pins 58 must be removed from the protector after installing the passenger protector in a vehicle. As described above, the present invention provides an air bag type of passenger protector equipped in a vehicle. The passenger protector comprises a compressed gas supplying assembly, which is provided with a compressed gas container, a movable weight, a hinged link, a hinged lever and a perforating pin, an air bag receiving assembly for receiving an air bag which is connected to the air supplying assembly by means of a power hose. If there occurs a vehicle collision, the weight is reliably operated in response to a mechanical shock caused by the vehicle collision and this causes the hinged link and the hinged lever to be sequentially turned and in turn causes the perforating pin to be pushed so as to perforate a closed tip of the compressed gas container. As the closed tip of the gas container is perforated by the perforating pin, the compressed gas rapidly blows out of the gas container and into the air bag having an inflated outer shape which is coincident with the human body by forming an upper junction point, a pair of middle junction points and a U-shaped junction line, thereby efficiently preventing the passenger from being directly struck on a vehicle body and, in this respect, protecting the passenger from being injured.

Claims: A passenger protector of the air bag type comprising a compressed gas supplying assembly (1) for supplying a compressed gas for an air bag (33), the gas supplying assembly (1) including: an outer frame (4) on which a partition (4a) is mounted so as to divide the inner space of the frame (4) into two inner spaces; a frame cover (5) for covering the outer frame (4); a movable weight (6) for automatically moving in an axial direction in response to a mechanical shock caused by a vehicle collision, the weight (6) being axially received in an inner space of the frame (4) so as to inertially move forwards in response to the mechanical shock; a compressed gas container (13) for containing a compressed gas; a compressed gas guide member (12) for guiding the compressed gas ejected from the gas container (13) to the air bag (33), the gas guide member (12) engaging at an end thereof with a closed tip of the gas container (13); a perforating pin (19) for perforating the closed tip of the gas container (13) in response to the inertial movement of the movable weight (6), the perforating pin (19) being axially disposed so as to allow its front end to be orientated toward the closed tip of the gas container (13); a hinged lever (14) for pushing the perforating pin (19) so as to cause the pin (19) to perforate the closed tip of the gas container (13), the hinged lever (14) being biased by a first biasing member (15) so as to be elastically turned about its hinge shaft (16) when the movable weight (6) inertially moves; and a hinged link (8) for causing, in response to the inertial movement of the movable weight (6), the hinged lever (14) to be turned about its hinge shaft (16) so as to permit in turn the perforating pin (19) to be pushed, the hinged link (8) being hinged to a seat (11) of the outer frame (4) so as to be turned about its hinged connection, coming at a front end thereof into slidable contact with a front end of the movable weight (6) and allowing the other end of the hinged lever (14) to be normally locked into a middle portion thereof; and an air bag receiving assembly (2) for receiving the air bag (33), the air bag receiving assembly (2) including: an outer casing (30) having a through hole (32) through which a gas inlet pipe (34) of the air bag (33) protrudes, which is connected to the compressed gas supply assembly (1) by means of a power hose (3) through which the compressed gas is supplied from the compressed gas supplying assembly (1) to the air bag (33); and a cover (31) for simply covering the outer casing (30) in such a manner that it is easily separated from the outer casing (30) when the air bag (33) is filled with the compressed gas, characterized in that the movable weight (6) is always supported by a support member (7, 57) disposed at the back thereof, in that the hinged lever (14) is always coming at an end thereof into slide contact with a rear end of the perforating pin (19), and in that the power hose (3) protudes to the outside of the outer casing (30), wherein the outer casing (30) and the outer frame (4) are separate components which are oriented such that the longitudinal directions thereof are mounted angularly to each other in a corner of a vehicle. The passenger protector according to claim 1, wherein the front end of the movable weight (6) is provided with a curved taper surface (6a). The passenger protector according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the hinged link (8) comprises: an arc-shaped front end (8a) which always comes into slidable contact with the front end of the movable weight (6); a middle locking slot (8b) which has an acute angular part into which the other end of the hinged lever (14) is normally locked; and a curved surface (8c) formed at a side surface of the rear end thereof. The passenger protector according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the hinged lever (14) comprises: a curved front end (14d) for coming into contact with the rear end (19a) of the perforating pin (19); an acute angular end (14b) and a gently curved end (14c) which are sequentially formed at a rear end of the hinged lever (14), the acute angular end (14b) being normally locked into the middle portion of the hinged link (8); and a spring support slot (14a) for supporting an end of the first biasing member (15). The passenger protector according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the air bag (33) is constructed to have an outer shape formed by a twofold pocket bag which is provided with an upper junction point (38), a pair of middle junction points (39, 40) and a U-shaped junction line (41) which is formed between the middle junction points (39, 40), whereby, when the air bag (33) is filled with the compressed gas, the head of a passenger is covered with a first inflated part around the upper junction point (38) and the upper body of the passenger is covered with a second inflated part around the middle junction points (39, 40) and the U-shaped junction line (41). The passenger protector according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the gas guide member (12) comprises: an under protrusion (12a) for being received in a receiving depression of the seat of the frame (4) so as to cause the gas guide member (12) to be mounted on the seat; a protrusion pipe (12c) for guiding the perforating pin (19); a center through hole (12b) of which an end engages with the closed tip of the gas container (13) and the other end extends to the protrusion pipe (12c); and an elbow (18) which is connected to the other end of the center through hole (12b) and in turn connected to the power hose (3). The passenger protector according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the perforating pin (19) is provided with a rounded rear end (19a), a sharp front end (19b) and a middle flange (19c) and is received in a cylindrical support (21) in such a manner that it is biased by a second biasing member (20) of which an end is supported by the middle flange (19c), the cylindrical support (21) in turn engaging with a protrusion pipe (12c) of the gas guide member (12) and supporting the other end of the second biasing member (20). The passenger protector according to claim 7, wherein the rear end (19a) of the perforating pin (19) is provided with a center cylindrical depression (51), in which a ball (53) is slidably received so as to normally remain its position as being biased by a third biasing member (52), and the front end (19b) of the perforating pin (19) is provided with a plurality of slots (50). The passenger protector according to any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the hinged lever (14) further comprises a curved surface (14b) with which the rear end (19a) of the perforating pin (19) comes into slidable contact. The passenger protector according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the hinged lever (14) further comprises a curved surface (14b) with which the ball (53) of the perforating pin (19) comes into slidable contact. The passenger protector according to any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the air inlet pipe (34) of the air bag (33) is disposed as protruding from a front surface of the outer casing (30) of the air bag receiving assembly (2). The passenger protector according to any of claims 1 to 11, wherein the support member (7, 57) for supporting the movable weight (6) comprises a fixed rubber (57) which is disposed at the back of the movable weight (6). The passenger protector according to any of claims 1 to 12, wherein the hinged link (8) is upwardly biased by a fourth biasing member (60) which is connected at an end thereof to a portion of the hinged link (8) and at the other end thereof to the outer frame (4). The passenger protector according to any of claims 1 to 13, wherein the hinged link (8) is upwardly biased by a fifth biasing member which is connected at an end thereof to a portion of the hinged link (8) and at the other end thereof to the outer frame (4). The passenger protector according to any of claims 1 to 14, wherein the passenger protector further comprises a safety pin (58) which is adapted to prevent the passenger protector from being inadvertently operated due to a careless appliance of a mechanical shock thereto during a distribution process thereof. The passenger protector according to claim 15, wherein the safety pin (58) is disposed to the movable weight (6) so as to prevent the movable weight (6) from inadvertently moving due to a careless appliance of a mechanical shock thereto. The passenger protector according to claim 15 or 16, wherein the safety pin (58) is disposed to the hinged link (8) so as to prevent the hinged link (8) from being turned even in the case of an inadvertent movement of the movable weight (6) due to a careless appliance of a mechanical shock. The passenger protector according to any of claims 15 to 17, wherein the safety pin (58) is disposed to the hinged lever (14) so as to prevent the hinged lever (14) from being turned even in the case of an inadvertent movement of the movable weight (6) due to a careless appliance of a mechanical shock.

Inventors: OHM HANG SUP, OHM, HANG SUP
Applicants: OHM HANG SUP, OHM, HANG SUP
Application year: 1992
Main classification: B60R21
IPC codes: B60R21