Richard L Grabowski

US Patent:

45355142, Aug 20, 1985

Filed:

Sep 27, 1982

Appl. No.:

6/423813

Inventors:

Richard M. Grabowski - Country Club Hills IL

Assignee:

Gateway Industries, Inc. - Hazel Crest IL

International Classification:

A44B 1126

US Classification:

24633

Abstract:

A one-piece plastic safety belt buckle cover employs integral structural members depending from the inside of the top portion of the cover to support it and give it strength and rigidity to resist crushing under vertical loading. The preferred structural members comprise a latticework or honeycomb of intersecting walls and ribs defining supports at the front, sides and rear of the cover. The front support is positioned above a tongue plate and spaced therefrom to engage the tongue plate when the front of the cover is deflected downward. The preferred supports include walls which extend downward inside the cover shell and are positioned to engage various surfaces of the buckle when the cover is deflected downward due to vertical loading, and include ribs which do not extend as far downward, but which also support the outer shell of the cover.

US Patent:

49401939, Jul 10, 1990

Filed:

Jan 26, 1989

Appl. No.:

7/303283

Inventors:

Richard M. Grabowski - Lockport IL

Assignee:

Gateway Industries, Inc. - Olympia Fields IL

International Classification:

B60R 2240
B60R 2204

US Classification:

2421073

Abstract:

A safety belt retraction apparatus is provided for use in a vehicle having at least one door and a chassis. The apparatus includes a safety belt retractor mechanism mounted on the vehicle door, and having a reel about which the webbing of the safety belt is wound. The reel is adapted to take up and let out the webbing. The safety belt retraction apparatus further inlcudes a resiliently compressible bellows of blow-molded plastic. The bellows is mounted at one end to a housing containing the retractor mechanism, and has an opposite web-engaging free end adjacent the reel. The bellows is dimensioned so that its free end is spaced from the reel during initial take-up operations. Thereafeter, upon continued winding of the webbing about the take-up reel, the free end of the bellows engages the webbing, and with continued winding is compressed so as to exert a friction force on the webbing during continued take-up. The friction force precludes loose winding of the webbing about the reel. The bellows may have either a cylindrical or a wedge-shaped configuration.

US Patent:

60052414, Dec 21, 1999

Filed:

Oct 24, 1997

Appl. No.:

8/957470

Inventors:

Gerald Arthur Doty - Crown Point IN
Richard M. Grabowski - Davisburg MI
Erick Michael Anderson - Lake Orion MI
Mark Lynn Wilsey - Howell MI

Assignee:

Takata Corporation - Auburn Hills MI

International Classification:

G01D 530

US Classification:

2502221

Abstract:

A seat belt restraint system is provided including a retractor and an optical inertia sensor therefor. The optical inertia has a sensor body with a light emitter and detector recessed in bores therein. A frame support having inclined walls with a base opening at the bottom of the walls support an inertia ball so that it is positioned at the opening to reflect light from the emitter to the detector when vehicle accelerations are within a predetermined range. The inertia sensor is incorporated into circuitry which controls a locking mechanism, e. g. solenoid, at the retractor so that when the detector is sensing light, the retractor stays unlocked. During excessive vehicle acceleration, such as brought on during accident conditions, the ball will roll along the wall so it no longer reflects light from the emitter breaking optical communication between the emitter and detector and locking the retractor. The optical inertia sensor is advantageous in that it uses very few moving parts in contrast to mechanical remote sensors and avoids the reliability problems faced by switch contacts in prior inertia sensors. In addition, the sensor body including the emitter and detector is a commercially available portion of the sensor which utilizes well proven optical components for good reliability in sensor operation and lower costs in fabricating the present sensor.