U.S. patent application number 09/754810 was filed with the patent office on 2001-07-19 for seat belt buckle.
This patent application is currently assigned to TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH & Co. KG. Invention is credited to Haas, Peter.
Application Number | 20010008038 09/754810 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 7936094 |
Filed Date | 2001-07-19 |
United States Patent
Application |
20010008038 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Haas, Peter |
July 19, 2001 |
Seat belt buckle
Abstract
A seat belt buckle comprises a release button for a latch
slidably mounted on a frame, an ejector for an insert tongue and at
least one connecting element. The connecting element is shiftable
between a working position, in which it makes a connection between
the ejector and the release button, and a resting position in which
it breaks the connection between the ejector and release button. A
dislocator is provided on the frame, which dislocates the
connecting element from the resting position into the working
position when the ejector is shifted out of place.
Inventors: |
Haas, Peter; (Goggingen,
DE) |
Correspondence
Address: |
TAROLLI, SUNDHEIM, COVELL, TUMMINO & SZABO L.L.P.
1111 LEADER BLDG.
526 SUPERIOR AVENUE
CLEVELAND
OH
44114-1400
US
|
Assignee: |
TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH
& Co. KG
|
Family ID: |
7936094 |
Appl. No.: |
09/754810 |
Filed: |
January 4, 2001 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
24/637 |
Current CPC
Class: |
Y10T 24/4567 20150115;
Y10T 24/4566 20150115; Y10T 24/45644 20150115; A44B 11/2523
20130101; Y10T 24/45654 20150115 |
Class at
Publication: |
24/637 |
International
Class: |
A41F 001/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jan 19, 2000 |
DE |
200 00 869.2 |
Claims
1. A seat belt buckle comprising a release button for a latch
slidably mounted on a frame, an ejector for an insert tongue and at
least one connecting element, said connecting element being
shiftable between a working position, in which it makes a
connection between said ejector and said release button, and a
resting position in which it breaks said connection between said
ejector and release button, a dislocator being provided on said
frame, dislocating said connecting element from said resting
position into said working position when said ejector is shifted
out of place.
2. The buckle of claim 1, wherein said connecting element is biased
into said resting position by force of a spring.
3. The buckle of claim 1, wherein said connecting element consists
of a shifter formed on said ejector and said dislocator is
configured as a ramp on said frame, on which said shifter slides
when said ejector is shifted out of place.
4. The buckle of claim 3, wherein the length of said ramp is
selected so that at the end of the shifting travel of said ejector
said shifter is released from said ramp to fall back into said
resting position.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The invention relates to a seat belt buckle comprising a
release button for a latch slidably mounted on a frame, and an
ejector for an insert tongue.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Known from DE 296 13 690 is one such buckle provided with a
balance weight to prevent the release button from shifting out of
place relative to the buckle when exposed to a heavy acceleration
or deceleration in the longitudinal direction of the buckle due to
its mass inertia and thus opening the buckle unintentionally.
Inspite of this, unintentional opening may occur with this type of
buckle when, for instance, the buckle is heavily accelerated by a
belt tensioner and then abruptly decelerated on impacting a
stopper. Since the belt tensioner has a certain clearance with
respect to the release button it still has an impulse when the
release button is already at rest. Since, however, the ejector
needs to be mechanically coupled to the release button so that it
is able to activate the latch on insertion of the insert tongue,
this impulse is passed on via the ejector to the release button. At
the point in time of impulse transfer, however, the compensation of
the inertia by the balancing weight is no longer effective, since
this is likewise at rest. When the impulse transmitted is
sufficiently large there is thus the risk of the release button
being shifted out of place, thus opening the buckle.
[0003] The invention provides a seat belt buckle in which with the
insert tongue inserted any impulse transfer from the insert tongue
to the release button is reliably prevented.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0004] This is achieved with a seat belt buckle comprising a
release button for a latch slidably mounted on a frame, an ejector
for an insert tongue and at least one connecting element, the
connecting element being shiftable between a working position, in
which it makes a connection between the ejector and the release
button, and a resting position in which it breaks the connection
between the ejector and release button, a dislocator being provided
on the frame which dislocates the connecting element from the
resting position into the working position when the ejector is
shifted out of place. Coupling only takes place when necessary,
namely on insertion of the insert tongue, thus reliably preventing
any impulse transfer from the insert tongue to the release button
with the insert tongue inserted.
