Boris L. Smirnov.

Holder of patents:

Boris L. Smirnov.

Contact: 167001, Syktyvkar, Dimitrov Str., 12. apt. 81

E-mail: sbl@online.ru

1. “A means of ensuring driver’s safety in case of a head-on collision or overturning of the vehicle” patent RU 2200099 C2 (priority date – February 16, 2000). http://sciteclibrary.ru/rus/catalog/pages/5087.html 

2. Application No. 2002102538 (priority date – January 28, 2002) filed with the Federal Institute of Industrial Property of the Russian Federation for the intended invention titled the “Driver’s Safety Seat.” The application has undergone a corresponding examination. A report on the category “A” search based on five documents pertinent to the subject of the search has been obtained.

3. An international application PCT/RU02/00321 “A system of greater passive safety’ (priority date – January 28, 2002) for the European and national/regional patents. (Moscow-based patent attorneys Gorodissky and Partners are handling the execution, filing, and subsequent administration of the application). I have obtained a report on the international “A” category search for all documents pertinent to the subject of the search. An International Preliminary Examination has been requested.

Currently, the key elements of passive safety systems are safety belts and airbags designed to protect the driver and passengers at the moment of collision.

However, airbags are not always effective and sometimes pose a death threat. Fatal accidents can occur when at the moment of collision the driver or passenger is wearing glasses or smoking a pipe, etc. Moreover, it takes 50 msec for the 110-liter airbag (US standard) to open up. Its surface moves toward the face and chest at 300 km/hour, and all of this is accompanied by a loud bang, smoke, and a sharp increase of pressure inside the car. In the confined space with windows closed, elderly people and children are especially prone to injuries. They run the risk of a concussion whose traumatic effects may prove incurable. Should the car come into collision repeatedly in the course of a single road accident, the efficiency of airbags comes to naught. Occasionally, airbags are triggered off, for instance, when the car hits a curb. Strictly speaking, authoritative experts tend to think that airbags have exhausted their potential and need to be replaced with a safer alternative.

Research conducted by experts of the British Medical Journal suggests that airbags reduce the risk of a lethal outcome in severe accidents by a mere 8% and not by 14% as was previously reported.

Safety belts can also cause serious injuries if fastened improperly. They have been designed for a person of average proportions without due account of the person’s height, shape, and weight. The moment the car comes into a collision with an obstacle, the body slips from under the safety belt. This may result in severe injuries to the abdomen or neck. Consequently, the safety belt turns from a safety device into a murder weapon.

What is more, all protection comes to naught when the car overturns, that is, when the gap between the driver’s head and the roof is only a few centimeters wide.

Furthermore, safety belts and airbags are designed to protect the upper body, while the lower body is often injured by the collapsing undercarriage, as a result of hitting the dashboard, steering column, steering wheel, and pedals.

Mercedes-Benz is currently equipping some of its models with the Pre-Safe preventive system, which is believed to be heralding a new era of car safety, with seats serving as an element of the safety system.

Passive safety plays a major part in the manufacturing programs of world automobile producers. Millions of dollars are spent on the development of passive safety. New models are subjected to the toughest of trials, and the companies are seeking a way out of this quandary.

The annual toll from car accidents runs into hundreds of thousands deaths resulting from the imperfections of passive safety systems. In the USA alone, some 350,000 persons are killed and injured in car accidents annually, with another 10,000 getting killed when cars overturn.

In Western Europe, head-on collisions account for 40% of all accidents that claim some 40,000 lives annually. In most cases those killed or injured are young, able-bodied, and educated professionals. Their respective countries have invested heavily in them in the hope of yielding profit sometime in the future. For any country this means huge economic losses.

An analysis of the causes of accidents prompts a conclusion that the major cause of lethal outcomes in the event of head-on collisions or overturning is the vertical position of the drivers’ upper body and its passive position prior to the collision with an obstacle.

(It should be noted that in 80-90% of all cases backseats are not occupied by passengers).

A fundamentally new approach to addressing this problem is proposed.

To solve the problem, a slide-action tray with a footrest is to be coupled with the seat of standard construction.

In keeping with invention formulas, the proposed inventions differ from other inventions in that the driver’s seat falls back (as a result of the driver’s center of gravity being displaced) upon receipt of a signal from the pressure switch on the brake pedal, which releases – in the event of emergency braking – the electromagnetic catches on the front supports of the driver’s seat and engages the parking brake system which is coupled with this seat (RU 2200099).

In application No. 20021022538, the seat is equipped with a slide action tray with a footrest, which enables the driver’s body to be moved from a passive position into an active state which helps avoid injuries in the event of a head-on collision with an obstacle.

The international application PCT/RU02/00321 includes additional features:

Pedal shafts are detachable;

The tray is connected to the seat by means of a swivel equipped with a ratchet and restrictor.

It is common knowledge that in a situation when a collision with the obstacle is unavoidable, for instance, on a slippery road, the driver and passengers have no choice but to brace themselves for the collision. Now the lives and health of the passengers are at the mercy of the car. The existing safety systems remain inactive until the moment of collision, which eventually triggers them off.

Suppose the car is traveling at 64 km/h (Euro NCAP) or 17,8 m/sec, and the distance to the obstacle is 50 meters. It will take the car 2,8 seconds to cover this distance. Within this space of time the driver will not manage to do anything to avert the collision. However, this time would suffice to move the driver’s body into a safer position similar to the posture of a Formula One racer.

