Discharge valve for vehicle safety apparatus

Claim 1

A discharge valve for a safety apparatus for a vehicle, the safety apparatus having an inflatable confinement with a hole formed therethrough, a collision sensor operative to generate a collision signal in response to a collision of the vehicle, and a fluid producer operative to produce pressurized fluid to inflate the confinement in response to the collision signal, said discharge valve comprising: a brittle plate sealing the hole and being strong enough to resist the pressure of the pressurized fluid produced by the fluid producer; and, a plate breaker comprising a casing mounted adjacent to said brittle plate and an explosive and a projectile disposed inside said casing; said explosive being ignitable by the collision signal; said explosive and said projectile being mutually aligned within said casing substantially tangent to said brittle plate so that said explosive, when ignited, Propels said projectile against said brittle plate to shatter the same and allow pressurized fluid to escape through the hole from the confinement.