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Abstract
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When automobile accidents occur, injuries and deaths should be reduced to a minimum.
It was the purpose of this Research Project to invent and test mechanical designs to reduce the destructive forces of collision on the automotive passengers. The developments which have been produced in this Laboratory include engineered automatic self-tightening seat-belts, hydraulic shock-absorbing bumpers, a large padded steering post with a short-travel absorber and a retracting steering-wheel rim for the driver, and a dash recessed under the windshield in front for the passenger. With judicial padding, flailing arms and the legs of the body held by the seat-belt are further protected from injury.
Tests have been made in a car with a driver and a passenger safely impacting a rigid barricade at 20 mph; stopping a cart with a bumper at 18.75 mph having a free-swinging live passenger on a seat-belt; and having a seat-belted human safely decelerate on a cart with a bumper from 25 mph, aided by an energy absorbing collapsible steering wheel with a large central pad. From the instrumentation and photographic records of these and other tests, design data has been acquired which would make possible a reduction of injuries and deaths in automotive accidents.
It is the thesis of this paper that if the forces of impact on the human body can be minimized, and these controlled forces applied on pressure resisting areas, the yearly injuries and deaths would be reduced by about one-half. |