Abstract:
Heating and temperature maintenance device including a hollow body portion containing a core housing, a material to be heated, a first chamber disposed about the core containing a first pyrotechnic composition capable, upon ignition, of rapidly heating the material to a desired temperature, a meltable metal or alloy disposed about the first chamber capable of being melted by the ignition of the first pyrotechnic composition, and a second chamber, disposed between the body periphery and the metal or alloy, containing a second pyrotechnic composition having, upon ignition, a slower burning rate than the first pyrotechnic composition and capable of maintaining the metal or alloy in a molten condition for a predetermined time.
Abstract:
A gas conducting arrangement for conducting inflating gas from a pressure generating mechanism to an inflatable gas cushion arranged at the steering wheel by way of a hollow space formed in the steering column. A connecting pipe leading from the pressure generating mechanism opens into the hollow space in the steering column in a gas entrance zone, with the connection pipe extending at an angle, preferably at right angles, to the longitudinally extending hollow space in the steering column. The cross section of the hollow space in the steering column is smaller than the cross section of the connection pipe with the hollow space in the steering column being widened conically in a transition zone adjacent the gas entrance zone so that, in the gas entrance zone, the cross sectional area of the hollow space in the steering column is at least as great as the flow cross section of the connection pipe so as to minimize obstruction to the flow from the connection pipe into the steering column. In the area of the gas entrance zone, the steering column is constructed with gridlike struts which permit flow through of the inflating gases and which also serve as intentional buckling points in the case of axial forces on the steering column.