US3517416A - Buckles for safety seat belts - Google Patents

Description

June 30, 1970 J. H. FREl E1' AL BUCKLES FOR SAFETY SEAT BELTS Filed March 1. 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet l June 30, 1970 J. H. FREI E1. AL

BUCKLES Foa SAFETY SEAT BELTS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 1. 1968 IIIIIII` M Twin-m United States Patent O 3,517,416 BUCKLES FOR SAFETY SEAT BELTS Josef Hermann Frei, Muhlestrasse 22, Rusclllikon, Switzerland, and Gte Eskil Yngve Holmberg, Anderstorp, Sweden Filed Mar. 1, 1968, Ser. No. 709,730 Claims priority, application Sweden, June 30, 1967, 10,271/67; Dec. 22, 1967, 17,771/67 Int. Cl. A44b 11/06, 11/25 U.S. Cl. 24-75 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE In a buckle for safety seat belts having two interengageable buckle parts, a latching bar is shiftable in one buckle part. A leaf spring interposed between the latching bar and a stationary abutment biases the latching bar into latching position in which the bar prevents the buckle parts from being disengaged from one another.

This invention relates to buckles for safety seat belts comprising two interengageable buckle parts with abutments for mutual interconnection preventing a separation of the buckle parts and a bar on one buckle part which is arranged as a latching member and is movably guided in opposed grooves for translatory movement in its transverse direction between a latching position and a release position in order in these positions to prevent or permit shifting of the abutments out of mutual interconnection, said bar being spring-biased into latching position.

For the simplification of such a buckle in structural respect on one hand by a reduction of the number of constituents of the buckle mechanism, and on the other hand by a simpler design of the individual constituents, the present invention provides a buckle of this type which is characterised by the fact that a leaf spring is interposed between the bar and a stationary abutment on said one buckle part for resiliently maintaining the bar in its latching position.

For better elucidation a pair of buckles chosen by way of example will be described in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the buckle in one embodiment thereof and of a locking tongue inserted therein, the cover of the buckle having been removed;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section of the buckle and the locking tongue in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary front view, partly in cross section, of the buckle shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan View of the buckle in the other embodiment thereof and of a locking tongue inserted therein, parts of the -buckle being broken away to give access to the inner constituents of the buckle;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal section of the buckle and the locking tongue shown in FIG. 4.

The buckle illustrated in FIGS. 1-3 comprises a U- shaped base plate having a web 11 and upwardly bent edge flanges 12. Bosses 13 are provided on the web 11 to extend in an upward direction therefrom and to engage in conforming apertures in a locking tongue 14 which is intended for coaction with the buckle. For adjustable fastening in the buckle of a strap of a safety seat belt a knurled clamping roller 15 is mounted with its end journals 15a in slots 16 in said flanges 12 for movement in its transverse direction towards and away from an abutment edge 17 of the web 11 for clamping the strap between said clamping roller and the abutment edge in the desired fastening position. A corresponding fastening device for a strap can be located on the locking tongue, but is not shown in the drawings.

ICC

A latching member for preventing that the locking tongue 14 is disengaged from the bosses 13 is constituted by a cylindrical bar 18 which is guided with its end journals 19 in the slots 16 for shifting movement in its transverse direction to a position, the latching position, which is shown in FIGS. l and 2 and in which the bar 18 is located above the bosses 13 thereby preventing that the locking tongue 14 is raised out of engagement with the bosses, and another position, the release position, in which the bar 18 is shifted sufficiently far to the right as viewed in FIGS. l and 2 to permit the locking tongue to be moved out of engagement with the bosses 13 thus being released from the buckle. The shifting of the bar 18 to release position can be performed only against the action of a spring 20 which resiliently biases the bar to latching position, and said spring is a substantially W-shaped leaf spring which at its middle portion bears against a stationary abutment formed by a pin 21 arranged on the web 11, while the two median legs of the spring straddle said abutment pin. The outer spring legs are slit longitudinally to form two tongues 22 and 23 one of which is wider and bears with its rounded end against the bar 18 which has a reduced diameter in the region where the leaf spring bears against it, while the other tongue is narrower, closer to the web and adapted to have its rounded end bearing against the locking tongue inserted in the buckle to maintain the locking tongue engaged with the bosses 13 so as not to rattle in the buckle. For the same purpose there is arranged in a central annular groove in the bar 18 an O-ring 24 of rubber which bears against the upper side of the locking tongue inserted in the buckle and urges the locking tongue into engagement with the web 11.

