Vehicular safety device

Claim 1

A vehicular safety device for protecting a vehicle occupant or a pedestrian from injury during a collision of a motor vehicle, comprising: A. an inflatable confinement having a collapsed stowed position and an expanded protective position; B. a pressurized gas reservoir storing a pressurized gas and having a pressurized gas discharge spout; C. a rupturable sealing means which comprises: 1. a rupturable, open-ended hollow member which is axially aligned with said discharge spout, 2. a pair of end plates which are attached to and spaced apart by both ends of said hollow member, one of said pair of end plates being in closing engagement with said discharge spout, 3. an explosive charge within said hollow member and between said pair of end plates, and 4. an igniter which is contiguous with said explosive charge and connected to a triggering means that is adapted to be activated in response to an impact resulting from said collision; and D. a housing which extends axially from and encloses said discharge spout, comprising: 1. an inwardly threAded open end, which is threadedly connected to said discharge spout, 2. a side wall which is radially spaced from and substantially parallel to said hollow member in enclosing relationship, 3. a retaining member, projecting toward said discharge spout from the inner surface of an end wall oppositely disposed to said open end, which is in abutting relationship to the other end plate of said pair of end plates, whereby said sealing means in its entirety is in closing engagement with said discharge spout, and 4. a plurality of openings in said end wall which are annularly disposed to said retaining member, whereby upon impact caused by a collision of said vehicle while travelling, said triggering means actuates said igniter which detonates said explosive charge, causing said hollow member to be ruptured and fragments to be hurled toward said side wall of said housing while said pressurized gas violently collapses said end plates upon said end wall and passes through said openings into said inflatable confinement.