AU9411698A - Child safety device - Google Patents

Description

P/00/01i 28/591 AUST ALIARegulation 3.2 Patents Act 1990

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT I n v n t o n T i l e h i l~ s f e t .d e i c e The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me:- I THIS INVENTION relates to a child safety device and is more specifically concerned with improving the safety of a seat belt buckle in a vehicle.

Seat belts of motor cars are commonly secured by means of a spigot-and-socket connection between a buckle connector having a socket and a second connector providing a spigot. The buckle connector commonly uses a tube of rectangular cross-section containing a release button and having a socket slot arranged beside it and positioned between one side of the button and an inside wall of the tube. The spigot connector usually has a flat, apertured lug which provides the spigot which is slid into the socket of the buckle connector when the seat belt is to be secured. A latch in the buckle connector fits into the aperture in the lug when the spigot connector is correctly inserted into the socket of the buckle connector. The spigot connector cannot subsequently be withdrawn from the socket connector until the button is depressed against a spring.

The above form of spigot-and-socket connector is widely used on modern motor cars and poses few problems to adults. However, inquisitive small children sitting in the back-seat of a motor car and wearing a seat belt, or strapped into a safety seat secured to the back swab of the seat by a seat belt, may be inclined to relieve the boredom of travelling by investigating the seat-belt connector. It only takes a short time for a small child to discover that, by copying the actions of its parents and by pressing the conspicuous red button in the buckle connector, the seat belt can be released in the same way as its parents release it. One then has a situation where there is no restraint on the child and should the car brake violently or be involved in an accident, serious consequences could follow.

Some car manufacturers take account of this sort of problem by providing the car driver with a signal if one of the seat belts is unfastened. However few cheap cars are

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equipped with such warning devices as they add to the cost of the car and are thus normally only found on the more expensive models.

An object of this invention is to improve the safety of a seat belt provided in a vehicle.

In accordance with a first aspect of the invention, a device for reducing the ease with which a child can depress a manually-operable and resiliently-biased release button of a seat-belt connector, includes a resiliently flexible component extending across the exposed operating area of the button so that the force required to depress the button must also overcome the resistance to flexing of the component before the seat belt can be released. The component's resistance to flexing is chosen to increase the force necessary to operate the release button to a level which is beyond that which a small child can apply manually.

In accordance with a second aspect of the invention, a device for fitting to a seat belt connector to reduce the risk of it being released by a small child, includes: a first part for securing the device to a buckle connector containing a release button and a socket for the retention of a spigot which can be released from the socket by depressing the button against a resilient bias: and, a second part which fits over the button and is provided with a resiliently flexible strip component which fits over the button and over one pair of ends of a tube accommodating the button so that the strip must be bowed by finger pressure before the button can be depressed to release the seat belt.

In accordance with a third aspect of this invention a device for fitting to a seat belt connector to reduce the risk of it being released by a small child, includes a springloaded shutter having an associated manually-operable tab which can be depressed to displace the shutter against the bias of the spring from a first position to a second position at which a manually-operable release button of the connector is exposed, release of the tab allowing the shutter to be returned by its spring to the first position at which it covers the release button to prevent its operation until the tab is again manually operated.

Preferably the device is made so that it can be sold separately from the seat belt connector and fitted to it when required. One way of achieving this is to have the resiliently flexible component incorporated into a cover which fits over the endportion of the buckle connector and is provided with parts enabling the device to be firmly attached to the buckle portion.

The invention will now be described in more detail, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a device in its open condition; FIGURE 2 is an under plan view of the device of figure 1; FIGURE 3 diagrammatically shows two parts of a seat belt connector and respective portions of a seat belt; FIGURE 4 is a diagrammatic vertical section through a seat belt buckle connector having the device fitted to it; and FIGURE 5 is a vertical section taken on the line and in the direction of the arrows V-V in figure 4.

Figure 1 shows device 1 resembling an inverted and made of two superimposed 320 layers of fabric attached to one another at their edges 2 by stitching or some other method. The device has a central part 3 from which two side pieces 4 and 5 extend in 4 opposite directions, respectively. The side piece 4 has a single fastener pad 6 of "VELCRO" type and the other side piece 5 has two similar fastener pads 7 and 8 attached to its upper and lower surfaces, respectively, as is apparent from figures 1 and 2.

The pads 7 and 8 are made of material which fastens itself spontaneously to the material of the pad 6 when placed against it. Such a fastener is commonly known as a 'rip' fastener.

The central part 3 of the device has an extension piece 9 forming the stem of the "T" and which also has on one surface a 'VELCRO" pad 10 made of the same material as the pad 6.

The extension piece 9 incorporates a transverse rectangular plastics strip 12 fixed between the two layers of fabric and extending alongside a slit 13 formed through both fabric layers. The strip 12 is made of a resiliently-flexible material such as polypropylene, and, as shown in figure 4 is sufficiently wide to cover a release button 38, but not a spigot slot 36, of a buckle connector 34 of a 2-part seat belt 30 and 31, partly shown in figure 3. The length of the strip 12 is sufficient to ensure that it spans wholly across the end of a tube 37 which accommodates the release button 38 of the buckle connector 34 of the seat belt.

Figure 3 shows how the device is used.