[0005] In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention
the connecting element consists of a shifter formed on the ejector,
and the dislocator is configured as a ramp on the frame on which
the shifter slides when the ejector is shifted out of place and the
length of the ramp is selected so that at the end of the shifting
travel of the ejector the shifter is released from the ramp to fall
back into its resting position. Compared to conventional buckles,
this embodiment provides the advantage that no additional
components are required. Only the configuration of two components,
namely frame and ejector, needs to be modified.
[0006] Further advantages and features of the invention read from
the following description of the preferred embodiment and are
evident from the attached drawings to which reference is made and
in which:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] FIG. 1 is a cross-section through a buckle including an
insert tongue in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the
invention;
[0008] FIG. 2 is an isometric view of a first component of the
buckle as shown in FIG. 1;
[0009] FIG. 3 is an isometric view of a second component of the
buckle as shown in FIG. 1;
[0010] FIGS. 4 to 7 each illustrate a detail on a magnified scale
of a cross-section through the buckle as shown in FIG. 1 in
sequential phases of inserting the insert tongue; and
[0011] FIG. 8 is a detail on a magnified scale of a cross-section
through the buckle as shown in FIG. 1 on release of the insert
tongue.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0012] Referring now to FIG. 1 there is illustrated a buckle 10 in
accordance with the invention and a matching insert tongue 12. The
buckle 10 includes a housing 14 and a frame 16. Shiftably guided on
the frame 16 is a release button 18. The release button 18 is
provided with two slaved pins 20, only one of which is evident in
the Figure. Provided at the front side (on the left in the Figure)
of the buckle 10 in the housing 14 is an insertion opening 22 into
which the insert tongue 12 is insertable. The buckle is in addition
provided with a device 24 preventing the release button 18 from
shifting out of place when exposed to a heavy acceleration, for
instance, on activation of a belt tensioner, due to its own
inertial mass relative to the frame 16. This device 24 may be of
the kind as detained in DE 296 13 690. The configuration and
functioning of the device 24 is irrelevant to describing the
present invention, this being the reason why no details are given
thereof in the present.
[0013] Referring now to FIG. 2 there is illustrated the frame 16
consisting subtantially of two parallel plates 16a, 16b. The frame
may be stamped to advantage from a metal sheet upswept in the
middle transversely to its longitudinal extent so that the two
parallel sheet metal halves as plates 16a, 16b form an interspace
and are joined at the front side via U-shaped webs 25. Stamped out
in the upper plate 16a are two parallel slots 26, a dislocator in
the form of a key 27 protruding from the outer longitudinal side of
each slot into the slot 26. The portion of this key 27 pointing to
the front side of the frame 16 is downswept into the interspace
between the two plates 16a, 16b and forms as viewed from the front
side of the frame a ramp 28 leading from the interspace to the
upper side of the upper plate 16a.
[0014] Stamped out from the plates 16a, 16b at surface areas facing
each other are two cylindrical protuberances 29 each, extending
into the interspace. In this arrangement each of the protuberances
29 of the upper plates 16a is located opposite a protuberance 29 of
the lower plate 16b and is in contact therewith in the
interspace.
