GB1328336A - Seat belt devices - Google Patents

Abstract

1328336 Buckles VAUXHALL MOTORS Ltd 3 Feb 1972 [4 Feb 1971] 3910/71 Heading E2A A seat belt device suitable for a motor vehicle comprises two flexible straps 10, 11, Fig. 2, each anchored at one end to the vehicle, a self-supporting elongated member 14 movably secured in an upright plane to a floor anchorage 15, and a buckle 17 with a tongue portion releasably engaged with a locking device 9 at the end of the elongated member 14, the buckle being retained on the straps by each strap passing through one of two slots in the buckle and looping over one of two bar portions of a common movable snubbing element 27, Fig. 3. As shown, a strap 10, Fig. 2, serving as a lap belt and anchored to the vehicle floor on the remote side of the seat occupant, has its free end threaded through a slot 24 in a buckle 17, Fig. 3, passed around a bar portion 19 of a snubbing element 27, threaded back through the slot and preferably retained on the standing part of the strap by a girdle clip 21, Fig. 2. Similarly, a shoulder and torso belt 11 is anchored to a different point and passed through an anchor loop (not shown) before being passed across the occupants body and then engaged with slot 23 of buckle 17 and bar portion 18 of snubbing element 27. Tongue portion 25 of buckle 17 is bent at an obtuse angle relative to the body portion 22 and is provided with a hole 26 for locking within a locking device 9, Fig. 2, carried on a rigid arm 14 which is pivoted in an upright plane to an anchorage bracket 15. To secure the seat belt device the occupant inserts the tongue portion 25 of buckle 17 into locking device 9 until locking occurs. To tighten a belt the occupant gives the free end a sharp jerk, whereupon the snubbing element 27 moves to clamp, by its respective bar portion, the loop of the belt adjacent its slot in the buckle, as shown in Fig. 5. To lengthen the belts, the occupant holds the buckle 17 at right angles to the belts and then pulls it in the direction away from the belt anchorage points. As shown, slots 23 and 24 converge towards each other at an acute angle but they may be parallel. The buckle may not be bent, in which case it is used with an arm 14 which is either disposed at an obtuse angle to the locking device 9 or is resilient. The body portion 22 of the buckle and the snubbing element 27 may be covered by a plate (e.g. of plastics material) which clips over the body portion.