U.S. patent application number 15/378010 was filed with the patent office on 2018-06-14 for energy absorber assembly.
The applicant listed for this patent is YUNG-CHUNG HUANG. Invention is credited to YUNG-CHUNG HUANG.
Application Number | 20180160780 15/378010 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 62487999 |
Filed Date | 2018-06-14 |
United States Patent
Application |
20180160780 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
HUANG; YUNG-CHUNG |
June 14, 2018 |
Energy Absorber Assembly
Abstract
The present invention is formed by an energy absorber and a
fastener. The energy absorber has coincidingly bounded first
portion and second portion and makes the top edges of the first
portion and the second portion to form a diverged shape. The
fastener is locked at the diverged top edge of the energy absorber.
When the user falls, it makes the fastener to release the diverged
top edge of the energy absorber. Then it makes the energy absorber
to pull along the diverged top edge to further sequentially tear
the coincidingly bound part of the first portion and the second
portion, so as to absorb the impact force of the falling. The
present invention mainly uses the overall arrangement of the
fastener and the energy absorber to improve on the drawbacks of
high costs and long assembling hours of the processing of the prior
art.
Inventors: |
HUANG; YUNG-CHUNG; (Changhua
County, TW) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
HUANG; YUNG-CHUNG |
Changhua County |
|
TW |
|
|
Family ID: |
62487999 |
Appl. No.: |
15/378010 |
Filed: |
December 13, 2016 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A45F 5/00 20130101; A45F
5/021 20130101 |
International
Class: |
A44B 99/00 20060101
A44B099/00; A45F 5/00 20060101 A45F005/00 |
Claims
1. An energy absorber assembly, comprising: an energy absorber
comprising a coincidingly bounded first portion and second portion,
wherein the top edges of said first portion and said second portion
are made into diverged shape, wherein the top edge of said first
portion is further defined a first connecting portion, wherein the
top edge of said second portion is defined a second connecting
portion; and a fastener arranged on said energy absorber, wherein
said fastener is locked at said diverged top edge of said energy
absorber, wherein when the user falls, it makes said fastener to
release said diverged top edge of said energy absorber, then to
make said energy absorber to pull along said diverged top edge to
sequentially tear the coincidingly bound part of said first portion
and said second portion, so as to absorb the impact force of the
falling.
2. The energy absorber assembly, as recited in claim 1, wherein
said first connecting portion has a first lughole formed thereon,
wherein said second connecting portion has a second lughole formed
thereon, wherein said fastener is a ring circling around said first
lughole and said second lughole, so as to keep said first
connecting portion and said second connecting portion arranged
abreast.
3. The energy absorber assembly, as recited in claim 1, wherein
said first connecting portion has a first lughole formed thereon,
wherein said second connecting portion has a second lughole formed
thereon, wherein said fastener is a stitch thread sewed on part of
said first lughole and said second lughole, so as to keep said
first connecting portion and said second connecting portion
arranged abreast.
4. The energy absorber assembly, as recited in claim 1, wherein
said first connecting portion has a first lughole formed thereon,
wherein said second connecting portion has a second lughole formed
thereon, wherein said fastener is a ring circling around the
peripheries of the lower edges of said first connecting portion and
said second connecting portion, so as to keep said first connecting
portion and said second connecting portion arranged abreast.
5. The energy absorber assembly, as recited in claim 2, wherein
said energy absorber is folded upwards with a band shaped fabric,
so as to form a first portion on one side and to form a second
portion on another side, such that said first portion and said
second portion are coincidingly bound integrally by stitch thread
sewing.
6. The energy absorber assembly, as recited in claim 3, wherein
said energy absorber is folded upwards with a band shaped fabric,
so as to form a first portion on one side and to form a second
portion on another side, such that said first portion and said
second portion are coincidingly bound integrally by stitch thread
sewing.
7. The energy absorber assembly, as recited in claim 4, wherein
said energy absorber is folded upwards with a band shaped fabric,
so as to form a first portion on one side and to form a second
portion on another side, such that said first portion and said
second portion are coincidingly bound integrally by stitch thread
sewing.
8. The energy absorber assembly, as recited in claim 2, wherein the
coincidingly bound portion of said first portion and said second
portion is allowed to be curvedly folded into a plurality of layers
and be positioned with a binding unit.
9. The energy absorber assembly, as recited in claim 3, wherein the
coincidingly bound portion of said first portion and said second
portion is allowed to be curvedly folded into a plurality of layers
and be positioned with a binding unit.