The technical result is achieved owing to the fact that the footrest of the tray of the passenger seat is solid, while that of the driver’s seat has slits in it for the pedal shafts. The drawing enclosed with the offer shows:

Fig. 1 – the driver’s seat in the on-the-road position

Fig. 2 – the driver’s seat prior to the collision with an obstacle.

A brief description of drawing figures.

The given passive safety system consists of the seat 1 equipped with a slide-action tray 2 in its front part with a footrest 3 and a headrest 4 in its upper part. Under the seat 1 bottom there are front supports 5 with electromagnetic catches keeping the seat in the on-the-road position and rear supports 6 connected to the chair by means of a swivel 7. Shafts 8 of pedals 9 with their cushions 10 are detachable. The tray 2 is connected to the seat by means of a swivel 11 with a ratchet and restrictor 12. The seat moves on slide rails 13.

Thus, in an emergency situation when he anticipates an imminent collision with an obstacle, the driver instinctively hits the brake pedal 9 with as much effort as he can muster. (The pressure exerted under such conditions can reach 70-100 kg, while under normal conditions or in case of sport style driving this pressure does not exceed 30-40 kg.) In the event of such emergency braking, a signal from the brake pedal passes onto the catches on the front supports 5 of the seat 1, which keep it in the on-the-road position. The catches are released, and the seat reclines (by means of, say, a spring) toward the rear pulling the tray 2 along and is anchored in this position. As the seat reclines to the rear, it simultaneously moves further toward the rear by means of the swivel 7 sliding on the slide rails 13 with its rear supports 6. This way it removes the driver farther away from the elements that can potentially injure him (pedals, steering column, dashboard, and steering wheel). As its is moving away from the floor, the slide-action tray 2 pulls along the pedal cushions 10 by means of the detachable shafts 8 of pedals 9. The ratchet on the swivel joint 11 of the tray 2 and the restrictor 12 stabilize the tray in a certain position thus preventing it from swaying.

When braking in an emergency situation, the driver presses the clutch and break pedals with his feet until they reach the footrest 3 of the tray 2. When legs are under strain in this position, the seat reclines to the rear pulling with it the tray 2, while the legs pressed against the footrest act as shock-absorbers at the moment of collision, thereby relieving part of the strain on the driver’s lower body.

To make the seat recline to the rear, the driver can also use his hands to push himself off the wheelchair and his legs to push himself off the pedals (which is a natural reflex of the driver anticipating an imminent collision) as well as the displaced center of his body’s gravity against the rear supports of the seat.

The moment the footrest of the tray pulled along by the driver’s seat detaches the pedal shafts, thus eliminating the pressure on the brake pedal, the antilock braking system or the parking brake system is engaged automatically by the driver’s reclining chair. From this moment the braking will continue automatically, and the car can stop, road conditions permitting.

In case of emergency, the passenger reacts in like manner. His feet will push against the footrest of his tray. Therefore, his seat will recline to the rear simultaneously with the driver’s seat.

Another advantage of this system is the fact that, unlike airbags, the driver can test its efficiency anytime, when the car is in the parking lot. Hitting the brake pedal abruptly and with increased effort will do the trick, and the seat will recline toward the rear.

The reclining backrest of the seat will prevent the driver’s body from slipping from under the safety belt and will substantially reduce the strain caused by the safety belt at the moment of collision.

Shifting the seats into the reclining position in advance will make travel safer for children.

Such a safety system requires using safety belts built into the seat, similar to those used in Renault’s Vel Satis model.

This means of ensuring driver and passenger safety in the event of a head-on collision is an alternative to airbags.

The following patents have been presented by the Russian Federation Committee on Patents and Trademarks and the International Search as prototypes preceding my inventions: GB 2322840 A, GB 2063193 A, GB 2217278 A, GB 2059757 A, GB 2248593 A, GB 2328418 A, DE 3042033 A1.

All of them lack the advantages inherent in my inventions.

Aside from all the abovementioned advantages, the issue of cost-effectiveness deserves special mention. The price of the mechanical seat reclining device, which comes as part of my inventions, will be substantially lower than that of the costly airbags. To illustrate, replacing an Airbag SRS set after a road accident will cost a minimum of $1,500 – 1,800. Meanwhile, my device is not normally damaged in road accidents and can be used over and over again. Unlike the airbags, it is the device, since it is located under the driver’s seat and can be simultaneously used as an antitheft device. It looks like a 3-5 mm wide cardboard box folded along the crease edges, which engages automatically when the seat reclines. Depending on the function it performs, the driver’s seat can transform from “The Driver’s Safety Seat” into “The Antitheft Driver’s Seat” see http://www.sciteclibrary.ru/rus/catalog/pages/5574.html). 

Currently, nothing of the kind is commercially available.

The estimated yearly demand for the end product will be determined by the carmaker (the licensee of patent rights) himself, or more specifically, will depend on the number of cars to be equipped with the “Driver’s Safety Seat” during assembly. In this case, no funding will be required for the advertising campaign and sales promotion. Furthermore, the device can be made available through maintenance centers to be installed on cars that are already in use.

Consumers wait for this device and dream about it, since there are no competitive and worthy devices that would compare favorably with this passive safety system.

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