Manipulation of the bar 18 for releasing the locking tongue from the buckle is performed by means of a cover of U-shaped cross section, which is passed onto the base plate 10 with the limbs 26 of the cover situated on the outer sides of the flanges 12 of the base plate, the end journals 19 of the bar 18 and the end journals 15a of the clamping roller 15 projecting from the flanges 12 on the outer sides thereof to be received each in a groove 27 in each limb of the cover 25, whereby the cover is retained in position on the base plate 10, in which it completely covers the buckle mechanism mounted on said base plate, and is shiftable in a direction plane parallel with the base plate. A ridge 28 on the web of the cover 25 is adapted, when the cover is shifted to the right as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2, to carry the bar 18 along so that the latter is shifted against the spring force exerted by the leaf spring 20 from its illustrated latching position into release position. When the bar 18 is in its latching position the cover is engaged with the end edges of the flanges 12, as shown in FIG. 2, while the ridge 28 engages the bar 18 so that the cover is kept xed and does not rattle on the buckle simultaneously as it determines the latching position of the bar 18.

For release of the locking tongue 14 from the buckle the cover 25 is thus shifted to the right as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2, that is rearwardly from the locking tongue, the bar 18 being carried along into release position. The locking tongue, however, can be inserted in the buckle without requiring manipulation of the cover inasmuch as the bar 18 is urged from latching position into release position by the front edge of the locking tongue, the bar moving away from the ridge 28 on the cover 25 and then snapping back into latching position under the action of the spring 20 after the locking tongue has engaged the bosses 13.

The buckle shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 comprises a U- shaped base plate 10 with a web 11 and upwardly bent edge flanges 12. A slot 13 is provided in the 'web 11 and a locking tongue 14 is adapted to engage said slot by means of an angularly bent end portion 14'. For adjustable fastening in the buckle of a strap of a safety seat belt a knurled clamping roller having finger grip means 15a is mounted in slots 16 in the flanges 12 for movement towards and away from a bar 17 which is arranged as a stationary abutment and which extends between the flanges 12 parallel with the web 11 to permit clamping the strap in the desired fastening position between the clamping roller and the bar 17. Corresponding fastening means for a strap may be provided on the locking tongue but are not shown in the drawings.

Also in this case a cylindrical bar 18 constitutes a latching member for preventing the locking tongue 14 from being disengaged with the slot 13, and is guided by end journals 19 in slots 36 in the flanges 12 for transverse shifting movement. In the embodiment illustrated the slots 36 are straight and oblique to the web 11 so as to extend from the web in a direction from the left to the right as viewed in FIG. 5. The bar 18 is shiftable between a position, the latching position, which is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 and in which the bar 18 is in bearing engagement with the upper side of the locking tongue 14, preventing the locking tongue from being raised out of engagement with the slot 13, and another position, the release position, in which the bar 18 is shifted sufliciently far to the right, as viewed in FIGS. 4 and 5, to lie at such a height above the web 11 that the locking tongue can be disengaged from the slot 13 and thus be released from the buckle. Shifting of the bar 18 to release position, however, can be performed only against the action of a spring 20 `which resiliently biases the bar to latching position and which like in the earlier embodiment is a substantially W-shaped leaf spring bearing at its middle portion against a stationary abutment formed by a pin 21 on the web 11, while the two median legs of the spring straddle this abutment pin. The outer spring legs bear with their rounded ends against the bar 18; these ends are of a slightly smaller width than the remaining leaf spring in order that the locking tongue 14 inserted in the buckle may go free of them, as Iwill appear from FIG. 5.

