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EP0586222A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Cover for airbag
Assignee: Plastic Mold Technology Inc
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Filing: 1993-08-31
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2013-08-31
Abstract
Abstract A molded air bag cover (10) for vehicle supplemental occupant restraint systems includes a resinous plastic top wall (32) having a leather or other covering layer (40) bonded thereto and a securing member (30) for attaching the cover to the vehicle. A frangible tear pattern (46) in the covered top wall allows separation for air bag deployment. The tear pattern has a reduced thickness provided by an indented tear seam (52) in the leather or other covering inner surface and an aligned groove (54) in the resinous top wall. A method for making air bag covers includes enclosing leather or other covering material in a mold, advancing a projection on a mold portion against the covering material to form a tear seam, and injecting moldable material behind the covering material to form a backing layer bonded to the material while forming an aligned groove. A desired pattern in the leather or covering material may be embossed in the mold cavity.
Inventors
- 👤 Gary K. Proos
- 👤 Donald W. Boehlke
- 👤 Theodore Melvin Sarver
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-25 13:59
CPC Classifications
B; B29; B29C; B29C37/00; B29C37/0053; B29C37/0057; B29C45/00; B29C45/14; B29C45/1418; B29C45/14311; B29C45/14778; B29C45/17; B29C45/26; B29C45/37; B29C45/372; B60; B60R; B60R21/00; B60R21/02; B60R21/16; B60R21/20; B60R21/215; B60R21/2165; B29C45/0053; B29K; B29K2711/00; B29K2711/08; B29K2715/00; B29K2715/006; B29L; B29L2031/00; B29L2031/30; B29L2031/3005; B29L2031/3038; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S264/00; Y10S264/71
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 26
Claim 1
Independent Claim
229 words
A cover (10) for housing an occupant restraint air bag in a vehicle, said cover comprising: a top wall (32) having an outer surface adapted to face toward the interior of a vehicle when installed, an inner surface, and at least one securing member (38) on said top wall for attaching said cover to a fixed vehicle portion (18) over an inflatable air bag (28), at least said top wall being formed resinous, plastic material; said top wall outer surface being covered with a layer of flexible sheet material (40), said sheet material layer having an exposed surface and an interior surface and including a frangible tear seam (46) formed in a desired tear pattern on said interior surface, said tear seam having an indentation (52) forming a reduced thickness portion in said sheet material layer; said top wall having a groove (54) defining a reduced thickness area aligned and in registry with said indentation of said tear seam; said resinous plastic material of said top wall outer surface being securely bonded to said interior surface of said sheet material layer including said tear seam indentation (52) whereby said cover is frangible through said aligned tear seam indentation and reduced thickness area of said top wall for separation to release the air bag when pressure is applied to said inner top wall surface upon inflation of said air bag.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
15 words
A cover according to claim 1 in which the flexible sheet material (40) is leather.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
35 words
A cover according to claim 2 which includes an indented groove (58) on said exposed sheet material surface, said groove extending along and being co-extensive with at least a portion of said tear seam (52).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
37 words
A cover according to any of claims 1 to 3 in which said exterior leather surface is embossed during manufacture with a predetermined pattern (120), preferably a leather grain, which remains visible in said exterior leather surface.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
34 words
A cover according to any of claims 1 to 4 in which the tear seam (46) includes a series of spaced perforations therealong to facilitate separation of said cover along said tear seam pattern.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
36 words
A cover according to any of claims 1 to 5 in which said top wall has at least one additional reduced thickness area spaced from said tear seam to define a hinge area in said cover.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
80 words
A cover according to any of claims 1 to 6 in which said top wall (32) includes a periphery and a peripheral side wall (34) forming said securing member, said side wall extending from said top wall periphery to form a box-like cover having an open bottom; said sheet material layer covering and being bonded to said top wall and side wall; said side wall including at least one opening therethrough for attaching said cover to a fixed vehicle portion.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
48 words
A cover according to claim 7 in which said peripheral side wall includes an inturned flange (36a;36b), said sheet material layer extending around (40a;40b) and covering at least a portion of said inturned flange said opening preferably extending through said inturned flange and said sheet material layer thereon.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
48 words
A cover according to claim 7 or claim 8 in which said securing flange includes a reduced thickness area (84) extending generally parallel to said top wall and adapted to separate when said tear seam and reduced thickness top wall area are separated by the air bag inflation.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
33 words
A cover according to any of claims 1 to 9 wherein said tear seam is in a shape selected from the group including 1) a line, 2) an H, and 3) an X.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
47 words
A cover according to any of claims 1 to 10 wherein said top wall is molded from a material selected from the group including 1) polypropylene, 2) polystyrene, 3) acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), 4) thermoplastic olefin (TPO), 5) thermoplastic urethane (TPU), 6) polyphenylene oxide (PPO), and 7) Kraton (T.M.).