10. The energy absorber assembly, as recited in claim 4, wherein
the coincidingly bound portion of said first portion and said
second portion is allowed to be curvedly folded into a plurality of
layers and be positioned with a binding unit.
11. The energy absorber assembly, as recited in claim 1, wherein
said first connecting portion has a first lughole formed thereon,
wherein said second connecting portion has a second lughole formed
thereon, wherein said first lughole is operatively connected with a
retaining ring, wherein said second lughole is operatively
connected with an anti-falling device.
Description
NOTICE OF COPYRIGHT
[0001] A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains
material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright
owner has no objection to any reproduction by anyone of the patent
disclosure, as it appears in the United States Patent and Trademark
Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all
copyright rights whatsoever.
BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
Field of Invention
[0002] The present invention provides an energy absorber assembly,
which, in particular, relates to an energy absorber that directly
has a fastener arranged thereon.
Description of Related Arts
[0003] Person in high altitude circumstances, such as doing rock
climbing, mountaineering, construction, and etc., has to wear a
safety harness or safety belt with anti-falling device and to be
hung on the high altitude circumstance with the anti-falling
device, such that when the person accidentally falls, the
anti-falling device and safety harness can hang the person in the
air for later rescue. However, the person can easily be hurt
because of being pulled by the reacting force of the anti-falling
device at the falling moment. Therefore, it has to add an energy
absorber assembly between the safety harness and the anti-falling
device.
[0004] Accordingly, the latest technology of energy absorber
assembly can be found in U.S. patent Ser. No. 13/826,876, entitled
"Energy Absorber Assembly and Components Thereof," which discloses
a connector capable of mounting on a safety harness, a fastener
arranged on the connector, a bracket assembly coupled with the
fastener, and an energy absorber arranged between the connector and
the bracket assembly, such that the fastener can make the bracket
assembly and the energy absorber shift upwards for mounting on the
connector on the back of the safety harness. Therefore, when the
user is moving, the energy absorber is not likely to hit his/her
waist, which improves on the inconvenience of traditional products.
Besides, when the user falls, the fastener will be firstly broken
to release the bracket assembly to subsequently make the energy
absorber be torn to absorb the impact of the falling, so as to
safely hang the user in the air.
[0005] Because this prior patent uses the fastener to couple the
bracket assembly with the connector, it has to drill holes on the
bracket assembly and the connector first. Then it can install the
fastener in the drilled holes. Unfortunately, such structure and
arrangement also bring drawbacks like high processing costs and
long assembling hours.
[0006] Because of this, the present inventor has elaborately
conducted his research and development and eventually come up with
the present invention.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
[0007] The present invention provides an energy absorber assembly,
comprises an energy absorber and a fastener.
[0008] The energy absorber comprises a coincidingly bounded first
portion and second portion. The top edges of the first portion and
second portion are made into diverged shape. The top edge of the
first portion is further defined a first connecting portion. The
top edge of the second portion is defined a second connecting
portion.
[0009] The fastener is locked at the diverged top edge of the
energy absorber. When the user falls, it makes the fastener to
release the diverged top edge of the energy absorber. Then it makes
the energy absorber to pull along the diverged top edge to further
sequentially tear the coincidingly bound part of the first portion
and the second portion, so as to absorb the impact force of the
falling.
[0010] Therefore, the overall arrangement of the present invention
can be implemented by directly disposing fasteners into an
automatic production line of energy absorber. Contrasting to the
above mentioned conventional technology, the present invention not
only greatly saves manufacturing hours and enhances assembling
efficiency, but also achieves economic guidelines and novel
functions, which certainly provides an useful novel technology to
solve the issues of the drawbacks of the above mentioned
conventional technology.
[0011] Still further objects and advantages will become apparent
from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.
[0012] These and other objectives, features, and advantages of the
present invention will become apparent from the following detailed
description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended
claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present invention.
[0014] FIG. 2 is a side perspective view of the present
invention.
[0015] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an implementation of the
present invention.
[0016] FIG. 4 is a side perspective view of FIG. 3.
[0017] FIGS. 5 and 6 are perspective views of a second preferred
embodiment of the present invention.
[0018] FIGS. 7 and 8 are perspective views of a third preferred
embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0019] Referring to FIGS. 1-4, the present invention comprises an
energy absorber E, a fastener 30, a retaining ring 40, and an
anti-falling device 50.
