Patent ID: 6918464

Claim:
An energy absorber comprising: a housing having an attachment for attaching the energy absorber to a first structure; a metallic coil mounted by the housing and having a pair of ends one of which includes an end stop; another attachment for attaching the other end of the metallic coil to a second structure; a pair of pins mounted by the housing in a spaced relationship from each other along a direction between the attachments, the pair of pins having round outer surfaces; the coil extending to its other end around one of the spaced pins with a curvature in one direction and thence disengaging the one spaced pin and extending to and around the other spaced pin with a curvature in another direction opposite its one direction of curvature around the one pin; the metallic coil plastically deforming in opposite directions in a sequential manner around the pair of spaced pins upon uncoiling under the impetus of force applied to the pair of attachments away from each other; a guide pin mounted by the housing and contacted by the metallic coil upon uncoiling to control the direction of movement thereof toward the pair of pins around which the deformation sequentially takes place in opposite directions; and the pair of pins around which the deformation takes place in opposite directions are contacted by the end stop to limit the extent of movement of the attachments away from each other.