Manipulation of the bar 18 for release of the locking tongue from the buckle is brought about by means of a flap 37 which is in the form of a two-armed lever and `which is mounted with a pair of mutually spaced lugs 38 on a shaft 39 disposed between and non-rotatably secured in the flanges 12. The flap 37 is biased by a coil spring 4t) -wrapped around the shaft to be normally kept in the position illustrated in which the flap bears against the bar 17, extending over the Iweb 11 between the flanges 12 to cover the space between said flanges and the buckle parts located therein. The two lugs 38 lie close to the inner sides of the flanges 12 and form spacing elements between the flanges and shoulders 18 between the journals 19 and the remaining bar 18 in that the lugs 38 partly overlap said shoulders as will appear from FIG. 5. In this lway, the bar 18 is kept in position between the flanges, which is advantageous in that the bar 18 is easily mounted. It is inserted in the slots 36 before the ilap 37 is mounted, and is then fixed in its correct axial position between the flanges by pivoting the flap 37 to the shaft 39 which is inserted in the flanges. Upon pivotment of the flap 37 counterclockwise as viewed in FIG. 5, an edge 41 of the flap 37 is adapted to carry along the bar 18 against the action of the spring 40 so that the bar is shifted against the force exerted by the leaf spring 20 from the latching position illustrated to release position.

The locking tongue 14 can be inserted in the buckle without it being necessary to manipulate the flap 37 inasmuch as the bar 18 is thereby urged by the angularly bent edge 14' of the locking tongue from latching position to release position independently of the flap 37 and then snaps back to latching position under the action of the spring 20 after the locking tongue has engaged the slot 13.

-A possible modification of the embodiment of the 4 buckle illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 implies providing a curving slot 36 whose center of curvature is substantially located on the axis of the shaft 39. However, the arrangement illustrated in which straight slots 36 are provided is simpler from the point of manufacture and does not suffer from any functional drawbacks.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A buckle for safety seat belts comprising two inter.- engageable buckle parts, one of said buckle parts having a base plate and angularly bent flanges thereon forming slots, abutment means on each of said buckle parts, said abutment means being interconnectible to prevent separation of the buckle parts, a cylindrical bar on said one 'buckle part, said bar forming ends received by said slots and projecting outwardly from the flanges through the slots, and being guided in the slots for translatory movement in its transverse direction between a latching position and a release position in order in these positions to prevent and permit, respectively, movement of said abutment means from mutual interconnection, a stationary abutment on said one buckle part, between said bar and said stationary abutment a leaf spring having its ends engaging said bar on one side thereof and between its ends bearing against said stationary abutment yieldingly biasing the bar into said latching position, operating means for said bar on said one buckle part including a cover, an abutment surface formed by said cover to engage said bar on the opposite side thereof allowing said bar to be transversely moved against said spring bias relatively to said abutment surface out of engagement therewith, and legs on said cover embracing said flanges and forming in the sides facing the flanges grooves slidably receiving said projecting ends of the bar to movably guide the cover on said flanges.

2. A buckle as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a clamp bar fastening a strap in said one buckle part, said clamp bar forming ends received by said slots and projecting outwardly from the flanges through the slots, and being guided in the slots for translatory movement in its transverse direction, said grooves formed by the legs of said cover, slidably receiving also said projecting ends of said clamp bar to movably guide the cover on said flanges.

3. A buckle as claimed in claim 1, in which said leaf spring is substantially W-shaped forming two median legs and two outer legs, and in which said stationary abutment is a pin, said median legs straddling said pin and said outer legs bearing against said bar.

4. A buckle as claimed in claim 3, in which each of said outer legs is slit by longitudinal slots so as to form two tongues, one tongue bearing against the 'bar and the other tongue at engaged buckle bearing against the other buckle part thereby to urge the abutment means into bearing engagement with one another.

5. A buckle as claimed in claim 1, in which the buckle parts form flat sides and the bar forms an annular groove, and further comprising an elastic O-ring `which is disposed in said annular groove for resiliently keeping the flat sides of the buckle parts in bearing engagement when the buckle parts are moved together into engagement at the abutment means with the bar in latching position.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 1,340,076 9/1963 France. 1,202,550 10/ 1965 Germany.

657,156 l0/1963 Italy.

BERNARD A. GELAK, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R.

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