The seat belt has two belt parts 30 and 31 attached to one another by a seat belt fastener 32 comprising the buckle connector 34 and a spigot connector 33. The connector 33 comprises a flat plate 33 having an apertured lug 35 providing a spigot which is inserted into the spigot slot 36. The slot 36 is provided at the upper end of the metal or hard plastics retaining tube 37 of the buckle connector 34. The slot 36 is clearly shown in figure 5. The retaining tube 37 is of rectangular cross-section and contains the manually-depressible seat belt release button 38 and a bias spring 39 which resiliently biases the button 38 to a position at which it has an upper operating area exposed at the upper end of the tube 37. When the connector 32 is in use, the lug is retained in the socket slot 36 by a latch (not shown) which engages in the aperture of the lug 35. To release the seat belt the button 38 is manually depressed into the tube 37 to displace the latch from the lug aperture. The lug 35 can then be withdrawn from the buckle connector to separate the two parts 30, 31 of the seat belt.

As shown in figures 4 and 5, the device 1 is fitted to the buckle part 34 by the two side pieces 4 and 5 which are wrapped tightly around the seat belt buckle connector 34 so that the two pads 6 and 8 engage one another and prevent the device from being pulled off the buckle part 34.

The extension piece 9 of figure 1 is then wrapped over the upper end of the tube 37 as shown in figure 5, and its pad 10 is superimposed over the pad 7 of the extension piece 9 so that the two pads 7 and 10 grip one another. The action of wrapping the extension piece 9 across the mouth of the tube is to cause the flexible strip 12 to span across the exposed area of the release button 38 and also across opposite sides of the mouth of the tube 37, as shown in figure 4, and to align the slit 13 with the spigot slot 36 of the fixture.

The seat belt is fastened in the usual manner in that the spigot lug 35 is inserted through the slit 13 into the slot 36 until it engages with the buckle latch (not shown) to hold the two parts 30, 31 of the seat belt connector 34 together.

The seat belt is released by applying sufficient force to the portion of the strip 12 overlapping the mouth of the tube 37 to flex it resiliently against its natural resilience sufficiently to depress the release button 38. This releases the catch holding the lug 35 in the socket slot 36 in the connector in the usual way. The seat belt is then freed.

The resilience of the strip 12 is so chosen that it can be readily depressed against the exposed end of the release button 38 by an adult or a teenage child. However a small child does not have sufficient finger strength to overcome the resistance to flexing of the strip 12 in addition to the bias of the button spring 39, and thus the seat belt cannot be freed by a child.

Various modifications to the above described embodiment of the invention are possible.

For example, the device 1 may be moulded from a plastics material which provides the resiliently flexible strip covering the release button of the connector and the adjacent socket slot, in addition to the portions referenced 3, 4 5 and 9 in the drawings. Fold lines in the plastics may be used to enable the device to be wrapped securely around the buckle part 34 of the connector 32. The device may also be designed to be a permanent fixture on a seat belt connector installed in a motor vehicle.

In another modification, the width of the strip 12 is enlarged sufficiently to cover the mouth of the slot 36 in addition to the button 38, and a rectangular opening is provided in the strip at a position which overlies the mouth of the slot 36 and registers with it.

The spigot lug 35 is inserted through the rectangular opening in the strip 12 in order to enter the slot 36, as previously.

It should be noted that the first aspect of the invention is broader than the second, and covers the use of the invention for protecting a seat buckle having the belt-release button on one side face of the buckle. The slot for the reception of the spigot is still located in the end face of the buckle. In such an arrangement of buckle the device is designed to be attached to the buckle in such a way that the resilient plastics strip or other manually-flexible component covering the release button must be bowed against its natural resilience a finite distance before it will operate the release button. The plastics strip may wholly or partially cover the operating area of the release button, and it may engage at its ends the marginal edges of the side face of the buckle at opposite sides of the button. The resilience of the plastics strip is so selected that a child's hand has insufficient strength to bow it in order to release the button. In such an arrangement it is unnecessary for the device to be provided with a slit covering the mouth of the socket of the buckle.

In a further example, also not illustrated, the device is provided with one or more spring-loaded shutters which cover the release button. One or more tabs are provided which can be depressed to displace the or each shutter against its bias and reveal the release button which can then be depressed to release the seat belt. In such an arrangement the tabs require more pressure to be applied to them to displace the or each shutter, than can be produced by a child's hand. Thus, whereas an adult can depress the or each tab by squeezing with one hand, a child cannot. Once the shutters have been displaced it is easy to depress the button with a finger of the same hand to release the seat belt.

Claims (6)

1. A device for reducing the ease with which a child can depress a manually- operable and resiliently-biased release button of a seat-belt connector, including a resiliently flexible component extending across the exposed operating area of the button so that the force required to depress the button must also overcome the resistance to flexing of the component before the seat belt can be released.

2. A device for fitting to a seat belt connector to reduce the risk of it being released by a small child, including a first part for securing the device to a buckle connector containing a release button and a socket for the retention of a spigot which can be released from the socket by depressing the button against a resilient bias; and, a second part which fits over the button is provided with a resiliently flexible strip which fits over the button and over one pair of ends of a tube accommodating the button so that the must be bowed by a finger pressure before the button can be depressed to release the seat belt.

3. A device for fitting to a seat belt connector to reduce the risk of it being released by a small child; the device including a spring-loaded shutter having an associated manually operable tab which can be depressed to displace the shutter against the bias of the spring from a first position to a second position at which a manually- operable release button of the connector is exposed, release of the tab allowing the shutter to be returned by its spring to the first position displacing the shutter to a first position at which it covers the release button to prevent its operation until the tab is again manually operated.

4. A device as claimed in either claim 1 or claim 2, in which the resiliently flexible component or strip is sandwiched between two layers of deformable material which are secured to one another and are attached in their operating positions by means of rip fasteners provided on overlapping parts of the device.

A device as claimed in claim 1 arranged and adapted to operate substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

6. A device as claimed in claim 5, modified substantially as herein described. DONALD IAN CAMERON GAIR (Applicant's Patent Attorney)