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
121 words
A molded resinous plastic article having a covering layer of leather having a predetermined pattern therein, said article comprising: a leather covering layer (40) having inside and outside surfaces and a backing layer (32) molded from resinous, plastic material on said inside leather surface; said outside leather layer surface having a desired pattern (120) embossed therein by contact with an embossed mold surface during molding of said resinous backing layer; said inside leather layer surface being roughened prior to molding with said resinous backing layer including leather strands, filaments and/or projections on said inside surface which are securely embedded within said resinous backing layer during molding such that said leather layer and resinous backing layer are strongly bonded to one another.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
179 words
A method for making a cover for an occupant restraint air bag in a vehicle, said cover having a covering of flexible material and including a frangible tear seam therein, said method comprising: 1) enclosing a piece of thin, flexible covering material within the mold cavity of a mold apparatus; 2) advancing a projection (192) on a portion of the mold apparatus against the inner surface of said covering material to form an indented, reduced thickness tear seam (46) in a desired pattern; 3) withdrawing said mold apparatus portion to form a cavity behind said covering material inner surface; 4) introducing moldable, resinous, plastic material into said cavity behind said covering material inner surface to form a backing layer with said inner covering material surface including said tear seam bonded to said backing layer while said projection (192) on said mold apparatus portion forms a reduced thickness groove (54) in said backing layer aligned with said tear seam; 5) at least partially curing said backing layer in said mold apparatus and opening said mold apparatus and removing said cover.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
74 words
A method according to claim 13 in which said enclosing step includes: a) providing a mold apparatus having male and female portions, said male mold portion having said projection thereon, said female mold portion including a mold cavity; b) placing said piece of covering material over said male mold portion including said projection while said mold apparatus is open; and c) closing said mold apparatus to move said covering material into said mold cavity.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
49 words
A method according to claim 14 in which said resinous plastic material is injected against said inner surface of said covering material to force said piece of covering material against the surface of said mold cavity such that said covering material conforms to the shape of said mold cavity.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
58 words
A method according to any of claims 13 to 15 which includes providing the surface of said mold cavity with a predetermined, raised pattern, for example indicia or leather graining; said injection step including forcing said covering material against said pattern in said mold cavity such that said pattern is embossed in the surface of said covering material.
Claim 17
Independent Claim
59 words
A method according to any of claims 13 to 16 which includes forming spaced perforations through at least portions of said tear seam (46) in said covering material and said reduced thickness groove in said backing layer after molding and at least partial curing of said cover to facilitate separation of said cover upon inflation of an air bag.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
50 words
A method according to claim 17 in which the formation of said spaced perforations includes perforating said cover by at least one of the following steps: a) directing spaced pressurized water jets through said cover at spaced locations, and b) directing a laser beam through said cover at spaced locations.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
72 words
A method according to any of claims 13 to 18 which includes providing said female mold cavity with a second projection (193) aligned with the first of said projections (192); said advancing step including forming an indentation aligned with at least a portion of said tear seam (46) in the outer surface of said covering material with said second projection while simultaneously forming said tear seam with the first of said projections.
Claim 20
Independent Claim
55 words
A method according to any of claims 13 to 19 in which said step of introducing moldable, resinous plastic material includes injecting material into said cavity, said material being selected from the group including polypropylene, TPO (thermoplastic olefin), and TPU (thermoplastic urethane); said covering material being selected from the group including leather and polyvinylchloride sheeting.
Claim 21
Independent Claim
55 words
A method according to any of claims 13 to 20 in which said flexible material is leather and which includes applying an adhesion promoting primer material to said leather inner surface prior to introduction of said moldable material into said mold cavity such that bonding of said backing layer to said top wall is enhanced.
Claim 22
Independent Claim
166 words
A method of making a leather covered, resinous plastic article having a predetermined pattern in said leather cover, said method comprising: 1) providing a piece of leather having an outer surface and a roughened inner surface, said roughened inner surface having leather strands, filaments and/or projections thereon; 2) enclosing said leather piece within the mold cavity of a mold apparatus, said mold cavity having a desired, raised pattern thereon; 3) introducing moldable, resinous plastic material into a space between said roughened inner leather surface and a portion of said mold apparatus to form a backing layer such that said outer leather surface is forced against said raised pattern on said mold cavity surface to emboss said pattern in said outer leather surface, said roughened inner leather surface being bonded securely to said backing layer with said strands, filaments and/or projections embedded in said backing layer; 4) at least partially curing said backing layer in said mold apparatus and opening said mold apparatus and removing said cover.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
32 words
A method according to claim 22 in which said pattern is leather graining and said injection step embosses a leather grain in said leather surface to enhance the appearance of the leather.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
75 words
A method according to claim 22 or claim 23 in which said enclosing step includes: a) providing a mold apparatus having male and female portions, said male mold portion having said projection thereon, said female mold portion including a mold cavity; b) placing said piece of leather over said male mold portion including said projection while said mold apparatus is open; and c) closing said mold apparatus to move said leather into said mold cavity.
Claim 25
Independent Claim
33 words
A method according to any of claims 22 to 24 which includes providing a preformed piece of leather shaped and formed with heat to generally follow the shape of said male mold portion.
Claim 26
Independent Claim
47 words
A method according to any of claims 22 to 25 which includes applying an adhesion promoting primer material to said leather inner surface prior to introduction of said moldable material into said mold cavity such that bonding of said backing layer to said top wall is enhanced.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
EP0459545A1
Cited
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