[0015] Referring now to FIG. 3 there is illustrated in detail an
ejector 30 slidably mounted in the frame 16 for ejecting the insert
tongue 12. The ejector 30 comprises two parallel arms 32 connected
to each other by a web 34 at one of their ends. Configured at the
other end of the arms 32 in each case is a hook 36 pointing
outwards. Formed in the middle of the web 34 is a finger 38
parallel to the arms 32. Likewise formed on the arms 32 between the
arms 32 and the finger 38 are two connecting elements in the form
of pushers 40. Each pusher 40 consists of a buffer 42 oriented
subtantially parallel to the web 34, the buffer 42 being connected
to the web 34 by a slim member 44. The member 44 is oriented
roughly in the direction of the arms 32 slightly inclined from a
plane formed by the arms 32. Due to the flexure of its member 44
the pusher 40 can be bent from its resting position into a working
position in which the buffer 42 protrudes between the upper plates
16a of the frame 16 (see FIG. 5). The ejector 30 is biased in the
direction of the insertion opening 22 by a spring 46 mounted on the
finger 38 (FIG. 1), it contacting the protuberances 29 with the
hook 36 when the insert tongue 12 is not inserted. The ejector 30
may be fabricated cost-effectively as an injection molded plastics
part. In this case the pusher 40 can be molded at no additional
expense.
[0016] Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5 there is illustrated a latch
48 provided in the buckle 10 serving to latch the insert tongue 12
in place, the latch 48 being slidably mounted transversely to the
direction of movement of the ejector 30 between a release position
and a latching position (see FIG. 7). The latch 48 can be released
by the release button 18 so that it moves into its latching
position in which it engages an opening 50 in the inserted insert
tongue 12, the tongue being thereby latched in place in the buckle
10.
[0017] Referring now to FIGS. 4 to 7 the functioning of the buckle
10 will now be described for a normal insertion of the insert
tongue 12. The latch 48 is maintained in its release position by a
first connecting link 52 (FIG. 7) at the release button 18. The
insert tongue 12 is guided into the insertion opening 22 at the
front side of the buckle 10. On insertion of the insert tongue 12
it urges the ejector 30 to the rear against the bias from the
spring 46, i.e. in the direction of the slaved pin 20 (FIG. 4). In
further shifting of the insert tongue 12 the buffer 42 of the
pusher 40 slides on the ramp 28 so that the buffer 42 is urged
upwards with flexing of the member 44 into the working position
(FIG. 5). This results in the buffer 42 coming into contact with
the slaved pin 20 so that the ejector 30 is now able to shift the
release button 18 to the rear by means of the pusher 40 (FIG. 6).
Due to this shift the first connecting link 52 releases the latch
48 so that it is moved into its latching position in which it
engages the opening 50 in the insert tongue 12. The length of the
ramp 28 is dimensioned so that as soon as the release button 18 has
been shifted far enough between the slaved pins 20 to thus release
the latch 48, the buffer 42 has attained the rear end of the ramp
28 and thus drops back again into its resting position due to the
flexible spring action of the member 44 (FIG. 7).
[0018] Referring now to FIG. 8, to release the latch the release
button 18 needs to be urged to the rear. In this arrangement the
latch 48 is shifted by a second connecting link 54 at the release
button 18 from its latching position into the release position to
thus re-release the insert tongue 12.
[0019] Should the buckle 10 be shock loaded from the rear with the
insert tongue 12 inserted and latched in place, as happens for
instance on activation of a belt tensioner when the buckle 10
impacts a stopper, then both insert tongue 12 and release button 18
are exposed to heavy acceleration. Due to their mass inertia both
attempt to move to the rear relative to the frame 16. Because of
the aforementioned device 24 the release button 18 is prevented
from shifting out of place relative to the frame 16. However, since
the insert tongue 12 also comprises a certain clearance relative to
the buckle 10, it may happen that the insert tongue is still on the
move when the release button 18 is already at rest. But since the
pusher 40 is in its resting position the connection between ejector
30 and slaved pins 20 is effectively broken to thus prevent the
insert tongue 12--which due to its mass being relatively large as
compared to that of the release button 18 has a large impulse--from
passing on this impulse to the release button 18 by means of a
flexible jolt via the ejector 30.
[0020] Now, the pusher 40 cannot be returned to its working
position until the buffer 42 has been moved under the ramp 28
through to the front end thereof. The length of the pusher 40 and
the position of the ramp 28 on the frame 16 are selected, however,
so that this is only possible when the latch 48 has been removed
from the opening 50 by the urging of the release button 18 so that
the ejector 30 is able to shift the insert tongue 12 in the
direction of the insertion opening 22 (FIG. 8).
* * * * *