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Patent drawings

  • Patent drawing of a car in cross-section, with a camera near the windshield watching the driver to detect whether the driver can still drive safely.

    Driver monitoring system, 2023. A camera watches the driver's head and posture to detect when they can no longer drive safely.

    Banno et al. (Denso), "Apparatus Detecting Driving Incapability State of Driver," U.S. Patent 11,820,383 B2, November 21, 2023.

    Appears on: About

  • Patent drawing of an aircraft attitude instrument, shown in cross-section and as a round dial with a pointer.

    Aircraft attitude indicator, 1924. An instrument that shows pilots the aircraft's orientation relative to the horizon, so they can keep control when clouds or darkness hide it.

    J. N. Reynolds, "Method of and Apparatus for Indicating the Attitude of Aircraft," U.S. Patent 1,504,785, August 12, 1924.

    Appears on: Our work

  • Patent drawing of a child-resistant medicine container with a hinged lid held shut by a release tab.

    Child-resistant closure, 2025. A container lid that opens only when a release tab is pressed, designed to keep children out of medicine. Child-resistant packaging has been required in the U.S. for many medicines since the Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970.

    J.-P. Giraud et al., "Tab Release Child Safety Feature," U.S. Patent Application Publication 2025/0033838 A1, January 30, 2025.

    Appears on: Software safety

  • Patent drawing of an early automobile air bag system: a compressed-air tank, valves, and the folded cushion mounted in the dashboard.

    Early air bag, 1953. John Hetrick's design stored compressed air in a tank and released it into cushions in the steering wheel, dashboard, and glove compartment, to catch occupants in a crash.

    Patented 1953. Required in new U.S. cars, 1998.

    J. W. Hetrick, "Safety Cushion Assembly for Automotive Vehicles," U.S. Patent 2,649,311, August 18, 1953.

    Appears on: Research

  • Patent drawing of a driver wearing a three-point seat belt across the lap and chest, with details of the buckle and anchor.

    Three-point seat belt, 1962. Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin combined the lap belt and shoulder belt into one strap anchored at three points, so a single motion protects both the hips and the chest. Volvo made the design available to other manufacturers for free.

    Patented 1962. Required in new U.S. cars, 1968.

    N. I. Bohlin, "Safety Belt," U.S. Patent 3,043,625, July 10, 1962.

    Appears on: Support SSI

SSI figures

These are SSI's own drawings.

  • Patent-style drawing of a balance scale. The cost of failure sits in the customer's pan, which hangs low; an arrow shows the cost moving to the manufacturer's pan.

    FIG. 5

    Appears on: Our work

  • Patent-style drawing of a round gauge. Only the first part of its dial has tick marks; the rest of the range is a dotted, unmarked arc.

    FIG. 6

    Appears on: Our work

  • Patent-style drawing of a timeline. On the left, a shaded zone labeled "left of boom, where SSI works: foreseeable risks, preventable failures," with a winding line labeled "slow burn: harm builds up over time." It ends at a burst labeled "the incident." On the right, a zone labeled "right of boom, managing the consequences," holds four crates: advice, threat intelligence, workforce, and security products.

    FIG. 12

    Appears on: About

  • Patent-style drawing of a printing press: a sheet labeled "evidence" feeds into rollers, and printed pages come out labeled "public understanding."

    FIG. 15

    Appears on: Our work

  • Patent-style exploded drawing of a software product in four layers, with the second layer missing and shown only as a dashed outline.

    FIG. 404

    Appears on: the page-not-found page