Vehicle occupant restraining device

Claim 1

An automatic restraining device for occupants seated in a vehicle during the unexpected rapid deceleration of the vehicle, said device comprising: A. a substantially U-shaped frame having resiliently extensible legs and a resilient base portion to decelerate the occupant caught in said frame at a lesser decelerating speed than that of said vehicle, said frame normally being located above the head and out of the way for free ingress and egress of the vehicle by occupant when said frame is in its inoperative position; B. means for pivoting said legs around a common axis located below the head and behind the back of said occupant, whereby said unexpected rapid deceleration of the vehicle causes said frame to move forwardly and downwardly towards its restraining position by gravity and its own inertia, each said pivoting means comprising a pair of relatively rotatable disks about an axle, one of which disks is attached to said vehicle and the other of which disks is attached to one of said legs of said Ushaped frame; C. a spiral spring wrapped around the axle between said disks for urging said frame into its operative position, one end of said spring being attached to said vehicle and the other end of said spring being attached to said disk attached to said leg; D. means for restraining said spring for holding said frame in its inoperative position under normal decelerating conditions, said restraining means comprising A plurality of ball and socket joint means, in which said balls are connected to one of said disks and are urged parallel to the axis of said pivoting means for seating into socket means on the other of said disks; and E. means for limiting the angular movement of said frame between a normal inoperative position above the head of said occupant to its operative position in front of said occupant.