[0020] The energy absorber E has a first portion 10 and a second
portion 20. Specifically, it is folded upwards with a band shaped
fabric, so as to form a first portion 10 on one side and to form a
second portion on the other side. Besides, it makes the first
portion 10 and the second portion 20 coincidingly bounded
integrally by stitch thread sewing all the areas besides the top
edges thereof. As a result, the top edges of the first portion 10
and the second portion 20 will naturally form a diverged shape.
Further, the top edge of the first portion 10 is defined a first
connecting portion 11. The top edge of the second portion 20 is
defined a second connecting portion 21. The first connecting
portion 11 has a first lughole 12 formed thereon. The second
connecting portion 21 has a second lughole 22 formed thereon. In
addition, in order to deal with the long length of the energy
absorber E, the coincidingly bounded portion of the first portion
10 and the second portion 20 thereof can be curvedly folded into a
plurality of layers firstly, and be positioned with a binding unit
that is not shown in the drawings and is embodied as a coverage of
a plastic cover in prior art.
[0021] The fastener 30, as FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrated, can be a
plastic ring circling around the first lughole 12 and the second
lughole 22, so as to keep the first connecting portion 11 and the
second connecting portion 21 arranged abreast, which locks and
closes the diverged top edge of the energy absorber 10. Besides, as
FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrated, the fastener 30 can also be a stitch
thread sewed on part of the first lughole 12 and the second lughole
22. Alternatively, the fastener 30, as FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrated,
can also be a plastic ring circling around the periphery of the
lower edges of the first connecting portion 11 and the second
connecting portion 21. In other words, the present invention
comprises fasteners 30 that can lock the diverged top edge of the
energy absorber 10.
[0022] The retaining ring 40 is operatively connected between the
first connecting portion 11 and the safety harness (or safety
belt).
[0023] The anti-falling device 50 has a lifting eye 51 operatively
connected with the second connecting portion 21. The anti-falling
device 50 also has a cable 52 pulled out therefrom. The free end of
the cable 52 has a hook 53 capable of hanging on a high altitude
environment mounted thereon.
[0024] Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, when utilizing the present
invention, the fastener 30 can shift the anti-falling device 50 and
energy absorber E upwards for mounting on the retaining ring 40 on
the back of the safety harness. Therefore, the bottom end of the
energy absorber E will be less likely to hit the waist of the user.
Nonetheless, when the user falls, it will first add a predetermined
loading to break the fastener 30 in order to release the diverged
top edge of the energy absorber E. Then, it will draw the energy
absorber E to break the binding unit, to smoothly unfold, and to
pull along the diverged top edge of the energy absorber E, such
that the coincidingly bounded part of the first portion 10 and the
second portion 20 is sequentially torn from top to bottom, so as to
absorb the impact force of the falling of the user. Eventually, the
user can be bufferedly and safely hung on the air.
[0025] Based on the above structure and description of the
embodiment of the present invention, it only has to arrange the
fastener 30 on the diverged top edge of the energy absorber E in
the automatic production line of the energy absorber E and then to
make it coordinate with external anti-falling device 50 and
retaining ring 40 to accomplish a relatively complete energy
absorber assembly in a modular manner. This should be easier and
faster than what is based on the above prior patent that has to
drill holes on the bracket assembly and the connector and to
install fastener on the holes. Hence, the present invention can
certainly elaborate a revolutionarily great creation and economic
benefits, which makes the productivity more effective and therefore
achieves economic efficiency.
[0026] All in all, the present invention completely breakthroughly
reforms the entire structural feature of the prior patent mentioned
above and provides a novel structure from the prior art. The
present invention not only reduces the processing costs, but also
improves the assembling efficiency, which shows significant
non-obviousness and thus meets the condition of patent application.
However, the above descriptions are only a preferred embodiment of
the present invention, but not to be used to confine the scope of
embodying the present invention, which means all equivalent
varieties and modifications based on the appended claims of the
present invention are within the scope of the present
invention.
[0027] One skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment
of the present invention as shown in the drawings and described
above is exemplary only and not intended to be limiting.
[0028] It will thus be seen that the objects of the present
invention have been fully and effectively accomplished. The
embodiments have been shown and described for the purposes of
illustrating the functional and structural principles of the
present invention and is subject to change without departure from
such principles. Therefore, this invention includes all
modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the
following claims.
* * * * *